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Twenty-five-year-old American Cheyenne Knight is currently in her fourth full LPGA season, and ahead of this week’s event, The Ascendant LPGA Benefitting Volunteers of America — a tournament Knight won in 2019 — she explained that she feels as though she’s only just now getting the hang of how to stay competitive week-in and week-out.

“I’ve started to kind of figure it out, just what I need to do to play well,” she said. “It’s been kind of like a mix of kind of turning it off when I leave the golf course. We play so much, so when I leave the golf course I need to find other things that I enjoy doing so I don’t get burnt out. I kind of experienced a little bit of that last year.”

Knight is still seeking her second career LPGA win, but she’s given herself plenty of chances to add to her tally, with six career top-10s, including two just this year. She’c currently 42nd in the CME ranking.

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“I’m focusing on my craft and what I need to do to play well and the things I need to do every day to improve,” Knight continued. “Kind of process-over-result type mentality. But that’s helped me a lot this year, just having other things that I enjoy doing has happened a lot, too.”

So what are those other things? According to Knight, they’re as simple as simply taking a mental break away from the course. Or, an impromptu shopping trip.

“I feel like golf takes such a long time,” Knight said. “We’re out here for hours day. Just not dwelling on the round. I like to shop, even if it’s just going to Target.”

LPGA stars: They’re just like us!

Knight is definitely on to something when it comes to her remedy for on-course fatigue. Even top players on the men’s side like Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson have admitted to battling fatigue are various points in their careers, so recognizing it when it happens and combatting it in your own way are important keys to success as a competitive player.

Plus, who can resist a mid-week visit to Target?

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The post The simple strategy Max Homa uses to calm his nerves on the golf course appeared first on Golf.

The post The simple strategy Max Homa uses to calm his nerves on the golf course appeared first on Golf.

When the stakes are raised, nerves will always creep in. That’s true for everything in life, but especially in sports.

Golf is no different. Anyone who’s stood on the 1st tee in front of a modest crowd can relate. Your pulse starts racing, and so does your mind. It’s never a fun feeling, but it’s one that will always be present when there’s something on the line.

Golf nerves are different than nerves in some other sports, though. When the ball is tipped in basketball, or pads start clashing in football, those butterflies in your stomach typically disappear. You get into the flow of the action and instincts take over. Things are moving so quickly that you don’t have time to let nerves take hold.

Instruction

However, when you’re on the course, the action moves a little bit slower. You hit a shot and then you have the entire walk to your ball stuck with your thoughts. And that’s when the nerves creep in.

Everyone who plays golf knows the feeling and it’s one of the most difficult aspects of the game — winning the battle with your mind. Often times, the difference between a good golfer and a great one is a mental edge.

That’s true all the way up to the professional ranks. When the back nine comes on Sundays, the players who can handle the nerves the best are usually the ones who end up holding the trophy.

Max Homa has been that dude plenty of times over the past few years, winning four times and becoming a top-20 player in the world in the process. And much of that success has come from handling the nerves coming down the stretch on Sundays.

Here’s how Homa does it.

How Max Homa deals with nerves

Dealing with nerves isn’t the easiest thing, but Homa likes to keep his strategy simple when he’s between the ropes.

“I guess it’s corny and like old school,” he said ahead of the Rocket Mortgage Classic. “But breathing is important.”

Homa also said he has to remind himself not to rush things when he gets nervous. He’s a fast walker by nature, but sometimes slowing down is the best thing for his golf game.

“I try to slow down on Thursday to Saturday but especially on Sunday I have to like tell myself to slow down,” he said. “I think that goes to just self awareness, knowing yourself, knowing your tics and know what’s going to maybe speed up that heart rate and try to avoid those things.”

Sometimes it’s the simple things that work best. And when nerves are a part of the equation, the simpler, the better.

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The post The 2 most important psychological elements of golf appeared first on Golf.

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Harvey Penick’s Little Red Book should be required reading for golfers looking to improve their games. Penick had a gift for making the complex seem simple, and his teachings ring true to this day. With the PGA Tour heading back to Penick’s home of Austin later this month for the Dell Match Play, there is no better time to revisit the best secrets from his Little Red Book. This article is all about the two most important psychological elements in golf.

Part 1: How to lower your handicap by five strokes
Part 2: What golfers get wrong about their practice swings
Part 3: The simple fundamentals for hitting a perfect bunker shot

“Competitive golf is played mainly on a five-and-a-half-inch course, the space between your ears.” -Bobby Jones

Jones’ notorious quote about the mental aspect of golf has been recited ad nauseam in the time since he famously uttered the phrase. Yet even with a history of overuse, the original idea rings true.

