Keep Playing, Don’t Quit

I have to admit I have a tendency to quit trying for a bit after I hit a bad shot. Especially when things have going well for a good stretch of holes. But no more. I finally learned my lesson.

In one of the last rounds I played before the autumn rains came, I was cruising. I never pay attention to my score after about the fourth hole, so I didn’t realize until the round was over that I had parred eight holes in a row. All I knew was that I was playing well.

So on a par 5 hole, with a 9-iron third into the green, I cold topped it, the ball disappearing into a waste area that fronts the green. Words were spoken inside my head.

Now the waste area is marked as a water hazard, but instead of walking up to the hazard and having a 70-yard pitch into the green, I dropped another where I was and hit another 9-iron. By golly, I was going to prove to myself that I could hit that shot.

The ball got over the hazard, but went way left and it took me three to get down from there. That’s an 8 if you’re counting.

On the next hole, a par 4 that slopes down to the left, I popped up my drive. 150 yards tops. Maybe not even that. Leaves me about 210 from the hole. So I get up to the ball and figure this round has been trashed, and I might as well try hitting my 2-hybrid to see how close I can get it to the green because I’ve been working on that shot and if it doesn’t work out, big deal, since the round has been ruined anyway. But a little voice said, “No. Take another look. See if you can still get a par from here.”

Taking a close look, I saw that if I hit 4-hybrid, I could put the ball at the front right of the green in a good position to pitch into a sharply sloping green for a par putt. And since I have both the 4-hybrid shot and the pitch in my bag, my attitude changed just like that. “Yes,” I thought to myself, “I can do this,” and I was in attack mode again.

You know what happened? I put the 4-hybrid on the front right, just where I wanted to, pitched on to three feet and made the putt.

I will never quit on myself again. Promise.

See more at www.bettergolfbook.com.

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