So we’ve all been there, a sunny Sunday morning, a cracking drive, followed by a beautifully crisp 5 iron into a tight pin that rolls up to three foot from the cup. Even as we walk towards the green the anxiety begins to grow as thoughts of missed putts run through our minds and our shoulders begin to tighten. As we stand over the putt the break of the green becomes impossible to read, and the corners of our eyes begin to twitch as we scan the blades of grass for signs of movement. Gripping our putter tighter and tighter as we rush through some practice swings the putter begins to take on a life of its own and snakes from side to side. Quickly we step up to the ball and even before we strike it our eyes are darting anxiously towards the hole, the club face opening, immediately sending the ball on a line way off course, another chance of a birdie gone.
Looking at this example and from seeing this scene repeated hundreds of times a year from tour professionals to high handicappers, and even having been guilty of it myself on many occasions it is clear to see that this is a problem that needs fixing.
Now there is something of a chicken and egg situation here in that it is hard to have a positive psychological approach if you know you have poor technique and vice versa if you have good technique but poor mental preparation you will undoubtedly fall foul of the dreaded yips.
I recently watched a tour professional practicing and what surprised me was not the fact that he missed more putts from around 9 feet than someone of his standing should, but more that he missed the putts on both sides of the hole. Now what this shows is that technically he is not as sound as he should be, i.e. his routine, technique and putting stroke was not repeatable, and so without this routine and reliability he has no hope of developing a strong mental approach also. It is almost impossible to have a positive mental approach if your technique is inconsistent without deluding yourself and as we are talking about results any self delusion would be shown in the results seen. So firstly develop your routine and technique, a routine that is comfortable and most importantly repeatable, a technique you can rely on.
Unlike a mental approach your technique can be completely individual and unique to you, whatever makes you comfortable (avoiding any superstitious behaviour and bizarre behaviour of course) and is easily repeatable, although in most cases simplicity is often the key.
Your mental approach is routed in controlling your body’s behaviour, and there is one simple routine that you can put in place immediately and is simple, repeatable and works, and this is controlling your heart rate.
As you begin to walk towards the green I want you to concentrate on your breathing, ensuring you are taking controlled deep breaths, allowing your breathing to control your tempo and even the speed you walk, think Ernie Els. As you arrive on the green and begin you’re putting routine focus on your heart rate, as a slow heart rate is vital for control of your body and muscles. The optimum state for putting is through a slow controlled heart beat, so as you stand over your ball, breath in slowly, breath out slowly and then putt. By controlling your heart rate and combining it with a sound putting routine the yips will be a thing of the past.
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
A few side bets on a Sunday morning?
Picture the scene, your standing on the 14th tee and your having a dream round, you’ve holed some monster putts, your drivers been on fire, and your five under your handicap. Your mind starts to wander as you tee your ball up to thoughts of the 19th and talking your friends through the best round you’ve ever shot.
Before you know it you’ve shot a terrible triple bogey, and taking your frustrations out on the ball you shot another triple bogey on the 15th. Disheartened and demoralised you finish off with a pair of doubles before scraping a conciliatory par at the last finishing five over your handicap.
Now whilst it would be better not to have the triple bogey on the 14th at all, we all know that mistakes happen, and a mistake is an error in our actions or judgment caused by poor reasoning or carelessness, i.e. they shouldn’t happen but they do!
As we’ve talked about before, golf is a game of imperfection and there are some really interesting statistics available on what is sometimes referred to as “bounce-back-ability” a horrible term, but an interesting statistic! It measures the amount of time a player follows up a bogey or worse with a birdie or better, in other words how they reacted to a mistake or blow up.
Now we all know that golf is not always about getting it right all the time, it’s not always about the birdies you make, but how you handle the things that go wrong in your game. This is a key trait of greatness in golf, and something you will see time and time again from the top professionals. They realise that mistakes will happen, and in competitions when mere mortals make a mistake they will be angry and asking themselves “why did I do that? What a bad thing to happen, I’ve blown my chance in this competition” the best players will be saying to themselves “What do I need to do now to win this tournament” or “how do I get things back on track”. The key is not to follow a mistake by making another one.
Most people will see a mistake (a pulled tee shots into the trees or a shanked 3 iron into a bunker) as a failure, from now on I want you to make a commitment to reframe the mistake as an opportunity to bounce back with the next shot. Indeed what could be more satisfying than a “sandy par” (making a par after being in a bunker) or a “rough recovery” (making a par after missing the fairway with your tee shot)? Why not make it part of your round or side bets on your weekend round with your playing partners?
Next time you are on the course, as well as recording the number of shots you take, make a note of when you made a mistake, and most importantly what you did next. By turning the negative into a positive you’ll be well on your way to bouncing back in style. In case you need any extra motivation to bounce back, when you reach the 19th settle the bets with your partners, 20p per rough recovery, and 50p per sandy par! Turn that mistake into an opportunity!
Next time we’ll take a look at the yips on the green!
Before you know it you’ve shot a terrible triple bogey, and taking your frustrations out on the ball you shot another triple bogey on the 15th. Disheartened and demoralised you finish off with a pair of doubles before scraping a conciliatory par at the last finishing five over your handicap.
Now whilst it would be better not to have the triple bogey on the 14th at all, we all know that mistakes happen, and a mistake is an error in our actions or judgment caused by poor reasoning or carelessness, i.e. they shouldn’t happen but they do!
As we’ve talked about before, golf is a game of imperfection and there are some really interesting statistics available on what is sometimes referred to as “bounce-back-ability” a horrible term, but an interesting statistic! It measures the amount of time a player follows up a bogey or worse with a birdie or better, in other words how they reacted to a mistake or blow up.
Now we all know that golf is not always about getting it right all the time, it’s not always about the birdies you make, but how you handle the things that go wrong in your game. This is a key trait of greatness in golf, and something you will see time and time again from the top professionals. They realise that mistakes will happen, and in competitions when mere mortals make a mistake they will be angry and asking themselves “why did I do that? What a bad thing to happen, I’ve blown my chance in this competition” the best players will be saying to themselves “What do I need to do now to win this tournament” or “how do I get things back on track”. The key is not to follow a mistake by making another one.
Most people will see a mistake (a pulled tee shots into the trees or a shanked 3 iron into a bunker) as a failure, from now on I want you to make a commitment to reframe the mistake as an opportunity to bounce back with the next shot. Indeed what could be more satisfying than a “sandy par” (making a par after being in a bunker) or a “rough recovery” (making a par after missing the fairway with your tee shot)? Why not make it part of your round or side bets on your weekend round with your playing partners?
Next time you are on the course, as well as recording the number of shots you take, make a note of when you made a mistake, and most importantly what you did next. By turning the negative into a positive you’ll be well on your way to bouncing back in style. In case you need any extra motivation to bounce back, when you reach the 19th settle the bets with your partners, 20p per rough recovery, and 50p per sandy par! Turn that mistake into an opportunity!
Next time we’ll take a look at the yips on the green!
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