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Hi Guys,
Not sure where I had this from but it has some great thoughts to take you to the next level.
The goal: Play with a mastery approach
Mastery golfers enjoy everything the game throws at them. The greater the challenge, the more fun they have. For them, the golf swing becomes an automatic process. Because they focus on improvement relative to their current capabilities, their standards and goals are self-set rather than set by others. Mastery golfers don't care who their competitors are, because they don't view golf as a competition between players. Rather, they see golf as the process of playing a golf course as well as they can with the skills that they possess.
Mastery golfers are not influenced by how often others tell them they are good or bad because, quite frankly, they don't play for others. They play to achieve goals they have set for themselves, and they use only those self-set standards to measure their improvement.
It is easy to understand how to apply the ideal mastery orientation to tournament golf. But what about those of us who will never play tournaments? I believe mastery golf makes fundamental improvement possible regardless of the skill level. A mastery approach does not necessarily require a focus on shooting a particular score; instead it requires an exacting focus on hitting a particular shot with a particular routine at a particular target.
I try to teach golfers what the game is not:
You are not playing against a score.
You are not playing against a tournament.
You are not playing against other players.
Mastery golfers understand that great golf is the summation of individual shots, and that every shot is a chance to get closer and closer to perfection. Because they view golf this way, they find it easy to immerse themselves in the process of playing golf, and they often concentrate to the point of ignoring everything around them. Golfers in a mastery mode know first and foremost the competition is only this:
You are playing a golf course, one shot at a time, the best way you know how.
The mastery golfer gets consumed with the task of executing shots, not with the prospect of breaking 90 or shooting a 65. The score is merely an aftereffect of the attention paid to the details of playing the golf course. Playing your greatest golf begins by making precise swings at specific targets, regardless of the circumstances. And that's what playing without fear is all about.
Hope you enjoyed it.
Ian.
Not sure where I had this from but it has some great thoughts to take you to the next level.
The goal: Play with a mastery approach
Mastery golfers enjoy everything the game throws at them. The greater the challenge, the more fun they have. For them, the golf swing becomes an automatic process. Because they focus on improvement relative to their current capabilities, their standards and goals are self-set rather than set by others. Mastery golfers don't care who their competitors are, because they don't view golf as a competition between players. Rather, they see golf as the process of playing a golf course as well as they can with the skills that they possess.
Mastery golfers are not influenced by how often others tell them they are good or bad because, quite frankly, they don't play for others. They play to achieve goals they have set for themselves, and they use only those self-set standards to measure their improvement.
It is easy to understand how to apply the ideal mastery orientation to tournament golf. But what about those of us who will never play tournaments? I believe mastery golf makes fundamental improvement possible regardless of the skill level. A mastery approach does not necessarily require a focus on shooting a particular score; instead it requires an exacting focus on hitting a particular shot with a particular routine at a particular target.
I try to teach golfers what the game is not:
You are not playing against a score.
You are not playing against a tournament.
You are not playing against other players.
Mastery golfers understand that great golf is the summation of individual shots, and that every shot is a chance to get closer and closer to perfection. Because they view golf this way, they find it easy to immerse themselves in the process of playing golf, and they often concentrate to the point of ignoring everything around them. Golfers in a mastery mode know first and foremost the competition is only this:
You are playing a golf course, one shot at a time, the best way you know how.
The mastery golfer gets consumed with the task of executing shots, not with the prospect of breaking 90 or shooting a 65. The score is merely an aftereffect of the attention paid to the details of playing the golf course. Playing your greatest golf begins by making precise swings at specific targets, regardless of the circumstances. And that's what playing without fear is all about.
Hope you enjoyed it.
Ian.
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