“The more prepared I feel, the more entitled I feel to hit good shots” – Adam Scott
What you do before a round has a big effect on how you play during it. Whether you are a weekend golfer with little time to practice or a full-time player, you must be prepared and in a good mindset for the challenges ahead. Let’s discuss how to do this.
Know The Course and Have a Strategy
Before you play, you increase your chances of playing well by getting to know the course and developing a strategy. Anticipating the challenges that each hole will bring, means that you can do a lot of the decision making before the round, when you don’t have the emotions that can be present during it or when you’re feeling under pressure. Emotions will never help decision making, information does, so we need to gather as much as possible before we play.
The 7 Step Course Strategy Preparation
- Use the course yardage book and/or the Google Earth measuring tool to measure the width of the landing areas for each tee shot. For example, if you hit your driver 280 yds, find out how much room you have at that distance off the tee and decide if a shorter club (and having a slightly longer 2nd shot) is a higher percentage strategy. Remember that every shot is about determining the risk and reward of all the options and picking the shot that gets you closest to your optimal target for an acceptable level of risk. Your shot dispersion data will tell you what the probability is of landing the ball within a target area. To pick a shot, you’ll want to have at least 75-80% certainty that you won’t be OB, in water or unplayable (the rough is fine). In the Golf State of Mind Practice System, I can show you how to measure your shot dispersion for each club. On holes where there is water or OB on one side of the hole, the center of the fairway may not be the best target. Your target should be the center of your shot dispersion, so find a target that will fit your dispersion into the hole and reduce your probability of going in the water or OB. Good golf course designers will try to trick you into thinking there is less room for your tee and approach shots, than there actually is. By looking at the aerial views you will see the true width of the landing areas, as in the image below:
- Anticipate 3 different pin positions on each green and think about how this could affect how you play the hole.
- For your tee shots and approaches, use the aerial view to consider the good and bad miss and mark off these areas in your yardage book. Even though you might not know the pin positions ahead of time, you should still be able to determine where you have the best chance of an up and down around the green and where it will be more difficult.
- Anticipate different situations that would allow you to go for a par 5 in two and which would mean that you would lay up. If you are going to lay up, what yardage will you lay up to?
- What are the distances to the center or widest areas of the greens on the par 3’s?
- What is the weather forecast and predicted wind direction for your round? How could this affect your strategy?
- What are the types of grasses on the course and how could that affect chipping and putting?
By going through this 7 Step Course Strategy Process before your rounds you’ll reduce uncertainty and performance anxiety and increase confidence.
Treat all rounds the same
It’s only you that attaches more importance to one round compared to another. Playing a local tournament is the same physical challenge as playing in the State Open. The golf ball doesn’t know what tournament it is or whether it’s a putt for birdie or bogey, it’s your mind which can interpret them differently and mean that you perform differently. That said, it’s unrealistic to say that you wouldn’t feel differently about a putt to win than you would a putt in practice, and that can be a good thing. As we’ve already discussed, higher arousal can help deepen focus and get you into Flow. But the key is to notice if you are thinking about them differently or adding a story to the putt you have labeled as more important.
Conversely, if you tell yourself that a golf course is easy, or that you are one of the better players, you can get sloppy. There is no such thing as a “big tournament” or a “big putt”, they are all tournaments and all putts. Try to catch yourself labeling in this way and instead adopt the mindset that each shot and round is just as important as any other.
Lower Your Expectations
“Don’t try to make something happen, see what happens” – Collin Morikawa
Having high expectations is a trap that a lot of players can fall into. They might have practiced well or had a good score in a previous round, so they expect that the upcoming round will be the same. If they are in a tournament where they are one of the better players, they will expect to win or finish near the top of the leaderboard. You might be thinking that confident players should think this way, but as any Tour Player will tell you, there are several problems with expectations which can prevent you from being your best.
- An expectation is a prediction of the future – that something should happen
Golf is a very unpredictable game, and you never know what is going to happen. When we expect certain desired outcomes, and the reality doesn’t match up with them, it can become frustrating and get worse as the round goes on. This can affect your mood and cause you to take risks to bring yourself back in line with them. To be present (the place to be to perform your best), requires you to be fully accepting of what has happened, and what might happen in the future. If you have expectations and thoughts about what should happen, and then reality doesn’t deliver, it can cause you to ruminate and continue to ask yourself why and how, which will keep you from being in the present.
Expectations about results can also work against you if you begin to exceed them – if you start to play better than what you expect, you might become defensive and protective, causing you to retreat and fall back in-line with your expectations. In this case, expectations can prevent you from turning a good round into a great one.
- Expectations add pressure
Telling yourself that “you should perform a certain way and anything less will be disappointing”, will no doubt add pressure. Many juniors I work with feel pressure to play perfectly which causes them to struggle even more when they don’t.
- Expectations encourage a Fixed Mindset
To play with freedom and have no limits to your performance, you need a “beginner’s”, or “growth” mindset and be open to the possibilities, including failure.
