Tip #35: Mental Readiness

Proper mental preparation is important on the tee-shot, particularly when the hole offers a special challenge in terms of length or tightness. On holes that call for long carries, don't let yourself become the architect's pigeon.

I confess that I still fall for this one. I'll look down the fairway, see the big bunker at the corner of the dogleg, and immediately ask my caddie how far I have to hit the ball to carry the sand.

Instead, I should be contemplating the best way to work my ball around the trap. Don't go for the big carry unless it's comfortably within your power. Put the drive in play - then get aggressive on your approach shot.

While you're waiting to tee off on the first hole, take some time to relax your mind and relax your muscles.

When you're looking down the throat of a tight-driving hole, you need to loosen up mentally. I find that the best way to do that is first to loosen up physically.

If I'm not hitting first, I try to do this while my partners are hitting their drives. I close my eyes, take a deep breath, and then slowly roll my head to the side, first one way and then the other. I go through this exercise on the first tee of virtually every tournament I play. It relaxes my neck and shoulder muscles and gets me ready for a free, smooth swing.

Not too long ago, I learned another method of loosening up, from my good friend, Seve Ballesteros. We were talking about the various mental techniques we use on the course when Seve said, "Whenever you see me at Augusta standing on a tee with my arms folded, I'm actually getting set for the next shot. What I do is take a deep breath and then press my hands hard against the bottom of my rib cage, for about fifteen seconds. When I let go and breathe out, there's a great feeling of release and relaxation. That's when I step up to hit my drive."

Even short holes demand some extra thought and concentration. Too many golfers make the mistake of teeing off every par-4 and par-5 with their driver. But on a par-4 of only 300 yards or so, that may not be the best ploy.

Normally such short holes have small, well-protected greens, and are best approached with a shot that will bite when it lands. If you knock your drive to within 60 yards or so of the green it's hard to hit the ball with sufficient force to impart the backspin that will make it stop.

Therefore, it's wiser to tee off with a fairway wood or long iron, leave yourself 100 yards or so from the green, and swing firmly with a sand wedge or pitching wedge that will enable the ball to fly over any greenside trouble yet stop quickly after it lands. This tactic may look cautious from the tee, but it's aggressive where it needs to be-on the shot to the flag.

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