Tension Can Ruin Your Game

I know nothing about golf. But I do recall visiting a golf driving range when I was young. I had no concept of hitting a golf ball. You're right, each ball I hit went in a different direction. Some I topped and they shot out on to the ground; others zoomed left or right and some seemed to go very high in the air.

I would hit the ball as hard as I could and most of those drives went a long, long ways. As I pondered the game of golf and whether I wanted it to be a part of my life, I thot about what you actually have to do to play the game. You hit the ball. You walk until you find the ball. You hit the ball and walk some more to find it again...then once you get to the smooth, green grass with the hole, you play some miniature golf to get the ball in the hole...and so on for 18 holes.

It quickly became obvious to me that with my errant shots, I'd be walking quite a bit farther than anyone else on the course just to chase down my ball after each stroke. And then there was the issue of carrying the golf bag along too. At that age, I wasn't too interested in exercising just for the sake of exercising.

Then, of course, there's the thot that golf should be a relaxing activity. My only thot was about how irritated I would become at my poor performance while trying to actually 'play' golf. The tension would wear me out more than the poor shots and excessive walking.

After two trips to the driving range and some pondering, I quickly shelved the whole idea of playing golf. Most of my friends played at one time or another, but I can truthfully say that I never, even one time, attempted a round (is that what it's called) of golf.

That might have been about the time I got into drag racing. Talk about something that was relaxing. You sit down the whole time and you either win a race or lose a race, that's gotta be good. And back in those days you actually had to be somewhat inventive to win races, you couldn't just buy stuff off the rack at the 'go-fast' store and win. I won more than my share, and was always relaxed after a day at the strip.

Another thot for a Monday morning. Do good stuff; have some fun,
JD

PS - Most of us don't perform too well when we're worried about something or are overly concerned or tense. That thot got me wondering about the golfer Tiger Woods performance at The Masters Golf Tournament this past weekend.

A good sexual release can have a calming effect on people and I suspect that golfers are no different. Is it possible that Mr. Woods wasn't getting his usual sexual release between rounds this weekend and was just a bit tense while playing?

Or was he actually getting his normal sexual releases and playing as well as he could after being out of golf competition for a while? All I know is that it's very difficult to change ingrained behavior patterns, Mr. Woods is likely no different than the rest of us when it comes to behavior change...a work in progress.