European Approach to Golf

A few years back, I read a ball golf book which talked about attitude differences between American golfers and European golfers. The book suggests that American golfers rate their play mostly on their score, where Europeans rate their play mostly on their technique. For example if a golfer hits the ball well but then it takes an unlucky bad bounce and ends in a bad spot, an American golfer would feel bad and a European would feel satisfied that they had hit the ball well. And vice verse, if the golfer hit the ball poorly but got a lucky bounce, the American would be happy and the European would not.

At the end of the day, the European would rate his play on the number of well hit shots. He would not worry too much about the score, since luck with even out in the long run. On the other hand the American will rate his play on the score, regardless of how lucky or unlucky he was.

I realize that these are stereotypes. I would expect that most golfers really lie somewhere in the middle, however I think the American golfers fall closer to the American stereotype. I am not so sure of the European golfers. (I don't think I know any European golfers.) Though I find it hard to believe that any golfer would feel bad if they got a lucky bounce and ended up with a good position.

For myself, I have tried to adopt an attitude that leans towards the European attitude. If I throw the disc well, but it hits a random branch or spits out of the chains, etc, I try to not be too disappointed. I try to take satisfaction out of the fact that I threw the disc well. On the other hand, I have to admit that my American roots take over if I get a good score, I feel good regardless of how much luck I had.