One of the most important things in winning any golf tournament, especially as stern of a test as any US Open, is to have what some call mental toughness. In the world of golf instruction, this merely means putting the task you’re trying to accomplish in front of everything else. Here are a few strategies we give to our students at GolfTEC to help them get the job done!
1. Play Your Game!!
It’s important to know every time you tee it up what areas of your game are your strongest and what areas you tend to struggle with. When you begin to design a game plan for how to play a hole, you should play to your strengths. If you’re a strong driver of the ball, finding the areas you can hit that club are important. If your wedge game is where you feel most comfortable, then you should attack the golf course that way. For your round of golf, it doesn’t matter how Rory McIlroy or Tiger Woods would play a hole, but how YOU can play the hole to shoot the lowest score.
2. Bogies are OK
There’s an adage in the NFL; in certain scenarios, it’s okay to punt the ball. The same can be said in golf; it’s okay to make a bogey. If you find yourself with a difficult decision on the course, playing for the guaranteed “bogey” is certainly fine as long as it takes a higher number out of play. You can usually find the holes where you’ll face these decisions by looking for their handicap number. If you’re a 15 handicap, you are almost expected to make a bogey on more than half the holes. It will be the double/triple bogey and others that will halt your round.
3. Be Creative Inside 50 Yards
This year’s US Open at Chambers Bay will feature more of a “links style” around the greens. A lot of players will choose hybrids and putters over sand and lob wedges from inside 50 yards. The sloping on the greens and hard, fast fescue grass surfaces will make playing high soft shots very difficult. The next time you play don’t be afraid to use your putter from off the green in favor of a higher skilled shot. After all, we’re trying to shoot the lowest score possible, not earn style points.
Give these strategies of mental toughness a try during your next round of golf & talk to your GolfTEC Coach for more ways to manage your round.