How do you define “failure” or “success?” A valuable question to ask yourself with all the money and time you have devoted to the development of your golf game.  It’s also a valuable question for young persons who might have been “influenced” by adults and sports coaches looking for immediate outcomes during competitive short seasons. 

I feel strongly that “lifetime sports” like golf, need to have a different definition of success than any short-term sport.  In high school football or hockey, volleyball, etc. statistically, there is less than a 1% chance of making it to the next level of competition and therefore, results are synonymous with success or failure.  In contrast, in a lifetime sport like golf, each player has to decide on your definition of success and failure. 

GOOD FAILURE = Undesirable results but recognized feedback as a positive for future development.

BAD FAILURE = Undesirable results and gathered no post-swing feedback for future development. 

GOOD SUCCESS = Desirable results and gathered post-swing feedback for future development.

BAD SUCCESS = Desirable results, but not recognizing post-swing feedback for future long-term development.

OK, how would you rank these four for golf?  For NFL football?

Golf (and all lifetime sports from best to worst):

GOOD SUCCESS, GOOD FAILURE, BAD SUCCESS, BAD FAILURE

NFL Football (and all short-term sports from best to worst):

GOOD SUCCESS, BAD SUCCESS, GOOD FAILURE, BAD FAILURE

My hope is that you see the logic immediately.  In golf, “good failure” is better than “bad success” since in time and perhaps with professional guidance, “good failure” often turns into the optimal “good success.”  In professional football, with immediately results more pressing, “bad success” will rank ahead of “good failure” … agree? 

If you have been frustrated with your golf, and perhaps consider yourself “inconsistent”, maybe you have been ranking “bad success” ahead of “good failure.”  “Bad success”, getting desirable outcomes without understanding root causes is the DEFINITION of inconsistency!  It’s the “every now and then the stars line up and I hit a few great shots” mentality, but how often, and for how long would a reasonable thinker expect this to continue?  Does this explain your inconsistencies?