The “Time Off” Effect

I was talking to a good friend last week about his 1st round of golf this year after taking about 8 months off. He began telling me how well he played and how the time away seemed to help. He hit a lot of good shots, putted well and put up a good score. This conversation led to a discussion on Time Off and why it often has a positive, but short lived, effect on our games.

So…why does time away from golf seem to temporarily help out?

The answer lies in expectations. Time away from the game tends to lower our expectations which puts our mind at ease on the first tee. We stand there with little to no expectation because we haven’t even touched a club for 8 months or whatever the time frame has been. This mental state of mind sends relaxation through our entire body and we play well. Many of you know that golf becomes so much easier when we are relaxed. Tension kills feel.

Great…we play well, then what happens? Then we get hooked on the game again and golf finds it’s way back into our schedule. We hit a few buckets of balls, head to the putting green at lunch and basically pick up where we had left off before the break. Eventually the next round of golf is scheduled but this time it’s different. This time we have expectations. The relaxed state of mind from before is gone. We no longer have the excuse of not touching a club for a while. Expectations return and with expectations comes pressure. Now what?

Now we must learn to control our state of mind and maintain focus on process and not results. This is so much easier said than done but it is possible. Practice as well as you can and then drop all expectation on the first tee and focus on process. Let the score falls where it may. We have to play like we don’t care even though we do. The key to this is focusing on process. We can’t control results, we can only control process. I’ve written about this topic in detail before so I’ll be brief.

Once the golf ball has been struck by the club, you are no longer in control. I hit a shot over the weekend down the middle of the fairway and it ended up in a deep divot. That result was completely out of my control. I controlled the only part I could, the process.

Next time expectations show up on the first tee, invite them in and use them in this way. Expect yourself to make good decisions around the course. Expect yourself to evaluate each shot and make the best club selection you can. Expect yourself to use the same pre shot routine before each shot. Expect yourself to execute to the best of your ability. Expect yourself to handle the emotional highs and lows of the round. Managing expectations by learning to focus on process is one of the key mental skills to help you shoot better scores. Pressure and butterflies never go away completely but learning to control our focus can help us deal with them more effectively.

Good luck next time you tee it up. Learn to manage expectations properly and you’ll see your scores improve.

Thanks for stopping by. See you again soon.

Mike Snyder
Twitter: @Mike_Snyder