I was just coming off my home course after a practice round in which I had intended to put into practice my latest theories to help me to swing and play well. Unfortunately the practice had not been ideal and I had not been timing the ball well. I was GRUMPY!!
I met another member in the car park. Somebody who I knew through having played one or two rounds in various club competitions.
He hailed me in his normal friendly manner and asked how my game was. I told him, possibly in more detail than he cared to hear. He said that he was just going out for some practice, as he was hoping to play in the memorial event on Thursday. He looked like a dog with two tails, so keen was he to get out in the sunshine. My mood moderated a little, and I managed a smile and to come down a little bit from Mount Sorry-for-myself.
I then remembered. This cheerful, well-mannered and courteous individual was dealing with a prostate cancer that had spread to his spine, and could well finish him off.
Sometimes, it does us good to be reminded that our game is not the most important thing in the world. Learn how to enjoy yourself on the golf course, through good times and bad. There will come a time when you will not be able to be out there, and when that day comes, hopefully not for a long time, boy would you give anything to be out on the golf course no matter how badly you might be playing.
Tuesday 13 October 2015
Having a nightmare
Who hasn't had a terrible day on the course? I'll tell you who, it's somebody who has never played the game. Whilst Jordan Speith's nightmare round is probably good enough to beat the majority of club golfers, he of course is judging his play by his own high standards, and falling short. It doesn't matter whether you are good, average, or a less-talented golfer, we all judge ourselves by what we believe we ought to be doing, often this is far removed from our average, and hence statistically most likely scoring patterns.
Justin Rose was interviewed after a bad round, for him. He has been working with mental coach Dr. Gio Valente, amongst other things, keeping his life in balance, on and off the course, using breathing exercises to relax, and creating a kind of mental tunnel, tunnel vision if you like in which he held 3 or 4 key thoughts. When he found his mind wandering, Justin would tell himself to get back in his tunnel.
But this interview was after a bad round. From his demeanour, you would not have been able to say whether Justin had had a bad round. In fact he appeared quite cheerful. He acknowledged that he had played badly, particularly on the greens, but said a couple of times, that he knew that he was a good golfer and he refused to dwell on the mistakes made. This did not sound like somebody trying to convince himself, he said it without arrogance, but with conviction.
This belief, would help him in his next outing. He followed up his bad round with a round of 5 under par and climbed back up the leaderboard.
When you have a bad round, the most important thing to take away from it is the right attitude. You may wish to have your pro look at the technical aspects of your swing, but do not on any account feed your hungry sub-conscious with a whole slew of negative thoughts. So drop the bad round, in the mental rubbish bin and let your thoughts dwell instead on your last great round.
Justin Rose was interviewed after a bad round, for him. He has been working with mental coach Dr. Gio Valente, amongst other things, keeping his life in balance, on and off the course, using breathing exercises to relax, and creating a kind of mental tunnel, tunnel vision if you like in which he held 3 or 4 key thoughts. When he found his mind wandering, Justin would tell himself to get back in his tunnel.
But this interview was after a bad round. From his demeanour, you would not have been able to say whether Justin had had a bad round. In fact he appeared quite cheerful. He acknowledged that he had played badly, particularly on the greens, but said a couple of times, that he knew that he was a good golfer and he refused to dwell on the mistakes made. This did not sound like somebody trying to convince himself, he said it without arrogance, but with conviction.
This belief, would help him in his next outing. He followed up his bad round with a round of 5 under par and climbed back up the leaderboard.
When you have a bad round, the most important thing to take away from it is the right attitude. You may wish to have your pro look at the technical aspects of your swing, but do not on any account feed your hungry sub-conscious with a whole slew of negative thoughts. So drop the bad round, in the mental rubbish bin and let your thoughts dwell instead on your last great round.
Sunday 26 April 2015
Chipping it close
The easiest mistake in the world to make is to decelerate into a short chip. You see it all the time with longer handicappers, and reader, yes, I have to hold my hand up at having made my share.
