Nerves

[FairwayDodger]

I thought I was pretty good at staying in the moment, one shot at a time, and not getting too anxious during a round. However, as I've improved and scores have come down I find that I'm increasingly nervous as I get towards the end of a good round.

It doesn't tend to impact the long game too much (just need to remind myself to commit before swinging) but plays havoc with my "feel" for short chips or long putts. Definitely cost me a couple of shots in the run in at the weekend.

Any advice for how to cope with nerves? Maybe I need to re-read some Bob Rotella stuff.....

 

[hovis]

This advice was off a tour player

"when i get nervous i occupy my mind with complex mathematical sums. I stop thinking about the sum when im over the ball and ready to pull the trigger"

Apparently this stops the conscious mind taking over your golf swing.

Never tried it though

 

[guest100718]

A pre shot routine?

 

[FairwayDodger]

This advice was off a tour player

"when i get nervous i occupy my mind with complex mathematical sums. I stop thinking about the sum when im over the ball and ready to pull the trigger"

Apparently this stops the conscious mind taking over your golf swing.

Never tried it though

Interesting idea..... not sure my maths is up to it!

 

[FairwayDodger]

A pre shot routine?

Have got one, sort of, but I wonder if it might be tweaked to help.... maybe make chipping a bit more automatic....

 

[bluewolf]

This advice was off a tour player

"when i get nervous i occupy my mind with complex mathematical sums. I stop thinking about the sum when im over the ball and ready to pull the trigger"

Apparently this stops the conscious mind taking over your golf swing.

Never tried it though

that particular nugget of advice is also useful in "other" situations.

 

[Deleted member 15344]

that particular nugget of advice is also useful in "other" situations.

So that's how you hurt your arm

 

[bluewolf]

So that's how you hurt your arm

It's how I hurt someone's arm

 

[guest100718]

Have got one, sort of, but I wonder if it might be tweaked to help.... maybe make chipping a bit more automatic....

Yeah it can only help i think. Nothing long and drawn out, just make it auto like you say.

 

[Canary_Yellow]

Interesting idea..... not sure my maths is up to it!

Isn't that ideal then? You don't even need to think about a complex maths question!

 

[srixon 1]

I don't think you can stop the nerves totally. I find that I actually enjoy the nerves/adrenalin rush when playing well. Also, the more times you encounter a certain situation the easier it becomes to successfully complete it.

 

[HawkeyeMS]

My advice, stop trying to fight them. They only happen because you're playing well.

 

[Captainron]

Codeine, morphine and alcohol. You'll feel nowt!

 

[MashieNiblick]

I'm in the same boat FD. Very pleased and relieved that I managed to close out a couple of good rounds his year but my knees were literally shaking as I chipped over a bunker onto the 18th into which I often duff even the simplest little pitch. I just tried to tell myself to focus on the ball trust my swing.

This advice was off a tour player

"when i get nervous i occupy my mind with complex mathematical sums. I stop thinking about the sum when im over the ball and ready to pull the trigger"

Apparently this stops the conscious mind taking over your golf swing.

Never tried it though

Ah yes but in my case those complex mathematical sums are likely to be focussed on possible CSS and buffer zone combinations. Not so helpful.

 

[Region3]

I don't think you can stop the nerves totally. I find that I actually enjoy the nerves/adrenalin rush when playing well. Also, the more times you encounter a certain situation the easier it becomes to successfully complete it.

I agree with this.

Our 18th has ruined more good rounds of mine in the past than I care to remember, but being in that situation has helped to the point where twice this year now I've known I needed a par up the last to beat my best competition score and both times I've made par.

As for chipping, the ONLY thing in my mind is the landing spot of the ball. Nothing about what I need to score or how far to swing the club, just focussing on the landing spot - even seeing it in my mind while I'm looking at the ball and swinging.

 

[the_coach]

no matter how the round is going. the only real way to get the best score back to the house, is to not let yourself think of the outcome.
which if this is a becoming a more common occurrence towards the end of a good round it's likely because your allowing yourself to think about what the outcome is going to be at the finish.

only real way to stop this, is to focus on the process of each shot completely, your pre-shot routine, your aim to target, your visualization of the shot you have to play to that target. then just put the best swing on the ball.
brain gets so involved in putting the best process to the shot in hand, you don't have the room to worry about the overall outcome at the 18th.

 

[srixon 1]

This advice was off a tour player

"when i get nervous i occupy my mind with complex mathematical sums. I stop thinking about the sum when im over the ball and ready to pull the trigger"

Apparently this stops the conscious mind taking over your golf swing.

Never tried it though

He's probably trying to remember how many numbers there are in his bank balance, and how much to spend on a new Ferrari if he can hole the ten foot downhill left to right putt

 

[tsped83]

I'd give Rotella the swerve. Just common sense written in a over enthused American way. Personally.

 

[bladeplayer]

I just try convince my self or try to convince myself the nerves and the tension is where i want to be .. mad? maybe so but if you can convince yourself it what u want , and its the position you want to be in , you start to belong there hence you feel more comfortable ..

ok totally mad, but try it for a while its worth a try

 

[HawkeyeMS]

I agree with this.

Our 18th has ruined more good rounds of mine in the past than I care to remember, but being in that situation has helped to the point where twice this year now I've known I needed a par up the last to beat my best competition score and both times I've made par.

As for chipping, the ONLY thing in my mind is the landing spot of the ball. Nothing about what I need to score or how far to swing the club, just focussing on the landing spot - even seeing it in my mind while I'm looking at the ball and swinging.

It's the good results that you need to focus on. A few years back I started to challenge towards the end of rounds. Even if it was just a bounce game I'd set myself a target and make sure that I was fully aware of the sitation I was in and try to put the pressure on myself to execute shots. Now when I start to feel nervous I just challenge myself to hit shots again that I had hit before.

There is one shot that sticks in my mind. It was supposed to be a comp but it was called off because of frozen ground so I arranged to meet Homer after lunch when it had thawed out. Homer probably doesn't remember this but these are the situations that I tried to ingraine in my mind. We ended up playing with our club pro and another member, don't remember who. Homer and I were 1 down playing the 18th, I was last to play into the green with Ali (the pro) close to the pin I knew I needed a birdie to halve the match. Ali was standing behind me making comments "has he got the shot in him" and that kind of thing. I remember feeling nervous but I turned to Ali and said, "this has got birdie all over it", I hit it pin high to about 8 feet and after Ali had holed for birdie I had the putt to halve the match which I made.

That means nothing to anyone, as I said, Homer probably doesn't remember, Ali certainly doesn't, but everytime I get to the 18th needing a birdie, those two shots are all I think about. In the years since I've probably messed 18 up loads of times, but I don't remember any of those, when the nerves set in, that shot is my challenge: You've done it before, do it again.