Even at the professional level, they don’t know what game they will have that day. On average, Tour players make approximately 80% of their money from 5 tournaments, so if they play in 30 in a season, it means they only have their “A game” in 1 in 6 rounds. The rest of the time, they’re having to manage their B, C and even D game and get the best out of whatever they have on that day.
Playing good golf is about expecting that there are unknowns and “uncontrollables” ahead, instead of expecting that it should go a certain way and that if it doesn’t, something is wrong. We don’t know what is going to happen – the best you can do is to be up for the challenge of every shot and be accepting of whatever the outcome might be.
When you expect things to happen, your mind is more closed off to learning, i.e., you’re in a fixed mindset. You’re better off expecting that each round will be a challenge and a learning opportunity, rather than fitting nicely into your plan for where you think your game is.
- Expectations and Confidence are NOT the same thing
Having confidence is very different from having expectations. Expectations are about results – that you will or should achieve a certain score. Confidence is accepting that there will be challenges ahead but knowing that you’re prepared and you have the skills to deal with them.
Be Intentional
As we discussed in Module 2, you’ll need some intentions for your round that you have complete control over, rather than anything that is uncertain. Instead of being overly focused on the outcomes of the round, you’re best to keep bringing your attention back to your process goals and values. Remind yourself of your “Player Philosophy”. Write your goals and intentions down on your mental game scorecard or in your yardage book.
Recovery and Sleep
Being prepared also means being physically and mentally recovered and getting a good night’s sleep is the best way to do this. Getting less sleep than your mind and body need each night can not only lead to mental and physical fatigue the next day, but it can cause poor focus, higher levels of the stress hormone cortisol, anxiety, and under-performance.
The importance of sleep in an athlete’s performance is vastly underestimated. Sleep expert Dr. Michael Breus says that “Sleep recharges you physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually. Everything we do, we do better with sleep”.
Take sleep seriously and make sure you are doing what’s needed to get plenty of REM (deep) sleep. Here are some tips to do so:
- Get to bed early enough to make sure you will get 7-8 hours of sleep.
- Don’t use your computer or mobile device at least one hour before bed.
- Darken the room completely (if there are any lights at all, find a way to block them).
- Set the temperature to cool.
- If you use your phone as an alarm and that’s why it’s beside your bed, consider getting an alarm clock and leave your phone in another room. This will avoid you looking at it right before bed and first thing in the morning.
- Avoid alcohol, drinking liquids or having a big meal too close to going to bed.
- When you get into bed, calm your mind with some mindfulness practice such as breathing awareness.
Sleep is so important for controlling attention, mood, mental toughness and how you feel physically. Make good sleep a habit and you’ll get the best out of your mind and body each day and during your rounds.
Eat and Drink Well
Nutrition and hydration is another component of high performance which can’t be overlooked.
The food and drink you put into your body will affect how you feel (physically and mentally), how well you sleep, how well you think and focus, and your energy level throughout the round.
You burn approximately 1200 calories if you walk a course carrying your bag (more in the heat), so if you’re not putting at least 800 back into your body, you will start to lose energy and focus. Staying calm and thinking clearly will become more challenging. Here are my suggestions for how to eat and drink optimally before and during your rounds:
- The evening before your round, it’s important to eat a healthy meal and get a good night’s sleep.
- Keep your pre-round meal light and eat 2-3 hours before playing. You can follow it up with a snack such as fruit and nuts about 30 mins before your tee time. A little coffee is fine, but not too much as this can make you jittery. Tiger’s pre-round meal of choice is an egg-white omelet with vegetables. A small (brown bread) sandwich with fruit would be another good option.
- During the round, avoid the half-way hot dog and drinks that give you high blood sugar like soda or beer. The surge in insulin will make you sluggish later. Go for the healthy option of bananas, mixed nuts and granola bars and sip plenty of water.
Get Your Equipment Prepared
Being prepared with the equipment you will need for your round the evening before will mean that you’ll feel more relaxed in the morning. You reduce the stress from having to make decisions when time is limited. You don’t want to be rushing around getting your equipment ready shortly before you have to leave for the course. Count your clubs in case any extras have made their way in there which would take you over the 14-club limit. Have your clubs, clothes, and shoes ready the evening before. Make sure your bag contains an extra glove, waterproofs, plenty of balls, tees, ball markers and a pitch-mark repairer.
Have your snacks and water ready to pop in the bag in the morning.
In the next lesson, we’ll walk through your Pre Round Mental Warm-up to activate your optimal internal state.
Interested in Individual Mental Coaching?
Sign up here for a free 15 minute consultation to discuss how I can help you. In a series of mental coaching sessions via Zoom, I will help you (or your junior) with:
- Your shot routines (where your focus is before, during and after shots)
- Your “Performance Process” (goals for your rounds with accountability)
- Building confidence (working on automatic behaviors and thought patterns)
- Your player values and philosophy
- Dealing with negative outcomes/setbacks and building mental toughness
- Managing your mental and emotional state
- Managing performance anxiety and limiting beliefs
- Self-talk and body language
- Staying present and calming the mind
- Preparation for rounds (both mental and physical)
- Goal setting and effective (pressurized practice)