Many of you probably know me as a “serial blogger” or problogger but my skills in my life isn’t writing, English is my 2nd language and I got world-record Cs in 99% of all my English classes in elementary/middle/high school and in college.
Of course, blogging has made my writing better (it ain’t stellar still) and reading other blogs on a daily basis has helped me better articulate myself online.
My real skills lie in hitting that flop-shot over a high-lip bunker or hitting a 350 yard drive on a par 5. That’s right, I was always good with computers and electronics since I was little but my dream has always been to make it on the PGA Tour. (and boy I have played with the likes of Nick Watney as a junior golf, nice guy btw. Too bad it’s taking me forever to make it to the PGA Tour.)
Of course, that part of my life is still in hibernation, I’ve been putting it all off on my golf blog but I figure it’d be great if I can share with my readers what I’ve learned through intense competition golf.
So, without delay, here’s some “real” tips you can use on the golf course to deal with tournament pressure. Whether you are playing for dollar skins or simply want to become a pro golfer, these tips can help you achieve that and you won’t learn this from any golf books because I read all of them. (Yes, my vast collection of golf books will surprise you but you can check out some of the golf book reviews I did here.)
These are the tips tailored to the mistakes that Tiger, Phil, Chad, and Kenny made at the yesterday’s final round of Masters:
How to achieve the mental state required to play under pressure?
As a player, I have played good at various times too, those times I usually felt like I was “home” or simply “relaxed”.
Here’s some tips on how to feel “relaxed” during your round:
- To feel relaxed, you need to make sure to “visualize” your outcome during the round and don’t be too “aggressive” on holes that you don’t have to.
- Develop and hit your “bread-and-butter” shots. Sometimes, I even hit a low-screaming knock-down shot with my 3-iron on short par 4s and my playing partners are like, “did you miss that?”. No, i can hit that low screamer at my target 9 out of 10 times, even under pressure.
- If you start playing bad on the course, take at least couple days off golf. Those mental pictures you keep putting in your head will end up in vicious cycle of bad rounds thereafter. You need to get those out of your system. If I were Phil, Tiger, Kenny, or Chad, I would take at least a week off golf before I even “touch” a club. Trust me, your golf memories are EVERYTHING in golf.
- When you practice, make sure you hit perfect shots, meaning take every step of your pre-shot routine to ensure 100% quality in your shot. Don’t just bang balls one after another, that’s worse than just sitting on your couch. It’s ALL about your mental memories of your previous “good” shots.
- Especially for shorter shots like short game and putting, practice with 5 to 10 balls. Don’t dump your golf balls and bang away. Treat each shot like it’s REAL. If you hit a bad chip shot and it comes up 20 feet short of the pin, CLEAR your balls and start over so you don’t SEE or REMEMBER your bad shots.
- Keep tricking your brain on a consistent daily-basis that you only hit “perfect” shots.
And yes, congrats to Angel Cabrera, a native Argentinian who has won numerous European tournaments, and now a Masters winner!
