The Daily Divot: The Next Shot
The Next Shot
“I don't care how mad you get. Your head could blow off for all I care, just as long as you're 100 percent committed to the next shot."
-Tiger Woods to his son Charlie
There is a phenomenon called the Sunk Cost Fallacy that is frequently cited in economics and business. According to the Oxford Dictionary, the Sunk Cost Fallacy is “the phenomenon whereby a person is reluctant to abandon a strategy or course of action because they have invested heavily in it, even when it is clear that abandonment would be more beneficial.”
For our purposes, I like Wikipedia’s definition of a sunk cost: “A sunk cost is a sum paid in the past that is no longer relevant to decisions about the future.”
This is what Tiger is trying to tell his son Charlie.
TLDR: Whatever you did on the last shot is irrelevant to the next shot. Focus on the current situation and make the best decision going forward.
Obviously, this is easier said than done, but it’s nonetheless true. Occasionally, we need to let go of our hopes (investment) and accept that Par might not be in the cards.
Tip: Sometimes after I hit it in the hazard I’ll “trick” myself by playing the rest of the hole as if I didn’t get a penalty stroke. So instead of hitting three after the drop, I tell myself I’m hitting two and play the hole as normal. It forces me to calm down and make sound decisions instead of trying to play catch up.