Avoiding the ‘Blow-up’ Holes

As a golfer, I was impressed with a short story by Zig Ziglar. It’s called “Never Follow a Bad Shot with a Bad Decision.” This story is in Ziglar's book, Something Else to Smile About. Here's the story. In this story, the golfer is a man but could be just as easily a woman.

“As an avid golfer, I'm often puzzled by the actions of the typical high-handicap golfer. With a driver in hand, he steps up to the tee box, takes his stance, thinks the shot through, and hits the ball about 210 yards to the right, where it lands amid some trees. He walks or rides to the ball, looks at the six-foot opening, and determines that all he's got to do to reach the green is hit the ball 175 yards through that opening, send it over the lake, and fade the ball over the bunker to land on the green." (Ed’s note: Golfers are like dogs - they live in perpetual hope).

Zig continues with the story. "Let me remind you of the scenario; He just missed a roughly sixty yards wide fairway with a ball teed up and in perfect position. He believes he can go through a six-foot opening for his second shot and make the ball act as it does when one of the top touring pros on the PGA Tour hits it. With confidence that generally goes with ignorance, he steps up, fires away, and hits the ball into the lake. In anger and disgust, he hits the ball over the green into the sand bunker. Two strokes later, he's on the green where he two-putts for a disastrous quadruple-bogey-8.”

What’s the lesson here? He followed a bad shot with a bad decision, costing him. Following up a bad shot with a bad decision in golf and life generally leads to blowup holes. The blowup holes in golf are the holes that ruin your scorecard. Golf is one of those games where less is more. The lower the score, the better you did. As a golfer, the more blowup holes you have, the sooner you see a counselor.  

Golf is a great game to learn some life lessons, the first of which is humility and wisdom. As the stock market joke goes about your investments, the broker makes money, the broker’s firm makes money, and two out of three is not bad. In the case of golf, the golf club manufacturer makes the money, the golf course makes the money, and two out of three is not bad.

Who makes the money in golf? Hint – it’s not you. All you wanted was a new hobby and to enjoy some exercise and get out of doors. Now you have an expensive set of golf clubs, a frustrating life, a mediocre golf swing, and 118-degree days to play golf if you live in Phoenix, Arizona, in the summer.

Often, you and I are like golfers in the game of life who have blowup holes. We triple our trouble by making a bad shot and following it up with a wrong decision. Then we compound that bad shot by denying it, defending it, lying about it, or rationalizing it instead of quietly thinking about it through, acknowledging the mistake, or working through the consequences of the mistake in a logical, forthright manner. That's called damage control. And you can do it if fallen emotions don't guide your decision.

I’ll access Philip Brunstetter’s wisdom about decision-making in times of bad decisions after bad shots. "There are no born decision-makers. The most successful decision-makers follow rules that help them select the best alternative. The basic rules for decision-making involve six steps. (1) State the apparent problem or situation you face. (2) Gather the facts. (3) Organize and interpret the facts. (4) State the real problem or situation. (5) Develop alternative solutions. (6) Select the most appropriate alternative.”

My advice is for you to decide to use those six steps. I know what you're thinking. "I really want to hit that ball out of the forest. I know I can do it. It will work out this time." That's what I feel like when I'm playing golf. Somehow, I will do what Tiger Woods can't or won't even do. Here’s advice for you from the first Star Wars movie in 1977. “CP3O, let the Wookie win.”

Do you know what? The idea I'm writing about today is good advice in golf and life. I like to play golf in Pinetop, Arizona. There's plenty of forest there to blow up in. Being a typical high-handicap golfer, I used to try to hit my errant ball through narrow gaps at the green. Inevitability, my ball would ricochet off several trees and end up further in the forest. I became who and what I am writing about. All I had to do was hit the ball sideways to the fairway, regroup, and then I could limit the damage.

What did I do to lower my score? I started making better decisions after making a bad shot. Now I don't have as many blowup holes as before. I’ve limited my mistakes and maximized my score. I even shot a 41 the other day on nine holes. Of course, being golf, I shot a 51 the next day. Don't believe those golf advertisements. Golf is a four-letter word. Humm, life is a four-letter word, too. Just saying.

I double-dog dare you to live a better life. How? Follow up the bad shots that you will make with good decisions. And may the course be with you!