How to play under pressure.
How to play under pressure. 5 Secrets Finally Exposed.
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.
David MacKenzie.
If you play golf competitively on a state or national level or play in your local club competitions, David MacKenzie will give you the tools needed to play better golf. David MacKenzie is one of the leading sports performance coaches and has worked with many top players in all sports types. His ideas on how to perform well under pressure are absolutely awesome! Good golf consists of having sound fundamentals that result in good shots and the mental toughness to win when you need to.
Whatever your level of play, I’m sure you’ve experienced the feeling of playing under pressure on the golf course. How you cope with it can make or break your success.
Do you have techniques you can rely on to keep you calm and focused on the task at hand and not get carried away into the future?
In this article, I’m going to show you 5 mental game techniques that have helped the shakiest of players cope with pressure and use nervous energy to succeed. Many of these skills can be learned off the golf course, with no need for a club and ball.
These are techniques that you can apply to any high pressure situation, whether on the golf course or other areas of your life. Each one gets more powerful, the more you practice it.
1. Improve your response control to fear
How we respond in pressure situations can be improved with regular mental exercises. Set a little time aside each day to imagine yourself in high-pressure situations that you fear, and work on controlling your physical and emotional response.
In golf, you need to be somewhat aroused to play your best. That’s why nerves are a positive. But if you’re too aroused, that’s when it hurts your game – you lose focus and become tense, which affects your decision making and your execution.
So being able to control your arousal state is key to playing your best. Your current physical response to pressure is probably an increased heart rate and tension in your muscles. Let’s make sure this response is kept at a manageable level.
Visualization.
There are 2 exercises you can try. Imagine (visualize) yourself in a situation you fear – like teeing off in a big tournament with lots of people watching, or needing a par on the last to win. I want you to feel that increase in heart rate and even a little shaking in your hands.
Relaxation.
Now imagine yourself overcoming that fear, using your relaxation response. Breathing is a great way to do that and focusing on the positive outcome you desire. Imagine making a smooth swing with a nice tempo and hitting a really pure shot. With this practice, you increase the self-image of your performance self, which will help you with confidence in real situations.
The Real Situation of Practicing on the Course.
When you’ve successfully achieved a more relaxed response to the situation in your mind, move onto the real situation of practicing it on the course. When you’re playing, mentally put yourself in those situations you fear. Like leading the club championship and needing a par on the 18th to win.
Imagine the intensity and distractions going on around you and practice staying calm and relaxed. You can even try to run on the spot and to increase your heart rate even more and then going through your routine to control your arousal state and get more focuse and as relaxed as possible.
2. Inflate the positive and deflate the negative.
Being able to find the positive in any situation can become a habit, which can really help you during a round of golf. It’s something that you get better at, the more you practice it. Over time, it will help you see the positive possibilities only. Instead of those negative images which damage your confidence.
Make a goal to find a positive after every shot. And at least 3 positive things after every round. After a while, you’ll find yourself searching for the positives a lot more in any situation and you’ll cultivate a much better attitude for successful golf.
To see all 5 ways to learn to play under pressure, go here.
Source: David MacKenzie golfstateofmind.com Mel Sole Golf School
Thanks for watching - How to play under pressure. Now go and Do It!
Pictures: Wally Gobetz
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