I have had my fair share of experiences out on tour this summer. One week your putting is great and the next it's not. Meanwhile, your ball striking is crap then you start hitting it great. Well, that kind of stuff happens, but it's how your mistakes impact your mental game that will determine if the next week, both come together.
Today, I hit the ball well but late in the round on the back nine I had three three-putts for no apparent reason but missing the 3'. My playing partner took an extremely long time to putt her 6' before each of my 3' and I'm not sure if that weighed in on my error but all of a sudden I didn't feel comfortable over that putt.
This is why golf can be so tough. You have everything going well, then one little thing can tweak your mental state and everything else is effected. Being out here on tour, I'm trying to learn some kickers that will offset those errors that turn into ruined rounds. I feel that I'm well on my way because I am making the mistakes. When you make mistakes, you grow. There isn't any other explanation than that. That is exactly what this tour is designed to do, and it is delivering. When you make those mistakes, you think about it for a day or two then work to fix it.
You can't take a missed cut personally. You have to focus on what happened during the round to create some uncomfortable feelings or errors in judgment and combat those feelings or address them for the next week. There is always another week to play well.
It's a lot like life. If you make a mistake, try and fix it for next time. If it doesn't work, then try something else. The way to drive yourself insane and out here, become so far in a rut that your confidence couldn't pull you out if you begged for it to, is to keep doing the same thing and expect a different result.
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