Keep calm, carry on

My normal Thursday night routine involves finishing work, organising my diary for the weekend and then heading to the club to have a meal and chat to the members. These members are regular readers of my column in GulfWeekly and give me their feedback and ideas that are (sometimes) helpful.
 
Last Thursday, one Awali Golf Club member suggested that I should write an article detailing the best tips that I had heard discussed (by their group) in the clubhouse.

He suggested it should be called ‘Tips from the 19th hole’. Although I quite liked the concept, the idea was destined to fail as the column would have been far too short.

I cannot recall the last time I heard this particular group of members discuss a valid golfing tip. Ironically, as the conversation changed from golf to petrol prices in the UK, one of them accidently said five words that should be every golfer’s motto. Keep Calm and Carry On.

Finally, a useful tip!

Even at the highest level of golf, the best players in the world hit bad shots and have bad holes. In contrast to many club golfers, the top professionals do not let these setbacks destroy their round.
 
Let’s have a look at some examples from recent PGA and European Tour events.
 
During the third round in last week’s Arnold Palmer Invitational, Tiger Woods was cruising along at 15 under par when he stood on the 14th tee. He then proceeded to score a bogey and a double bogey over the next two holes. Now, although I appreciate that most golfers cannot relate to being 15 under par, I’m sure most can recall a time when two bad holes in a row turned into several!
 
Tiger was able to separate his emotions from the situation, refocus, regroup and respond by making birdie at the 16th hole and pars at the final two holes to take a one shot lead into the final round.

The very next day at the TrophÈe Hassan II tournament in Morocco, James Kingston (a two-time European Tour winner) did something that almost every golfer can relate to. He made a nine on the fifth hole of his final round.
 
This dropped him out of contention for the title and could easily have destroyed his whole competition. However, he regrouped and played the last 13 holes in six under par to cement his place in the top 10.

On both these occasions, the golfer could have let the disappointment of having a bad run of shots negatively influence the rest of the round. They didn’t. They kept calm and carried on.

Whereas not everyone is capable of firing six birdies to get their round back on track, every golfer is capable of forgetting about what has happened, sticking to their pre-shot routine and focusing 100 per cent on their next shot. Choosing to do so is the hardest part.