Lessons for a lifetime

Ways that can help you become a better player out there

IN THIS second part of a series, Rory McIlroy shares a few tips on how to deal with making mistakes, nerves and hard work.

He says learn from your mistakes – there’s nothing wrong with that. If anything, it’s a good thing.

“I definitely learnt more from my Sunday collapse at the (2010) Masters than I did from my Major wins.

“The victories sort of reaffirm that what you’ve been doing is the right thing. Everybody is going to make mistakes at some stage, so the trick is learning from them and being able to put them behind you and move on,” he adds.

“There’s no point in dwelling on them because that is in the past and you can’t do anything about it. You can definitely do something about the future. I’ve put some things into practice that I’ve learnt from the past, but you’ve got to keep moving forward.”

1 Feel the pressure

THERE are no tricks when it comes to dealing with nerves. The more you get yourself in a position of feeling those nerves, the more you get used to them. Then, all of a sudden, you start to welcome it. That rush of adrenalin is actually a good feeling.

2 Always work hard

THE whole point of hitting so many balls is to get into final groups on Sundays and win the biggest tournaments. You get nervous because you work hard for it and it means so much to you. But it shouldn’t be a bad thing.

3 Put in the effort

WITH hard work I think I can become more consistent. Everyone gets into bad habits with their golf swing. There was a time I was missing it right and left. I just need to do a few more drills and there will be a little more consistency in my swing.

4 Strive to improve

I definitely feel like I’m a more complete player than I was a year or more ago. I still hit the ball in a very similar way, but I feel like my short game has improved a lot.