One of the things golf teaches is to let go of something that didn’t work.

But it can be hard work to get there.

Brains have a natural tendency to want to figure out why we are in the situation we are in. When a shot doesn’t work out as imagined, our brain will try to understand what went wrong. It’ll do what it can to make up a reason why the shot went where it went.

There are situations in which this is helpful. Otherwise, the brain would not do it.

However, while playing golf, it doesn’t help. The last stroke cannot be fixed. A stroke is a reaction to the situation we are in. Nothing we can control. Nothing that will repeat itself. And, as long as we are on the golf course playing a game, the most relevant stroke is the one we need to imagine next.

Staying in the past. Trying to fix something that has happened. None of this helps to imagine the next stroke. It is in the way. The next task is to imagine a stroke, that is imagine the future. And once it is imagined, the next task is to let that go and execute the stroke as best as possible. Neither of these actions is helped by staying in the past.

By trying to understand what it is that went wrong with our last stroke we are actually creating a problem. One that prevents us from doing our best with our next stroke.

This is not to make the point that one shouldn’t reflect and look back.

What it invites us to do is to pay attention to when to do what.

When we are practicing it makes sense to inquire into the problem. When we are performing it rarely makes sense. Performing is the situation where getting up again is more important.

It’s a truth that goes beyond playing golf.