Who has potential? · Sunshine Coast Golf Dojo

Who has potential?

I get this question a lot, especially from junior golfers: "Do I have the potential?" While I often hear it from younger players, it applies to anyone who sees potential in themselves—because, truly, the possibilities are limitless.

Golfers tend to talk to themselves from one of three perspectives:

Optimist - "I've done it before, so I can do it again."
Pessimist - "Why am I so bad at this?"
Victim - "That didn't work, so I'll try something else."

While optimism is better than the other two, it only gets you so far. When someone asks me, "Do you think I have potential?" I respond with a simple question: "When things are really tough, how do you react?"

This response—how you handle adversity—reveals a lot. It’s what separates those who succeed from those who fall into the victim mentality. True growth in golf, and in life, comes from being able to see both the good and the bad and staying resilient. This is the mindset of a Realist and, even more importantly, a Warrior.

In golf, the small things that make a massive difference are your ability to recover. Spend time practicing recovery shots—from the rough, out of the trees, in the bushes, from bunkers, and around the green. This isn’t the glamorous part of practice; it’s the tough, gritty work. But if you fall in love with putting and recovery, you’ll see your game elevate to the next level.

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