Tag Archives: Golf’s Mental Game

How to Lose Your Game in 10 Simple Steps

by Scott

golf510Most golf instructors today have it all wrong. This whole notion about positive reinforcement achieving much more success than negative reinforcement? Hogwash! No, quite the contrary… they’ve been going about all of this bass ackwards, because each year when the surveys are published about the average scores from average golfers – the average scores are getting worse, not better.

The time is now to pose a different strategy, I say.

So you’ve been playing great golf as of late and have no earthly idea why that is. Sure, every player will give his/her own reasoning behind the lower scores, with everything from “I’m hitting it on a rope, and 40 yards longer” to “my iron play has never been better.” A few will credit improved chipping and putting, while others will say they’re cutting down on the senseless penalties and managing the course better and making smarter decisions.

But the bottom line is that the game is no longer fun and you suddenly find yourself going through the motions every round playing a boring game. You miss that feeling that can only come with the sound of a splash as a ball finds the center of a water hazard, followed by your reliable proficiency of uttering no fewer than 5 F-bombs that can be heard three fairways over. You miss calling yourself bad names after chili dipping a pitch shot from just in front of the green, or the challenges that come from trying to unearth a badly plugged ball from the green-side sand bunker that shouldn’t have been in the way but ultimately was. The sound of a ball making dead-solid contact with a hollow tree 80 yards into the woods? That feeling of  bewilderment that can only come from a 2-footer that horseshoes around the cup? The thrill of swinging as hard and as fast as you can from the tee with absolutely no idea where the ball is going to go? The swooshing sound of a wedge being helicoptered 75 yards after a bladed shot from the bunker?

Yes, you miss each and every one of those scenarios and you desperately want the game to be like it used to be, and you fear that it’s gone for good. Well, I’ve got good news for you today – I can get you back there. It won’t be easy, but if you’ll follow my 10 Simple Steps – I can make you an even greater hacker than you ever thought you could be.

 

 

How to Lose Your Game 10 Simple Steps

 

1. Play every last inch of the course.

You’ve probably listened to someone tell you that you don’t hit the ball far enough to play the back tees, and sure enough – you’ve meandered forward on the tee box and found yourself a lot closer to the greens on your second shots. Move back to the tips and leave yourself longer shots into the greens, so instead of hitting a comfortable iron – you’re hitting a fairway wood. Come on, you know that’s where you should be playing anyway, anyone can hit a green with an 8-iron…

2. Put the 0 back in hero. 

You’ve feasted on the conservative approach, pitching out sideways when you get stuck behind the trees and still making par, or maybe the lowliest of lows – laying up when there’s trouble that you know you can reach. Come on, reach between your legs and give the boys a jingle again, letting them know you’re still there. You didn’t come here today to lay up, did you?

3. Swing really hard on every swing.

You’ve simply forgotten how awesome you looked with those neck veins flared as you lashed at the ball with every ounce of your inner being. Deep down you know you’re the longest hitter in your group, and who cares where the ball ends up? You’ve got a reputation to uphold, and your buddies have forgotten how bad it feels when you tell them, “Hey, you’re away.” Grip it and rip it, from driver all the way down to wedge, the harder and faster, the better.

4. Play the night owl the night before.

Sleep? Who needs sleep? If your tee time is 8:00 tomorrow morning, don’t worry about getting back home before 2:00 a.m. at the earliest. Go ahead and live it up the night before, I mean get totally ripped, to the point where you forget where you live. You’ll find a way to get home and get at least 3 hours sleep, that’s really all you need anyway.

5. Get to the course 2 minutes before your starting time. 

There’s nothing like that first swing of the day to wake up every muscle in your body. Why waste it on the range before the round? Your back, legs, and shoulders will be fine, it’s not like you’re getting to work 45 minutes earlier than normal to loosen up and stretch your fingers at your desk job Monday thru Friday. The only additional time you need is figuring out who you’re going to screw over by them having you as your teammate in your weekend match. If you have to sprint into the pro shop to check in to be on the first tee on time, you get extra points.

6. Just say no to practice.

Above all else, avoid practice like the plague. Seriously. You’ve probably gotten into the habit of going a few times each week, found a little something to take with you to the course on the weekend, and the accuracy of your shots has become a little too predictable. Just simply stop going to the practice range after work and go home and vegetate like the rest of the hackers in the universe without even thinking about golf.

7. See how many days in a row you can play without taking a day off.

Like Def Leopard always said, it’s better to burn out than fade away. During your summer vacation (since this won’t be possible if you have a job) see how many consecutive days you can play without a break. Seven would be good, 10 is really good, and 14 days would be great. Make sure you’re going to the first tee cold-turkey without a proper warmup though! Can’t forget step #5.

8. Really tight grip pressure is vital!

One of the reasons you’ve been hitting good shots lately is because you’re gripping the club much too lightly. When you grip the club, squeeze as hard as you can and maintain that level of grip pressure from start to finish. Your knuckles should be bone-white, and you should be able to feel that in your arms and shoulders too. The instructors say to apply enough pressure as though you’re gripping a tube of toothpaste without squeezing out the toothpaste? Baloney. Squeeze every last ounce of that toothpaste out of the tube. If you prefer the “holding a live bird” analogy, kill it with your bare hands.

