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By Marc Solomon

The question is often asked - ‘I have so much trouble coming back after a bad hole. What trick can you give me so that I can forget about that last hole and get back to playing good golf?’

First, stand-up straight making sure that you feel as if you’re elongating your spine. You want to feel as if the top of your head is reaching for the sky. Second, close your eyes to block out the world around you and take some deep cleansing breaths - breathe in through your nose and out through your mouth. Third, start to jump up and down as high as you can as you flap your arms furiously like a bird coming off the ground. Fourth, now start spinning in circles (continue jumping and flapping) as you chant over and over - ‘be gone blow-up hole demons, be gone - I rid myself of you’.

If you do this in the exact order and with meaning - once you open your eyes you’ll totally forget about your blow-up as you see the other Golfers around you gasping with open mouths (or possibly running away as fast as they can).

There’s no trick or tip or special thought that’ll automatically bring you back after a bad hole.

In order to come back after a bad hole - you most have a PLAN. Though, the problem for most Golfers is that you can’t just formulate your PLAN after the bad hole. That PLAN must be in action before that bad hole occurred.

You just can’t say - ‘Oh, that 7 on the last hole was terrible. I need to start making my PLAN or I’ll have another blow-up hole right now.’ Having a PLAN doesn’t work that way. You can’t be going along without a PLAN and then turn it on when you want it. It needs to be on before you even reach the golf course and it doesn’t end until you have a chance to sit down, look at your scorecard and relive each shot as you review the round.

Imagine if you got in your car to go to work and every time you got to a red light … you turned off the car. Then when the light turned green … you started up the car to go. Start, drive, stop, turn-off, start, drive, stop, turn-off, start, drive, stop, turn-off, start ……

Well, if you do that with your PLAN - it’ll be just as ineffective as if you did it with your car. They say that you’d use more gas each time you stopped and started your car at a red light than if you were to idle during the red light. The same can be said about every time you start up your PLAN after a bad hole.

To get yourself to regroup, settle your nerves down and make a PLAN after every Blow-up hole uses more gas than necessary for the Golfer that doesn’t have a PLAN in constant use. The Golfer that doesn’t have a PLAN that begins before they get to the golf course uses their PLAN only when needed. And thus, they get into the - Start, drive, stop, turn-off, start, drive, stop, turn-off mentality that actually helps you to accumulate Blow-up Holes.

Where does Tiger’s PLAN start? His PLAN starts months before the tournament. He goes to the golf course weeks before the tournament begins to play a practice round. During that practice round he’s determining what type of shots the golf course requires. He then goes back home to practice those shots. And all through the day, he’s imagining the golf course, how each hole plays, what each green is like - he’s playing the golf course in his mind withoug actually being there.

Before he leaves his hotel to go to the course on the tournament day - he’s going through the whole check-in process at the golf course, the walking to the practice range, his stretching, his Warm-up PLAN, his Putting Warm-up, etc, etc, etc. - before he even leaves the hotel.

Contrast that to the Monkey who’s always at the Golf Shop desk checking in a few minutes before their starting time - ‘Do I have enough time to hit some balls on the range?”

You should be doing the same as Tiger. Maybe not in the detail that Tiger is, but you should be starting your PLAN before your left foot touches the parking lot at the golf course (or right foot in the UK).

Though, if that’s too much for you - you can always rely on the trick I listed above of jumping up and down in circles flapping your arms like a bird while chanting -’be gone blow-up hole demons, be gone - I rid myself of you’. I’ve seen it work and I might’ve even tried it once or twice myself.

The Monkey is looking for Tricks for improvement

The Player is focused on their PLAN.