Golf Flow

opportunity to demonstrate your passion for the game and to become fully engaged in the event. Remember, golf is a process of long-term learning, and the knowledge that you gain each week adds to your self-awareness and strengthens your game.
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Orientation Shapes Experience
    On the professional tours that I frequent, the characteristics of mastery golfers and ego golfers manifest themselves in interesting ways. Mastery golfers approach a round of golf with the mind-set of trying to play the golf course the best way they know how. They are consistent in their mannerisms and motivations; their Thursday preparation is the same as their Sunday preparation. Their effort level remains constant whether the shot is for a birdie, par, or bogey. Their challenge is to get into their routine, stick to their game plan, and commit to every shot regardless of the circumstance. Mastery golfers treat every situation with the same focus and intensity, and they realize that when they are thinking properly, there are no easy shots and no hard shots. There are only golf shots.
    On the other hand, ego golfers tend to play with the aim of making the cut or, sometimes, not missing the cut. When near the lead, their energy and intensity feeds off what other golfers are doing. Because their efforts are focused on the competition rather than getting the most out of their game, they tend to play to the level of the competition. Frequently, this tendency manifests itself as playing down to the level of their competition and scoring worse than golfers with inferior skills and abilities. Their confidence and stress levels change according to how other golfers are playing and from the results of their own shots. As such, they finish a round of golf emotionally drained and feeling that they have no control over their own confidence—which, of course, they don’t.
    Playing golf with a mastery orientation is deeply and fundamentally important because this mind-set buffers golfers against the type of panic triggered by the changeable nature of the performances and approval of others. Playing for mastery reasons rather than to feed or protect the ego makes it possible for golfers to absorb the natural fluctuations inherent in the game. Regardless of how much progress they find themselves making, mastery golfers engage continuously in the process of learning, refining, and improving. Their commitment to this process does not waver. Regardless of the surprises and disappointments of the game, they continue to view golf as a challenge and focus their attention on the golf course rather than on the other golfers, the score, or the crowd. For mastery golfers, the process and motivation remain constant.
    Ultimately, becoming a mastery golfer requires a pure type of motivation. Because golf presents endless and novel challenges, success at the game requires the type of person who derives satisfaction from kaizen, who has a love of challenge. Consistent with the love of challenge, mastery golfers have a love of experience and a love for learning and growth independent of performance outcomes. As a golfer moves higher up the golfing ladder, the measure of improvement is typically delayed and fickle, often coming long before it is reflected in scoring. This outcome is especially true for more skilled golfers, for whom improvement comes in smaller and more nuanced increments. Of all the reasons to become a mastery golfer, perhaps the most important is this: Research studies have shown that a mastery orientation is significantly related to the ability to generate flow.

Chapter 7
Growth Mind-Set to Adapt to Changes
    Despite the degree to which they help us transcend ordinary abilities, flow states are real and happen to normal golfers all over the world. This idea suggests that human beings are walking around every day of their lives with untapped reserves of potential. Like an overlooked gold mine with reserves of bullion, people have untapped reserves of energy, alertness, clarity, and potential.
    Many psychologists use assessments and intervention methods to gauge and guide clients toward normalcy. They give personality tests, IQ tests, reading tests—all to discover how individuals compare with the norm. When people stray too far beyond acceptable, conforming behaviors, the psychological community labels their behaviors as abnormal, deviant, or extreme. Efforts are made to standardize behaviors and performance. This preference for normalcy may help a