One Shot At A Time

Every golfer has struggled with this mantra at some point in their game.  It’s basically the coming of age of a golfer when he or she realizes that golf is a collection of individual shots.

One shot at a time is the simple way of saying “don’t let the bad shots get to you.”  Because every round has bad shots.  Even professionals have bad shots.  Professionals even have especially bad shots.  But most professionals realize what the average golfer hasn’t:  that one bad shot is not going to make or break a round and that one good shot is not going to put them under par.

A lot of people will hit one bad shot and then start giving themselves poor self talk.  They begin to think how they won’t finish well, how their swing is so messed up, how they will be lucky to double the rest of the holes.  These thoughts don’t help anyone, least of all the golfer.  Bad shots can result from anything, and there’s no reason to freak out if it’s just one or two bad shots out of many good shots.

Conversely, a lot of people get excited when they chip in for birdie, and they should be.  But when they begin thinking that this one shot will define their round, they are headed for trouble.  It’s good to take the confidence from that shot into every shot afterward, but if you begin to have grandiose visions of a round that would make even professionals green with envy, you are setting yourself up to fail.  It’s better to celebrate your good shot and then refocus on the next shot and think about what needs to be done there.

Once mastered, the one-shot-at-a-time philosophy will significantly better the game of almost any player.