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Is amnesia the greatest skill in golf?

Bullitt5339

Bullitt5339

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I have mental struggles on the course, that's for sure. I tend to get the pull hooks and once I hit one, it's in my head on every shot after that. I overheard the announcers talking about Jordan Speith's greatest skill in golf is amnesia. He is able to quickly forget bad rounds and bad shots and get right back into the game. I wonder if I would be better served if I had the ability to forget the last shot/last round?

Do you have golf amnesia or do bad shots and rounds get into your head?
 
it is definitely an essential skill. being able to forget the bad shots is important. Dr. Bob Rotella talks about this in his books. Forgetting bad things and remembering good things.

Accepting the results of what happens with your shot and staying in the process. This is something i have been working on because i let my bad shots affect me too much and then put to much pressure on the next shot.
 
I think I do a good job of not letting bad shots get I to my head. Maybe because I have so many bad shots every round that I have no choice but to forget about the last shot and just focus on the one at hand.
 
I was a mental midget on the golf course until my late 20's. Every decade my mental game and especially my ability to bounce back with a birdie immediately after making bogie or worse improves. If only I could figure out how to keep my body from aging as I get so much smarter on the golf course!! Speith's mental golf skills are truly rare and impressive for a 21 year old.
 
I would answer your question - No.
Greatest skill in golf? Reading greens. Then consistent golf swing.
Amnesia is important, but not the greatest skill.

Um, what were we talking about? I forgot...
 
not being able to count is probably more so...but after that short term memory is up there. :alien:
 
If I have some ridiculous shot on one hole I'll dwell on it for about half the next. More so of trying to figure out what I just did.
 
I can't remember but I think I've had amnesia.
Ya being able to forget and move on is a huge skill. For golf and Poker (my 2 favorite things to do).
 
I think the ability to forgot the bad things in any sport is incredibly valuable.

There is a difference between learning from mistakes and letting mistakes destroy your confidence, and that is something I think all the great athletes do very well (learn from the mistakes and move on).
 
Not really so much during the round, but rounds in the future I remember what I did on certain holes and tell myself not to do that again. I really need to stop that. I can be drawing the ball all day and the one hole I know that I missed right on I will always miss right.
 
I know I can hit the good shots more often than not. When a bad one happens I just move on because I have confidence in myself and my game.
 
Steph Curry is a great example of this...he may go 1 for 14 from behind the 3 point line in the 1st half but he's able to come out in the second half oblivious to his struggle and knock down 70 percent of his shots and still score around his average each game. And how many times have we seen a great quarterback throw 3 picks in a game but still sack up and deliver a bullet right on target when it's needed most late in the game.

Amnesia is easy to accomplish....selective amnesia, being able to forget the goofs flubs and flukes but still remember the good shots or the proper technique to do something right is much more difficult to achieve.
 
Actually, I think the opposite is as valuable or even more so...most of the greats can remember almost every shot from each round in vivid detail for years after. They remember green characteristics in great detail. So, you could argue their ability to remember the good shots is more important than "forgetting" the bad?
 
Confidence breeds more confidence. But how can you have confidence if you keep snap-hooking the ball? I struggled with this for years!

It's very interesting when you hear great NBA shooters that are in a slump. They say that they still feel like they are going to make EVERY shot, and they are confident about putting it up, even if they missed 10 in a row!

I played hoop for years, and when I kept turning my ankle playing in the paint, I started shooting more from the outside. I was able to adopt this same mentality - i.e. even after missing many shots in a row, I KNEW I was a good shooter and felt good about pulling the trigger every time.

It took a long time for me to bring this feeling to the tee box in golf. I was so fearful for so many years, and the results showed. When I convinced myself that I was a good driver of the golf ball, I was able to overcome the bad misses and look forward to striping it down the middle on the next attempt. It's not a question of fooling yourself; it's a matter of trusting that you KNOW HOW to hit good shots, then letting that knowledge breed the necessary confidence.
 
I don't know if I agree that it is a skill. Its more of an ability, like a superpower. Perhaps even magical.
 
FOCUS. Forgetting that bad shot might help, but give me the ability to focus on each shot at hand...
 
I think the ability to have "short term memory" is essential in almost any sport. shaking off the bad plays and keeping composure is huge.
 
doc53 said:
Actually, I think the opposite is as valuable or even more so...most of the greats can remember almost every shot from each round in vivid detail for years after. They remember green characteristics in great detail. So, you could argue their ability to remember the good shots is more important than "forgetting" the bad?
Click to expand...


Jack Nicklaus will disagree with you. He says he can't remember any of his bad shots. remembering bad shots brings doubt into a players mind and the need to let them go and only focus on the good shots. Journaling good shots and using them to remember a shot for positive reinforcement is what many good golfers do.
 
I'm not sure amnesia works for me, but definitely a short memory and sense of humor have pulled me through some ridiculously awful shots and rounds of golf!
 
for me it is a sense of humor ... got let it go and be able to laugh, especially for a high handicapper like me
 
I never get too high when all is good or too low when it is bad. You can do NOTHING about the shot you just hit. I never look back in golf or in life. Everything looks better looking forward.
 
Aside from my short game, my mental aspect is by far the biggest weakness. I tend to let bad shots and holes affect me. I try to not think about it and having a short term memory loss would be beneficial.
 
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