Mental Pressure Tips

[Celtic Wolf]

Don't over think shots, go with your gut instinct. Take each hole at a time, don't linger on missed opportunities and tell yourself next hole. If you are like me don't panic about bad tempo because sometimes they work out better than a well hit shot. Remind yourself it's just a game and there's always next week.

[PMGS247]

Be an observer of yourself. Don't be so results oriented.

One shot, one hole, one tournament.....at the end of the day no single one of them mean a whole lot and as such are not worth getting too fired up about. Over time and a large sample size you'll get promoted/demoted as is appropriate and will typically reside right about where you belong. If you're getting better your scores will improve and you will find the occasional win as well as promotions. In all likelihood this will be a faster curve the newer you are to the game and slower the more seasoned you are. Either way, there's not a lot you can do on your next shot, so don't force it. See what happens over the next 2,000 swings, don't get so hung up on the next 70.

Your constant goal is to learn something.

You will have bad shots, bad holes, bad tournaments. If you're being an observer you're gathering information each time, and walking away with a little more knowledge than before it happened. The same can be said for hot streaks. Why did you seemingly randomly shoot -16 on a course you're usually a -7 to -10 player? It happens...if you're being an observer you'll ask what went so right and learn from it. Over time, this will add up to a lot of knowledge about yourself, your game, and how you react in different situations.

The more honest with yourself you are, the more accurate your assessments will be. That's my nice way of saying in 99% of situations, it's not the game, it's you...and even when it is the game, there's probably something you can do to overcome what the game is throwing at you. Example: I personally think it's silly the way flop shots spin back in this game. As an observant player though I've learned that I need to look carefully at the green conditions and the slope around the hole/where I intend to land said flop shot. I know that if I'm just going on percentages and distances I could very well get burned.

The risk of doing this approach TOO well is that you could get lazy & complacent or that it's boring. In reality, human nature will keep that from happening. As much as you try to be perfectly objective you never will be. If you're having fun at the game you'll still get excited when you're playing well and occasionally want to throw your controller when you miss a 5 footer. That's all good, but if you keep that objective observer mindset somewhere near the front of your mind, you'll never get too out of control and will remain within shouting distance of a more balanced state of mind.