When fear gets the better of you, everything goes awry. On the morning of the Iron Challenge, drama unfolded at Hole 18 of my Club; it definitely wasn’t tiredness that I felt. Hole 18 the Pacific Ocean being so vast visually, played my mind and created doubt.
The mental approach weakened and fear got the better of me when the planned third shot to cross the water didn’t make it. But I had to cross because the mode of play was stroke play. So when another ball dived, the mental strength started to collapse. Then another sploosh… and another sploosh…
That morning, I dunked an amazing six balls into the Pacific Ocean of the Par 5 Hole 18. It was quite a record for me I must say. All because of fear.
By the time, I finally crossed and got onto the green to hole out, all the progress that I did for the last 17 holes was wiped out with this one hole’s attempt. I took things in stride and even laughed about it.
In honesty, my mental strength was beaten to a pulp.
But like all good stories, there was light at the end of the tunnel. I was pleasantly surprised after the game, I was rewarded for my 2-under effort for the front nine. I certainly did not expect that! The six balls that dived was replaced with two tubes of brand new balls. A sense of positiveness was regained, recovering from the beaten mental experience.
Looking back, the phrase ‘golf without fear’ is so true here for one must never allow fear to get the better of you. I have to learn to master my thoughts better and hone my mental strength to be strong, not just the physical to play well and enjoy a good round of golf.
Angieneering 
Leave a Reply