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!
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