During a recent two-day Ryder Cup match play event, it was interesting to witness what thoughts and emotions arose in this stressful, money-on-the-line situation. When the tournament word enters a round and prize money is on the line, watch out! Usually, it’s easy to remain focused on fun and detach from the score during an everyday round. It took a while for me to settle down, trust the angels, hear the angels, and most importantly, relax. I even asked them to turn up the volume on their messages a few times, for clarity. The angels reminded me that if I was having fun, I would win in more than monetary ways.
As the round progressed, I saw chapter titles of the book float through my mind’s eye. Always good reminders to surrender to the moment, accept what is, there’s always hope, to scrap the score, and oodles more. In tournaments, I tend to try too hard, which tenses me—and my swing—and disconnects me from my fun self. Being aware of this before the start, I was able to nip it at first sight.
I did, however, find myself focused on score, since we were playing as two-person teams, in various formats (alternate shot, best ball, captain’s choice). Knowing where you stood, who got strokes, and whether you were still in the hole was crucial. It was a lot to keep track of, but it energized the analytical side of my mind—something I’m not used to, especially on the course. I usually operate from the right side of my brain, where creativity, visualization, and imagination thrive, along with my angelic connection. It’s almost impossible to clearly hear the angels when stuck in the mental processing side. They often remind me that struggle, stress, and strain cause the angelic connection to wane.
In this situation, I find it best to fully concentrate on the shot in front of me and give it my best with confidence. Overthinking about whether to do this on this hole or that on the next is exhausting and pulls me out of the present moment.
This is what the angels have to say about tournaments …”When you bring tension in, your sense goes out … sixth sense that is. If this happens, we’ll certainly try to lighten you up with the array of tricks and doohickeys we have up our wings. We won’t share those with you now, since we want you to be surprised. Oh, the lengths we go to dazzle and delight. Can we get a piñata to the fifth hole to celebrate a hole-in-one?”
Golfing with the Angels is available at Amazon https://bit.ly/4jYHGTR
