How to handle stress on the golf course!

How to handle stress on the golf course!

Hi, I’m Mel Sole, Director of Instruction at the Mel Sole Golf School, headquartered at Pawleys Plantation Golf and Country Club in Pawleys Island, SC.  We conduct 1, 2, and 3-day golf schools, hourly golf lessons, and senior golf schools—any golf instruction program your heart desires. Give us a call at 800-624-4653 or 843-237-4993.  We will be happy to book a commuter school or a package that contains accommodations, golf, and golf school.

Golf Blog by the Mel Sole Golf School.

Coping with Stress.

How to handle stress is something we face every day in every aspect of our life!  How we cope with that stress is critical to our success (or failure) in everyday situations.  Getting ready for work in the morning, driving to our workplace, and performing our jobs all contain various stress levels.  

For the readers of this blog, I want to talk specifically about stress on the golf course.  

Golf Pros and Stress.

We all admire the Jordan Spieth's of the world, who seem cool, calm, and collected in the heat of battle, but nothing could be further from the truth!  The key is, these players have taught themselves (yes, it is a learned skill) how the handle their expectations and, in turn, the stress they are experiencing.  The thing to understand, and embrace, is that feeling nervous is a good thing!  Jack Nicklaus once said, "If you are not nervous, you are not in contention, so I always want to feel nervous!"

Thanks to Cordie Walker of Golf Science Lab for sharing this essential article on how to handle stress!

Dr. Adam Nicholls.

We all face stress in similar ways on the golf course no matter if you’re a +7 handicap or a 27 handicap. Today we’re talking with Dr. Adam Nicholls about how to better deal with stress and telling some stories of the good and bad. Listen in below!

We all face stress in similar ways on the golf course no matter if you’re a +7 handicap or a 27 handicap. Today we’re talking with Dr. Adam Nicholls about how to better deal with stress and telling some stories of the good and bad. Listen in below or read the transcript below that!

What is STRESS?

During “stress” we feel that our resources for the situation at hand won’t be able to meet the demands of what we need to do. In other words the situation potentially outweighs our resources and we may feel helpless.

It’s a feeling that something bad is potentially going to happen.  Or has happened and we react with a variety of negative feelings.

From Dr Adam – One thing I do when working with golfers is to increase their awareness of stress in terms of what situations have impacted them in the past, and how that’s made them feel. For instance, did they focus on what can go wrong, because quite often, when we are stressed, we focus on the threat.

What I encourage golfers to do is focus on the challenge side of stress. “What can I gain from situations?” One thing I’ll say to students is start the sentence with “This is an opportunity for me _____________ “

“This is an opportunity for me to put into practice what I have been working on the training ground.”

“This is an opportunity for me to improve my handicap.”

Stress can be good and bad, but it all depends on how you interpret it, and how you manage it.

Key #1 – Awareness

When talking about a study Dr. Adam conducted…

The golfers were aware that something was going on, but not WHAT was going on. It was only when they reflected on it, that they realized actually, ‘I normally take two practice swings; on that day I just put the ball down on the peg and hit it without even thinking about it.’

It was a lack of awareness of what they were doing. A key to coping effectively with stress is being aware of how your normal response to stress is and being aware of how you cope.

These golfers were completely unaware of what they were doing.

To read the rest of this interesting story, plus information on the authors, go here!

Source: Golf Science Lab   Cordie Walker  Dr. Adam Nicholls   Mel Sole Golf School.

Pictures: Stephen Day   Grand Velas Puerto Vallarta

Thank you for reading and listening to - How to handle stress on the golf course!  

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