Jump to content

How do you motivate yourself to keep improving?


Tanky

Recommended Posts

Love it great topic. As other have alluded to I am just competitive by blood. Runs in the family I think. My drive to get better is to beat the next person that’s better than me. Of course started with my dad. Sorry dad @Placasse61but after that first win I cannot think of another time since then that he has 😂. So on down the line. My uncle Tim was always that person to beat in the family. Close to scratch golfer and as of late has been struggling a little but I beat him for the first time 2 weeks ago. Next up will be my cousin Dave who is really good, we’ll see if I can do it.

i do like this adaption of buying yourself something at increments, that’s a good drive. Like others on here I’m a CH now and I see shiny stuff 😂

love the topic

  • Like 3

Check out my reviews:

:ping-small:  G710 Irons Official Review

:Fuji: MC Shaft & :EVNROLL: V Series Putter Official Review

Rhoback Golf Attire  (Unofficial)

ParSaver Divot Tool  (Unofficial)

Taylormade SIM 3 Wood  (Unofficial)

WITB:

Weapons of grass destruction (link to WITB)

:ping-small: Traverse is filled with all this shiny metal and tracked by :Arccos:

:cobra-small: RadSpeed 8* - MotoreX F1 6X :taylormade-small: SIM 3W - Project X HZRDUS Green

:titleist-small: U505 Driving Iron 17* - Project X HZRDUS Black :cobra-small: SpeedZone 4H - Project X HZRDUS Black

:cobra-small: 2022 King Forged Tec's 4-PW - KBS $ Tape 130 :titelist-small: 48 (SM8), 52 & 60 (SM7) - Nippon Modus 125 S 

:EVNROLL: ER2VI :titelist-small: PROV1X #19 

🇺🇸Thank you to all those that have served/are serving and God Bless America 🇺🇸

Link to comment
20 hours ago, Tanky said:

I'd love to hear from other hackers what you do to stay motivated when the going gets tough?

Since i'm a proud golf bum aka thrift store7udget golfer, every-time I break into a new HCP segment I buy something new/fitted.

When I broke 20, I bought, new Adidas shoes, when I broke 15 I got a fitted Cobra driver. Breaking 10 will mean some new cutlery (irons) for me...

I keep my score cards to motivate myself and see where I need improving. 

  • Like 3

WITB:

 

Driver:   :taylormade-small: Sim2 Max w/ Fujikura Motore X F3 shaft

FW Wood:   :cobra-small:  F9 wood 14.5* 

Hybrids:  :taylormade-small: Sim2 Max 3 Hybrid & :nike-small: Vapor Flex 4 hybrid  

Irons:  :srixon-small: Z565 - 7 thru PW & ZU85 - 5 thru 6 with Recoil ZT9 F4 shafts                                            

Wedges:   :cleveland-small: RTX4 52*, 56*, 60* 

Putter:  Scotty Cameron M2 Newport

Ball:  :Snell: Black & :titelist-small: Pro V1

Bag: 2018 MyGolfSpy stand Bag & 2021 Greenside Golf stand bag

 

 

Link to comment

As many others have said being a bit competitive has helped me. Like many first I wanted to beat my dad, then move up the ranks in my high school team, and now more try to beat my best. It took some time personally to transition to this mentality after competing throughout college. I think joining a league or something of the like would be great. 

Also for those that have mentioned mental improvement I really like the books by Dr. Bob Rotella. He has few and they are all short but have some great tips that I like to read from time to time to keep my mind in the right place.

  • Like 3

:callaway-small: Epic Max LS 9° :Fuji: Ventus Blue 6X  (2021 Official Review)
:callaway-small: Epic Speed 15°  Project X HZRDUS Black HAND-CRAFTED Wood Shaft - Spargo Golf Smoke iM10 60g  6.0 | :callaway-small: Epic Speed 18° Evenflow Riptide 70g 6.0
:titelist-small: 816 H1 21° Mitsubishi Motors Mitsubishi Chemical Holdings Chemical industry Mitsubishi  Rayon Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation, mitsubishi, blue, company png |  PNGEgg Diamana S+ Blue 70 S | :mizuno-small: JPX 919 HM Pro  5-PW  :Fuji:  Pro Tour Spec 115i S
:ping-small: Glide 4.0 50°.12°S/54°.14°W/58°.6°T PING Z-Z115 Wedge Flex | :cleveland-small:  SOFT 11S Super Stroke Mid-Slim 2.0
:ping-small: Hoofer Bag | :titelist-small: Pro V1 | Right Handed | Tracked by :ShotScope: V3

Link to comment

Nowadays the main thing I think about is enjoyment and fun. Yes I like to improve so every now and then I get a lesson or I video my swing and compare it to a video of my swing from 10 years ago. It is amazing what changes as you get older and in my case I had a painful illness for 5 years which meant I developed so interesting habits.

