Picture this. You’re coming off a birdie on the last hole and come up on a 400-yard par 4. You smash your drive 280 down the middle and now have 120 yards, with your favorite club in your bag, the trusty A wedge. The ball is sitting up in a perfect fairway lie, with an inviting middle pin location. You just know that you’re about to put this close. You take it back confidently, and then… THWUMP. You hit 2 inches behind the ball and it goes a grand total of 30 yards. You wonder how it’s possible that you can have such a perfect scenario and then blow it that badly. I’ll be the first to say I’ve fallen into this near-exact scenario. One of the best pieces of advice I’ve ever been given is to never let yourself get too high or too low mentally. It’s common knowledge that you should never get down on yourself over a single shot or hole because it can sink a whole round, but something that people don’t focus on as much is not letting yourself get too high. It can be easy, especially in a tournament, to let your adrenaline get the best of you and feel invincible as a golfer. You get over the ball and feel like there’s no way something can go wrong. Those are the moments when golf slaps you in the face and reminds you that you aren’t Scottie Scheffler. Knowing how to control your mental highs is a very important part of becoming a good golfer, but doing it in practice is very difficult. A rule I use when I’m playing tournaments is that I give myself 30 seconds to be emotional from the shot before. So if I just came off an amazing approach shot that leaves me a five-footer for birdie, I get 30 seconds to feel great about myself. After that, it’s all business. On the flip side, if I just thinned my sand wedge 50 yards over the green, I give myself those 30 seconds to question some life choices before locking back in. This rule keeps me relatively cool throughout the whole round and avoids huge mental swings up and down. Whether you follow a rule similar to mine, or anything else that keeps you relaxed, the important thing is staying calm no matter how the round is going so far. Let me know how this goes for you!
