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Preparation

Get Ready to Go Low

What does it take to ‘Go Low’?  Low has a different meaning for everyone.  But, we can all continue to improve in many areas in and around our golf game.  Golf requires a lot of mind and body control to shoot low scores.  Most folks never reach their potential because they just don’t have the discipline to do the things that will help them reach better scores.

Here are a few things you can do to improve scores:

1. Improve your Physicality 

Improving your physical fitness will help you in practice and play of golf.  Physical fatigue in practice or during the round will hinder your ability to think well and score low.

Get Stronger.  Consult a physical therapist and find your areas of weakness.  Put together a plan to improve your strength.  

Increased Speed.  There are lots of great speed drills out there.  Speeding up the right parts can lead to longer and straighter drives.

Better Balance.  Balance on your feet is so important!  Without proper balance, increased speed is not possible.  Never underestimate the power of balance.

Posture.  Gaining strength and balance will improve your posture.  Walk around like you are already going low in tall, confident posture.  Your current actions will be a direction for your future.

2.  Nutrition

Improving your fuel levels while you are at practice and play will have a direct benefit on your mentality and ability to think properly to make sound decisions as well as a direct benefit to your physicality and ability to strike shots more consistently.

Eat Better.  Find the foods and snacks that provide sustained energy.  Find your mix of protein, carbs, etc.  Your mix may be different from someone else. Be sure to keep snacks in your bag for play and practice.

Eat Timely.  Breakfast is hard to stomach before the early tee times, but try to find something to get you to the range and fuel up on the way to the 1st tee and every 3 holes.  Small amounts throughout the round will enable consistency.  If you wait, it could be too late!

Stay Hydrated. Quench your thirst before it happens.  The brain is 73% water and the lungs are 83% water.  Get fluids in your body before the round and have at least a  sip of water every hole and more.  Mix in some electrolytes at times as well. Start early in your day with fluid and finish late.  Dehydration is a killer to proper thinking and breathing.

3. Confidence

The mind is a powerful tool.  It can work for you or against you.  Improve your confidence and watch your scores go lower.  Junior golfers do not have the library to draw upon in pressure situations.  You have to build your library through practice and pressurized games and competition.  You have to start somewhere.  Build upon your current situation.  Play tournaments at your level with a few stretch events.

At the end of the day, if you want confidence, start small and grow.  When your confidence dwindles, start small and grow again.  Sounds too easy, but it works.

Here is a simple way to grow confidence:

Get great at 4-foot putts. Really great!  Practice in your room at home, practice at the golf course.  Just sink 4-foot putts when you are awake and in your mind when asleep. How does this help?  If you know you are able to make your 4-foot putts, you take pressure off of your chipping (and usually chip it closer).  Taking pressure off of your chipping, takes pressure off of your approach game (and usually hit it closer).  Taking pressure off of your approach game consequently take pressure off of your tee shots (and usually end up in the fairway).   So, nothing is stopping you from being a great pressure putter…especially the short ones.  Find a way to be great!

4. Practice 

Proper practice will increase confidence for competition.  Are you practicing properly?  Is your preparation the best for you?  Are you really applying pressure in your practice to sharpen your skills and make you game ready to go low?

Here are some helpful tips to practicing properly:

Apply pressure.  Train and apply pressure.  Repeat.  Repeat.  The Will2Golf Scoring Guide trains you to handle pressure, up your game and do it again.  Your library of knowledge will be increased by progressing through the levels.  Practice hard, Play easy.

Technique.  Do you need to make some tweaks in your game?  Get curious and ask or figure out how things that work in your swing to cause patterns and results.  Learn your game and how to manage it.  Take ownership!

Discipline.  Shooting low golf scores requires a lot of discipline.  Controlling the mind and body to know when to “go for it” and when to “wait for it”.

Critical Thinking.  Golf is one problem to solve after another.  Wind, terrain, speed, grass height, slope, club selection, how do I feel, firmness of the green, lie, stance, etc.  You get the picture.  Lots to calculate in a short span of time.  Practice your critical thinking in practice.  Stop practicing from perfect lie after perfect lie and mix in shots from poor lies and different slopes to challenge your analysis.

Grit. Be determined.  Find a way.  Stick it out to the end.  Keep showing up.  Some days will be better than others.  Learn to weather the storms and ride the waves when they come your way.

How to Play the Game

Wouldn’t it be nice if everything we did in practice would appear when we played in competition?  How many times have you played a practice round and every shot was just as you would like and then the next day in the first round, every shot is just as you...

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Knock the Sand off of Your Shoes

Maggie Minute- Knock the Sand off of Your Shoes

Use Your Shadow

Maggie Minute- Use Your Shadow

What’s in Your Pocket?

Maggie Minute- What’s in Your Pocket?

Keep some tees, ball mark repair tool and coins in your pocket when you play.

