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WHAT IS YOUR SUPERSTITION??

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Posted by Kirat Kalra 23 Dec 2011
Golf lends itself to superstition and the adoption of quirky habits and heathen beliefs in order to tip the balance of fortune in your favour. Skill is still the main ingredient for success, but it helps somehow if outside forces are in your corner.

Research reveals several areas where superstition finds a willing home in a golfer’s mind. The three most common talismans to counteract bad luck are the number on the ball, the colour of the tee, and the manner in which the ball is marked on the green.

There is also a belief among golfers that compliments made while the ball is in motion can somehow affect the outcome of the shot. Rick Reilly in his book Who’s your Caddy? mentions how his player Tommy Aaron told him bluntly during a practice round at the Masters to "keep your mouth off my ball".

We all know of the power of superstition. You have only to remark casually to a player in your group how well he or she is putting, and therefore is bound to win the competition, to witness thereafter a series of three putts.
Ernie Els regards the number two as unlucky and believes that there is only one birdie in each ball. South African Retief Goosen uses a ball with number four in the first round of the tournament counting down to number one in the final round. Vijay Singh goes in the opposite order.

The colour of a tee can also play mind games. Shigeki Maruyama never uses white tees as green is his tee colour. Colin Montgomerie avoids yellow and red tees as he associates them with the stakes indicating a water hazard.
Doug Sanders, best remembered for a short missed putt on the final hole of the 1970 British Open, had a thing about white tees and the white out-of-bound stakes.
Paul Azinger uses a penny with the head up and always with Lincoln facing the hole. Aaron Oberholzer follows a similar routine with a quarter.

Fred Funk apparently flips his coin and if it lands heads, he too will have the face pointing towards the hole. Vijay Singh uses a different method. Heads up until he misses. Jesper Parnevik on the other hand prefers his coin to be showing tails.
Jack Nicklaus when he plays golf still carries three coins in his pocket; a trait now copied by others. Davis Love III marks his ball with a 1965 or 1966 penny. Coins minted in the 70s or later can occasion high scores.

Peter Lonard multiple winner of the Australian PGA felt that the green marker he used for the first three rounds of the 2007 event was cursed. He changed to a five cent piece for the final round and the spell was broken.
Justin Rose en route to a possible 59 in the 2006 Funai Classic in Florida openly discussed his chances of achieving the elusive number while still playing. He should have known better. Every golfer soon learns the unspoken rule that you don’t tempt fate by talking about your game when you are having a good round.

We all have to decide one way or the other whether or not to give in to superstition. There can be no sitting on the fence. Maybe we should all be like Stewart Cink who stays clear of all superstitions because, he says, all they do is bring him bad luck.

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