The Home Advantage

Lockdown is once again upon us, this can be a stressful time for some of us, with work pressures and more. However, the lockdown period also has knock on effects to our golf, as courses have been closed against many peoples wishes. This is far from ideal for our golf game, which was just getting back to where we wanted it to be in time for the introduction of the new handicap system, which has seen many of our handicaps change significantly. Therefore, it makes perfect sense to use this time to our advantage and hit the ground running when the restrictions are lifted. Not all of us have practice nets or space to practice our chipping at home (and the weather may not allow), so instead we can work on the mental side of our golf game.

Reflection

Lockdown 2.0 could allow some time for some reflection on your own golf game, identifying your own strengths and weaknesses, but also reflecting on times where things didn’t go to plan, decisions that possibly weren’t you’re best, and recognise whether there are any trends or patterns in your mentality and the way you approach the game. This could be a particular hole, for example I regularly go to pull out my driver on the 11^th hole at my home club Oswestry, which a short drivable par 4, with my miss being left and an aggressive right to left slope, it can turn a simple 4 iron, wedge with a putt for birdie into a double or worse, just as I’m beginning a string of more difficult holes, in 12, 13, 14 and 15. You may struggle closing out rounds, but it is important to identify why this could be, do you try and play too aggressive and deviate from your game plan and strengths under pressure? These are all things to consider. Also, it could be useful to identify any weaknesses, or areas of your game that you are less confident in, e.g. short game, or bunker play. Now is an ideal time to come up with new goals and practice plans to try and improve in these areas over winter, so next summer we can make the improvements and hit the goals we set out to achieve. Practice must be directed, mindlessly hitting ball after ball with our drivers at the range, really has little to no carry over to actual golfing performance, as in a competitive round you only have 1 shot, not 99 more attempts sitting in a basket. A few things to bear in mind would be to try and simulate playing conditions when you practice as this is more likely going to allow you to replicate your practice when you perform, also measure your success over time, whether that’s making note of how many up and downs you had in your round, or using software such as the free Taylormade ‘myRoundPro’ to track your strokes gained.

Mental skills practice

Lockdown is also be a great opportunity to work on mental skills such as mindfulness. The concept of mindfulness is based around the idea of being present, it is a form of meditation where the aim is to be aware of your thoughts, emotions and your environment, it is often used to reduce stress and anxiety, which may also be beneficial to mental health. Mindfulness, however, can be facilitative to golf performance, research has shown the there is a positive correlation between high levels of self-reported mindfulness and lower golf scores (Gomberg, 2014). Could I save a few shots on my round? If that’s something you’re asking yourself right now, why not give it a go, there are many apps available such as ‘Headspace’ and ‘Mindfulness’ that offer free trials, to see if it’s something you’re interested in and could implement into your pre-shot routine, during your rounds, or just in your day to day life. Research has shown that incorporating mindfulness into a pre-shot routine (albeit in basketball) significant predicts free-throw success, in golf, a free-throw could be compared to that knee knocking 3-footer you ‘should’ hole where your playing partners would give you stick for if you miss (Gooding and Gardner, 2009).

Exercise

Although I’m not suggesting you eat upwards of 3.5 thousand calories a day, consume copious amounts of protein and throw weights around for fun like Bryson DeChambeau seems to be doing at the moment, exercise is also important to maintain and develop our golf game throughout these unprecedented times. There is a plethora of information on golf related exercise and how to optimise golf performance (Links included below). The evidence is in front of us when it comes to how exercise can improve performance, with players such as DJ, Bryson, Keopka, Rahm, Rory and more often spotted in the gym lifting weights and training hard, they hit it miles, and win a lot of money doing so, so it’s no wonder they spend so much time improving their strength and conditioning. However, exercise does not only improve golf performance but also mental health, and in times like this, this is as important as ever. Lockdown can induce stress and anxiety as well as other issues regarding mental health, exercise can be a way of coping with stress and anxiety but also as a preventative measure, to reduce the effects of this lockdown on our mental health. Research into exercise and mental health has shown that increased levels of physical activity are associated with lower levels of depression (Schuch et al., 2018). So taking time to exercise can have positive effects on both mental health and golfing performance, so when golf courses do once again open, you will be in a good space mentally and physically to play your best golf, armed with your mental skills and goals ready to lower your handicap index into 2021.

Rhys Williams

November 18, 2020

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Exercise links:

Flexibility

https://youtu.be/eDVl5a1i7Gk

Exercises

https://youtu.be/dopWWEP8lQg

References:

Gomberg, J. C. (2014). Mindfulness and Golf Performance: A Case Study.

Gooding, A., & Gardner, F. L. (2009). An investigation of the relationship between

mindfulness, preshot routine, and basketball free throw percentage. Journal of Clinical Sport Psychology, 3(4), 303-319.

Schuch, F., Vancampfort, D., Firth, J., Rosenbaum, S., Ward, P., & Silva, E., … Stubbs, B.

(2018). Physical Activity and Incident Depression: A Meta-Analysis of Prospective Cohort Studies. American Journal Of Psychiatry, 175(7), 631-648.