Instruction

Golf is an inherently mental game. Whether you’re playing against a buddy for drinks after the round or coming down the back nine at a major, controlling your emotions is key to success.

Building your confidence starts on the tee box. When you find the fairway off your tee shot, you’re boosting your confidence (and scoring potential) for the rest of the hole.

“Psychologically, the driver is very important,” Penick wrote in his Little Red Book. “If you hit your tee ball well, it fills you with confidence. On the other hand, if you smash a couple drives into the trees, your confidence can be shaken.”

Once your ball finds the short grass from the tee box, you should be filled with confidence, but your best opportunity to inflate that self belief comes when you reach the green. Holing short putts is the only thing better for confidence than hitting a solid drive.

“Sinking putts makes your confidence soar, and it devastates your opponent,” Penick said. “A good putter is a match for anyone. A bad putter is a match for no one.”

If you can start with a solid drive, and finish by holing a short putt, confidence will bookend every hole.

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The post Off Course with Claude Harmon: Why you *shouldn’t* aspire to stay calm under pressure appeared first on Golf.

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Dr. Bhrett McCabe reveals why the idea of staying calm under pressure is a farce on this week’s episode of Off Course.

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The post Off Course with Claude Harmon: The advice this renowned sports psychologist gave to Jon Rahm after his U.S. Open win appeared first on Golf.

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On this week’s episode of Off Course, Dr. Bhrett McCabe reveals what he said to Jon Rahm in the wake of his first major victory.

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The post Off Course with Claude Harmon: These are the four prongs of success, according to a renowned sports psychologist appeared first on Golf.

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On this week’s episode of Off Course, Dr. Bhrett McCabe explains the four necessities an athlete needs to be successful at the highest level.

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The post Here’s what it’s like to be in the zone, according to a major champion appeared first on Golf.

Back in 2016, Jimmy Walker was playing some of the best golf of his life. In fact, the pinnacle of his career thus far — his lone major win, the PGA Championship, happened in July of that year.

Walker opened with a round of 65 at Baltusrol to lead the field, and never looked back, following up with rounds of 66, 68 and 67 to ultimately edge Jason Day in a wire-to-wire victory by one stroke.

Walker’s total tally of 14 under par was an impressive one at the famed New Jersey track, and on this week’s episode of Off Course with Claude Harmon, Walker explained what it feels like to play golf in the coveted “zone.”

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“It’s kinda like — this feeling of calmness comes over you,” Walker said. “But it’s still stressful because you’re trying to do something that’s really hard to do: really go low. It’s about getting out of your way, and staying out of the way, and really embracing the fact that man, I’m hitting it good.

“And there’s really nothing to be afraid of,” he continued. “I’m putting good. Just keeping the pedal down. You’ve got blinders on. You’re like, there’s the fairway, there’s the green, that’s where the flag’s at, and that’s where my ball’s going. I’m gonna get there and I’m gonna make it.”

Walker said positive self-talk is part of it too.

“You get up there like, I’m gonna bury this. And that’s what you have to keep doing,” Walker said. “For people that haven’t ever done it, it’s hard to do. And once you do it, if you ever figure it out — some people never figure it out. It’s a tough, tough deal to keep your head and your brain and your mind and your body going for that long a time. People have spurts. They’ll have nine good holes or 12 good holes. And then it falters. We all do it. The ability to be okay with accepting that something amazing could happen and getting out of the way, there’s something to that.”

Walker said that he felt especially calm at Baltusrol because he was confident he could find the green even if he ended up in the rough off the tee.

“I just had this feeling that it was going to be really hard for me to make a bogey,” Walker said. “It was the most calm — I really haven’t ever had it again, but I just had that feeling that whole week, like, I’m not going to make a bogey.”

For more from Walker, including why, despite his accomplishments, he still feels like an underachiever, and why he thinks the PGA Tour needs an offseason, check out the full interview below.

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The post A hacker’s guide to breaking 80: Here are 8 sneaky ways to *finally* pull it off appeared first on Golf.

The post A hacker’s guide to breaking 80: Here are 8 sneaky ways to *finally* pull it off appeared first on Golf.

Picture this golfer: 13 handicap. As likely to shoot 95 as 85. Flawed swing. Natural fade. Tee shots in the 240-yard range. Couple dozen rounds a year. Rarely, if ever, practices.

Sound familiar? Does to me, because that is me, and I suspect it also matches the profile of many of you who stumbled upon this article. You’re not good at golf but you’re not bad at it, either. Stubbornly average. On some days, you’re convinced you’ve unlocked the secrets to the game; on others, you feel wholly incompetent.

