Bubba Watson and Louis Oosthuizen both played brilliantly on Sunday. Bubba has never taken a lesson and Louis has the perfect swing. But there can only be one winner. However, if you listened to the media interviews, they asked some pretty ridiculous questions. “What happend on hole #17? “Why didn’t that putt go in?” “How are you going to prevent this from happening again?”
Despite the heated competition, golf is a game of intrinsic motivation. There is no opponent like there is in football, basketball, or baseball. You have no control over how other golfers play. Your opponent is the golf course, and yourself – period. When you are playing well (like Bubba Watson), you are in contention, and when you are not (like Tiger Woods), you have no chance. A golf scoreboard is a moving target. Just because you might find yourself 4 shots back, the leaders may come back to you. Happens all the time. After all, you are all playing the same holes with the same challenges.
Like life, you must expect adversity during a round of golf. Even the best players in the world hit it in the water, 3- putt, and have to scramble from time to time. If you think you’re going to have a mistake-free, 4 1/2 hour round of golf, think again. You must expect adversity, and WHEN it happens, you have to find a way to overcome it. (Just watch Phil Mickelson play golf sometime). Don’t be surprised when adversity strikes – in golf, or in life. It’s just around the corner. Are you surprised, or are you ready?
