Mickey’s Golden Rule for Golf

Day 4 on “Golf the Wright Way” by Mickey Wright

Taking a share of the lead.

Last time, we learned that Mickey accepted responsibility for each shot. But what does that look like on the golf course?

She found out at the 1960 U.S. Women’s Open.

Mickey was only 26 and the championship was played at Baltusrol Golf Club: a long, rolling layout with big doglegs, wide bunkers and tall trees. A few years earlier, the men’s Open was played at Baltusrol. The winning score was 4 over par. That’s how tough it was.

But Mickey played as if she had designed the course herself. She hit the greens, missed the bunkers, and shot 72 for a share of the lead.

“That’s when the roof fell in.”

During the second round, Mickey couldn’t buy a putt. She shot 8 over par and dropped into a tie for 7th. But it wasn’t her putter that let her down. It was her emotions.

She told Sports Illustrated, “I let bad putting get to me. I kept hitting the ball closer and closer to the hole—and still missing. That’s when the roof fell in. If I had my emotions under control, it never would have happened.”

In the past, Mickey might have gone back to her hotel room and bounced between anger and self-pity. But as we learned yesterday, that is the fuel of negativity.

Instead, she told herself, “Do as well as you can but make no excuses. Just take responsibility. That’s the Golden Rule for Golf.”

She let go of all those missed putts as if they had never happened.

10-stroke swing.

The final 36 holes were played on Saturday. Yesterday, she couldn’t buy a putt. Today, she couldn’t buy a fairway. 

But this time, she repeated her Golden Rule: Make no excuses, take responsibility, and move on. That allowed her brain to do the work it was designed to do: regulate her emotions so she could perform better.

The result?

After four disastrous drives, she saved par four times. And, responding to her relaxed attitude, her putter warmed up and she rolled in six birdies.

It was as if yesterday’s round of 80 had prepared her to play even better today, which is psychologically true when we move through the negative.

Mickey started 4 behind and won by 6. That’s a 10-stroke swing.

The author Eckhart Tolle said, “Acceptance is not a one-time event, but a continuous process of letting go and embracing the present moment.”

For Mickey, the Golden Rule in Golf was simple: Take responsibility for each shot, don’t make excuses, and move on.

So today I’m asking, What’s your Golden Rule for Golf? If you already know, share it in the comments. Having a Golden Rule mindset can do for us what it did for Mickey: help us get out of our own way, manage our emotions, and keep moving forward down all the fairways in our lives. 

That’s all for now. Until next time, keep imagining what’s possible.

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