How do you spend your time between shots?
If you look at golf as a whole, it boils down to playing in little slots of time which are, essentially, 40-second chunks. You are out there for over four hours and there is maybe half an hour of playing golf and a bit of time for your decision making, but the majority is walking between shots. Even on the green, you’re spending more time between your shots than over the ball. Most of us need to use that time better.
A lot of our time is spent playing with our B game at best, so there are always going to be some erratic, disappointing shots and some good ones – we’re not always going to be happy, confident, smiling or upbeat. A lot of the time you’re going to be frustrated and angry, so how can you help yourself?
If you drift to the past that will breed emotions and feelings, especially if you’ve started badly. Likewise, it’s not helpful to look to the future and start thinking about your winner’s speech. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to understand that to perform your best, you need to be present and 100 per cent engaged in the task. If you go to the past or future, you need to learn to get back to the present at the right time.
How often do you stand on the 10th tee and tell yourself a score that will save your round? It sounds lovely as it gives you a target, but if you stay there when playing your next shot then it’s not a good place to perform from.
You have to learn the skills to bring you back to the present. A lot of players concentrate on taking conscious breaths – it helps to create a gap in your thinking. Breathing is always present and it’s a great thing to do when approaching the ball, as it can pull you back from where you may have drifted.
It sounds fluffy, but another very powerful tool is to engage with the views and environment. We’re generally playing in a beautiful setting, so take things in that are present, like your surroundings and nature. Even your steps down a fairway are something present to engage in. Again, it
“WE SPEND FAR MORE TIME BETWEEN SHOTS THAN OVER THE BALL. WE NEED TO USE THAT TIME BETTER” Duncan Mccarthy, mental performance coach to Marcus Armitage and Erik van Rooyen
sounds soft, but it can have a massive impact and you can easily become 100 per cent absorbed into that task.
A simple rule is ABTP (Anything But The Performance). So, rather than obsessing about the shot just gone or the one coming up, really try to enjoy your conversations with your playing partners and talk about something that gets away from the performance. Turn your focus on when you get to the ball.
And turn your phone off, as it just distracts you from the present. There will be messages that you don’t need to pick up for a few hours and they can very quickly take your mind to another situation. You chose to play golf and you’re taking yourself away from that decision.