The Masters occurs at a time when we are emerging from a long winter’s hibernation, when our minds are starting to think about the coming golf season and all the potential that lies within it.

At a time when we are thinking about, quite literally, how we should best think about our game and our swing and our strategy to maximize our results in the season ahead because we know how important the mental game is to our success on the course. Don’t we? Rory?

Rory McIlroy dominated the headlines and the sound bites last week, and one thing really stuck out to me about his Masters performance; how imperfect he really was. Rory has been labelled the best driver of the golf ball ever, the guy with the most finely-tuned, athletic, close-to-perfect golf swing we have seen in a very long time. Perhaps since Ben Hogan or Byron Nelson. But all of this made it very difficult for Rory fans to watch Rory, especially under the most stressful, everything-on-the-line moments.

Every time his body coiled and uncoiled you’d just be praying that it would all work together seamlessly. To the point where I think we all became believers that for Rory to win anything, especially the much sought after Masters, he had to make 180 perfect swings and a hundred or so perfect putts over four days. But last week was a turning point. He seemed to figure out that Augusta National required scrambling. And that was OK. For us Rory fans, we seemed to figure it out too. Forgetting bad shots and moving on. There were going to be some terrible shots, into the woods, from the pine straw, maybe even into a creek or pond at the worst possible times. But none of those bad shots were enough to sink him. He seemed to find joy in scrambling. In keeping a lid on his emotions. He made some mistakes that in the past would have gutted him. Eleven-time major champion Walter Hagen once said that he expected to make seven mistakes per round. Rory made more than that before reaching Amen Corner Sunday.

One of my favourite golf books is called “Golf is Not a Game of Perfect,” by noted sports psychologist Dr. Bob Rotella. The Coles Notes version is this. While striving for perfection is essential (the flush 4-iron, the holed 12-footer), demanding perfection of oneself on the course is deadly.

“Good golfers have to get over the notion that they only want to win by hitting perfect shots. They have to learn to enjoy winning ugly. And that entails acceptance of all the shots they hit, not just the good ones. Golf is a game played by human beings. Therefore it is a game of mistakes.”

You know that now, Rory.

In my own game, fighting my own demons, Dr. Bob’s book has helped me create a strong foundation around not expecting perfection. And my swing coach Coop has helped me build strong layers on top of that foundation. He has taught me to plot my way around courses in a way that recognizes how imperfect even my best shots are going to be. There’s no question that I’m still a work in progress on this, as Coach would surely concur, but I am really enjoying digging deeper into some of these ideas, even if it’s clearly the twilight of my own golfing life.

It’s amazing to me how the quiet and discipline of a strong mind can make up for that inevitable long, downward sloping line of ball speed and smash factor as we age. I’ve now had 60-plus years to grasp the concept of not being perfect. And me thinks I’ve mastered it. It’s exciting to think what could come of such imperfection. Isn’t that where all our golfing minds should be in mid-April?

© Peterborough Examiner