Struggling when you play competitions?
A common theme amongst golfers is the inability to turn day to day rounds into competitive scores in competitions.
I have come across this time and again, a golfer plays below their handicap during the week, or winter and then when it come to the club competitions they inexplicable fail to reproduce the same form that has gained them such praise amongst friends.
It is a frustration that many golfers face and the search to find a way to overcome this can be long and fruitless.
I myself suffered the same problems with tournament play.
Regularly shooting well below my handicap during the week and in friendly matches, I was unable to recreate the same level of golf in tournaments.
For months the same thing happened.
I had tried various things to try and change what had seemed to become an almost inevitable thing.
Nothing was working, until one day I decided to approach the competition in a different way.
I grabbed my scorecard from the professional shop, headed into the bar and took my sharpie and began to cross out the pars of each hole, replacing them with the score that I needed to shoot my handicap.
So on the holes where I received a shot I would add the shot to the par and I would have my “personal par”
Heading to the first tee I was unsure what would happen. I was anxious that once again I would not recreate the way I had been playing during the previous week.
A different feeling occurred when I made a 4 on the first, a par 5 that was relatively straightforward. I felt a sense of relief as I was already 2 under my handicap. I relaxed and my game seemed to flow.
I also refused the temptation to add my score up after 9 holes, instead I just wanted to continue with my round.
The lack of pressure I had felt was a new experience and when we added up the score at the end I was delighted with the score, it was more becoming of my play under normal circumstances.
I continued to use this method until I reached a point where I was not receiving enough shots to make a difference mentally, but I had already experienced enough to not need the “security” of shot holes.
The method I used all those years ago I now explain to my clients who are facing similar struggles and in the vast majority of cases the same results are being seen.
I have no explanation of why this method is successful other than it creates the same similarities as when we are playing our midweek games.
We are more focussed on amassing points than making mistakes, whereas in competitions we are more focussed on not making mistakes rather than scoring points.
Perhaps it is the approach that we have to competitions that is wrong and we should all try to reduce the amount of pressure we place on ourselves.
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