Today was my first day back on the course since August!  One of the longest breaks I have ever taken from golf, but one that was necessary.  I will get into more of what I have been doing for my game in the interim down the road, but one that I wanted to share with you today is the concept of acceptance.

Although it’s a word we all hear a lot throughout our life, it was first introduced to me in a athletics setting two years ago from the amazing Dr. Bhrett McCabe.  I was fortunate enough to speak with him after a horrific start to my season in 2015, one that left me shaking on the first tee and having anxiety attacks on the course.

Not a fun place to be when you love the game, but I literally felt locked up and unable to swing.  Dr. Bhrett talked with me about learning to accept every outcome, in all aspects of my life.  And the more I thought about it, the more I realized that this concept was absent from my life. So I began a journey to improving my ability to accept, everything!

This past fall though, I had another amazing opportunity to learn from Steven Yellin, author of The Fluid Motion Factor.  He came to work with the Seattle University Golf Teams and I was able to go through the program along with them.  This only expanded further upon the idea of acceptance, and took it another step forward for me with how to translate it to the golf course.   Because I put my clubs away though and have been unable to play, today was the first day I put much of what I have worked on into action on the course.

I can tell you, it is a very freeing feeling to hit a shot that may not be exactly what you want, but being able to move on from it.  It has also allowed me to identify when negative thoughts enter the equation, acknowledge them and replace with a more positive, focused thought.  My mind now feels free to wander where it wants while I play instead of my obsessive compulsive nature trying to force it where I believe it needs to be.

There is still an incredible amount of work to be done in the next few months, but today was a wonderful start.  At the end of my round, I actually didn’t know what I shot and had to spend quite a bit of time going back through to remember each hole.

I challenge all of you to head out to the course or driving range and instead of picking apart everything you believe was wrong, take a deep breath and move on to the next swing.

Happy Golfing Everyone!

-S