One of my biggest struggles in golf (and life) is that good process doesn’t lead to immediate good results… There is a certain leap of faith in the process that over time it will pay off…
Aiming at the center of the green (or the best part of the green) is a struggle for most, I think… When you flush a shot perfectly, it goes to the center of the green! and now you have a longer putt than if you had mishit it slightly.
I think we are built to reward the “what if I hit it perfectly” part of our brain, more than planning on playing the averages. We are motivated by the quick successes, and sometimes it’s hard to see the overall success build up over average.
I struggle with this, especially when I’m hitting the ball well. You want to pick the small target and go for it… It’s not a REASONABLE thing, but it’s understandable…
Honesty, switching to a GPS watch has helped me in this a huge amount… I don’t get focused on the distance TO the pin, as I have front, middle and back clearly on my watch…
I used my original example of a place where it’s GOOD to think about where the pin is, and where you want your miss to be… most of the holes on my course aren’t like that… it’s an exception of “aim for the middle” isn’t always right, but it doesn’t necessarily break the rule, it just shows what the rule is trying to value.
I’m hoping I can get some rounds in this fall and really put the center of green into play. I’ve done way to much theorycrafting recently.