After getting to a reasonable standard at the age of 16, I soon realised that if I wanted to progress further into the professional ranks and make a living from the game, I had to improve and dedicate a lot more time to the sport.

My handicap was 4 and I had several rounds under par to my name.

However…….. the toughest part for me was the mental side of the game!

Unfortunately for me I had developed a game that only allowed me to play my home course, a links course, the fairways were wide open and I knew the course so well that I could hit the ball into these wide-open spaces on the par 4’s and 5’s…… usually the other fairway to the one I’m meant to be one and I knew that the ball would be fine over there.

I played a draw, and it was an aggressive draw, it got worse with the prevailing wind always coming from the same direction, forcing me to make my grip stronger and aim further and further right.

I would just stand on the tee and smash it up the right side, every now and then my mind would lose concentration (become anxious, didn’t have a plan) and I would increase swing speed through impact and snap hook it left, usually resulting in a lost ball. I was a good all-round player and had a great attitude, I believed that ‘if the ball was on the course I could get it in the hole’. That snap hook made it rather tough thought.

This steel belief was actually a big problem, I would literally hit the ball over the place and scramble my way around playing to somewhere around my handicap. Average stuff.

I soon started to notice that whenever I played another course, I simply could’nt get the ball in the hole for less than 80 shots, way above my standard. Reverting to hitting sometimes only a 3iron off the tee just so that I could make it in the clubhouse with a score in the 70’s.

I chose to play this way knowing that if I didn’t change my game, I wouldn’t be able to compete at all.

I decided to study the game, look into simple swings and see how they do it. My ego was too BIG, I wanted to hit the ball so far (i actually wasn't that long off the tee anyway, I just thought I was) yet sacrifice being able to hit the fairway and make a score.

My mental approach had to change. Simple. Get rid of the ego. Let’s get the ball (the same ball I start with) around the course.

I've only had 3 lessons in my life from a pro and I have a natural talent for bat and ball sports so I thought I could fix it myself. Wrong!

It wasn’t until I got rid of my ego altogether and asked for assistance that my game started to improve.

I had such a closed mindset, wasn’t open to change but knew deep down I had too.

  • 1st step complete, accepting help.

  • 2nd step what do I need to change? My Grip……simple, not exactly.

    More IMPORTANTLY

    My mind !!!!!!!!!!!

Reverting back to a more neutral grip I was able to actually start hitting the ball straight, of course, it felt odd to start with but I persevered. It didn't take long to see the difference. On the range, I could control my anxiety and hit straight shots and even small fades. Now the test was to the course.

For whatever reason, the mind chooses to create excitement, anxiety, pressure in certain circumstances where you really don’t want it. The art of golf is mind control. Swing speed control, turning yourself into a robot and only thinking subconsciously, the subconscious allows you to access a portal of all the good and bad shots you’ve ever hit. You must now control your body and mind to keep the grip ‘soft and focused’ and not tell my right hand to be dominant at impact. Easier said than done!

For years my left hand was simply just hold the club, my right hand did all the controlling of the club face, my new task was to focus on keeping my logo on my glove facing my target, a trick that i heard tiger mention.

Within weeks i saw change, i worked and worked and worked on it. I can now play any golf course with a mental confidence that i can hit a fairway or green.

Pick my target and focus on my hands staying neutral, my hand eye coordination will do the rest.

Nowdays, I don’t play golf nearly as much as I would like or as much as I did in the summer holidays as a 16-year-old, however, I still love to get the sticks out and sneak a round in whenever I can.

The big difference is that my mindset is my strongest part of my game.

`Some tips I will share.

Don’t get carried away with how good golfers are on the TV. As TV viewers we only get to see the highlights of the best performing players during that tournament. You watch the coverage and it looks like everyone hits the ball 330yards and splits the fairway every time. This is so not true. A PGA tour stat for driving accuracy shows that the top10 best drivers on tour only hit 70% of fairways and that the chance of getting up and down from 125-150 yards is only 35%!

As a golfer, your aim is to eliminate bogeys or worse, keep the ball on the course and in the safest place and over time you will make birdies or better. Put the ball in the trees, bunkers or water and you are putting stress and anxiety onto your system. Check out who wins each week, they will be in the top 5 of ‘Bogeys made’. Usually only making 3-5 bogeys in 72 holes.

For me, whats helped me the most.

I have ZERO expectations when to step onto the 1st tee.

If I have a plan and i stick to it I will shoot whatever score my golf game gives me on that given day. Placing the ball in the correct places on the course will allow you to long term rise to the top of the leaderboards more regularly.

Your target………Eliminating bogeys.