Keep a Quiet Mind to Avoid First-Tee Jitters
We all get the first-tee jitters. We have all experienced the frustration of hitting it great on the practice range and then dubbing one when it finally counts.
There are techniques professionals use to defuse the tension. Dana Rader, one of Golf Digest’s top 50 instructors and one of the few women on that list, blames pre-shot routines. It’s not that you shouldn’t have one, but Radar believes golfers shouldn’t do them standing alongside the golf ball.
“The idea is to keep the mind quiet; you don’t want to be having any conversations with yourself standing over the ball,” said Radar, whose golf academy is in Charlotte, N.C. “So the last thing you want is to be standing next to it for a long time. Get away from the ball, go stand a couple steps behind it, then look at the target and breathe through your nose.
“Think about someplace calm or think about what you’re going to do for dinner that night. Take one practice swing. Make everything feel as normal as possible, like you felt on the practice range. Then with a quiet mind, go walk to the ball and hit the shot.”
Does that work? “Absolutely,” she said. “I tell people to think about being on the beach instead of the first tee.