Sometime Ian no two holes feel the same!

I know what you mean though. I tend to play better when I play with better players, I can't explain that either.

Great topic.

The stock answer: We play differently and feel different over the ball on different days because our mind preceives our environment to be different on every shot.

If we played in a vaccuum on every shot, and the only thing that was preceived was the club and the ball and your target, then you would be much more consistant...like you get at the range near the end of a large bucket. You start to expirerence tunnel vision where nothing else is in you mind except what matters.

But, on the course, there are so many other things that get preceived (what you mentioned above, plus a lot more) and that takes away from our ability to be as consistant as we would be in that vaccuum.

The big difference I see in someone who is able to play their game consistantly (at any hdcp) and someone who is all over the place (good one day and bad the next) is their personality. Do they allow a bad shot to linger into the next shot? That simple fact tells me that the vaccuum has become a pressure cooker, and is just another item to get in the way.

To your point about playing on the affects of the night before is a wonderful example of the mind not being able to preceive it all as it normally would, so when it is faced with having to choose hitting a golf ball and thinking about the pond on your left, it choose the ball ... a kind of self induced vaccuum affect. Does this mean you should get snookered the night before every tournament? I hope not. You would like to work on playing in a sober state first because I'm sure your health would preferr it.

great thread

i played night before night. was playing lousy, then a heavy fog set in. it was so bad you couldnt see 100 yards. 193 yards to a lighted green was black. all ya could do is hit in the assumed direction. it was wild. the hard part was searching for the ball. the ones that went straight, were there, just where ya hit them. the others, well! ha! no where to be found.

but it took all the objects out of perception. just you and the ball, and a white back drop

pat

That reminded me the time I got to play SpyGlass in Monterey, CA....first one out and fog like soup. First hole a 5 that goes a little left out towards the ocean. Hit the tee shot and had laugh , "I think I pushed it, but cought it good. Better hit another just in case.". I must have hit a provisional for the first 4 holes until it turns back away from the ocean. It was a shame, cause those holes are supposed to be the best on the course...didn't get to enjoy them at all.