COUNTING ON THE ‘WHAT DOES WHAT’ FACTOR

Just how many golfers can hold their nerves and negative thoughts in place? Not many as the feeling is the same for every golfer, whether standing on the first tee at the Masters or participating in a local competition.

The problem is that there’s such a fine line between feeling in complete control of your game and being on the verge of totally losing it.

If you have not been in the situation of extreme pressure whilst standing over that little white ball, it’s hard to define this surreal sensation.

Two ingredients in this important recipe are experience and full confidence in ‘what does what,’ which basically means that you know and feel comfortable with the mechanics of your swing, and that you have faith that your swing is going to work even when your mind goes blank, which happens, believe me, during intense pressure.

The ‘what does what’ part comes from those countless practice hours on the range and the experience part comes from playing in as many tournaments as you can.

Strangely enough, the toughest personal examination I have had on the shortness of one’s nerves came about recently when I was asked to participate in an exhibition match, which is slightly different for a professional than just playing in a regular tournament.

The thing is that every golfer has to deal with it in their own way and it’s precisely this intriguing part of the game that we all love, which helps to make golf a unique endless challenge from the beginner to a top player.

Out of Bounds: Golf is a shameless disease for which there’s no cure.