  • Like 3

Callaway Epic Flash 9 Degree

Callaway Epic Flash 3 wood 15 Degree

Callaway Apex 21 Hybrid 19 Degree

Callaway Steelhead Pro 4-AW Irons

Cleveland 54 Degree Wedge Steel Shaft

Recoil Graphite Shafts in all Callaway

Cobra Vintage Series Stingray 40

Preferred ball - Seed 001

Link to comment
On 10/16/2020 at 12:25 PM, Tanky said:

I'd love to hear from other hackers what you do to stay motivated when the going gets tough?

Since i'm a proud golf bum aka thrift store7udget golfer, every-time I break into a new HCP segment I buy something new/fitted.

When I broke 20, I bought, new Adidas shoes, when I broke 15 I got a fitted Cobra driver. Breaking 10 will mean some new cutlery (irons) for me...

I am lucky as I never really think about the previous hole. Can't do anything about it now. My biggest issue is loosing concentration. Two factors seem to affect me, usually when I am playing well, it happens on the 13-14 hole, you know you have 26-28 points after 12 and when you leave 14 you are still 28-30 points. It usually takes a few holes before I finally start thinking again.

The second is slow play, if I have to wait more than a few minutes to play a shot off the fairway I usually stuff it up.

 

Edited by Firebird
  • Like 3

Callaway Epic Flash 9 Degree

Callaway Epic Flash 3 wood 15 Degree

Callaway Apex 21 Hybrid 19 Degree

Callaway Steelhead Pro 4-AW Irons

Cleveland 54 Degree Wedge Steel Shaft

Recoil Graphite Shafts in all Callaway

Cobra Vintage Series Stingray 40

Preferred ball - Seed 001

Link to comment
On 10/17/2020 at 5:17 AM, jddaigneault said:

I’m by nature entirely too competitive, so until I break par consistently I will not be satisfied. That being said, I make note of positives from every round. It’s easy to beat myself up over the bad shots but it’s the good ones that keep you going back. What did I do well in hitting that approach shot? How do I replicate the physical and mental approach of that moment to get more consistent? To me, that’s just fun. 

I was just talking to a former golfer who is playing D1 golf about this yesterday. He said it perfectly. “No one makes it to the next level unless they fall in love with the process.” Find your joy in improving, grab it by the reins, and run with it. If you’re not having fun you’re doing it wrong. 

I assume you read the Zen Golf book! hahahah

Was a great eye opener for me.

  • Like 2

🤙

Link to comment
On 10/16/2020 at 4:39 PM, bens197 said:

One of the best mental tips I ever received applies to golf but also to life. 
 

“Be careful what you think, your thoughts steer your life.”

As a hovering 3-8 handicap, I acknowledge that there will be doubles, missed greens and 3 putts. Keeping perspective and managing my expectations of my own game, I can let a missed opportunity or a poor shot go. If I remind myself to say hey, clean slate on this shot, the opportunity to make a good swing is better in a positive mindset. 

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.

 

  • Like 5

What's in the bag:
Driver - :cobra-small: F8 - Aldila NV Blue 60 ( S )
3 Wood (16*) - :cobra-small: F8 - Aldila NV Blue 60 ( S )
3 Hybrid (19*) - :taylormade-small: RBZ
4i - PW - :wilson_staff_small: D7 Forged - Recoil 760 ( S )
GW - LW - :cobra-small: F8 - N.S. Pro Modus3 Tour105 ( S )
Putter - :ping-small: Craz-e
Bag - :1590477705_SunMountain: 2.5 (Black)
Ball -  :taylormade-small: TP5X Pix
Instagram - @hardcorelooper
Twitter - @meovino
Facebook - mike.eovino

 

 

Link to comment
6 hours ago, Tanky said:

I assume you read the Zen Golf book! hahahah

Was a great eye opener for me.

Hello Amazon...

  • Like 2

Taylormade M5 Driver

Cobra F9 3 Wood

Srixon ZX5 4-6 Iron

Srixon ZX7 7-PW

Taylormade MG2 Wedges 50/55/60

Taylormade Spider X Putter

Link to comment
6 hours ago, HardcoreLooper said:

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 your Daughter!!

There is a lot of discussion on how toxic positivity can be equally detrimental as toxic negativity.  I completely agree with that premise of forcing positive thoughts...especially when it contradicts your personality traits.

