Guideposts: Think Like A Golfer

Guideposts magazine (the magazine founded by Dr. Norman Vincent Peale) has put up a nice post on why you should think like a golfer. Here’s an excerpt:

I found one of the keys to life on a golf course. Golf course, you might wonder? How could a game that makes grown men cry like babies and throw their clubs like toddlers hold the key to anything but frustration and pain?

It’s simple really. The amazing thing about golf is that at the end of the day golfers don’t remember the multitude of horrible shots they made. All they remember is their one great shot and this memory inspires them to come back again and again in an attempt to make another great shot. It’s no wonder that golf is so addicting.

Author Jon Gordon is absolutely right about this one. I can have an absolutely terrible round, but that one shot—the one that’s hit flush, feels like a knife through butter, and stops just an inch from the hole—keeps me coming back. It’s an addicting feeling that every golfer knows. And at least in my golfing group, it’s become a bit of a joke. Often, while struggling through a series of bad holes, someone in the group will hit a nice shot and say “That’s the one”—as in, “that’s the one that’ll bring me back.”

Another quip along the same lines: “I’ll be able to go home now.” No player wants to go home without at least one good shot to think about. I actually tacked on another nine with a buddy when he felt that he hadn’t yet had “that shot” (no one ever has to twist my arm to get me to play another nine).

And Gordon is right about another thing. We’d all be better off if we took that attitude with us at all times.