Anger Management in Golf

Jul 11

Anger Management in Golf

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Anger management in golf has got to be one of the main game killers that plague many golfers. It definitely hurts more rounds than it helps! Let’s have a gander at some of the insidious symptoms and side affects of uncontrolled anger….

Throwing clubs
Holding on to previous bad shots and swings
Inability to focus
Loss of joy from the game
Negatively affects playing partners’ games
Easily distracted

One of the many drawbacks to playing with anger, and perhaps the most damaging aspect, is we become completely unable to tap our potential. To play with confidence.

Anger is a state that has tremendous emotional intensity and dominates our attention. This makes it impossible to have a clear, calm, focused awareness of what it is we actually want to do.

The nature of anger is to fixate our attention on what we don’t want.

This is the single greatest path to playing consistently poor golf yet it is completely avoidable. Our internal states are the drivers of our behaviors. You will become skilled at managing your state as we continue developing your inner game.

Since our actions are state dependent and our results flow from those actions, doesn’t it make sense to monitor your state? And to learn ways to be in the best state possible while you play each round?

Applying anger management in golf is like dealing with any other habit or emotion. We design a new behavior that more appropriately reflects what we want to experience.

If you want to completely eliminate anger form your game and transform it into intense focus check out the mental game program.

So instead of the conditioned anger response you can naturally experience calm and move immediately toward how to improve next time.

Most mental game coaching recommends making “in round” changes and to work at dropping anger from your game this way. My experience with clients and myself is that this is short term at best.

Attempting this is trying to fix something “after the fact”.

It’s kind of like a guy being wheeled into emergency with blood flowing from his stomach and the doctor saying “Geez, that’s a deep cut! Hey, if you avoid getting cut you won’t bleed so much!” And then he places a band aid on his stomach…

I believe in pre-round mental rehersal. Attempting to make a change while we’re “in anger” is unlikely to work since the emotional intensity of anger precludes access to any reasonable thought!

My approach to managing anger in golf is focused on making lasting change that transforms your entire game. Each and every change is systemic and positively influences every other area of your game.

Making one change enhances the effectiveness of any other changes you make. It’s the true way to make permanent change.

Original Document Source
Mental Game Coach