TG Blog: Get the head right and the rest will follow
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Friday 10th June
The last two weeks have been about changing the focus of the challenge. We have spent the best part of nine months working to make sure my body knows how to play the shots I need to be a scratch golfer, now we are concentrating on what goes on in my head.
Last week I was given an intensive lesson in course management. James took me to a course I have only played a few times and as we went round we discussed how each hole should be played; which club to take from the tee, target areas, trouble areas, good misses and bad misses. It’s a subject that we’ve covered before but I hadn’t put into action as well as I should have.
This week I went back to the course and played it again. I didn’t feel my golf was anywhere close to my best but this time where I missed greens I’d made sure it was a good miss. I shot my lowest ever score – an 85!
The last piece of the puzzle is to sort out what goes on in my head over each shot. I am still too ready to distract myself with random thoughts, put pressure on myself, or take shots before I am in a confident and relaxed state.
Today I have my first session with my ‘mind coaches’. Over the next three months I will be working with New Oceans, Neuro-linguistic programming (NLP) practitioners, with the aim of ensuring my head is in the right place for every shot, even if the golf ball isn’t.