9. Have at least 10 swing thoughts during your swing, more if possible.

Ah, now we’re getting somewhere. You’ve gotten into the habit of having only one or two swing keys over every shot. That’s obviously not enough. Look, the longer you stand over the ball at address and think about all of the needed mechanics to produce the upcoming swing, the better. The absolute last thing you need is only one small thing to think about. In your mind, you should feel like you’re juggling no fewer than 6 sticks of dynamite, and nary a one can hit the ground. That’s the amount of confused stress and tension we’re looking for.

10. Set your expectations really high.

Who cares if you can’t remember the last time you broke 90 – you’ve got more than enough talent at your disposal to play par golf just about every round. Go ahead – put that number out there in front of your buddies before the round even starts, telling them that they’re going to witness something really special from you today. Every round – par golf or better should be the goal.

 

So there you have it. If you follow my 10 Simple Steps as outlined above, you’ll be back to playing the game the way it wasn’t meant to be played in no time at all.

 

 

Mind Games: is your strategy holding you back?

by Scott

MindPower-300x300Allow me to preface something before proceeding any further: if you truly have a strategy that you employ while playing a round of golf, you’re already well ahead of a vast majority of players. Most players, which also includes the more serious types as well, play golf with about as much sense of direction and purpose as a loose sheet of paper blowing in a strong gusty wind. They might claim they have a strategy that they play by, but in my 25 years of playing – what I witness all too often would certainly suggest otherwise. But having a strategy is only part of it.

  • You must have an effective strategy, or you might as well be like a majority of players and have no strategy at all.

An effective strategy, contrary to popular belief, isn’t permanent. Your strategy should be adjustable; able to adjust to a number of variables at any given time. How many times have you teed off on the first hole of the day in calm, perfect conditions, only to find yourself having to allow for a 2-club wind 90 minutes later? How you mentally approach the game during calm, normal conditions is going to be totally different from how you approach the game when the conditions become very challenging, at least if your goal is to play effectively. The same is true as it relates to playing different courses; the strategy you employ on a more open layout with larger greens is hardly ever the same when playing a tighter, tree-lined layout with smaller greens. And for that matter, the same could be true as it relates to playing the same course; there’s always a hole or two that requires a bit more thought and attention to detail than some of the others.

For your strategy to be effective, it needs to be flexible so it can adapt to the real time situations you encounter when you play. It also means adjusting your expectations to fit the situation. It stands to reason that if I play my normal game, my scores are going to be considerably lower on a dry, calm day than they will be on a wet and windy day. But if I don’t adjust my mental standard for the more challenging day and continue to keep the performance bar high, all I’m doing is sabotaging my confidence and assuring that my strategy will be anything but effective.

  • Effective strategies require effective game management.

Every player should know their true, consistent carry yardages with each club in their bag (within 2-3 yards at the very least), but I’d be willing to wager that fewer than 20% actually do. What that tells me is this: on those rare occasions when players hit that perfect tee shot right down the middle and leave themselves with a simple second shot into the green, 8 out of every 10 players in that situation are likely choosing the wrong club on those approaches. You might be thinking, “Yeah, but Scott – we’re talking 125 yards, a wedge shot. What’s the big deal if I’m a few yards long or short?” Okay, I’ll play along. What happens if there’s some wind that a player isn’t factoring into the equation? Now you’re not just looking at 8-10 feet short or long of the flag, but potentially 16-20 feet, maybe even longer. You might get away with that if the pin location is in the middle of the green, but what if it’s cut front or back? Better yet, what if there’s trouble protecting the front and the back of the green? That’s how a routine par or even an outside shot at a birdie can quickly turn into a bogey or double. You can’t employ an effective playing strategy if you don’t know how far your carry distances are with your clubs.

But effective game management doesn’t just apply to club selection, although that’s a big part of it. It’s also knowing when to play away from certain flags on the greens and maintaining the easiest angles if you miss the target, or knowing that the lie of the ball is going to impact both the trajectory, spin and overall distance. It’s taking a few seconds on each shot to capture a mental image of where the target is, what might be surrounding it, the gentle breeze behind your back, etc. And ultimately, effectively managing the things that you do have control of. You can manage how you plot your way around the course 90 percent of the time, because 90 percent of the time you’re playing a course you’re very familiar with. You can manage your game effectively by making sure that you’re sticking with your routine, making good decisions on both shot selection and club selection, and last but certainly not least – managing your emotions and controlling the way you react, what you say to yourself, etc. If you’re the type that gets angry with yourself after a series of bad shots, you’re not going to play well. You gotta learn how to be your own best friend on the golf course.

If you can do these things on a fairly consistent basis, your strategy will be much more effective. And if you have an effective strategy when you play, you will give yourself more opportunities to shoot better scores.

 

 

Tee Box Management 101

by Scott

Scott Halleran / Getty Images

I wrote an article last week at TGW blog, which you can reference HERE. This evening, I just wanted to expand on a few thoughts from that article a little.

