The most frustrating thing about golf is...

[LagShaft]

I'm not going to quote everyone because there a lot of good points here.  I view the mental game in golf and in life as very individualized and no instructor should have to be a psychologist to coach an anxious player. Also anyone who thinks that their game is going to drop to scratch just by getting their head fixed is delusional and should probably see a shrink for that.  However many people don't understand or recognize the very physical nature that stress and anxiety can take on for a lot of people but they can easily spot the symptoms as they relate to a bad swing.  For instance if you see a guy with his shoulder super glued to his ears you probably going to tell him to relax them a bit and maybe work out some of his tension with out even relating it to the mental game.  Preparation goes along way to alleviate stress so by fixing your swing and getting better at golf your mental game should mostly work itself out but that's the long way around and I guess my question to instructors would be:  If you could recognize the symptoms of anxiety in a new golfer don't you think that it may speed up their progression by prioritizing some of the mental aspects of the game at the beginning of their training as opposed to letting it work itself out as they struggle to improve? 

Edited October 28, 2015 by LagShaft

[Lafferty23]

three(/4/5) putts and missing the green from a central fairway lie between 100 and 140, nothing worse really

[zero]

My driver. How can I hit my 5 wood 250+ yards straight as an arrow and then slice slice slice the stupid f***n driver. Seriously, I've worked on this club so much, read every article, video'd my swing, gotten lessons, shortened the shaft.... I'm leaving it in the garage for a while.

[Lastpick]

It is frustrating not making good decisions on the course.  I'm going to hit bad shots, but how I manage those bad results is what tees me off.  I guess many of us need to have a caddie to help us manage our expectations and our choices on the golf course.  That ain't gonna happen however.

[Gator Hazard]

My driver. How can I hit my 5 wood 250+ yards straight as an arrow and then slice slice slice the stupid f***n driver. Seriously, I've worked on this club so much, read every article, video'd my swing, gotten lessons, shortened the shaft.... I'm leaving it in the garage for a while.

If I could hit my 5 wood 250 I would leave my driver in the garage as well.  How much ya bench?

[Patch]

Not being able to play the game could be frustrating I suppose. 

[zero]

If I could hit my 5 wood 250 I would leave my driver in the garage as well.  How much ya bench?

I dunno , that's just how far it rolls out according to my phone GPS. It's a taylormade 18* jetspeed I got this year, should probably get the 3 wood and call it a day. A good drive measures 260-275, but as I said they're so rare and unpredictable, frick.

[Pretzel]

The most frustrating part of golf is a 4-putt after reaching a par 5 in two. 

[Bryan Kasper]

Golf is like being married to a capricious woman. Sometimes she is in a good mood, sometimes she is in a bad mood. Sometimes she loves you, sometimes she hates you. Sometimes she wants to show the best of you, sometimes she wants to show the worst of you. And you have no clue how to deal with her. But divorce is not an option. You admit to yourself you can't live without her. And you accept the fact that the suffering will never end.

yep. best way to explain it. 

[Bryan Kasper]

You don't understand what I mean by the mental side of sports. And no matter how I try to explain it, you will simply keep replying and keep disputing and refuting. 

I see what your saying. i have watched a couple of interviews with tour players who tried to explain how hard it was to master the mental side of the game and when you finally do you don't actually realize it. you don't realize that you don't have to think anymore so intently on what needs to happen every shot. it simply comes naturally when your at that level or when you have weathered the crowds for so long, that stuff doesn't bother you anymore and the thoughts are almost automatic. i think iacas may be at that point but he doesn't realize it. Us amateurs have to consciously think about so many things starting when we are behind it and even more so when we are over top of it. Where as i feel that the majority of the conscious thinking of tour pros happens when they are behind the ball taking all of the factors into account.  if you've ever seen the tiger interview (when he was still the best) where he talks about basically losing control of his body and not remembering hitting some of his best shots, thats kind of what i am talking about. you may have a different point of view iacas but i feel like that kind of thing is more mental. but i guess i see what your saying in that your body is the thing that does the swing and physically makes contact, however, your brain and nerves are relaying all of the information to tell your body to do. So if you're thinking more, and thus relaying more, the directions your brain gives can be pretty mixed and cloudy and that seems it would be fairly hard to then execute. 

 

just my thoughts as i think about the mental aspect of the game. Though i am no psychologist, I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express one time. 

Granted you are definitely not going to go from 120 to pro by having a better mental game you will probably just be really focused on a terrible swing. the physical and mental sides of the game are both very important. 

i would say that the most frustrating thing for me (getting back on topic) is reverting back to bad technique when i try to crush the ball. I will start to play fairly well, and be enjoying my swing and then get so confident that i want to do more and then i start to bring bad bad swing habits. 

[9wood]

The most frustrating part of golf for me is to be playing behind someone who is roaming through the woods trying to find balls even though his is on the fairway, or when a person spends a lot of time fishing their ball out of the water then once they retrieve theirs then then spend more time looking for other balls besides their own to fish out of the water. To those people I say. "hey jerk, look behind you, I've been standing here for over 5 minutes waiting for you to clear so I can hit my ball." Stupid people!!!

Edited October 30, 2015 by 9wood

[Tat14]

 

I'd imagine that people who teach the golf swing would agree with you that I'm overstating the mental component....sports psychologists might say I'm understating it.

All I know for sure is that there IS a mental component, and that it is not trivial. The mind can prevent the body from doing what is possible, probable, and often easy, as anyone who has choked on a 2 foot putt with the hole or the match on the line knows all too well.

I agree; there is definitely a mental facet in any kind of performance. Fighter pilots call it the "man in the box" theory/concept.

It's the thing that set Jordan apart from other NBA Stars. It's the abstract edge that long-time successful closers in baseball had over most others in that role - Hoffman, Rivera.

Great physical talent is present, obviously. But that little difference that sets the elite apart from other stars; it's in the head. As it applies to Joe Weekend, it can keep a solid round going or cause it to fall apart.

 

[boogielicious]

For me it is allowing distractions like the ones listed above, long wait etc., to cause me to lose focus and make a bad shot. I get more upset with myself that the situation that caused it.

[alleztom]

That when one part of my game is working well (tee shots, approaches, chipping, putting) that others become faulty.

[MiniJeffrey]

One day you nail it. Everything goes how you want it, you hit straight on target, further than you normally do. Every putt falls, every approach goes where you want it.

And the next day you can't hit a ball anymore. Everything is fat or thin or sliced or hooked or hasn't got any distance.

 

Yeah, welcome to golf :)

[bm85]

Windy + Long hilly course + noob with driver = reality check.

Last two rounds before today I shot two consecutive sub 10 handicap indices. Had a blast today, but man o man were there wacky lies if you missed the fairway...some level with your chest, others below your feet, worst ones in ridiculously deep gully's. Also had some strange hemisphere looking obstacles scattered throughout I had never seen before.

Was thinking I was getting good, but shot a 90. Will definitely go back for revenge.

[JP golf]

Playing with a complainer!  Every once in a while you get with someone who may shoot 100+ but have expectations like they should be hitting scratch type shots...  I hate playing with the guy that's saying "I should have stayed home", "I should have just went fishing"...   and then cusses after every shot and blames something that should have no impact on their shot - "That guy was moving on the next tee box when I was putting and it distracted me so I missed it"....   WHAT?  Maybe you shouldn't have played!!!  You're RIGHT---- GO HOME!!!!