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What is your approach?

What is your approach?

  • Total voters
    76
  • Poll closed .
emart2173

emart2173

#journey2017
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Up until last year I was the person who thought negatively when approaching a shot/putt. Don't miss, don't chunk/thin, don't miss the putt. I would even let this affect the next shot and slowly snowball through the round. I read a few books by Dr. Bob Rotella and really focused on the mental aspect this past year and plan to continue this year to include adding a few additional things to the process.

What type of approach/mentality do you have?
 
emart2173 said:
Up until last year I was the person who thought negatively when approaching a shot/putt. Don't miss, don't chunk/thin, don't miss the putt. I would even let this affect the next shot and slowly snowball through the round. I read a few books by Dr. Bob Rotella and really focused on the mental aspect this past year and plan to continue this year to include adding a few additional things to the process.

What type of approach/mentality do you have?
Click to expand...

on putts I have the mentality to try to make everything. I want all my putts to die into the hole. Risky behavior and not recommended as it can cause some to leave putts short, but I'm a decent putter and it works for me.

On full swings my thoughts are usually something along the lines of "swing smooth" or "swing through the ball".
 
I'm a mixture. Feel better over putts than I do over chips with the 54* in hand. I definitely don't "play not scared" all the time and will often play away from danger.
 
I too read one (or even two, can't remember) of Dr. Bob's books, so I am 90% of the time a positive thoughts guy. Then when I do chunk, skull, or yank one...I let out a "that sucked" and then talk myself up all the way to the other fairway to hit my next shot.
 
I picked somewhere between both. It really depends on the club and how I'm playing that day. Unless it's a scramble and then I just don't give a damn, it's more important for me to have fun during scrambles.
 
I tend to pick my line, trust it and go with it. Really don't psych myself up or down with positive or negative thoughts when standing over the ball. Have always found a clear mind works best for me.
 
Currently I have zero confidence standing over any putt thats longer than gimme range. So I guess thats negative, but with any other club I have confidence to hit a variety of shots. So I voted a little of both.
 
I voted somewhere in between, although I would say 90% of the time I am positive. Once I pick a line, I am in go mode and expect to hit a good shot. This will sound funny, but I play so fast I seldom have time for a negative thought to get in my head anyway! That said, there are a couple shots I really struggle with, ( ball below my feet - getting better, but I still dislike that shot! ) and I have let a negative thought get in there. Seems hard to believe that some people never let a negative though in there - good on them!
 
I don't even think about it, I get up and hit it.

No negativity
 
most of the time, my approach is very target focused. staring at a target in the distance, lining up to an intermediate target then taking a couple more looks at the target then trying to "let it go." bad memories of poor swings can affect that, where i start having negative thoughts. i'm in a major rut with bunker play right now, so i definitely have negative thoughts when i step in. same with simple chips, i'm just in a rut. other than that, i generally have positive thoughts.
 
I try and stay positive on every single shot and picture in my mind what I want it to do and achieve that.
 
I try to stay positive before every single shot. It's after the ball is in the air that negative thoughts come into my head.
 
With putting, I have made a conscious effort to always think about making it, and it's really helped my results. Sometimes I will sneak negative, but I do my best to stay away from that.

The full swing, I am a little less consistent. When I'm hitting an approach with a short iron, I'm usually thinking about sticking it close. But when the clubs get longer, the doubt can creep in, which is not good. Need to think more positive on these shots, because when I do, the results are usually better.
 
Always positive. It's just my mentality to think I always have a shot, the outcome might be different than I envision but I always feel like I have a chance.
 
Just trying to remember that golf is fun when i think about each shot. So instead of looking at a 60 foot putt as a potential to 3 putt I would view it as a fun challenge and "how cool will it be when I hole this or make a great run at it". Try to have that mindset for all my shots.
 
I'm thinking about making my swing/stroke and where I want the ball to go. I can't say that I characterize it as positive or negative or for that matter "in-between." I'd say my thoughts are more matter of fact than feeling.

That said, I have positive expectations.
 
emart2173 said:
Up until last year I was the person who thought negatively when approaching a shot/putt. Don't miss, don't chunk/thin, don't miss the putt. I would even let this affect the next shot and slowly snowball through the round. I read a few books by Dr. Bob Rotella and really focused on the mental aspect this past year and plan to continue this year to include adding a few additional things to the process.

What type of approach/mentality do you have?
Click to expand...

Aim small, miss small. Always. And sometimes it bites me, especially on putts, but that's okay.

I play for an even keel game and it really keeps me connected mentally.
 
I try to stay positive the entire round and not let bad shots bring me down. I try to account for my normal miss but I try not to stand over a shot and think that I'm going to slice it into the woods. On putts, i think i need to do a better job of trying to make the putt rather then worry about blowing it 8' past the hole.
 
Lynchburg before his child and other bigger life moments was the guy who was always going back to the negative shot and could not shake it. It ruined several rounds and made me look like a dumb ass a few times.

Today's Lynchburg tries to focus more on the positive and less on the negative. What is in the past is in the past. I am grateful to be out on the course enjoying the game. The older I get the more mature I get about life and the other things that come with it.I still get some negative in there here and there but I get over it a lot quicker now.

Back in college at a dinner for the golf tournament they had a one arm golfer talk to us about the mental side. He said a lot of stuff but the thing that sticks with me is that he said "No matter how bad you played you did something right at least once. Focus on the positive things you did and not the negative things".
 
I' d like to say that I'm always positive but honesty compels me to admit that's just not true. When I'm playing well ( by my standards!) I tend to be very positive but when I struggle the negative thoughts creep in. At that point I try to be very concerned with my basics I.e. Stance, posture, grip, etc. to get back in the right frame of mind as quickly as possible.
 
Unfortunately I still swing between the 2, but when I am playing well it is al positive. Not sure which is chicken and egg in that scenario, but I try to always think about the shot I plan/want to hit, not the one I don't want to hit.
 
there is quite the "gap" between choice one and 2. i have the utmost confidence most of the time except deep rough that is greenside and wet sand shots.
 
Positive on every shot. If I couldn't do that I don't think I could find any reason to play. It sure wouldn't be any fun to anticipate disaster every time I addressed the ball.
 
Puttting is where I've made the best change as far as thought process.

Up until about a year ago, whenever I was standing over a putt I had one of two thoughts running through my head
a. There's no way I can make this putt and I'll be lucky to even get it close.
b. Don't screw this up and miss it (everything 3 feet and under).

Somewhere along the line I heard that good putters think they can make everything. So I've absolutely changed my inner dialog with regard to my putting, and now I'm a good putter, with the thought that everything I putt is going in. I don't even really remember making that transition in thought. A light bulb just went off and I realized I was doing it wrong, so I changed.
 
I usually am very positive, but a bad shot will typically hang around for another shot, but never longer.
 
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