Golfing under the influence, should this be moderated?

[pumaAttack]

9 minutes ago, newtogolf said:

I know from my own personal experiences that just standing up at the tee box with strangers watching will impact my performance.  

 

Just be more confident!  Duh!

But seriously, excellent post. 

 

---

Read this article on beta-blockers and golfers nerves.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/15/sports/golf/heart-medications-may-also-calm-nerves-keeping-them-banned.html?_r=0

 

You don't think having steady hands would help your golf game?

Edited March 21, 2016 by pumaAttack

[Lihu]

4 minutes ago, newtogolf said:

If I had to pick a great golf swing or great mental game I'd take the swing every time.  That said, I think some are under valuing the mental aspect of sports, especially golf.  

The yips is mental, guys like Daly self destructing is mental, Keegan Bradley's cha cha routine is mental and so are the other guys who get stuck standing over the ball.  Kevin Chappell stated this week the change he's made to his mental approach has been key to his improvements.

I know from my own personal experiences that just standing up at the tee box with strangers watching will impact my performance.  

Maybe you reach a certain point in golf where you've conquered most of the mental demons and it's just about refining the swing but I still believe that for a majority of us, mental state has a significant impact on performance.  

I don't think you ever really get so good that you have zero impact on performance, but it lessens because you don't wonder if you will duff the ball during your downswing or not.

Mental game affects my chipping and putting a lot more than my full shots, but that's just me.

 

[pumaAttack]

7 minutes ago, Lihu said:

I don't think you ever really get so good that you have zero impact on performance, but it lessens because you don't wonder if you will duff the ball during your downswing or not.

Mental game affects my chipping and putting a lot more than my full shots, but that's just me.

 

Mental game can affect everything.

It can cause you to shake, to lose fine motor skills, to fall back to bad habits, to "black-out" during shots.

You can have the best swing in the world and the mental game can cause you to shank a shot. Not sure why you guys want to discredit it, but that just seems to be the norm for mental health in america.  So much stigma around it.

[Lihu]

12 minutes ago, pumaAttack said:

Mental game can affect everything.

It can cause you to shake, to lose fine motor skills, to fall back to bad habits, to "black-out" during shots.

You can have the best swing in the world and the mental game can cause you to shank a shot. Not sure why you guys want to discredit it, but that just seems to be the norm for mental health in america.  So much stigma around it.

Who's discrediting mental game? I certainly did not intend to do so, and even went out of my way 3 times to say there is a small role for mental game for me?

I'm just noting that it's not the reason I can't be a pro or something like that. It's not holding me back from improving my crappy game.

[pumaAttack]

12 minutes ago, Lihu said:

Who's discrediting mental game? I certainly did not intend to do so, and even went out of my way 3 times to say there is a small role for mental game for me?

I'm just noting that it's not the reason I can't be a pro or something like that. It's not holding me back from improving my crappy game.

Not saying you are discrediting it, but I do think you are under valuing it.

I bet there are hundreds, maybe thousands, of really good golfers who can't get the mental game down. And that is the reason they aren't on the pro tours...  Just saying its not black and white and it can affect certain people more than others. 

Of course you have to have a good swing, but there is more to great golf than that.

Back to the OP, I would if drugs like Xanex would be banned.

[newtogolf]

11 minutes ago, Lihu said:

Who's discrediting mental game? I certainly did not intend to do so, and even went out of my way 3 times to say there is a small role for mental game for me?

I'm just noting that it's not the reason I can't be a pro or something like that. It's not holding me back from improving my crappy game.

Charles Barkley was one of the best professional basketball players, but due to mental issues he can barely swing a golf club.  

You don't believe the careers of guys like Keegan Bradley, Jason Dufner, Mark O'Meara and Kevin Na have been negatively impacted by mental parts of their game or are you blaming their swing?  

[DrvFrShow]

Yips: According to the Mayo Clinic site -  It was once thought that the yips were always associated with performance anxiety. However, it now appears that some people have yips that are caused by a focal dystonia, which is a neurological dysfunction affecting specific muscles.

So it appears that in some cases "the yips" could have a physical cause. 

But perhaps I'm not understanding the question, but the way it's worded, voting "no way" means voting yes, you think it's okay that it is allowed for HC scoring. And voting "absolutely" means that you don't think it should be allowed for HC scoring. 

It's like these crazy propositions we see on the ballot where voting against it means your voting for it. It's a negatively worded question so voting negative is necessary to vote positive. 

So I'm not voting. But I don't think drinking, smoking or whatever should matter while playing and posting. If they really want to enforce things at the highest level, fine. They already do. The USGA and the PGA are members of the IGF. Here are the rules. But let's get real here: No one from the USGA or any of your state golf associations are going to give a rat's hindquarters about any amateur posting a score under the influence of any banned substances who has a handicap over 5 which covers over 95% of the golfing public. They really only care about + 0.1 - + 1 golfers in high level competitions. 

 

[Lihu]

5 hours ago, newtogolf said:

Charles Barkley was one of the best professional basketball players, but due to mental issues he can barely swing a golf club.  

You don't believe the careers of guys like Keegan Bradley, Jason Dufner, Mark O'Meara and Kevin Na have been negatively impacted by mental parts of their game or are you blaming their swing?  

Yes, for them it's probably a good chunk of their differentiator.

