A Good Way to Accept Bad Shots

I was talking with a player recently who really struggles getting negative with themselves after bad shots. She feels dejected and annoyed when she hits bad ones. I think we can all relate.

She's a D1 college player, so she has a really good coach at her school. So they came up with a great way for her to work on better acceptance after a bad shot.

Every time she hits a bad shot, instead of just moving on to the next one, make another good practice swing after she hits. In essence she's replacing the bad swing with a good one. Jim Furyk does it. I've seen Dustin Johnson do it. They are giving themselves that one reminder of what a good swing feels like before walking down the fairway. They want to have good memories in their mind.

By the end of the round she may have hit a bunch of bad shots, but she also made a ton of good swings. This is an intentional way to take control of your thought process during the round.

This is an intentional way to take control of your thought process during the round.

This is just one good way to accept a bad shot and move one, but why is acceptance important in the first place? It's being able to move on from a shot or a hole and hit the next one with full commitment and trust. That's the most important thing in golf. Hitting the next shot with full commitment and trust. And the ONLY way to do that is fully accepting the previous one.

If you've tried just mentally accepting and moving on, but to no avail, give this post-shot practice swing technique a try. It's a great tangible, physical way to teach yourself acceptance.