Play alone to reach your top golf
Every round of golf is a blessing, so enjoy the chemistry of your golf group, whether it consists of boisterous bantering, supportive golf companionship, or somewhere in between. Also consider that there are some good reasons to play golf alone from time to time.
The most basic reason to play alone is that it is hard to learn when you are distracted. Improving your golf swing involves creating new habits and exploring your swing with focused attention. Deepening awareness of your swing requires focusing on subtle cues, practicing proper breathing and reinforcing your ideal tempo. None of these is easy to do with other people around. Your golf group will not welcome your taking time to create, modify, or explore your swing, let alone play a second or third shot. You would inevitably slow the pace of play.
Playing alone allows you to exercise your freedom to explore, innovate, or fail, without external reactions or judgments. If all that is not enough there is another reason to play alone – to melt quietly into the beauty of the world around you. You are more free to explore golf mindfulndess meditation.
Even if you decide not to play alone, it is worth learning to recognize the distractions that commonly take place with other golfers around. The most benign distractions consist of simple, good-natured conversation…the chit-chat of everyday golf. Other golfers should care less about your game; however, social theory points out that most of the people around you prefer that your game stays the same so as not to disturb the status quo of their world. It’s reassuring to others to see you continue with your usual outcomes.
Other golfers may engage in distracting gamesmanship. The culture of betting, anywhere from from $1 to high stakes is as much a part of the game as clubs and balls. Who hasn’t had to manage comments like “you haven’t missed a fairway all day” or “ I’ve never seen a streak of pars like this before.” Some people are actually rooting against you because for them golf is about their own self-esteem and your success is their failure. Good luck trying to evolve your game if you play with this type of person too often. Well-meaning partners may offer unsolicited, over-generalized golf tips such as “take it back more, keep your elbow in” or whatever tip of the day happens to be working for them at the moment. Pity the poor golfer who lurches from one superficial tip to the next – a sure road to nowhere.
Even under the best of circumstances, there are pressures in social golf that turn your best intentions to learn into narrow, performance goals where you start thinking “I have to play well to look good in front of these people.” So it’s not just what others are “doing to you” but it’s your own psychological needs that have to be recognized and managed.
Eventually, all great golfers learn to tune out distractions. However, the impenetrable focus of a Jack Nicklaus or Tiger Woods would just be viewed as anti-social behavior in our games. While social golf is about enjoying the people you’re with, there are times when you need to separate yourself from others to learn. When playing alone all you are dealing with is your own inner world - that can be more than enough. When you play alone you are much more likely to discover that there is no corner of the golf course that is not full of excitement, and rich with unsolved problems.
Playing alone from time to time will speed your progress in moving out of the cycle of desire and frustration into a zone of authenticity and fulfillment. It will reinforce your progress away from concerns of looking good for other people towards your own internal engagement and presence. Playing from time to time can be a core component of golf mindfulness and awareness coaching. Golf is social but the game is private. Eventually you will find there is no distinction between playing alone and playing with other golfers.