I’ve recently qualified as a Mental Golf Type Coach. (Have a read of my last blog post to find out more about Mental Golf Type). By taking the free test from Mental Golf Type you will be one step closer to knowing what attitude is best for you on the golf course. For online line lessons in MGT please contact me and we can set up an online consultation. If your in Sweden it would be great to meet in person.

We often hear you must have a good attitude on the golf course but what does this really mean? Have you ever consciously thought about what attitude would be the best for you on the golf course? Have you ever consciously tried to maintain a consistent attitude for the entirety of a round? Have you ever reflected on or analysed your attitude after a round?

I’ve seen many a player finish a round with steam coming out of their ears and make a beeline straight to the range or the putting green to fix the problem then hole 50 3ft putts in a row or flush it on the range to cure themselves of the problem. Then go out the next day under the gun and make the same mistakes again. Taking time to reflect on their attitude could well have been a better use of their time.

Attitude

Before you lace up your shoes, even before you get to the golf course,  even the night or week before, decide what attitude you want to bring to the golf course. We get to choose our attitude, don’t let a poor attitude choose you. Then it’s all about doing the hard work of having the discipline to stick to our desired attitude. I would strongly recommend writing down your chosen attitude with a pen and paper. This will help solidify the idea and help you commit to the learning process.

In psychology, there are four different types of attitudes identified here is a breakdown of them:

Positive

Negative 

Neutral

Sikken

Positive Attitude

A positive attitude can lead to confidence, happiness, sincerity and determination. All great characteristics of a great golfer (highly recommended attitude by the impactbag.com golf blog). When you think back to your best rounds you’ll find that your attitude on those days was positive. You were possibly determined and resilient, nothing much bothered you and things just fell into place.

Negative Attitude

A negative attitude can lead to anger, doubt, and frustration. This is a strangely popular choice of attitude for golfers and we have all played with them and possibly been guilty of taking this attitude to the course with us or often walking off the 18th hole with it. What’s important is that from now on you spot the negative impostor rising and crush it before it spirals out of control. Tiger Wood used the 10-step rule after a bad shot. He’d get mad but after 10-steps he let the shot go and moved on to the next one with an amazing new attitude.

Neutral Attitude

A neutral attitude can help remove doubt and hope, keeping you even-keeled to help ignore any problems that could arise. You meet success and failure with the same response maintaining stability and consistency of character. You don’t care too much or too little. Your content with where you are. This is a pretty good option for certain Mental Golf Types and great for combatting pressure situations. For those of you who work with your breathing or mindfulness on the golf course, a neutral attitude is good for you. If you are more introverted this is also a go-to option.

Sikken Attitude

A sikken attitude is very destructive and seeks to destroy any positive image that it comes in contact with. It’s a negative attitude on steroids and very common among Saturday and Sunday medal golfers worldwide. I’m not sure if anyone chooses a sikken attitude on the golf course, but it’s certainly lurking in the shadows. Next time you walk past that bin with a shaft and grip sticking out of it, you’ll know that someone in the group ahead, or in the clubhouse brooding over a pint was possessed by a sikken attitude.

Your Attitude

So pick an attitude and as a first task write it down. As a second task try to commit to that attitude for an entire round. When writing down your chosen attitude do some forward planning. Think about the situations that can arise that could make you switch attitudes. It could be a bad shot. It could be a playing partner talking on your backswing, a missed putt, or a bad bounce. The more scenarios you can think of, the more prepared you will be to cope with the adversity a round of golf will throw at you. Make an action plan for what you will do to get your attitude back on track. It could be the 10-step rule, it could be to make a joke with your playing partners.

As a Mental Golf Type coach I know your personality will determine how you should react to conserve your mental energy and maintain a good attitude. You can contact me for private lessons for your personal Mental Golf Type or I can highly recommend taking the online Level 1 course to get lifetime access to all 4 facets of your Mental Golf Type. 

Take the free test here with my affiliate code. https://www.mentalgolftype.com/a/39011/EBtAocPM

I hope you enjoyed this blog post and that it has an impact on your game. Please contact me with any questions on michaelparrypga@outlook.com

Michael

Stockholm, November 2022