I was having an interesting conversation with a fellow golfer recently and I wanted to share some of that with you. The gist of the conversation was about how good we want to be and also about being satisfied with your golf game enough to really enjoy playing.

In my opinion, one of the barriers to golfers really enjoying the game is the scorecard. So many golfers get the mindset that eventually they need to shoot even par to really enjoy the game. But I think that most of us (I include The Golf Nut in this category) must realize that if we had been gifted with an unbelievable golf swing, we wouldn’t be where we are right at this minute. In other words, we wouldn’t be writing or reading this article. We’d be on the tour!

Here is another perspective on this. Did you know that only 5% of all golfers in the world shoot below 90? And here is the mind blowing part of this statistic. That includes all the professional golfers. So if you are shooting in the 80’s you are already in rare company. And if you shoot a 92-95 normally, you are probably still in the top 10-20% of all golfers in the world.

So what I had to learn to do, and I encourage you to do also if you haven’t, is to chill out and enjoy the game. Don’t let the fact that your handicap is not constantly going down drive you crazy. Practice some, but don’t go crazy. As you progress in your golf game, you are going to hit a point of diminishing returns, unless you are rich and can practice all the time, have a teaching pro working with you on a regular basis, AND actually have the hand to eye coordination of a professional athlete. Simple huh?

And remember this. The handicap system will let you play and compete with anybody, including Tiger himself, no matter what you shoot. Enjoy the game!