What Are You Hanging On To That Is Holding Back Your Game?

Did you know that hanging on to bad shots, bad golf moments, and general negativity is one of the most prevalent mental practices that weighs golfers down, holds them back, and leads to less-than-positive golf experiences? It permeates the entire mental golf psyche and distracts from focus, visualization, and awareness. In fact, all of those "could haves," "should haves," and "if onlys" take away from mental energy that could otherwise be put to good use on constructive thoughts that will help your game.

So what exactly is "hanging on?" It is a mental habit of actively keeping thoughts and memories of past negative actions and experiences in mind by dwelling on them, frequently recalling or "replaying" them, and allowing them to linger and fester and take the place of otherwise helpful thoughts and memories.

And what is it that golfers hang on to in their minds? The specifics vary from person to person, of course, but the common factors include:

Memories and thoughts of ---
- bad shots
- bad rounds
- bad tendencies
- mistakes and "flaws"
- "ruts" you have been or are stuck in

Plus negative mental habits and tendencies such as ---
- Fear
- Anger
- Frustration
- Worry
- Self-Doubt
- Self-Comparison
- Blame
- Dread
- Resentment/Envy
- Misconception that you need to try harder

"Hanging on" is a negative mental habit I have grappled with in the past, and it definitely affected my game. I would get so preoccupied with hanging on to the memory of a missed putt or errant drive that I would lose focus on my current shots and strategy, and then my game would suffer. I have known others who have hung on to bad shots for an entire round and even afterward, and they would keep talking about it. Thinking of your own game, you can probably recall some examples of "hanging on." What is it that you tend to hang on to? Maybe it's the memories of missed putts and poor shots like I did. You'll be doing yourself a favor by taking notice of this tendency, then doing something to curb it or cut it short.

A helpful tip that helped me to reduce my tendency for "hanging on" and is something I continue to practice is:

Consciously focus you attention on remembering the positive and letting go of the negative. Practice filling your "memory bank" with memories of good shots and positive outcomes and not "storing" thoughts of mistakes, problems, and poor shots. Think of it like putting thoughts of the negative moments in the trash. Leave your past in the past!

We'll have more practical tips on curbing this negative mental tendency for "hanging on" in our soon-to-be-released Positive Golf Handbook. Leave a comment on this blog about what you tend to hang on to on the course, and I'll email you some more of these tips.

Here's to great golf!

Rick Semple
Positive Golfer
Co-Founder, TheHeartofGolf.com
http://www.TheHeartofGolf.com