Chasing Perfection: Part II
This is the second part to Tuesday’s blog. I would highly recommend reading that first before reading this as it is a direct continuation.
Here is a specific example of chasing perfection: We played at UTRGV’s event in Texas over spring break. The course was mostly flat, but the fairways were outlined by trees, so hitting the fairway was premium. It was also given that you would most likely go through the round hitting at least one or two shots from the trees. The first round I shot 76. I felt like I was in the trees on every hole. I had no good looks at birdie and was constantly scrambling for pars. I was counting my mistakes this entire round.
We finished the first round and immediately continued into the second round. I got off to a better start, but arrived at my 7th hole of the round. I hit my tee shot left into the trees. There is a pond in front of the green, so I had no choice but to layup. I left myself in the fairway with about 90 yards. I discuss the shot with Coach, grab my wedge, and completely chunk it into the water. I was in disbelief that I just did that with a wedge. I said to Coach, “I am so confused as to how that happened.” She responded, “Because you aren’t a robot.” So I grabbed another ball out, dropped it, and hit it to about 3 feet and got out of there with a double bogey instead of triple or worse.
The second round I ended up shooting 73 and the third round I shot 70. The second half of that tournament, I quit counting my mistakes and just played golf. When I successfully did that, I was playing some of the best golf I had in awhile. Another example would be from my freshman year of college at Converse. I had a similar situation where I played well in the Fall, winning Player of the Week 4 out of 5 times I could have won it, but severely dropped off in the spring.
Now, there were other factors contributing to my poor playing that were out of my control, but the chasing perfection topic still stands here. I was counting my mistakes on the course. I remember the last tournament I traveled with the team was in Hilton Head. The course was super tight, lots of out of bounds outlined the holes. I played absolutely terrible. I shot 85 the first day, and I counted my mistakes the entire time I was playing. I hit, if I remember correctly, at least two OB, and shanked another shot into the water from the bunker. I had zero confidence.
The second day, I played better with a 79 but still not great and hit at least one tee shot OB. I remember coming back from that tournament literally about to just give up because I felt so defeated. Every time I walked out onto the course, I set a number for myself for how many mistakes I was allowed to make, and the second I approached anywhere close to that number, panic set in.
A couple of weeks later after a very rough qualifying for our home tournament, my mom gave me a drill to help me focus less on the mistakes and numbers and more on my commitment to each shot. She found it from the book Every Shot Must Have a Purpose by Lynn Marriott and Pia Nilsson. I had to rate myself on a scale of 1-5 for each shot in each of the three categories: commitment, execution, and memory.
In the book, they dive into more specifics of each, but basically it allowed me to stop focusing on everything I couldn’t control, and focus more on my commitment to each shot. I played this “game” at my last tournament as a Valkyrie. Shot 71-75 to win the tournament by 5 shots. Never at any point during that tournament was I focused on my mistakes or things out of my control. I only focused on my commitment to each shot and trusting my swing.
The moral of this two part blog series is chasing perfection is deadly. It will cost you your enjoyment and happiness for the game of golf. It is an impossible goal to achieve, as even when you win, there are always shots you can take back. Golf is not played by robots, it is played by humans. Wanting the best from myself drives me to be a better player, but if I do not keep it in check, it will completely take over and deplete my confidence in my game.
If you ever feel you are chasing perfection, take a step back. Ask yourself why you feel this way and reflect on the things you are doing well without realizing. Find the parts of your game that are hurting you at that moment and develop a plan to focus on those parts. Then, when you go out and play, do not think about numbers, in fact try not to keep any stats. Just play golf. The more you focus on committing to each shot, the better you will play.