Conversation with San Diego State University Women’s Golf Coach, Leslie Spalding

Maggie is joined by former LPGA Tour Player and San Diego State University Women’s Golf Coach, Leslie Spalding.  Leslie is an experienced player who shares her knowledge and passion of playing the game.  She understands the game through a player’s eyes and thoughts having played college golf at University of Alabama.  As a bonus, learn a few “old school” tips to improve your game!

How do you prepare to play in front of a college coach?

How do you prepare to play in front of a college coach?

First, let’s get your thinking and perspective correct.  Here is something that I hear over and over again…

“I was playing great and then the coach showed up and I played terrible.  I’ll never get recruited unless I play better.”

That is inaccurate thinking.  Coaches know you are going to make mistakes and even expect them.  It is not the mistake that will hamper your recruitment, it is your response to it that is the game changer for the college coach.  They know adversity and distractions are around every corner at the collegiate level. College coaches want mature, resilient student-athletes on their team who can manage stress and get back up when they are knocked down.

To get your thinking and perspective correct and prepare yourself for playing in front of a college coach, check out Get Comfortable being Uncomfortable .

 

Is it Okay to get Nervous?

Is it Okay to get Nervous?

Why is it okay for professional golfers to admit they get nervous and junior golfers deny that they are nervous?  Is it because junior golfers are so on edge all of the time that they cannot feel the difference?  Or is it because junior golfers feel a sense of embarrassment and are afraid to ask for assistance?  I believe it is a combination.

My observations from years of playing, teaching and coaching…..

Junior golfers are so on edge they cannot feel or tell the difference between a little nervous and over-the-edge nervous.  The pressure of performing as a junior golfer and making a college decision are real!  And, Yes there is a sense of embarrassment when pressure hits and hiccups occur. We all feel it.  I still feel it. Nobody enjoys failure.  With maturity, you learn to “fail forward”.  So, both are true that it is difficult to decipher between a little nervous and a lot nervous and pressure is real for junior golfers.

Here are a couple of helpful hints to help alleviate the pressures and help with the decision making process:

  1. Start driving through college campuses (8th-9th grade) and having discussions with your junior to prod their thinking.  These are broad discussions:  What did you like or dislike about the look of that campus?  Can you see yourself in large classrooms or small classrooms?  Decisions are not needed at this point.  You are just presenting options for your junior.  Also, it is acceptable to ask for 10-15 minutes from a college coach, but please be respectful of their time.

(For more Helpful Hints on visiting a college, visit Ask Maggie and feel free to send me your questions.)

  1.  I believe the nervousness is attributed to lack of experience and preparation. There is nothing like “reps” to calm your nerves.  And even more powerful…”reps” under pressure. This occurs in pressured practice and competition.  

Try these helpful drills and articles:

Practice Hard, Play Easy

Sink More Putts

Proximity to the Hole

  1.  Get prepared physically and emotionally to handle the adventures of each day. Teach yourself to smile at adversity.  You can do this! Knowledge is power.  Become powerful by educating yourself about all levels of golf and education.

Conversation with Tracy Martin

Listen as former student-athlete, Tracy Martin, speaks of her experiences as a college golfer.  Learn a few important tips to make the transition easier from high school to college golf and how to be successful at the collegiate level.  Listen to the end as Tracy gives a bonus tip!

How to Mentally Prepare for “Those Moments”

How to Mentally Prepare for “Those Moments”

“Those Moments” happen every round.  They occur when our mind wanders from the present to the future and past.  You know this is going to happen at some point. Stop kidding yourself that it will not. Everyone has a breaking point. At some point, you are going to reach your threshold where your thoughts start to wander and Fear creeps into your mind. Your goal is to get to the point that the scares/uncertainties/unfamiliarities that come from having a putt to win a junior event grow into winning a college event, and maybe even a US Open!  The more prepared you are, the less harsh these six critical moments will be. There is less pressure in the moment as you are prepared to handle it mentally.

You can prepare to handle these moments ahead of time in your mind.  I’m not saying you should imagine the whole day being a disaster, which it feels like when you are not prepared, but merely close your eyes and picture yourself in a less than desirable situation and go thru your routine. In your mind, pick your starting point and ending point for your golf ball, assess the situation and then feel yourself making a swing with the grip getting into your body and the face staying a bit open thru impact and see the ball get pulled up the third base line then fade back to center field. Breathe yourself thru the situation. Smile, pick up your bag and walk confidently to the next shot. Putting yourself in situations in your mind and having a solid outcome will help build a library of confidence and feelings to draw upon when you need them in a real situation. Remember, your brain does not know the difference between real and imagined.  So, do some mental reps and get in some extra practice when you are not at the golf course!  Your mental stamina (myelin layer- sheath that forms around nerves, including those in the brain and spinal cord) will grow and better results will occur!

 

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