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There’s at least one other thing many of us DAJ’s (Deeply Average Joes) share in common: We’ve never broken 80. We’ve flirted with it and fantasized about it, but, like a Lee Westwood major title, it has never quite come to fruition. Maybe it’ll never happen. I wasn’t convinced it would until the other day when — sound the trumpets — it finally, mercifully, most unexpectedly did.

Here’s what I learned from that breakthrough round that I’m hopeful you can apply to your own 80-breaking quest.     

1. Play sensible tees

We can’t stress this enough. My round came on what, from the 6,940 back tees, is a meaty, back-breaking test. The next two set of tee options available to my three playing partners (all fellow DAJs) and I: were 6,530 and 6,136. We elected the forward set, and it made all the difference. Hitting 7- and 8-irons into greens instead of 5-irons or hybrids not only makes the round more fun but it also gives mid-handicappers a real chance at 4s and even 3s. How short a course is too short? That’s a judgment call, I guess. But remember this: If you’re a 250ish-hitter, the longest pros are 100 yards, or 40 percent, longer than you, and they play from about 7,200 yards. By that math, to experience a course like the pros do, you should theoretically be playing 5,000-yard setups, maybe even shorter.   

2. Check the par

Not all 79s are created equal. Obviously posting that glorious number on a par-72 course is a mightier task than doing so on a par 70, but there’s certainly no shame in the latter. I pulled off the feat on a par 70 (two par-5s, four par-3s), and I feel no lesser for it. Also, when the time comes to brag to your golf buds, no one’s follow-up question will be, “Yeah, but what was the par?” Seeking a great par-69? I direct you to 5,900-yard Cape Arundel, in Maine, which a few of my colleagues played this summer and are still raving about.

3. Check the forecast

No, you don’t always have the luxury of handpicking your golf days. But if you have some flexibility, find a forecast suited for scoring. A day after a heavy rain can mean soft greens. Avoid windy days, too. The day of my round, I lucked into mild but not hot conditions with just a hint of a breeze, all of which put me in a good headspace before I even arrived on the 1st tee. Even for a mid-handicapper, it felt like a day made for going low.

4. Avoid big numbers

Obvious, yes, but it must be addressed! How many rounds have you carded in the low 80s only to look back and say, Man, if not for that 8 on 11, or for those two triples on the front. Inevitably it’s not a run of bogeys that will derail a 79, it’s a couple of bigger blemishes. In some gnarly rough? Don’t be a hero. Hack your ball back to the fairway. Staring down a 200-yard carry over water to get home in two? Same advice: Don’t be a hero. You can still hold your head high by arriving to your destination safely with a 7-iron and a wedge.   

Instruction

5. You gotta believe!

Average golfers play good golf in spurts. In my experience, those flashes of relative brilliance last for about five to seven holes, with some degree of existential dread ever-looming. If you’re like me, always in the back (or front) of your mind in the midst of any sold stretch is a nagging thought: When is this run going to end? That’s entirely the wrong way to think. Portending bad play spawns bad play. Instead, give yourself a Stuart Smalley pep talk and convince yourself that there’s no good reason why your fine form shouldn’t and will continue, because, really, there isn’t a good reason. Yes, golf is hard, and even the best players are streaky, but by tempering or outright extinguishing feelings of doom, you’ll free yourself up and improve your chances of playing well not just for six or eight holes but for all 18.

6. Keep likeminded company

If you’re a grinder, play with fellow grinders. If you play quickly, pair yourself with speedsters. If you like to gamble, play music or slug suds mid-round, find playing partners who enjoy the same activities. Nothing will throw you off your game more quickly than a playing partner who irritates you — especially when you’re coming down the home stretch with a personal-best score in your crosshairs. I played with my brother and two of his pals. The venue was a special one — a U.S. Open site, in fact, but no one treated the round like we were actually playing in the Open. Easy-breezy company.      

Instruction

7. Yes, a little luck helps, too

Tour pros say it all the time: you need some luck to win tournaments. Same goes for a middling golfer breaking 80. You’re going to need some breaks. My most favorable stroke of good fortune came on the 12th hole, a par-4 with bushes and trees down the right, which is what my tee shot drifted toward. Knowing a lost ball would likely derail my chance at glory, I canvassed the area like an archaeologist seeking dinosaur remains. Alas, to no avail. Just as I was losing hope, voila! There it was, my blessed orb nestled in a tuft of grass. I hacked out to the other side of the fairway, from where I saved bogey — and, ultimately, my chance at the big 7-9.

