“I’m no good”, “I never hit good shots”, some days Pesky can rule your mind and fill it with all sorts of garbage.
And it can get worse.
The next step is you start believing him. You keep making up stories like, “yeah, I always miss those little putt”, “last week I hit it out of bounds” etc etc. It’s like you give Pesky a reason to keep coming back.
Here’s my take.
You have all the necessary talent to play great golf. You really do. Maybe you’re not going to win the Club Championships or compete with a golf pro, but you’ve been playing long enough and you have enough skill to play better golf than you do right now.
The trick is to ignore Pesky, you can’t fight him because he is always there. You’ve gotta accept he is there but not give him any power. This is difficult but possible.
For me, when there’s lots of internal conversation and story telling happening, it’s a sign that I need to get back to basics and play golf. Playing golf is my term to swing freely and hit the shots that feel good to me. “Playing Golf” gives Pesky the cold shoulder – he won’t like this and he’ll try really hard to creep back in. But you can’t let him.
So don’t worry if the odd bad thought comes in, it’s going to happen. Just don’t give them any power by believing them and making up more stories.
Controlling Pesky is a learned skill, it’s really up to you to take control. So please don’t tell me you’re no good if you keep listening to (and believing) him.
6 Comments
Gregor
November 18, 2010Cameron,
if you take some time to actually listen to the things you say to yourself during a round of golf it’s quite scary. If someone else spoke to you like that you wouldn’t be very pleased.
It’s hard to ignore what’s going on inside but it’s definitely worth not being so hard on yourself. After all, you’re meant to be enjoying it !
Gregor
Tony Lucas
November 20, 2010Cam
This post is so true in as much as Pesky can creep in unknown to you because it can start as easy as a small comment (that chip was really close to good)when all said and done it was not good enough.I think the biggest thing is actually recognising it when it is happening and dealing with it immediately.True Pesky may never truly leave all together but we must do our best to get rid of him.
Cheers Lukey
Steady
November 26, 2010Great Post Cam,
Gregor said “if you take some time to actually listen to the things you say to yourself during a round of golf it’s quite scary. If someone else spoke to you like that you wouldn’t be very pleased.”
Here here.
The key to ignoring pesky is focusing on your routine. I”ve got to a point that I actually focus on the pace and fluidness ( if thats a word) of my routine. The dance as Cam calls it.
At that moment in time you must get lost in what your doing not listening to that mongrel pesky.
If he ( pesky ) even slightly whispers I start again.
Shift the focus from the shot at hand – that is done behind the line/ball.
Once you cross the stripe/line relax and feel how well you move your approach to the ball and above all else the distraction of singing or counting.
Cam said ” Playing golf is my term to swing freely and hit the shots that feel good to me. “Playing Golf” gives Pesky the cold shoulder – he won’t like this and he’ll try really hard to creep back in. But you can’t let him.”
Pesky is not the one swinging the club. Your automatic pilot is. Don’t let pesky takeover thinking he can hit the shot. Tell him to get lost.
That’s my 2 cents worth.
Cheers Steady
Grayden Provis
December 11, 2010“Think of what you want and don’t worry about the rest” (Pete Koerner)
Bye bye Pesky 🙂
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