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First Tee Nerves
The opening shot of any round is always the most stressful shot for the
average golfer. This is because you're "not into" your round yet. Even the
practice swing you take prior to teeing off isn't always the same. |
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What makes this shot even worse is the fact that there are almost always
other golfers around when you take that first shot. If you are like most
other golfers, you are going to be intimidated just by the thought of
striking a golf ball in front of an audience.
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| How a golfer deals with "first tee nerves" is an individual thing. Its one
of those things that you just need to get out there and do and see how it
feels when you are doing it. There are a number of common factors that
golfers experience with "first tee nerves". They experience blurred vision,
a desire to get the shot over as soon as possible, and a loss of reason. |
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A common mistake that is made by most golfers is that they do everything
twice as fast as it should be done in an attempt to get the shot over as
quickly as possible. This means they are looking down the fairway, standing
to the ball, and swinging all at once. This increased pace comes from the
misguided concept that if they get the swing over quickly no one will see it
take place. In the game of golf this type of behavior has become known as
the "hit and miss" syndrome, and it should be avoided. |
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| Most really good golfers can remember a time when their swing wasn't where
they wanted it to be. Maybe they had a bad grip, a bad takeaway, or a bad
position at the top. Because of these faults in their swing they were never
really comfortable with others watching them take their shots so they would
get up to the tee, hit the ball as fast as they could and get out of the
way. |
| However, once they started to grasp the mechanics of their swing, they found
that they had lost all of the dread that they had felt on previous
occasions. Suddenly they found themselves standing over the ball taking as
much time as they wanted, not caring what others were thinking. |
| Being overly concerned about your swing is really more of a social problem
than anything else. in stead of thinking about the things that you should be
thinking about when your taking a shoot, your to busy thinking about what
others may be thinking. In-order to overcome this social problem you need to
immerse yourself in your shot routine. Block out all of the outside factors,
and start behind the ball. Look down at your line, take five steps toward
the ball, and swing the club. Whatever you do just remember to focus
internally rather than externally. |
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