It Could Always be Worse!

In my last blog I knocked in a 6 footer for birdie and now I'm on my way to the 6th tee. I've got that post birdie bounce in my step. In the hood you'd refer to this as my strut. Unfortunately as a 10 handicapper birdies come for me about as often as locusts or so it seems that way.

As I stick my tee in the ground on six tee, all of a sudden the dreaded negative thought crosses my mind. That inner voice is practically yelling at me, "AVOID THE FUAB, AVOID THE FUAB". For those of you who don't play much golf the FUAB is an acronym which stands for "Mess Up After Birdie". I know mess doesn't begin with F but you get the picture.

I quickly erase that thought from my mind. As I set up to the ball I'm feeling like my grip, stance and alignment are perfect. I draw the club back and hit the ball solid. The only problem is it flies dead right, into the woods and out of bounds. Again for those who don't play, hitting a ball out of bounds feels a lot like striking out with the bases loaded or going to the mall and realizing the sale ended yesterday. Whatever gives you that awful feeling in the pit of your stomach, that's what it feels like. My first thought is - how did I do that? That swing felt the same as the others so why in the heck did that ball go to the right?

Have you ever experienced something similar in the course of daily life? Can you think of a time you were feeling confident, you thought you were well prepared, then things fell apart in the matter of a couple of seconds? I know we've all been through a time or two just like this.

How do you typically behave after you've made a mistake or life delivers you a bad break? While many of us would like to control everything around us sometimes we just can't. In golf you only have to be off like a millimeter to hit a drive 30 yards off target. I'm certainly not good enough to know when I'm off by a millimeter. I'll be the first to tell you I'm not usually in total control of my golf swing. So for me, I can't worry about what I can't control. It's all about how I react to the circumstances that are beyond my control.

In this situation I have to remember I'm only two over par. While I know I have to hit 3 off the tee (when you hit one out of bounds you lose stroke and distance. Golf is a cruel game...) at that point there's not a darn thing I can do about it. So if I get upset I'm probably looking at a big number. If I keep my cool I can salvage a bogie or worst case a double bogie. Let's say I take a double and I leave the 6th green at 4 over for my round, it's not that big a deal. The good news is I nut my second drive and cut the fairway in half, knock a 6 iron onto the green and two putt for double - a pretty good save for a man with my talent.

While the bounce in my step has flattened a bit on my way to the 7th, I'm feeling like I just had a moral victory. I say to myself - "it could have been a lot worse!" Tell me that little lesson doesn't apply in life. While we all get bad breaks (some we cause on our own) there's always someone who has it worse. Be thankful for the double bogie, it could have been the much despised eight aka "The Snowman". It's time to get over it and get ready for hole number 7.