Doubling Up Your Mistakes

I have a couple of close friends who are really good golfers.

(I haven't played yet this year...hope I can...checking on another injection in the hip).

I often ask the good golfers how they stay on top of the mental part of the game. Even with physical difficulties the game can be played well..."old man golf".

"Don't double up on your mistakes," my good pal Robert once told me.

That makes a lot of sense.

A bad shot into the woods is troubling, of course, but pitching it back into the fairway is the smart play.

The problem being that often times after making a mistake there's a true passion to make up for it...

...and you usually end up compounding the problem.

Every golfer 🏌 in the world has spent time in the barrel, or as my main golf partner, Jeffy says:

"I'm 'strug-a-ling'," in his Joe Namath voice.

Since you're golfing in a 4-some there may be one, two, three or all four golfers battling themselves at once. If it's just one guy at a time...the other three will often leave him be.

"Chucky is hacking, leave him alone," is a common sentence.

Golf is a lot like life in that way.

We all make mistakes. Sometimes we double down and make matters a lot worse. Often times we stay in the tail-spin way too long...

...and it's too late to dig yourself out of a bad situation. The round will mercifully come to a close.

"I lost it at 7, found it again at 12, lost it at 14."

Years ago, I was sharing a cart with my friend, Tom. He ended up in the 🌲 🌲 🌲 and he asked me to take a 👀 at his next swing.

"Think I can make it between those two trees?" He asked.

"Sure," I said. 

(When the other guy is thinking of doing something dumb it is always strongly encouraged).

"Just keep it low."

I ducked out of the way in case the ball came bouncing back.

It did.

"$@&!" Tom yelled.

The ball ended behind us.

"May as well try it again," I said. "No guts, no glory."

Tom hit the other 🌲. Then he decided to chip it out.

We finally returned to the golf cart.

"Remember when you hit that tree?" I asked.

I can't even tell you what he said in response.

I was thinking about golf lessons as life lessons.

Sometimes the best thing to do is to acknowledge the error of our ways and take a deep breath and think long and hard about the next move.

Otherwise the ball will find one tree after another, and sooner or later it gets too late in the round to save it.

Stop the 'strug-a-ling' before it gets away from you.