For people like us, mental game is like a fraction of a percent influence.

For me mental game is like nothing.

I was picking up my head earlier today and hit low duck hook drives that barely went 200 yards, finally fixed this issue with some on course video taken by a partner and bingo, fixed. I would say that 99% of my problems are very much mechanics related. <1% is mental.

[SavvySwede]

5 hours ago, newtogolf said:

Charles Barkley was one of the best professional basketball players, but due to mental issues he can barely swing a golf club.  

You don't believe the careers of guys like Keegan Bradley, Jason Dufner, Mark O'Meara and Kevin Na have been negatively impacted by mental parts of their game or are you blaming their swing?  

I'd blame their swings, especially Keegan. Dude looks so bent over all the time and his putting stroke was handsy even with the belly putter.

[newtogolf]

33 minutes ago, SavvySwede said:

I'd blame their swings, especially Keegan. Dude looks so bent over all the time and his putting stroke was handsy even with the belly putter.

He's had a pretty good career for a guy who a bad swing then;

PGA TOUR CAREER SUMMARY

YEAR	EVENTS PLAYED	ROUNDS 1ST 2ND 3RD TOP 10 TOP 25 MADE CUT CUT WD MONEY									FEDEXCUP POINTS STANDING
2016	10	--	--	--	1	2	4	6	--	$283,152	179	123
2015	24	--	--	--	3	9	20	4	--	$1,565,079	1,103	60
2014	26	--	1	--	6	13	21	5	1	$2,828,638	1,621	33
2013	25	--	2	1	7	15	21	4	--	$3,636,813	693	18
2012	25	1	1	1	5	14	21	4	--	$3,910,658	655	21
2011	28	2	--	--	4	12	18	10	--	$3,758,600	648	20
2009	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--
TOTAL	138	3	4	2	26	65	105	33	1	$15,982,940

 

His OCD or whatever it is has gotten worse over the last two years and it's reflected in his performance and earnings.  

[SavvySwede]

1 minute ago, newtogolf said:

He's had a pretty good career for a guy who a bad swing then

So has Phil, but he has also had consistency issues. His talent/hand eye coordination make up for it better more than most.

[newtogolf]

1 minute ago, SavvySwede said:

So has Phil, but he has also had consistency issues. His talent/hand eye coordination make up for it better more than most.

Have you seen Keegan lately, his teetering back and forth, the club spinning, the false starts and stops, you really don't think that he's struggling mentally?  

[Lihu]

Regardless, it's becoming clear that alcohol has either a negative impact or no impact on people's games. It should continue to be allowed and people should still be able to post. Assuming they can still read the keys on the keyboard when they post.

Kind of brings up a point. Friends should not let friends post their scores while drunk. That could have magnitudes larger negative or positive effects than any mental game issue resolved by alcohol.

[SavvySwede]

5 minutes ago, newtogolf said:

Have you seen Keegan lately, his teetering back and forth, the club spinning, the false starts and stops, you really don't think that he's struggling mentally?  

I used to have a strange knee flexing move that I simply couldn't help doing and my golf buddies would joke about it but it didn't make me hit the ball any worse. It's easy to make the connection to Keegan because he isn't playing well.

[Lihu]

Not so sure his mental game is improved or not. . .but he has a pretty repeatable swing. That divot is only getting bigger and bigger, but only a little bit at a time.

 

 

[iacas]

7 hours ago, pumaAttack said:

You always seem to under value the "mental" game and hell even discredit it, but I don't know your background in this matter.  Saying "take confidence in this..." does not equal a mental game.

I could have the mental game of a chipmunk and beat you. True?

I didn't say "take confidence in this" in this thread. That comment was limited to a very narrow range of facts in making a smart play.

In my experience, the mental game would be an SV① skill. Combat that with something other than saying "duh" repeatedly, please. In an appropriate thread, of course…

---

To that end… This topic is not about the mental game. It's about playing golf while drunk, or something like that. So, future comments will be on topic, please.

On March 20, 2016 at 9:20 AM, Valleygolfer said:

It could seem that using some sort of substance whether it be pot, caffeine, nicotine, alcohol or any other substance to calm or stimulate yourself could be against the rules of golf as far as handicap scoring. True skills and ability make up a big part of golf but mental fortitude is even more of a factor. This being said, to use an outside influence to take the "tension" out of your swing could be questionable..

Obviously, this would be policed solely by the player...

If you need a reminder, this is the topic.

[Valleygolfer]

On 3/22/2016 at 11:13 PM, iacas said:

In my experience, the mental game would be an SV① skill.

I don't know what this is.

Here is another example of a "supplement" aiding in performance. It may seem trivial but with so many other trivial rules with banning antler material or other performance enhancing supplements, where's the line? Pretty big improvements with caffeine. I may have to grab some at the turn...

 

 

 

[Lihu]

30 minutes ago, Valleygolfer said:

I don't know what this is.

Here is another example of a "supplement" aiding in performance. It may seem trivial but with so many other trivial rules with banning antler material or other performance enhancing supplements, where's the line? Pretty big improvements with caffeine. I may have to grab some at the turn...

 

 

 

Caffeine usually gives people the "jitters" it has a negative effect for the mental game, however I think it speeds up the metabolism and gets your blood flowing better.

Not sure this is a reason to ban tea or coffee.