Players regularly attend our golf schools expressing frustration about a wide assortment of things with their game. Among them are: inconsistency in their swing, not being able to take their practice shots onto the course, an array of putting difficulties, dealing with slow players, how wind or cold hampers their play. There is one thing that is common to all of these scenarios, as well as the hundreds of others not mentioned here. That common thread is that none of these things are completely within the player’s control.
Even for the professional and elite amateurs with whom I work there is an irrational notion that the harder one works and/or the more knowledge one gains about this game should somehow translate into having control over this game. When confronted directly with this, anyone who plays this game would admit they don’t have control over it. Yet, time and time again, people allow themselves to get caught up and distracted by the nuances of this game over which they don’t have complete control.
One way I recommend that players focus on those few things over which they do have control is by remembering the acronym ACE. Attitude, concentration, and effort (ACE) are the only things over which we have control in golf (and in life!). On the scorecard, I have the player give him or herself a score in each of these categories on a hole-by-hole basis. On a 1-10 scale, with ten being the highest, I want players to attend to and work on these three factors as they play casual or competitive rounds of golf.
What we see is a tremendous correlation between high ACE scores and lower stroke scores. The more we focus on that over which we have control, the less frustration, anxiety, worry and anger we will have on the course. This regularly translates into lower scores and a higher level of enjoyment of the game.
Obviously, simply attending to the ACE variables is not going to overcome a poor swing, the fact that the players in the group in front of you are slow, or the fact that the wind is blowing 30 mph. What reminding ourselves of ACE does do, however, is put us in the proper mind set to do all that we can to play the best that we can in that moment, whatever the conditions, and leave the rest for others to worry about!
