Golf swing too tense and tight on first few holes...

[SuperGolferMan]

I'm sure you guys have seen and heard this before but I played a tourney today and I was very tense and tight on the first few holes. I didn't feel like i was in my rhythm...like on the range...and hit awful shots. Then, after i made a fool of myself for a few holes, i went back to hitting it well, which i alwways do on the range and played the rest of the round great.

Do any of you guys have tips or concepts for starting off well without feeling nervous or tight, like you are out of your element. I feel that I needed to slow myself down...it seemed like i was rushing and was thinking about what people would think of me and after i made a fool of myself for a few holes, i didn't care anymore and then i was back to my good form and swinging great.

[Ian Hancock]

Re: Golf swing too tense and tight on first few holes...

Hi There,

One thing you must accept is that everyone is exactly the same for every competition, 'it is a long way from the practice ground to the first tee'........!!

You are clearly a quality player, therefore you know how to hit the ball well, once you can convince yourself, then you should start to improve...........like the last few holes in a comp players tend to go off the boil....WHY......simple they take the gas off, try to play safe to protect a score, try to control the tee shot....what happens it all falls apart.

CURE..........not always easy at the start or the end of a round but my advice will always be "go for it", you want a birdie on the first and the last, don't settle for par.this is safe thinking " I just settle for a par on the first and play steady".this is the mistake, you have been on the practice ground you are warmed up and hopefully playing well, so smash the first tee shot and get the birdie, then if you get a par you should be hungry for a birdie on the second and so on.


Ask any tour player what he does for the last few holes, his answer will be keep playing the same don't let up.


Hope this helps.

Ian.

Just remember your only under presure because your playing well.

[BrianW]

Re: Golf swing too tense and tight on first few holes...

Your problem seems to be a concern of playing poorly and making a "Fool of yourself"

You need to fill your cup with positive thoughts as you stand on the tee or in front of the ball. carry out a pre-shot routine every time, visualise the shot, consider the weather conditions, pick a target, grip, setup etc.

If you have thoughts like "I will look stupid if I hit this out of bounds" in your head, your mind will pick up on the "Hit this out of bounds" bit so it will probably happen.

It takes some self discipline but try it, get in the zone just before your shot, control your breathing. Relax and look at the scenery between shots, get golf out of your head until you are approaching the ball.

[Mox]

Re: Golf swing too tense and tight on first few holes...

Your problem seems to be a concern of playing poorly and making a "Fool of yourself"

You need to fill your cup with positive thoughts as you stand on the tee or in front of the ball. carry out a pre-shot routine every time, visualise the shot, consider the weather conditions, pick a target, grip, setup etc.

If you have thoughts like "I will look stupid if I hit this out of bounds" in your head, your mind will pick up on the "Hit this out of bounds" bit so it will probably happen.

It takes some self discipline but try it, get in the zone just before your shot, control your breathing. Relax and look at the scenery between shots, get golf out of your head until you are approaching the ball.

One thing that helps me is to never hit the driver on the first hole.

Despite hole 1 at my local course being a 540yd par 5, I always hit my 3w.
The knowledge that I can fairly consistently stick it in the middle of the fairway creates confidence and relaxed swinging. That - in turn - improves my swing and often results in a longer shot than a cramped drive.

Give it a try.

[shootin4par]

Re: Golf swing too tense and tight on first few holes...

hey super
the thing is when we get nervious the flight or fight response kicks in. When this happens it changes the chemicals in our body and we can start to breath really shallow breaths, if we allow this to go on without us being aware of breathign shallow we continue and it just gets worse and out brain lacks oxygen. Do you find yourself yawning at anytime during this? also, when is it that you start to get nervous, in the morning when you wake up, or is it just really when you get to the tee?
if it is firsth thing when you wake up, what can happen is when we get nervous, back to fight or flight response that is going on subconsciously, we stop secreting digestive juices, so the food is not going through normal digestion and that makes the food now bad for you, when it is supposed to be good for you, well that all depends on what you eat but I think you get my point. have you ever heard the saying of dont eat when your angry?
look at number three here
http://ezinearticles.com/?7-Habits-o...-Way&id=475884

sgm, you know golf is all about the basics, set up, right? most people think in golf the grip is the most impotant, incorrect, it is the breath Tips for breathing, some does and donts
when standing on a tee box
DO keep fingerstips in your back pocket or hold your wrist togethor Behind you, this opens up your upper chest and makes breathing easier
DONT keep arms folded across chest or ever bend over at waist with hands on knees, does the opposite of the do I just mentioned
DO breath out and focus on that much more. If you want to breath deeply breath out as much as you can
DONT keep your focus solely on the inhale. if you breath deep but dont breath out enough, the air you did not breath out actually becomes toxic and gets in the way of the fresh air from being fully obsorbed. this air will stay in there for a while cause it is never fully exhaled, you are keeping a poisen inside yourself.