It doesn't matter how short the chip, you have to hit the ball with authority. The oldest advice in the book applies here in that you can't be too eager to look up and see where the ball has gone.
So keys to good chipping are to shorten your backswing and accelerate into the ball. Also make a point of watching the turf after your shot until you hear the ball land. Chances are if you hit it with authority it will be running out close to the hole.
It doesn't matter how short the chip, you have to hit the ball with authority. The oldest advice in the book applies here in that you can't be too eager to look up and see where the ball has gone.
So keys to good chipping are to shorten your backswing and accelerate into the ball. Also make a point of watching the turf after your shot until you hear the ball land. Chances are if you hit it with authority it will be running out close to the hole.
Wednesday 11 March 2015
Sounds good !
There are differing views on whether you can iron out technical issues with your swing on the course. But we all try to do it, you only have to listen to the comments made by your playing partners as they 'self-medicate' often assisted by 'helpful' comments made by others if it is a social game, who are genuinely trying to help. Half the time, the player himself and his or her buddies are wide of the mark with their well-meaning advice, which can end up compounding the problem.
You can normally tell whether a player has hit the ball well or not, purely by the sound made by club hitting ball. Granted, the sound alone will not tell you whether the ball has gone left, right or straight, but it will give you an indication as to the quality of the strike.
Rather than obsess too much about your swing plane or the angle of the wrist cock or the width and speed of the takeaway, try this technique.
Just set up with your normal pre-shot routine. (You do have a routine don't you?) Then, after your practice swing, if you take one, clear your mind, commit to the shot and notice the noise made as club contacts ball. Don't consciously try to make a sweet sound, just notice the sound it makes.
As you continue to do this, it distracts your attention from the myriad of technical issues that you could be thinking about, and allows you to swing freely. You can even incorporate imagining the sound that you would like your shot to make into the pre-shot routine.
Practice this on the range first. After warming up, hit a number of balls merely noticing the noise made, and grade that lovely click from 1 to 5, but don't consciously try to make the nice sound, just trust your body's natural ability.
As you continue to practice this, you'll be surprised how the quality of the shots improve, and if you are having a bad time on the course, it is something that you can bring to mind, to try and re-set your game without getting bogged down in technical detail.
You can normally tell whether a player has hit the ball well or not, purely by the sound made by club hitting ball. Granted, the sound alone will not tell you whether the ball has gone left, right or straight, but it will give you an indication as to the quality of the strike.
Rather than obsess too much about your swing plane or the angle of the wrist cock or the width and speed of the takeaway, try this technique.
Just set up with your normal pre-shot routine. (You do have a routine don't you?) Then, after your practice swing, if you take one, clear your mind, commit to the shot and notice the noise made as club contacts ball. Don't consciously try to make a sweet sound, just notice the sound it makes.
As you continue to do this, it distracts your attention from the myriad of technical issues that you could be thinking about, and allows you to swing freely. You can even incorporate imagining the sound that you would like your shot to make into the pre-shot routine.
Practice this on the range first. After warming up, hit a number of balls merely noticing the noise made, and grade that lovely click from 1 to 5, but don't consciously try to make the nice sound, just trust your body's natural ability.
As you continue to practice this, you'll be surprised how the quality of the shots improve, and if you are having a bad time on the course, it is something that you can bring to mind, to try and re-set your game without getting bogged down in technical detail.
Wednesday 18 February 2015
Commitment
One of the phrases you will often hear a top caddie say to his pro is 'Commit to the shot' It's a good reminder for the club golfer in particular as whatever shot you face, whether it's using the driver or the putter or any of the 12 clubs in-between, it is important to hit it as if you mean it.
How many times have you hesitated between two clubs, not sure whether a cut down 6 iron is better than a full blooded 7 for example. Too often you carry that uncertainty with you into the process of the shot. If you are uncertain about the outcome, that often translates into a less than rhythmical swing, perhaps a deceleration of the club, a poor contact and the ball missing it's target.