The tee shot, as we all know, sets the table for the buffet that awaits on every single hole. That’s not to suggest that the tee shot is more important than the approach shot, or the recovery shot, or any other type shot or putt. In the scheme of things – all shots have the same numerical value, which is one stroke (providing that you don’t hit into a water hazard, out-of-bounds, or have to assume a penalty stroke), and they all should carry the same level of importance. But the tee shot indeed influences the difficulty (or the relative ease) in which we manage our 2nd shots. And I’m not just talking about par4′s with the standard 2nd-shot approach, but par5′s and par3′s as well.  All good golfers get into the habit of “playing the hole backwards” from the green to the tee box in their minds, as they stand on every tee box and contemplate the best angles to approach every green and pick out the appropriate targets off the tee. I’m not going to get into that… I’m going to assume that you understand the importance of angles in golf. But I think it’s worth noting that each of us, myself included, are creatures of habit.

And as the old adage goes, “Habits can be the best of servants or the worst of masters.”

The most common area in golf that I see that old adage ring most true is the very place where we prepare to set the table for the buffet that waits on each and every hole: The tee box. Not all tee boxes are perfectly flat, mind you. Some have subtle inclines, some have small declines. Some tee boxes are aligned and positioned by the architect to influence a player to aim somewhere other than the fairway. One of the courses I play most regularly comes to mind, as a particular hole has the tee box pointing directly into a cornfield that is staked off as out-of-bounds, which is a good 15-20 yards right of the fairway. In fact – there aren’t many rounds that I’ll play when someone in the group doesn’t fall victim to the architect’s devious ploy on that hole.

But despite these things, I see the same habits play out over and over, despite the generous span of teeing area from the left tee marker to the right. Player A is always teeing his ball up dead in the center of the tee box, despite the fact that the teeing area in the middle isn’t level. Player B is always favoring the left side of the tee box, despite the trees lining the left side of the fairway that challenge his tendency to slice the ball. And Player C always favors the right side of the tee box, regardless of the fact that favoring the left side could potentially shorten the hole 10-15 yards because of the shorter angle.

To help you better manage your tee shots from the teeing area, follow the 5-point checklist that I’ve provided below.

  1. Always consider the lie first and foremost. Make sure that you’re giving yourself the flattest, levelest lie possible. It’s the only section on the golf course where you have options to hit your ball from!
  2. Remember the 2-club rule. There have been numerous occasions when I’ve stood on the tee of a par3 and found myself between clubs, and the ability to tee the ball back 2 club-lengths from the tee markers have helped me make (in my mind) the right club selection. You might find that trivial… that what amounts to 2 tiny yards could make that much of a difference. But it could be the difference in a putt from the fringe or a testy chip from the back rough, or a birdie attempt from 15 feet instead of 21 feet. In golf – 6 feet can make a world of difference.
  3. Don’t allow the tee box to “aim” you. Get into the habit of spot-aiming, like I talked about in my TGW blog article last week. Stand behind the tee box and locate an old divot or a spot on the ground that you can use as a reference, and then simply tee your ball at the angle that has your ball, the spot on the ground just ahead of your ball, and the target in the fairway perfectly aligned. This will also help ensure that you’re not getting tricked by the architect into aiming somewhere other than the fairway.
  4. Move Around. If you’re hitting a fade or a slice, or a draw for that matter, favor the side of the tee box that offers you the maximum space to fit your tee shot into the fairway. Also – remember that it’s within the rules to stand outside of the teeing area if you prefer – only the ball needs to be within the parameters of the tee markers… just be mindful of the fact that some teeing areas are slightly elevated above the ground that surrounds them. As I said with rule #1 – always consider the lie!
  5. Respect the Follow-Through Area! This one pertains to Yours Truly, embarrassingly enough. I remember the sage advice that my platoon sergeant gave me many moons ago: “If you’re going to walk in a minefield, walk behind someone else.” So listen up. My favorite club was destroyed last fall because I decided to test the coefficient of restitution of the face of my driver by impacting it with a tee marker, which happened to be a painted softball-sized rock. I’m a Lefty, so I’d moved to the right side of the teeing area on this particular hole, standing outside the tee box with my ball teed up about 8 inches inside and behind the right tee marker. Obviously one would think that with 25 years of playing experience – a player could manage to tee his ball in a manner that wouldn’t risk damage to a club or himself in the process. Think again, my friends. I hit the ball perfectly, as planned, but within a millisecond of the ball leaving the face of the club – I heard this loud “crack” and it felt like lightning had struck my right arm. The tee maker (painted rock) moved a good 5-6 inches forward, which frankly wasn’t that impressive considering that I nailed it with about 100 miles-per-hour of clubhead speed. The huge gouge that it took out of the sole of my favorite driver, however, was quite impressive. Pay attention to detail, and don’t just assume that your hitting area is void of obstructions, which also include overhanging limbs from nearby trees situated near the tee box.

 

Remember – good golf shots are always products of a good setup and good strategy. Set the table and enjoy the feast your next round out.