[holeout]

I too have enjoyed this thread! We do all that we do (and we do more than most, I think) to get that frikkin ball into the frikkin hole in numbers that at least resemble our potential!

I played with an up and coming young collegiate player today. He four putted the 4th green (horse shoeing consecutive putts!) I thought he was going to throw up! I recognized the “look” The look that says that I am playing for people other than myself (and 2 other strangers at that.) His rep was on the line…he was probably thinking “these guys are probably thinking that I am such a hack etc.” Well the wheels came off on the next hole and he was fit to be tied. So I sidled up to him coach-like and communicated the following (all of it based on personal experience.)

NEVER be surprised by ANYTHING that happens on a golf course…it suggests that you do not get it
Sure way to fail at anything is to make your highest motive quest ACCEPTANCE. You gotta have a lot of I don’t give a crap about what others think in order to be good
You take what you can get, or if you prefer, what the course gives you. That never precludes your level best effort
The course is your daily opponent
If you do not grind on a ten foot putt for bogey, you have not yet learned that a stroke is a stroke is a stroke.
Never allow one round to define what caliber of player you can be. By extention 10 individual rounds STILL cannot define what caliber of player you can be.
Sink your heart and soul into PREPARATION. When you tee it up determine to do the following:

Play each hole with a plan
Pick a specific target
Observe ALL rules and etiquette
Keep you grooves and ball clean
Shake your playing partner’s hands (with hat removed)
Add ‘em up
You gotta be able to say to paraphrase Arry Vardon “That sir, was my best for the day“ …or something to that effect


If anything is worth doing it is worth doing poorly, right?

I was able to convey all of this because as is often the case it took us 5 hours to get around!

We hit the range afterward and I introduced to him to the flying wedges! Ah to be a youngster again!

You have some good points, Okie, but as for what this youngster needs to focus on during the round, cleaning his clubs may or may not need to be on the list.

When it comes to learning how to score and how to play this game, for the most part, you have to figure it out for yourself. Playing holes with a plan and picking specific targets sounds like really good advice. But if it were that simple, wouldn't everyone be able to play to their potential?

Just a thought.