Whichever club you choose, take a couple of seconds to visualise the shot you are going to play, and make part of your pre-shot routine a full committed stroke. Be confident in the club that you have selected and let it go. Don't, whatever you do, practice a half swing.
Now is the time to believe in your ability. Having practiced the shot, now believe in your ability to hit the target. Set up to the ball, swing and really commit to the shot. A good key to this is imagining your belt buckle pointing straight down the fairway after the shot is finished, meaning that you have made a full turn.
When you do this you are much more likely to see the ball fly to the intended target and to see it finish on the green with a chance of a birdie putt.
How many times have you hesitated between two clubs, not sure whether a cut down 6 iron is better than a full blooded 7 for example. Too often you carry that uncertainty with you into the process of the shot. If you are uncertain about the outcome, that often translates into a less than rhythmical swing, perhaps a deceleration of the club, a poor contact and the ball missing it's target.
Whichever club you choose, take a couple of seconds to visualise the shot you are going to play, and make part of your pre-shot routine a full committed stroke. Be confident in the club that you have selected and let it go. Don't, whatever you do, practice a half swing.
Now is the time to believe in your ability. Having practiced the shot, now believe in your ability to hit the target. Set up to the ball, swing and really commit to the shot. A good key to this is imagining your belt buckle pointing straight down the fairway after the shot is finished, meaning that you have made a full turn.
When you do this you are much more likely to see the ball fly to the intended target and to see it finish on the green with a chance of a birdie putt.
Wednesday 11 February 2015
The Winning Mentality
I was playing golf yesterday at my home course in a medal social competition. Not much was riding on it, and our fourball was having a mixed day. One of our group was playing very well and was in contention.It was interesting to note that, the one showing the most anxiety was the guy playing the best. He said to me, with three holes to go that he needed to play bogey golf over the last four holes to be in with a chance of winning. (Bogey golf is one over par for each hole)
He was getting ahead of himself, thinking about his winning few words in the clubhouse. Over the next three holes, his game started to deteriorate. On the first three holes his previously reliable drive started to desert him. Through conservative play, he managed to make his bogey. He simply did this by reducing his expectations of a par and settling for one over and playing accordingly. A sensible approach.
Now we get to the last hole, a par 5. It's not very long, but the drive is rather testing with a large pond to catch a wayward drive on the right and a ditch running along the left hand side to catch a pull or a hook.
Our friend now has two thoughts going through his mind. Firstly the competition in which he is still on target for a competitive score. Secondly, this is a hole which has given him a lot of difficulty in the past. His handicap doesn't allow him a shot, and he has had bad experiences of messing up the hole in trying to secure a par, getting him two points. That devil is perching on his shoulder and whispering in his ear. It goes something like this:-
' If you mess this drive up, you will throw away your chance of winning'
'Remember the last two times you played the hole, you ended up in the ditch down the left'
'You've just stuffed up the last few drives pulling all of them left'
He sets up for his tee shot. He executes the worst swing of the whole round, drags the ball short and left, which by some mercy just jumps a ditch and is above ground with a poor but just playable lie. Shot 2 . He takes a rescue club, makes good contact but again a low running hook ends up in trouble, this time in the water. He's still 250 yards from the green, playing shot 4 after a penalty drop. Now our man is in full flow. He's telling all of us about how this hole always causes him grief. He's mad with himself at apparently throwing away his chances. His rhythm and his head have gone. The rest of the hole carries on much in the same fashion. He leaves his approach wedge short, chips on to the green and 3 putts from not very far out mean that he is scoring a 9 and 2 over par for his round. It turns out that he misses out on the prize by 2 shots, so even a 7 would have been enough to be joint top, before countback.
Our man stomps off home in a bad temper, his negative perceptions of his game and ability to stand up under pressure are reinforced. How will he deal with this if he finds himself in the same position again? Remember this was an unimportant social. What if it were the club championship?