If you’re into the mental game, check out Daniel Kahneman.  He is a Nobel Prize winner and a brilliant behavioral psychologist.   His book “Thinking Fast & Slow” is really fascinating and has a lot of thought provoking content that’s easily translatable into golf. 

  • Like 3
  • Titleist TSI3 LAGolf DJ 65 5
  • TaylorMade SIM2 3 wood Fujilkura Ventus Blue 7-X
  • Mizuno HMB MP20 3i Nippon Modus 3 120S
  • Mizuno Pro 223 4-P Nippon Modus 3 115X
  • Vokey SM8 50, SM9 54 & 60  Nippon Modus 3 120s
  • L.A.B. MEZZ.1 LAGolf P135 
  • Srixon Z-Star XV Divide

Western, NY - Go Bills!

5.1 Index

Link to comment
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!
  • Like 5

Driver:  :ping-small: G400 Max 9* w/ KBS Tour Driven
Fairway: :titelist-small: TS3 15*  w/Project X Hzardous Smoke
Hybrids:  :titelist-small: 915H 21* w/KBS Tour Graphite Hybrid Prototype
                :titelist-small: 915H  24*  w/KBS Tour Graphite Hybrid Prototype        
Irons:      :honma:TR20V 6-11 w/Vizard TR20-85 Graphite
Wedge:  :titleist-small: 54/12D, 60/8M w/:Accra iWedge 90 Graphite
Putter:   :seemore-small: mFGP2

Backups:  :taylormade-small:TM-180, :odyssey-small: Milled Collection RSX 2, Bellum Winmore 787, logo-horizontal-black.svg Directed Force 2.1 

Member:  MGS Hitsquad since 2017697979773_DSCN2368(Custom).JPG.a1a25f5e430d9eebae93c5d652cbd4b9.JPG

 

Link to comment

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 :)


Sent from my moto g(7) power using Tapatalk

  • Like 6

WITB

Driver: :srixon-small: Z785 , Hazardous 6.0 (Normal)

3 Wood: :srixon-small: F85 @ 13.5* Hazardous Red 6.0 (Stiff)

Driving Iron/Utility: :srixon-small: ZU85 2iron @ 18*

Irons: 5-PW, :cleveland-small: 588CB w/ TT S300's  (Stiff)

Wedge: :cleveland-small: RTX4 Satin, 50*/Mid, 56*/Mid and 60*/Low

Putter: :cleveland-small:Portofino

Bag: :srixon-small: Stand Bag

Link to comment

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?!

  • Like 1

Driver: :titleist-small: TSR2, :Fuji:Ventus Blue 6 S, 65g Stiff

FW: :titleist-small: TSR2 3w, 15,  :Fuji:Ventus Blue 7 S, 70g Stiff

Hybrids:  :callaway-small: Apex Pro 3H, :Fuji:Ventus Blue 8 S, 80g Stiff

            :taylormade-small: Stealth DHY 4H, :Fuji:Ventus Blue 8 S, 80g Stiff

Irons: :mizuno-small:JPX 919 Forged 5-GW, Aerotech Steelfiber i95 Stiff

Wedges: :vokey-small:SM9 54 S Grind bent to 55, 60 M Grind bent to 59, Aerotech Steelfiber i110 Stiff

Putter: :odyssey-small: White Hot OG Double Wide, Stroke Lab shaft

Ball: :titelist-small: Pro V1

Click here for my HONMA TR20 Official Review!  :honma:

Click here for my Arccos Caddie Bundle Official Review!   :Arccos:

Link to comment

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... 

  • Like 2

:cobra-small: F9 Driver 9*

:cobra-small: Baffler hybrids some combo of 2H-5H

:callaway-small: APEX CF19 6-AW

:ping-small: G700 4i, Glide 2.0 54, 58*

:edel-golf-1: EAS 2.0

Link to comment

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.

  • Like 2

Callaway XHot pro 8.5°

Ping G410 lst @13.5°

Adams idea hybrid 18°

4-Pw Titleist Ap2 716

Callaway Xhot A wedge

Clevland 52° cg12 and 56° cg16

Odyssey Versa #7

Link to comment

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.

Always chasing different clubs

Link to comment
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.

  • Like 1

🤙

Link to comment
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...


Sent from my iPhone using MyGolfSpy
  • Like 1

 

Driver - Cobra LtDxLS

3 Wood - Ping g410 LST

2iron - Titleist U505

Irons - Ping i59

Wedges - Vokey Sm9

Putter - Mizuno Mcraft IV

 

Link to comment

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. 

It's 90% Mental

Link to comment

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Restore formatting

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...