Gamesmanship
Posted by Double Eagle in Golf Philosophy, Mental Game
Golf is known as a “gentleman’s game” (ladies too, of course). That doesn’t mean that competition can’t get a little heated at times. I believe in sportsmanship and try my best to be a good, fair competitor. I’ve never cheated and never will. But my highly competitive nature forces me to employ a little gamesmanship at times. This is one of the great aspects of match play. I try to keep it subtle if I’m playing someone I don’t know well. I might overshoot a green with a 7 iron and exclaim that I can’t believe a 9 iron flew that far. I might concede a putt that’s a little long or make my opponent putt a gimme. These aren’t techniques that I invented but believe me, I file away every one that I hear.
When I play against my brother or one of my close friends, it goes beyond sportsmanlike. A lot of it could be considered breaches in etiquette. When we escalate a match beyond “just for fun” it can get ugly.
Recently, my brother and I were teeing off on a par five over a pond. I’ve been making a comeback to the game after a couple of years of sporadic play, so I’ve been inconsistent. Just as I was about to start my pre-shot routine he looked at me and calmly said, “Don’t hit it in the water.” Caddies have been fired for that. It was a routine shot and I wasn’t concerned. Where did I hit it? You guessed it. All I could do was turn around and retaliate with a few f-words. Could it have been a coincidence? Maybe. Was I thinking about it when I was preparing for my shot? You bet. That’s something I need to temper my mental game against.
I once robbed my good friend Keith of an eagle. At the course we worked years back, there’s a really short par four that’s a dogleg left with huge trees guarding the green and a little pond just in front. If you can control a big hook or hit it really high and don’t mind a huge gamble, the green is in play. He got on the green in one and was about to putt and I said, “you’ll bogey it”. So he missed. And missed again. And again. He got his next one though. For bogey. He still brings that up occasionally. Sorry, man. Well…not really.
I’d never take it that far during real competition. But among friends, that stuff goes.
What are your thoughts on gamesmanship? Legitimate psychological tactics or poor sportsmanship? How far would you go? How far have you gone?
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