Nothing is better, I believe, than having a positive attitude. I believe when you have a positive attitude, life is easier and happier.
I have only been playing golf for about a year and a half now, and I can see the difference not only in my swing, but also my attitude. I never saw myself as a good golfer and my self-esteem wasn’t very high. Over the summer I started to go to a new private instructor. He is this great Scottish guy with an amazing accent and funny, sarcastic remarks. I am not kidding when I say this man can seriously work miracles. He is like the god of golf and more importantly, self-esteem. Just going to lessons with him over the summer, I shaved about 15- 20 strokes off of my score, which I like to think as a minor miracle. Yes, he taught me how to swing a golf club, but what I really learned about was how to have a positive attitude and confidence.
When tryouts came along in early August, I shot horrible on the first, second and third day. By this time I was feeling crappy and I wondered why I even played this sport. Although I shot horrible, I made the team and the practices started. One day when we were playing a round, and one of the girls came up to me and said, “Kyle, you are playing so much better than you ever did last year, I am really proud of you”. That one comment made me so happy, and the next day I shot really well. As the season progressed and my scores lowered, my confidence and attitude grew higher. I realized my instructor was right. The driving and putting is important, but having a positive attitude is key, for the game of golf.
Last week was another bump in the road, where the only thing that could get me out of my slump was being positive. I was shooting horribly; the freshmen were even beating me, bringing in the low score while the coach looked at me with a confused face. Just the week before, I had been shooting really well, and had even shot my personal best. I wasn’t sure what was wrong with me, so I went for a lesson. At my lesson I was hitting them far and straight, and I was utterly confused. My instructor apparently had the same thought until he asked me how my attitude had been. Right there it clicked, and I realized I was having a bad week, bringing the negative attitude with me to golf. I was so mad at myself, and from there on I have tried to keep up a good attitude and my scores have lowered significantly. In the end, I believe that having a positive attitude is what gets us through our tough times in life.