These are my top tips:-
Create a memory store of your best drives on each hole of your home course. Experience the full range of feelings that you had on the day, the sunshine, the breeze, the company, the fantastic sound of club meeting ball, and the sight of the ball heading down the fairway, long and straight. Re-live that moment as realistically as you can whilst you stand behind the ball. Create a personal log in which you record these very best drives. Go back to this log frequently to remind yourself.
Don't see the hazards to right and left. Concentrate on the large expanse of grass that constitutes the fairway. That's not to say you shouldn't be aware of the hazards, of course it may be helpful to know how far it is to water, or to a fairway bunker. But once you have registered this information, give all your attention to where the ball is going to land, not where you don't want it to land.
Go through your normal pre-shot routine. Visualise the shot. Take a practice swing, if you wish, but if you do so, make it the full rehearsal, as if it really matters. Don't just make a half-hearted swish.
As you take your stance, you may wish to give yourself one swing thought. It could be slow backswing and transition. It could be hit with rhythm. It might be make a full turn. It might be to concentrate on the feeling of a clubface that is square on to the ball at the moment of impact. Don't clutter up your mind with technical instructions of how to swing.
None of us can prevent unwanted thoughts from creeping into our mind. So if they turn up, just acknowledge the thought, even welcome it. Then counter it with a positive image of your own. Don't try actively to banish the thought but just pretend it is a cloud and imagine it disperse and blow away in the gentle breeze.
The last thought is about course management. Our friend took his driver off the tee. His very best drive would not have put him within range of the green, but it did give him the chance of going in the water. Had he taken a 5 wood, he could still have reached the green with three shots, and ended up with his favourite distance of 100 yards with his approach. So his choice of his driver gave him every chance of messing up the hole, with no upside. A good caddie would have handed him the 5 wood and given him the best chance.
Disaster on the course happens to all of us. We can't win every time, nor can we play our best on every outing. But we can improve our chances and our overall standard of play by learning to think in a different way. Whatever your standard of golf, this can shave a number of shots off your score. You will never be able to prove the shots you have saved, but you will feel more confident on the course and off it, and confidence, as Bob Rotella says is the 15th club in your bag. Use it!
He was getting ahead of himself, thinking about his winning few words in the clubhouse. Over the next three holes, his game started to deteriorate. On the first three holes his previously reliable drive started to desert him. Through conservative play, he managed to make his bogey. He simply did this by reducing his expectations of a par and settling for one over and playing accordingly. A sensible approach.
Now we get to the last hole, a par 5. It's not very long, but the drive is rather testing with a large pond to catch a wayward drive on the right and a ditch running along the left hand side to catch a pull or a hook.
Our friend now has two thoughts going through his mind. Firstly the competition in which he is still on target for a competitive score. Secondly, this is a hole which has given him a lot of difficulty in the past. His handicap doesn't allow him a shot, and he has had bad experiences of messing up the hole in trying to secure a par, getting him two points. That devil is perching on his shoulder and whispering in his ear. It goes something like this:-
' If you mess this drive up, you will throw away your chance of winning'
'Remember the last two times you played the hole, you ended up in the ditch down the left'
'You've just stuffed up the last few drives pulling all of them left'
He sets up for his tee shot. He executes the worst swing of the whole round, drags the ball short and left, which by some mercy just jumps a ditch and is above ground with a poor but just playable lie. Shot 2 . He takes a rescue club, makes good contact but again a low running hook ends up in trouble, this time in the water. He's still 250 yards from the green, playing shot 4 after a penalty drop. Now our man is in full flow. He's telling all of us about how this hole always causes him grief. He's mad with himself at apparently throwing away his chances. His rhythm and his head have gone. The rest of the hole carries on much in the same fashion. He leaves his approach wedge short, chips on to the green and 3 putts from not very far out mean that he is scoring a 9 and 2 over par for his round. It turns out that he misses out on the prize by 2 shots, so even a 7 would have been enough to be joint top, before countback.
