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THE POWER OF NEGATIVE THINKING
This article is primarily for older and experienced golfers. Beginners and young people are concerned mainly in hitting the ball. They have not lived long enough, in the world of golf, to have experienced the extensive trauma related to the game. Their time will come.
Everyone knows that the laws of averages apply in golf. For every good break you will have a bad break. You have learned that the good breaks will usually happen early in the round and are inconsequential, while the bad breaks will come at a critical time and will be devastating. After you have played a number of years, you will become aware of this fact. Having acquired some good breaks early in the round; you will play the remainder of the round living in fear waiting for the inevitable bad breaks. Your fear of this happening will usually help you create the bad break.
Having a good day with the putter and knocking in everything? Everyone has been commenting on your great putting. Inwardly, you know that you are really not that good, and you know that somewhere before the end of the round, you are going to choke on an important putt. You will succeed in that category also.
The second shortest period of time known to man is the time it takes a golfer to go from being a positive thinker to a negative thinker. It will usually take only one bad swing, or one bad break, to completely destroy the confidence of a golfer. Incidentally, the shortest period of time is the elapsed time between the traffic light changing to green, and the man behind you blowing his horn.
After a person has developed a good golf game, the mental part of the game becomes more prevalent. Any person, who has ever played for a buck or two, will at times have to resort to a form of "dirty pool" against his opponent. This is another way of working on your opponent's mind. It comes under the classification of "psychological warfare." It can be a very simple remark, such as, "You are certainly playing well since you have changed your swing." Of course this guy hasn't changed his swing, but you will have to illustrate some fake little movement on the top of the swing. He will be all through for the rest of the day.
It is also a good move to remind your opponent, who has a slice, that the wind sure is blowing hard from left to right. He will either pull it to the left, or hit a granddaddy of a slice. The "gorilla" is one of the easiest to work on. On the tee, you can causally remark, "Would you believe that I played with a guy last week who hit this green with a drive and an 8 iron." He is going to do it with a drive and a wedge. He might find his ball.
During the years that I was a Pro in Richmond, VA. I played a lot of golf with Walter Hagen Jr. He was a clone of his father, and was a very good golfer. He knew all of the tricks of his father, plus many new ones. I think he used me to practice new methods of distraction. It got to the point where I would just look at him, and would wonder what he was going to pull on me next. The first one he ever pulled on me was related to marking his ball on the green. His ball was in my line and I asked him to spot his ball. He came back behind my ball and looked down the line. He then proceeded to mark his ball to the right. I said, "No, Walter, to the left." He came back and looked down my line again, and said, "If you say so." Now I didn't know which way it broke. (He should have marked it to the left) One day I was giving him a working over and he pressed me on the 18th hole. He then said, "Fred, you are a golf pro and know everything about the golf swing. "Do you hold your breath on the top of your back swing." I knew what he was doing to me, but I really didn't know. After about 10 practice swings, I still didn't know. He won the press.
The only time I have ever heard of Walter Hagen Sr. being outsmarted, was the time he was riding on a train, and in the seat in front of him were two other younger pros. One of them was Harry Cooper. Cooper said in a loud voice, "Who is this guy Hagen? I don't think he is any better than me." Hagen reached over and tapped him on the shoulder and said something to the effect, "I'm Hagen, When would you like to have a go at me, son?" Cooper said, "Let's get off at the next stop." The next stop happened to be Cooper's hometown and he was raised on the golf course. He beat Hagen.
Harry Cooper was the 1937 leading money winner on the PGA. He won a tournament on our old golf course in 1939 and, while they’re, traded in h is old bag for a new one we had in our shop, and I inherited his old bag. It had his name and 1937 written on the side. I sold that bag, and my clubs to enable me to buy a ring for the most beautiful girl I had ever seen. (That was a bad move) A year later I got the ring back and sold it and bought another set of clubs. (That was a good move.) Incidentally, his golf game did not come with the bag.
Gardner Dickinson Jr. played at my club in Florida in the early 50's. He was an amateur at the time and had won just about everything there was to win in our part of the country. Gardner and I eventually became friends, but I didn't like him the first time I met him. Gardner had convinced himself that he was the greatest player in the world, and had an arrogant air about him that rubbed me wrong.
Later, Gardner turned pro and went on the Tour. His self-confidence allowed him to win money in 13 out of his first 15 events and he was doing well until he played with Ben Hogan. Hogan complimented him on his game and suddenly he became a "Hogan Worshiper." He decided that he was going to pattern his game after Hogan's. He went to work for Hogan and tried to copy not only Hogan's golf swing, but all of his mannerisms as well. On the Tour they used to call him Gardner Hogan Dickinson. Gardner did win some tournaments, but the hard work and change from his natural swing caused some very serious back problems that finished him as a competitor.
At some time, nearly every great golfer has gone into a slump. Some manage to recover, while others become mired down and never really recover. Many players, in order to try to recover, become victims of “Analysis Paralysis,” and never find the “Lost Chord/”s
The only thing positive about your golf game, is that somewhere between hole number one, and hole number eighteen, is that somewhere in that round your positive thoughts will become negative.