A mental shake up in Switzerland!

Tour Diary

Well, after making the first 4 cuts in a row I’ve now gone on to miss the next 3!

What a strange and crazy game it really is…How it can go from feeling so simple to so hard is a mystery.

… and one that will probably never be solved by anyone. If someone had the answer they could bottle it and sell it for millions!

 But as everyone knows, golf is a game made up of so many factors: fitness, technique, mental approach, nutrition, course management, equipment, weather, preparation…the list goes on…!

And I for one find it hard to manage everything (hopefully I’m not on my own there), even after 10 years of playing the game professionally you would think I would have so many good habits set in stone, but it’s not that simple, or I certainly don’t think so.

So after missing the cut this week with scores of 76, 71 (+5) I’ve sat back as always and reflected on the week.

What am I going to do to improve? How can I stop falling out of good habits and how can I become a more consistent player…?

You don’t get too many goes at this game so you have to make the most of the chances you have!

Each week I input my golf performance stats into two separate systems, I keep a positive diary of all my good shots, I mark my routine each round/hole – but maybe it’s not enough or in enough detail.

So I have now created a self-assessment form to complete after each tournament, something where I can look back on the week, and always read before the next week!

It’s a bit of a checklist with feedback and it keeps things at the forefront of my mind…

For example:

– did I complete my fitness sessions this week?

– how was my warm up?

– did I eat as well as I could?

– did I do my putting drills?

– how strong was my pre shot routine?

– did I practise my pre shot routine?

Again the list goes on, but it will be specific to my game, and maybe it’s something you could do if you want to improve your game…?

I guess so many people do it in many other types of jobs around the world, and the more I learn about golf, the more I feel it relates to many ‘normal’ jobs people have.

So back to my actual performance this week; the first round was again disappointing and with two very bad shots it gave me a lot of work to do in round two!

I seem to bounce back well from bad rounds but this week on a more demanding course I’d left myself a tough challenge.

The one positive I can take from the first round was I really had a wake-up call about how poor my pre-shot routine had become, and that’s why the above is such a hot topic in this blog!

I can now see light at the end of the tunnel and I’m looking forward to putting a stronger mental performance together next week and competing in Belgium!

Hopefully if that side of my game is stronger, then the results will start to follow!

  
     I’ve now got a run of four tournaments in a row: Belgium, France, Scotland, Germany and that will then be 9 weeks in a row before I take a week’s break.

Let’s play ball!!! 

Last modified: June 3, 2019