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A beast to some, and yet others eat it. For those who shake more than they can shake it off, here’s another way of looking at pressure that has proven to help everyday golfers get the job done when it matters.
As the title suggests, pressure is often a problem simply because it distracts you. Pressure doesn’t delete your skill like it may seem. You don’t suddenly forget how to play golf; your mind just isn’t focused on where it needs to be. Here’s why.
Under pressure, because of the significant change in how the body feels, focus can shift too much onto the actual physical feeling of pressure, leaving you with too little for the shot. At this point you are basically multi-tasking and that is why you perform poorly.
To get you moving the right direction, it’s important to first know a couple reasons why you even focus on the physical feeling of pressure:
1) You don’t feel pressure like this too often on the golf course, so because it is new, the mind naturally pays attention to it more. It’s interesting, just like seeing a new driver in the pro shop, or the drink cart turn onto your hole up by the green.
2) You believe that pressure causes you to perform poorly and have plenty of experience to back that up. So your mind focuses on the feeling because it’s trying to figure out a solution on how to get rid of the feeling so you can hit a good shot. When in reality the feeling isn’t the problem at all. Even when you are visibly shaking, your muscles are primed to perform, not fail. I’ve worked with aspiring tour players who started making more putts just by remembering all the ones they made when their hands couldn’t stop shaking.
Still not convinced? This exercise can cause the same problems pressure does, just by shifting your attention to something irrelevant.
On the driving range or putting green, hit a shot while focusing mostly on the physical feeling of your feet. Put as much focus as possible on the feeling of your feet as you walk around to check your lie, pick a club and go through your routine. Stayed focused on your feet as you settle into your set-up and throughout the golf swing. Clients who try this, often end up looking at their feet; focus from the inside and let your eyes go where they want.
The results are predictable. Your mind is all over the place or just blank, you probably feel really awkward, and the bottom line is your golf shots are terrible. All by forcing your focus onto something that has ZERO importance on the outcome of a shot, just like the feeling of pressure.
So how do you fix this? How do you shift your focus from the feeling of pressure to your shot? First thing is to take 3 deep breaths into the lower part of your stomach with the intent of clearing some mental space to focus. The breaths are not intended to make you relax; you want to use the pressure, not reduce it. Breathing into your stomach is important because that part of your lungs takes in the most oxygen and oxygen helps you focus.
With some mental space to direct your focus, you can first remind yourself the feeling of pressure is fuel to perform and with that direct your focus on making the best decision for the shot and go through your routine as normal.
In the end these shots are challenging and the more you look at it like as one the better you’ll get too.
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