My Speedgolf mentor Christopher Smith is the greatest Speedgolfer ever, a master of this crazy sport such that he has played countless rounds under par in under an hour. He is the Guinness World Record holder for the best Speedgolf score, 65 in 44 minutes in Chicago in 2005. He came thru under pressure of a film crew to shoot this amazing 68 in 53 minutes at the world renowned Bandon Dunes Golf Course.  Christopher writes a thoughtful newsletter at ChristopherSmithGolf.com with commentary that extends far beyond golf instruction into the philosophy of living a healthy, happy life and optimal golf experience. One of his key teaching principles is to “have compassion for your mistakes” out on the golf course. Oh man, during a playing lesson with him one day in Portland, he had to remind me of this idea several times on the occasions of my habitual verbal outbursts after bad shots! Most everything Christopher talks about in the golf context translates well into any other peak performance endeavor in life—pursuing an education, a career, being a parent, or pursuing any healthy eating or exercise goal.   Here is an excerpt from Christopher’s recent email newsletter:   Self-critic alive and well?  I understand, and so does Adam Phillips, English psychoanalytical writer. This self-critical part of ourselves, Phillips points out, is 'strikingly unimaginative' — a relentless complainer whose repertoire of tirades is so redundant as to become, to any objective observer, risible and tragic at the same time:  {Phillips quote}: Were we to meet this figure socially, as it were, this accusatory character, this internal critic, we would think there was something wrong with him. He would just be boring and cruel. We might think that something terrible had happened to him. That he was living in the aftermath, in the fallout of some catastrophe. And we would be right.”  Ouch man!! Could you say this stuff honors the theme of Get Over Yourself kinda sorta? If you can do it on the golf course, you can have a growth experience that translates into the rest of your life. Ditto if the self-critic is flourishing—what you do on the golf course are character-revealing insights that play out in all other areas of life. A great article in golfsouthwest.com quotes Tobias Schreiber, a licensed professional therapist in Augusta, GA: “Golf and business are both competitive arenas,” he says. “Any trait you see in a person repeatedly on the golf course is probably part of their personality and carries over into other aspects of their lives.”  Schreiber identifies a few golf course personality types in the article. See if you can relate to any of these: The Rager: “Rage is an infantile emotion — a primal defense against feelings of weakness,” Schreiber says. “Rageful people are actually age-regressing and acting out frozen emotions. Rage usually masks deeper feelings. Such people are often infuriated at their own sense of vulnerability and inadequacies.” Schreiber echoes another teaching principle of Christopher’s where you want to cultivate an optimal level of arousal and focus depending on your sport. Golf requires careful management of emotions at all times, unlike the more aggressive sports like fighting or endurance racing where you can just floor the gas pedal and excel. Schreiber explains that Ragers tend to do the same things, particularly to subordinates.   The Obsessor: Instead of outbursts, the obsessor internalizes things. Schreiber says, “They are not living in real time. Instead of shaking off a bad shot and moving on, obsessors tend to replay it again and again in their minds, chastising themselves for poor performance in a kind of mental self-flagellation. They focus on the negative. Golfers who ruminate about their play are likely to micromanage in a business environment. They don’t like to delegate because they fear no one can do the job right.”  The Sulker: “Sulkers don’t have a healthy view of themselves in relation to the natural frustrati