Don't focus on the numbers

This week the Royal Golf Club's PGA Teaching Professional, Martin Robinson, gives tips on keeping your scores low

IN life we are conditioned by numbers, money, time, age etc.

We place a lot of emphasis on numbers and rightly so. In golf, though, it can be detrimental to be concerned about the numbers you shoot. How so? Placing particular emphasis on achieving a score below a certain number can actually provide stumbling blocks to achieving your lowest possible score.

Imagine going for a run having to achieve a certain distance within 10 minutes and continuously checking your watch ensuring that you pace yourself to arrive at the finish just inside your time limit. In fact, without a watch to look at, and the knowledge that you just have to do everything in your ability to get from A to B in the best possible time, the chances are you would smash that 10-minute barrier without even knowing it!

When trying to break a barrier on the golf course, whether it's breaking par, 80, 90 or 100, there is significantly more pressure on you when it comes to finishing the round, just as there seems to be more pressure on a clutch par putt than many others. However, you should play the game without placing any more importance on one shot over any other. A birdie putt towards the end of the round has the same value as a putt for a bogey early on!

But do you approach both shots with the same attitude?

I have lost count of the number of people who have told me they played their greatest golf when they didn't know how well they were doing. For some reason on that day, they managed to immerse themselves fully in each and every shot that they played and were ultimately elated and surprised at signing their card for such a low number.

So how do you recreate this autonomous state sometimes termed by athletes as 'in the zone'?

Never set yourself a target based on the final result or the number; make sure you take it shot by shot. Who knows how low you can go!

You should actively try to avoid knowing yours or your opponents overall score during the round.

When you know you are doing well you should try to play with a free and easy aggressive approach - by becoming aware and trying to protect your score by playing it safe you will have stopped doing what got you in that position and your whole game will change for the worse.

When it comes down to the wire, commitment to your next shot, smooth breathing and the ability to see the shot before you do it will guide you through the final stages of your round without any thought to your score.

Adopting this attitude from now on will lift the limitation you put on yourself before you even leave the locker room.