8. Don’t obsess over … well, breaking 80

When sub-80 becomes a real possibility, you’ll probably know it by the 12th or 13th hole. Don’t sweat it. In fact, let your partner keep score. Deep down you’ll know if you’re trending toward a magical number, but crunching algorithms after every hole — i.e., all the different paths that will lead you to 79 — is a sure jinx. Instead, lose yourself in your fine play and let the numbers fall where they may. Until the 18th hole, that is. At that point, you should know where you stand as it may affect how you approach the hole. As we walked to our tee shots on 18, my brother, who had purposefully not mentioned my score to me throughout the round — a la a baseball player not broaching the possibility of a no-hitter — asked me, “Do you want to know where you stand?”

I did.

“Par for 79,” he said.     

I nervously missed the green short right, pitched up to 15 feet then — somehow — holed the putt. Only after I’d celebrated like Justin Leonard at Brookline did my brother deliver more news: he’d miscalculated. I actually had needed only a bogey for 79. Funny, some days saving strokes comes almost too easily.       

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The post How Michael Phelps helps Jordan Spieth gain an edge appeared first on Golf.

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Jordan Spieth was his typically honest self Wednesday when talking about 18-hole pro-am events during tournament weeks. Tour pros don’t exactly love them. They prefer the 9-holers, especially the day before a tournament begins.

But Wednesday’s event was different. Spieth was paired up with Under Armour CEO Kevin Plank and the most decorated Olympian of all-time, Michael Phelps.

Phelps and Spieth have known each other for over a decade now, both being UA-sponsored athletes, even doing promotional events together. 

Back when Spieth was the no. 1 player in the world, when he was bagging majors and victories left and right, he may not have been as interested in leaning on the advice of a swimmer. His sport asks you to avoid the water as much as possible, anyway. But apparently that has changed. Phelps has become a bit of an asset whenever Spieth needs to reach out.

“I pick his brain on the mental side of things now,” Spieth said. “He’s getting very involved in mental health, and it’s been something that I’ve actually worked on a lot in the last few years, and that’s been a space that probably should be talked about more within athletes, their experiences across different sports, too. I’ve been really fortunate that he’s lent an ear and also bounced ideas off me.

“Without getting into details that are competitive advantages, I think he’s been a fantastic kind of friend, and we’ve been able to spend time down in Mexico separate from the brand, too, and get to know his family. Again, to have a golf lover be the most decorated Olympian of all time, it’s really good for our sport, and it’s even better that I’m able to access it, as well.”

He’s right about the golf-lover part. Like many ultra-competitive former pro athletes, Phelps is as avid as golfers tend to get. He was there walking inside the ropes with Tiger Woods at the 2018 PGA Championship at Bellerive. He was there behind Woods during his epic approach into the 16th at Augusta National during the 2019 Masters. 

He sports a 12 handicap and had Spieth raving about his ability to hit shots under pressure Wednesday. He also isn’t afraid to remind folks just how many medals he’s won during this career. That’s 28 for those keeping track at home.

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The post 1 thing you shouldn’t think about over the ball, according to Louis Oosthuizen appeared first on Golf.

The post 1 thing you shouldn’t think about over the ball, according to Louis Oosthuizen appeared first on Golf.

Golf is just as much a mental game as it is a physical one. As Bobby Jones famously said, “Competitive golf is played mainly on a five-and-a-half-inch course … the space between your ears.” Oh, how that statement rings true.

It’s part of the allure of the game, but it’s also one of the most frustrating elements. Managing your emotions is one of the biggest thrills in golf, and it’s also one of the most difficult.

Even the best in the world must find a way to manage their mind on the course. Often the biggest separator between PGA Tour-caliber players and mini tour players is simply the ability to win the mental game. Everyone can make birdies, but it’s far more difficult to make birdies and keep your composure all the time.

Instruction

And most elite golfers will tell you the method for keeping their emotions in check is to keep a strict routine on the course. Treat every shot the same, and never let up on your focus. Stick to the routine.

Louis Oosthuizen was blunt when asked at the BMW Championship about his mental preparations for every shot. What is it that goes through his mind just before he initiates the swing?

“Don’t hit it in the trouble,” he laughed. “That’s my first one.”

If only it were that simple.

Oosthuizen went on to explain that when he stands over the ball, he’s always trying to visualize the specifics of what he wants to do with the shot — where to start it, where to finish, shape, trajectory, spin, etc.

“It’s always with the intention of hitting the best shot possible,” he said.

Then, it’s all in the execution.

“Stand there, make a good swing, take the shot and hit your shot,” he said. “Never think a negative thought of what not to do; that’s the last thing you want to think of.”

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