Maintaining an air of serene calm is a skill every golfing goddess needs. Here are a few pointers to help you maintain your composure when things start to go a little pear-shaped!
When others around you are flapping and falling apart, or perhaps it’s your own game that has taken a nosedive, maintaining an air of serene calm is a skill every golfing goddess needs. Here are a few pointers to help you maintain your composure when things start to go a little pear-shaped!
By Katie Dawkins
Use Drills
These easy drill will make sure you have the the tools at hand to diffuse those iffy moments quickly.
- First, the parachute drill… when things take a turn for the worst, this will set you back on track in no time. Simply introduce set-up checkpoints for your grip and posture to make sure that they are correct, and tap your heels to ensure your weight is on the balls of your feet.
- If you are mishitting shots or losing them right, try swinging with your feet together. This will help to regain your rhythm and also wake up your hands and wrists for some extra swish - helping to regain distance too.
We all hit bad shots and yes, you can use drills out on the course, or even during your practice swing as part of your pre-shot routine to help curb the baddies. But most essential is the art of recovery. If you can get out of trouble with style and an air of class, then hell, why not make the game interesting!
Be Prepared For Any Situation
If your poor shot often misses the green, then make sure that within your golfing armoury is a hot short game. The ability to get close or at least down the hole in no more than three shots from anywhere will save your bacon when it comes to scoring. If you know that you have the greenside covered, then you won’t panic when the ball bounces past the short stuff.
To hone your short game, the key is practice, and not the sort of chip, chip, chip, monotonous practice you might think. On the course you never have the same shot twice, so why practise from the same spot over and over again?
When the golf course is quiet, play your own ball, but as you approach the greens, throw another 4 balls into play in different spots. Log your score from each place to add pressure in practice. Aim to play 5 holes - that’s 25 different scenarios and a lot more than you’d have covered on the practice ground.
Or, if nobody is around, throw your ball into the rough, a fairway bunker, or in the trees, and then play from the trouble spots- there is nothing like real practice.
Steady The Ship
If you hit a bad shot, try not to let on that you are perplexed. Instead find something that will CALM you. Breathing is so important. Take yourself out of the moment and into a state of complete control.
Use your head cover as a place to channel any frustrations. Place your hand gently on your head cover and use it to recharge your positive energy. The head cover will soak up your negative energy, a bit like a sponge.
Breathe in slowly through your nose. Then push all the air calmly out, far slower than you breathed in. Stretch your breath out as if you are slowing down time itself. The importance of breathing is highly underestimated and is well worth exploring.
If playing partners begin to lose their cool, use breathing to channel your focus back into your game rather than get absorbed in their mood swings. This will also help if you have a particularly tricky match play opponent - maintaining an air of calm will really ruffle their feathers.
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