Do you have any strange golfing superstitions?
Golf is a funny sport, everyone has their own pre-shot routine, everyone does things slightly differently.
But what about little superstitions or quirks you have? Do you have slight OCD before you take a shot, do the planets need to align before you can even contemplate standing over that putt?
We discuss the little traits that we have that are just out of the ordinary…
DW: I have to have at least three tees in my back-right pocket.
Not especially weird, but there must be two wooden, one plastic small castle tee – preferably orange or red.
Glove goes in back left pocket.
Front right can only contain a one spare ball – which is always marked with three dots.
I blame my dad – he does the exact same thing.
MT: I don’t like anything that is non-golf related in my pockets so no loose change, wallets, Paracetamol, bits of paper etc.
Ideally two castle tees (pink), three long tees (ideally white and not saying BMW where, at a golf day, I was very poor) and three broken tees which will snag inevitably my trouser pockets in time.
Two 10-pence pieces or a marker which has worked well in the past. At a push a pitchmark repairer, but only if it has previous in a positive sense.
And all in my right-hand pocket. Nothing in my left front or back pocket, and the card and pencil back right.
And, if the waterproofs come out, all items to be relocated before a shot is played. Failure to do this leads to a sense of unease and even more blunted conversation than normal.
The beauty of all this is that it leaves no room in my headspace for swing thoughts.
TI: Wood Pigeons – they sound like this.
I only ever hear them when I have a score going and I am at a watershed moment in my round, my internal monologue of ‘get up and down here and you can get home’ or ‘make this and you will keep the momentum going’ is interrupted by these vermin of the sky, the demons appear and bad things happen, quickly & uncontrollably.
This has been happening for over 20 years.
Although recently after reading about my inner chimp I have learned to embrace the Wood Pigeons call and now treat it as a starters pistol for positivity.
JS: I try and get organised before I play golf.
I like to have a few pink castle tees, a couple of stubbies, a ball marker and a pitch-mark repairer in my left pocket.
I like to have a scorecard and a pencil in my back-right pocket.
By the time I get to the first tee, I won’t have a scorecard. There might be a pencil in my bag but I can’t find it.
I’ve lost all my pink castle tees so end up filling my right pocket with a handful of medium-sized white tees, four casino-chip ball markers and a couple of pitch-mark repairers.
Because I’m wearing my glove on my right hand I just pull everything out on to the floor in a bid to grab one tee peg.
By the fourth I’ve found a pencil in my left pocket but have resorted to looking for discarded tees on the floor which I’ll then use as ball-markers and pitch-mark repairers.
By the back nine I’ve stopped marking my ball on the green. My playing partners have taken over pitch-mark repairing duties for me.
My pre-shot routine consists of waggling the club a few times before hitting the shot.
MT: Pre-shot thoughts over a four-inch putt…
a) Is it even possible to miss this right?
b) Is it even possible to miss this left?
c) Have I ever missed the ball with a putt?
d) What if, for whatever reason, I just smashed it off the green and turned a four into a 10?
e) When did I last faint?…
WHAT ARE YOUR LITTLE GOLFING QUIRKS AND SUPERSTITIONS? OR DO YOU KNOW THOSE WHO HAVE ODD LITTLE ROUTINES? LET US KNOW IN THE COMMENTS SECTION BELOW.
