One of the great challenges of golf is to overcome the enormous quantity of obstacles that we face on every golf course and that affect every single shot we hit.
And what complicates matters even more is that 99% of the time we play "stroke", or "medal", play, where absolutely all the shots that we hit count and add up to our score.
This is so different to tennis, for example. In tennis one can lose a few games and win the set. Or one loses a set and wins the match.
Not so in golf. Every single shot is crucial and, therefore, two things become absolutely essential :
1. One has to have the capacity to hit the ball where we want it to go.
2. One has to have the capacity to "get around", or successfully overcome, the multiple obstacles we constantly face on the golf course with skill and a lot of physical and mental talent.
Jack Nicklaus, the best "golf course manager" that ever played the game put it very well:
Jack suggests that there is an enormous amount of quality teaching regarding the first point. There is, for sure, excellent quality instruction and tens of thousands of capable instructors all over the world.
But quality teaching about how to effectively plan one´s way around the golf course and how to manage the mind, is very scarce, indeed.
It has a lot to do with our frame of mind on the course and how we think.
In this respect I happen to be a great admirer of Jack Nicklaus.
Nicklaus tells us that the reason many consider him the best golfer that ever played the game has a lot to do with his realization, at a very young age, that the key to golf is the conservative and rigorous planning of ALL his shots.
Jack never, ever, hit a shot without knowing the area where he wanted the ball to go to.......and, with the knowledge that even if he didn´t hit a very good shot, he was sure to be in an acceptable position for the following one.
Nicklaus never directly shot at a dangerous or risky corner flag stick. He preferred to aim at the middle of the green where he could guarantee his par and have a chance at a birdie without any risk.
A key element of any on course Mental Method to assist us when pressure hits, is the strict, rigorous and conservative planning of all golf shots.
When we plan shots badly or we take on too much risk, the price to pay can me ferocious.
Not only because of the unnecessary additional shots we add to our scorecard, but also because of the negative impact to our mind.
A dumb planning error will "take us out" of the unconscious, intuitive or automatic mode, that is so essential for the mind/ body synchronization that allows us to hit our best golf shots.
Therefore, rigorous and conservative planning of ALL golf shots in a round of golf is essential.
This can be seen clearly if we examine the scorecards of pro golfers.
Almost all of them can produce the same amount of multiple birdies and occasional eagles in any given tournament. But the difference between winners and losers is the capacity of champions to limit bogies and the dreaded "others" (doubles, triples, etc.) to a minimum.
The conclusion is simple but fundamental.
The rigorous and conservative planning of all shots, including putts, is key to success on the golf course, or, better put, on the obstacle course.
I grew up admiring Jack Nicklaus' golf game. It was always consistent and he played as tough mentally as anyone I ever saw. He played the percentages and stayed out of trouble as a result. He had a lot of talent but many other skilled players beat themselves on the course. I think this is one reason Nicklaus played the majors so well; he played the course and only went for birdies when the opportunities presented themselves. He very seldom hurt himself with a poor decision.
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