2 thoughts on “Mental Mondays: Know Your Tendencies”
Excellent article!
All golfers should occasionally leave their driver at home, which teaches you to think your way around a golf course instead of blindly trying to smash a tee shot 300 yards on a short par four….
A simple exercise to use is to work your way backwards from the hole to the tee, instead of the other way around. Ask yourself, “which short iron am I most comfortable with?” and play the hole to get the ball to within the hitting range of your favourite iron. I love hitting my 7 and 8 irons, and so the 300 – 350 yard-long par four holes can be reached in regulation with an iron off the tee, and a short iron into the green. Controlled and consistent…..
A really important article! A lot is said about playing percentages but very little is said on HOW to do this – if you don’t know YOUR percentages, how can you play them?
I also like to include confidence levels over the shot when coaching percentages. For example, when confidence is high, the normal percentage shot may be TOO safe, so if you play it, you might not commit and play it half heartedly. If confidence is low, the normal percentage shot may not be safe enough – again producing a poor shot.
The key is to choose the shot whose outcome you KNOW you will be happy with. This takes into account confidence levels (heart) as well as logical percentages (head) so that you can commit 100% to your decision. This may lead to taking higher risks than normal (eg going for the green in 2 on a par 5) or lower risks than normal (eg laying up) in order to stay committed.
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Excellent article!
All golfers should occasionally leave their driver at home, which teaches you to think your way around a golf course instead of blindly trying to smash a tee shot 300 yards on a short par four….
A simple exercise to use is to work your way backwards from the hole to the tee, instead of the other way around. Ask yourself, “which short iron am I most comfortable with?” and play the hole to get the ball to within the hitting range of your favourite iron. I love hitting my 7 and 8 irons, and so the 300 – 350 yard-long par four holes can be reached in regulation with an iron off the tee, and a short iron into the green. Controlled and consistent…..
Nice website by the way!
All the best,
John.
A really important article! A lot is said about playing percentages but very little is said on HOW to do this – if you don’t know YOUR percentages, how can you play them?
I also like to include confidence levels over the shot when coaching percentages. For example, when confidence is high, the normal percentage shot may be TOO safe, so if you play it, you might not commit and play it half heartedly. If confidence is low, the normal percentage shot may not be safe enough – again producing a poor shot.
The key is to choose the shot whose outcome you KNOW you will be happy with. This takes into account confidence levels (heart) as well as logical percentages (head) so that you can commit 100% to your decision. This may lead to taking higher risks than normal (eg going for the green in 2 on a par 5) or lower risks than normal (eg laying up) in order to stay committed.
Great article, keep em coming!
Adam Sprackling