Brooks Koepka’s simple strategy for dealing with pressure on the golf course

Since Tiger Woods, there’s been perhaps no more feared player than Brooks Koepka with the lead in a major.

In all of his five major titles, Koepka displayed a sense of stoicism that was unmatched. He was either going to beat you down or let the golf course do it for him.

So what does Koepka think about when he stands over a golf shot?

He says nothing.

What about when he’s under major championship pressure?

“No, I just try to make it a reactionary sport,” he said.

On the latest episode of Warming Up with GOLF’s Dylan Dethier, Koepka explained his mindset is to make things as simple as possible when he’s competing, which helps him reduce the pressure on himself.

“If you’ve got all the time in the world, you know, you ball up a piece of paper or whatever and you just chuck it in the trash can, it usually goes in,” Kopeka told Dethier. “But if you stand there and you think about it and the more and more — like you see it, guys do it all the time. The extra waggle, you’re like, ‘Oh boy, this isn’t going to be good.’ Like, you can tell they’re uncomfortable.”

Instruction

Koepka says he tries to make the game more reactionary and that means making his shot planning as simple as possible. For instance, he says he doesn’t care if the ball draws or fades as long as it’s on target.

But is it really that simple to just treat every golf shot the same way, even with major championship pressure? Koepka thinks so.

“I don’t talk about the golf shot, I don’t really care about it till I get to the ball,” he said. “I don’t get nervous because I think when you get nervous, you start thinking about results like if I said, throw a ball in that bunker right now, you could, but if it was life or death, you might start to really think it and question what you’re doing. But there’s consequences to it.

“if you really don’t think about the consequence, ‘Hey, I’m just trying to hit the shot. Done it a million times—’ I mean don’t me wrong. Do I get nervous? Yeah, absolutely. Like everybody else. But you just try to minimize that.”

You can watch the entire interview with Koepka below or on YouTube.

Jack Hirsh

Golf.com Editor

Jack Hirsh is an assistant editor at GOLF. A Pennsylvania native, Jack is a 2020 graduate of Penn State University, earning degrees in broadcast journalism and political science. He was captain of his high school golf team and recently returned to the program to serve as head coach. Jack also still *tries* to remain competitive in local amateurs. Before joining GOLF, Jack spent two years working at a TV station in Bend, Oregon, primarily as a Multimedia Journalist/reporter, but also producing, anchoring and even presenting the weather. He can be reached at jack.hirsh@golf.com.

 

 

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