Our man stomps off home in a bad temper, his negative perceptions of his game and ability to stand up under pressure are reinforced. How will he deal with this if he finds himself in the same position again? Remember this was an unimportant social. What if it were the club championship?
These are my top tips:-
Create a memory store of your best drives on each hole of your home course. Experience the full range of feelings that you had on the day, the sunshine, the breeze, the company, the fantastic sound of club meeting ball, and the sight of the ball heading down the fairway, long and straight. Re-live that moment as realistically as you can whilst you stand behind the ball. Create a personal log in which you record these very best drives. Go back to this log frequently to remind yourself.
Don't see the hazards to right and left. Concentrate on the large expanse of grass that constitutes the fairway. That's not to say you shouldn't be aware of the hazards, of course it may be helpful to know how far it is to water, or to a fairway bunker. But once you have registered this information, give all your attention to where the ball is going to land, not where you don't want it to land.
Go through your normal pre-shot routine. Visualise the shot. Take a practice swing, if you wish, but if you do so, make it the full rehearsal, as if it really matters. Don't just make a half-hearted swish.
As you take your stance, you may wish to give yourself one swing thought. It could be slow backswing and transition. It could be hit with rhythm. It might be make a full turn. It might be to concentrate on the feeling of a clubface that is square on to the ball at the moment of impact. Don't clutter up your mind with technical instructions of how to swing.
None of us can prevent unwanted thoughts from creeping into our mind. So if they turn up, just acknowledge the thought, even welcome it. Then counter it with a positive image of your own. Don't try actively to banish the thought but just pretend it is a cloud and imagine it disperse and blow away in the gentle breeze.
The last thought is about course management. Our friend took his driver off the tee. His very best drive would not have put him within range of the green, but it did give him the chance of going in the water. Had he taken a 5 wood, he could still have reached the green with three shots, and ended up with his favourite distance of 100 yards with his approach. So his choice of his driver gave him every chance of messing up the hole, with no upside. A good caddie would have handed him the 5 wood and given him the best chance.
Disaster on the course happens to all of us. We can't win every time, nor can we play our best on every outing. But we can improve our chances and our overall standard of play by learning to think in a different way. Whatever your standard of golf, this can shave a number of shots off your score. You will never be able to prove the shots you have saved, but you will feel more confident on the course and off it, and confidence, as Bob Rotella says is the 15th club in your bag. Use it!
Sunday 8 February 2015
How to think
The way that you think on the golf course can have a dramatic effect on your performance. Anyone with even a passing interest in the game will have seen countless examples of professional golfers with an apparently unassailable lead coming down the stretch, finding ways to inexplicably come back to the chasing pack. I'm talking about Jean van der Velde at Carnoustie, about Rory Mcilroy at The Masters, Adam Scott at The Open, Greg Norman at the Masters. More recently Martin Kaymer in Qatar. A few minutes thought and I'm sure you will be able to add to the list.
These are golfers who have come through the ranks and are or were at the top of their game, amongst the very best in the world. How many times will they have stood over vital 4 foot putts and drained them? Or in the case of Kaymer, for example holed one of the most pressure filled putts ever seen, to cap the amazing comeback of the European team at Medinah to win the Ryder Cup.
It's not just about winning tournaments, the way that you approach this wonderful sport in your Sunday morning four ball is just as important as it is for the top pros in their tournaments. If you can bring your best game to the course, find ways to get it round ugly, to accept your bad shots and to celebrate your good shots, you can find your way to develop an inner confidence in your game that can only help your performance on and off the course. And yes, you absolutely can practice your mental game away from the course.
I'm a professional life and business coach, an industry that owes it's origins to sports mind coach, Tim Galllwey, author of The Inner Game. Much of business and life coaching is concerned with what is going on in our heads. As a keen reader of the golfing thought gurus I enjoy the mental side of the game as much as the physical side of the game. This has helped me to bring down my handicap by three shots over the last couple of years.
I'd like to share some of these ideas with you.
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