Sunday, September 4, 2011

Beating the first tee jitters

Playing golf in Scotland over the past few weeks took me back to the days when I was starting out with the game. Every first tee felt to me like the first tee at St. Andrews did last week. I had forgotten how nerve-racking an experience it can be when you’re starting out. It’s particularly difficult if you’re playing with complete strangers. I still get nervous still sometimes and I’ve been playing for 15 years now. So here are my tips for getting through it:

1. Look good! I thought of this one after we bought our argyle sweaters at St. Andrews; our thinking was, “hey, at least if we don’t play well we’ll look good!” Plus of course the more confident you are the better!

2. Use the club that you are most comfortable with. If your 7 iron is the club you always hit well, and you’re nervous – hit your 7 iron!! It doesn’t matter how long the hole is – you just want to get a nice shot into the fairway right?

3. Keep your head down. There’s an expression that says, “Never rush to look at a bad shot” and its so very true. When you lift your head in golf to turn and look at your shot… its never going to be good! Plus, if you’re nervous you’re more likely to have multiple swing shots in your head, and that’s not going to help anyone. So while you’re taking your shot – keep an eye on that ball the entire time; you’ll be amazed by the results!


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