Why Golf Is so Hard (A Professional Opinion)

The short answer as to why golf is so hard is because it’s simultaneously physically demanding, mentally challenging, and beautiful. However, the long answer is slightly more complicated.

Golf Is Mental and Physical

Golf is a game that deserves a category of its own. Although one can argue whether or not golf is a sport; however, if you know the game well enough and have played it for a living, you likely know that golf is indeed a sport. When people who do not play the game think of golf, they think of buddies getting together on the weekend to play 18 holes while downing as many beers as possible and listening to music in the golf cart.

Unlike most sports, golf is as much, if not more, mental than it is physical. A golfer’s ability to think around a golf course is vital, especially at the highest level. Without course management and a level head, it is nearly impossible to play your best and continue to improve.

A game I believe golf most relates to is chess. Like chess, golf is a game of strategy, which is why course management is essential if you want to play the game well, even when you did not bring your best swing to the course. Course management is an integral part of the game that the average golfer fails to appreciate because it’s an aspect of the game that requires discipline, sets good amateur golfers and professionals apart from everyone else, and is what will make you a better player. To touch briefly on course management, it consists of navigating your way around a golf course based on your abilities, using distance control, shot shape, club selection, ball flight, and having a feel for the shot you want to hit through your practice swing.

Unlike chess, golf involves a good bit of physical activity, making golf both physical and highly mental. It is this combination that adds to the allure of golf while at the same time making it harder than pretty much anything else that comes to mind.

As a golfer, you must remember that you are likely never to play your best on any given day, so you better learn how to play well with what you bring to the course. If you can do that, you will be a much better golfer than if you were to chase perfection in the game.

Why Is It so Hard to Hit a Golf Ball?

We are told our entire lives that the more you practice, the better you will get at any given thing; however, although true with golf, practice does not ensure that you will ever have golf, or specifically, the golf swing figured out entirely. For this reason, even the best golfers in the world who play at the highest level still need coaches because golf can never be tamed or conquered. Golf is a game made to be played but never mastered and has left even the most confident of us humbled at one time or another.

Unfortunately, regardless of how much you practice, you will never completely master the game, but golf is not about mastery. Golf is about learning to harness the best of your game when available and navigating the golf course when your game is less than adequate. Again, this is why course management is key to playing good golf consistently. For instance, Tiger Woods is arguably the best player of all time, not because he is always the best ball striker, hits it the furthest, or has the best short game all the time; rather, it’s because he can think his way around a golf course better than anyone; regardless of the golf swing he brings with him any given day.

So, if you remember nothing else from this writing, remember this: golf is about minimizing your misses, not playing perfectly. No golfer has ever been, or will ever be, perfect. Plain and simple. Therefore, the mental game is more important than any drive, putt, or iron shot you will likely ever hit during your golf career.

Overcoming Your Failures

Here is where the mental side of golf comes into play: overcoming your failures, meaning your mind and past mistakes in golf, is essential to keeping a steady head during a round. However, this is sometimes easier said than done.

Hitting Bad Shots

Overcoming your yet another reason why golf is so hard. As human beings, we are sometimes slow to change and set in our ways. We can also be hard on ourselves and look for every opportunity to live in the past while having our failures on a playback loop, but in golf, we cannot afford the luxury of dwelling on the past. Instead, we must move forward and forget bad rounds and that poor shot we just hit; it’s the only way to continue to grow in the game and turn a bad round into a decent or even great one. Ultimately, this sets a professional golfer apart from a good amateur—leaving a bad golf shot in the past and moving forward determined to find the sweet spot on their next tee shot and play better golf for the rest of the round.

The ability to overcome the past as a player outweighs any bad shot, good shot, tee shot, or any other kind of shot you will have as a golfer. Regardless of your clubhead speed, swing thoughts, or any golf lesson you have had or will ever have, your ability to let go of the past as a golfer transcends everything else in golf.

Bad Rounds

Playing golf is all about learning from the past, which requires making notes and keeping old scorecards; however, this is easier said than done. Most golfers struggle with learning from bad rounds of golf. Golfers would rather forget about bad rounds and, for the most part, fail to learn from what went wrong. Any notes you keep will be essential to your learning process while moving forward from failure and making long-term improvements in your game.

If you can’t learn from mistakes, you can’t improve, and you will be doomed to repeat them.
You can’t let past mistakes hold you back from success. Instead, you must work to figure out what went wrong and dissect the faults in your game.

Important Scorecard Stats To Keep

• Fairways Hit (All the times you hit the fairway on your tee shot)
• Greens Hit (Greens hit in regulation. Example: par 4 green hit on the second shot.)
• Sand Saves (Amount of times you hit a bunker shot and made the putt for par)
• Total Putts Per Round

Why Golf Is so Hard: Final Thoughts

Golf is hard because everything is against you. It seems like every time I play golf, I tell myself, “Today is the day I’m going to execute my plan perfectly and shoot a score that I’m proud of.” I tell myself this because I have a plan of action to play a productive round of golf. I know what clubs to use and what shots to hit; however, it rarely works out as planned. That said, with good course management and a solid mental game, I can minimize my misses and shoot a score I can be proud of regardless of how well I’m swinging the club or putting the golf ball.

From the mental and physical side of the game to accepting perfection is not an option and the necessity to overcoming your bad rounds and past failures, golf is hard because it encompasses all of this and more. The sooner we realize how hard golf can be, the sooner we will learn to appreciate that difficulty and embrace it for the better.

Golf is fun because it is hard, and in a world where instant gratification runs rampant, a game that requires a lifetime commitment and understanding is just what we all need. So, here’s to all the golfers fighting the good fight, hacking out of the trees, and brushing off doubles. We all are part of a growing community of individuals dedicated to the love of the game and the appreciation that good golf is never ours forever but only borrowed from time to time.