Perfection versus acceptance

The opposite of perfection is acceptance. It’s easy to fall into the trap of wanting to do everything perfectly well.

“I must drive the ball straight down the middle”
“The ball must find the hole”
“My swing needs to be spot on otherwise I won’t play any good”

But here’s something for you to consider:

Has chasing perfection worked for you? Has this allowed you to enjoy golf and continually improve?

My consensus is that our obsession with perfection holds us all back. We can be so caught up in making ideal swings and playing without mistakes that we forget what we’re doing in the first place. Years can go by without any serious learning or enjoyment taking place. It’s common to see golfers who are so caught up in all of this they are afraid to take the club away from the ball.

If you want to take your golf to a level worth talking about, at some point you’ve got to replace perfection with acceptance. Acceptance allows us to move on. To take our best swipe at the ball, learn from the outcome and then move confidently to the next shot. Acceptance isn’t about throwing your hands in the air and saying, “Shit! Golf is too hard and I’ll never be any good”. No that’s not the plan.

Mistakes are a key part of learning and when you can accept that golf is never going to be perfect, you give yourself a freedom to play truly how you want. You can breath a little, remove the straitjacket and have some fun. And the paradox with all of this, is that when you stop trying so hard and get off the perfection hamster wheel you actually start getting what you wanted in the first place. Golf truly is NOT a game of perfect.