Stay in the present

Anyone who has been following the action from the 95th PGA Championship in Oak Hill will have heard about Jason Dufner’s course record 63 on Friday. This seems to be the magic number for Major championship golf as, although it has been shot 23 times, it has never been surpassed.

Dufner erased memories of his heart-breaking late collapse two years ago when he clinched his first major title by two shots on Sunday. One stroke behind playing partner Jim Furyk overnight, the ultra-laidback Dufner produced some scintillating approach play on the way to a two-under-par 68 and a 10-under total of 268 at the challenging Oak Hill Country Club.

So, how do the professionals keep a score going? How often do I hear of golfers at the club having a great first nine holes only to fall apart on the second nine? Or even to be on for a personal best round if they can just par the last and then take a triple bogey?

The answer to all these questions lies in one’s ability to stay in the present. The reason the professionals can shoot scores that the rest of the golfing public can only dream of is because of their ability to concentrate on only the shot at hand.

There is a famous story of Arnold Palmer going up the 72nd hole in a US Open with a two-shot lead and a friend in the gallery offered his hand in congratulations saying ‘well done old boy, you’ve done it again’. Palmer admitted he totally lost his concentration and even thought of what he should say in his winning speech, and subsequently took a six on the hole and lost in a playoff the next day.

Staying in the present is very easy on paper, our very being here defines it as the present, but too many golfers will fill their minds with thoughts of past shots as they are playing the present one. A golfer who hits a great approach will think over his birdie putt, ‘you have to make this one or it will be a waste or your great shot in’.
 
A player who has just 3-putted will take out his driver and flail away wildly in an effort to vent his frustration and this swing invariably ends up costing him more shots and leaving him dwell on another past mistake. A player who is on for his best score will think ‘if I can just make par on the next three holes…’ The results of focusing on the last shot or last hole are almost always detrimental to our playing of the current one, but how do we stop ourselves from these scorecard-destroying thoughts?

There are many ways of focusing exclusively on the shot at hand and I will give you two of the most common.

* The 10-yard rule: This is used by many tour players and most famously by Tiger Woods. We have all seen Woods react to a bad shot with a verbal outburst or even a club throw – neither action is condoned or even acceptable – after a bad shot. However, he uses this time after a shot to vent his frustration or even disgust at the shot he has just hit. For the next 10 yards of walking he can think whatever he likes about what he has just done but once the 10 paces are taken that shot is over and his full concentration is moved on to the shot at hand. He will not allow himself to think of that bad shot until after his round is over. This technique will stop you harbouring pent-up frustration and simply accept the bad shot for what it was, and move on. It will help your concentration and enjoyment of the game immensely.

* The shot technique: Also known as the trigger action. This is where you develop a trigger action – a slap on the thigh is a good one, or snap of the fingers – which you utilise any time you think back on a previous shot or ahead to a potential score. Any time you find yourself moving out of the present with your thoughts you should recognise it and bring yourself back to the present by using your chosen trigger action. The very act of recognising you are not staying in the present will bring back your focus and performance will improve.

World famous golf psychologist Bob Rotella summed up staying in the present best: “Concentrate 100 per cent on the shot in hand and never allow your mind to wander. Every shot is a new beginning and only when you finish the 18th hole, do you add them all up and see how you’ve done.”

Happy golfing!