How do you motivate yourself to keep improving?

[cnosil]

I listened to a great podcast recently, one from Golf Science Lab and they had a mental coach on.  He made a great point about not trying to force positive thinking.  Too frequently, we hear that you must have a positive attitude over the ball; that we can't hit a shot if we have a negative thought.  And then we wind up worrying about the way we think, in addition to everything else we worry about on the golf course.  He suggested that we just accept negative thoughts like everything else, and just let them wash over us.  Let it come, let it go.  
My daughter did a great job of this yesterday.  She'd been stuck at the 150 yard mark of Operation 36 for a couple months now, and she puts a ton of pressure on herself.  She dealt with the pressure yesterday and canned a nice 5 footer for 36 to move up to the 200 yard level.
 

Congrats to you daughter!

[Malaka]

I watched a couple videos on breathing exercises to help with performance anxiety and lower heart rate, and have tried to use some of those on the course. You'd be amazed what having a clear head and good breathing will do to your golf game. I also believe they did a segment on breath control on a TXG video that I enjoyed as well. With so many mechanics and positions to worry about, sometimes the most effective way to play well is to calm down and have fun :)


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[GolfSpy AFG]

Great thread here; lots of stuff I identify with.

Me, like a lot of others, just an uber competitive guy with a complete inability to do something in moderation.  If I'm in, I'm all in.  Finding the motivation to work harder to keep improving has never been the challenge for me.  Having patience with myself is extraordinarily challenging, largely because I know what I'm capable of (I've seen me do it!) so I get pretty frustrated when I don't pull a shot off, or when I'm just overall inconsistent round-to-round.

Ours is a game that can't be beat, at the end of the day our opponent is ourselves.  How can you not be fired up to keep striving?!

[BMart519]

Motivation is different for everyone and ties into a lot of internal and external factors: 
Competition with friends and family, the time available in your life to play and practice and how that ties to other priorities like kids/family/work/hobbies. If the personal characteristics aren't inherent to drive you to improve, there is limited benefit to forcing it and grinding if you don't enjoy it. Just play casual rounds as time permits and enjoy the opportunity to get out in a relaxing setting for some recreation. 

Personally, stat tracking helps... If you can't be bothered working on putting anymore, it is helpful to see that 60-100 yard approaches, 20-30 yard chips as well as various full swing technique issues need work and pick something that you are more interested in at the time but you still know is helping your game and not mindlessly hitting balls. 

I like the idea of tying an equipment purchase to a scoring or handicap threshold... 

[Justincasalino]

The best way I've found to keep myself motivated and interested is to never stop looking for new things to learn. Whether its watching every single TXG video (sometimes multiple times) or finding new stories to read/listen to. If its connected to my game that's great but sometimes I find when you focus on your own game you can get into a rut at times. I have the luxury of working at a course and never have to go far to have a good conversation about the game. Then I feel motivated to go out and have a good story of my own. Makes me want to spend more time on the course and practicing.

Long story short, sometimes enjoying the big picture aspect of the game makes you enjoy and work harder on your personal game.

[Jackal]

I try to practice just to keep what I've got.

If my score drops, it feels like I'm a burden to my playing partners.

Sometimes,  a  change will happen, and my score will drop.

It is just a constant practice, and when a new area improves, it's a real bonus.

[Tanky]

53 minutes ago, Jackal said:

I try to practice just to keep what I've got.

If my score drops, it feels like I'm a burden to my playing partners.

Sometimes,  a  change will happen, and my score will drop.

It is just a constant practice, and when a new area improves, it's a real bonus.

to elaborate on the playing partners, if they are better than you it can be very motivating too. Yes, you don't wanna kill the pace of play, but you also want to give them a run for their money.

[Micah T]

to elaborate on the playing partners, if they are better than you it can be very motivating too. Yes, you don't wanna kill the pace of play, but you also want to give them a run for their money.

Playing with people better than me always helps me improve: it was the same with skiing/snowboarding: I have no evidence to prove it, but someone who’s game is in a groove helps me find mine...


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[DubiousPro]

As a perfectionist it comes naturally. Sure the love of the game helps immensely, but on the days I want to throw my clubs away I somehow hit that one shot that give me a high and then I start thinking surely if I did it once I could do it again. That motivates me more than my goals of winning tournaments.