DO a 1 to 2 ratio, breath in to the count of four, out to the count of 8. You do not have to slow down your exhale, the point is to fully release alll air inside. If you feel it is almost all gone by the count of six, still keep exhaleing

DO make your Belly, and chest expand, and your shoulders rise as you inhale, the back of your body should do the same to. This breaths into all 6 regions of your lungs, lower front, lower badk, middle front and back, upper front and back. this is a full breath

dont breath just into your stomach and mistake that for a deep breath

DO give this some time to get used to, most people alive today do not know what it is like to breath deep and their bodies are not used to it, this was true with me untill I learned about it, the first day I took a deep breath in yoga class I almost fainted

DO some opening exercises to open the chest and expand the shoulders. DO backbends, maybe try some yoga or something

bookmark this, yes a lot of reading but just like golf takes dedication, so does learning about ourselves. http://www.holisticonline.com/Yoga/h...reath_home.htm

being a great golfer only makes you one thing, a great golfer. It has no bearing on your self worth. Being a lousy golf only makes you one thing, a lousy golfer, again, no bearing on self worth. A tournament is just a tournament, your self worth should be the same at the start of it and the end of it. A tournament is just a challenge, challenges are fun. But when fear comes in it, the feat, hinders and cripples you. at that moment the course has not beaten you, golf has not beaten you, fear has beaten you. at that moment you are not playing against golf, you are playing against fear. release the fear and just play golf, not fear and golf at the same time. Golf, as you have heard many times before, is just a game. Nothing more, nothing less. Good luck SGM

[SuperGolferMan]

Re: Golf swing too tense and tight on first few holes...

Great advice guys, thanks!

[Scragger63]

Re: Golf swing too tense and tight on first few holes...

I'm with Brian here...

For my 2c into this discussion, I have "generally" found that when I think conciously of something I would really prefer didn't happen on the golf course, eg "don't hit right, you'll go in that pot" or "don't go left, you'll end up OOB" 19 times out of 20, it happens anyways...

A Murphy's Law for humourous golfing anecdotes...

So, instead I now start TELLING myself what I want to do, rather than what I don't want to do, taking the positive approach or rather focusing on the positive outcome and clearing the mind of any negativity.

It actaully happened to me again last saturday, when faced with a shot in a "fluffy" lie of sorts in amongst some leaf litter n stuff under a couple of big gums I remember distinctly telling myself "don't hit this fat, the lie is fluffy" and yup, you guessed it, I promptly caught it fat.

I shold have been telling myself I needed to "pick this one cleanly" and perhaps the outcome might have been a little different...

Bottom line, for mine, try to pick out your target on the first fairway and tell yourself, nice and easy does it and that you will hit that spot no problem...

See what happens...

Cheers

[bdbl]

Re: Golf swing too tense and tight on first few holes...

You don't say if you've tried any of the golf psychology gurus but I've been reading: "Eye on the Ball, Mind on the Game: Easy Guide to Stress free Golf" by Dr Arthur Jackson.

Amongst other things he talks about:

breathing, giving some exercises that S4P would probably recognise

talking to yourself using a technique that challenges your fear of hitting the delicate pitching into the bunker

how we rush after our bad shots in order to execute another (oh do I recognise this) and the need to manage our walking speed

I haven't read Rotella but I found Dr Jackson (he's an Aussie I think which might explain it ) to be more down to earth than Timothy Galwey so if you've tried other writers you might give him a whirl.

[shootin4par]

Re: Golf swing too tense and tight on first few holes...

psychology without understanding the breath, is useless
breathing without understanding psychology is useful
breathing and some psychology, given the psychologist knows what they are talking about, very useful.