Let’s talk about shooting yourself in the foot …

In the world of golfing, this past weekend’s Ryder Cup competition is one of the best of the season. For those who don’t know or don’t care, the Ryder Cup features the USA’s best against Europe’s best. An all-star team against all-star team, if you will.

After various events on Friday and Saturday, the Ryder Cup features individual matches between the players on both teams. The USA had a couple of points lead going into Sunday. Both teams were pumped about the competition.

One player in particular, Rory McILroy (Ireland), was fired up, perhaps, more than any other and came out of the gate firing with his “A” game. After every winning shot he demonstrated with a series of “yeah’s” and “fist-pumps.” So big was his demonstration, that he got a reaction from a spectator that just threw some “gasoline on his fire.”

This provoked a lengthy demonstration when Rory won the next hole. At the moment he did that, I said, “the boy just shot himself in the foot.” Who he was being in that moment was a “jerk.” He forgot who he was, wasn’t true to himself in that moment and therefore rendered himself helpless in the matter of fully accessing his skill, talent and ability. He never made a significant shot after that.

Not only did he struggle, but he probably had an effect on his teammates. If you follow sports like football or basketball you see ”trash talking” happening all the time. If a player reacts to it, he’s hooked. He’s the upset 10 year old throwing a fit on the playground. Old pro’s who are rarely hooked know that “every dog has its day.”

When we offer no resistance, concentrate on the job at hand and calmly persist, the “trash talker’ is likely to get hooked in his own trash. When I played against a trash talker or a rough player, I knew I would have a good game. Their wasted energy fueled my performance and depleted theirs.
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