Golf Australia – August 2019

So,whatkindofput terareyou?
Thestoriesyoutellyourselfwill
eitherbeusefultoyouoruseless.
Thisis becausethestorieswetell
ourselvescanbegintoactout,even
ata subconsciouslevel.Greatputters
tendtoadopta goodat titudeto
put ting.Yourstorywilldetermineor

attheveryleast, heavily infl uence

yourat titude.Consider how much the

storyyouhavecarried around with

youforsolongmight have held back

yourprogress.Do you want to keep

withthesameold story, or could it

perhapsbethetime to take charge of

a newscript?Unless you change your

story – the narrative you continually

tell yourself – then no mat ter how

many times you change your put ter

or no mat ter how much work you do

on your put ting stroke, you will never

see any lasting change.

Byaskinggoodquestionsandpaying
moreat tentiontowhattheballneeds
todo,theshacklesthatbindand
restrictthemajorit yofgolfersintheir
pursuitof‘theperfectstroke’are
removed,freeingupbodyandmind
toreleasethecreativit yandartistry
requiredtoholemoreput ts.Hereare
twoyoumustask:
“Isit possiblethatI couldholethis

put t?”Theanswer of course is yes.

Unlessyouchoose otherwise. The

veryfactyoubelieve it is possible now

hasyourmindopen to that possibilit y.

Asyoulookat the put t, ask

yourself:“What does this ball need

todotogointhe hole?” Your mind

willgoinsearch of the answer. It will

starttocreatea line; it will sense a

pace.It willcome up with an answer.

Will the answer always be the

correct one? Perhaps, perhaps not.

But the more you ask this

question, the more the habit

develops and the more you will

fi nd your powerful supercomputer

between your ears will start to come

up with some good answers.

Onyournextround,giveyourself
a new and unusual task. Monitor
your thoughts between playing your
approach to the green, and reaching
it. This seemingly innocuous period
of time can have a profound effect
on what happens once you reach

yourball.

For many club golfers, this period

is one in which your mind drif ts back

to the past (‘I should have hit my

approach differently, or bet ter’) or

forward to the future (‘If I can’t

two-put t from there that’s another

shot gone’). With this t ype of

thinking, the walk on to the green can

set you up to feel anxiet y and dread.

But consider that the walk from

your approach shot to the green is

an opportunit y. It is an opportunit y

to receive the information the green

is trying to give you... to create the

mental conditions that allow you

to hole a put t. Above all, it is an

opportunit y to place your at tention

somewhere you personally fi nd to be

really useful.

3

4

5

DEVELOP YOUR

PUTTING STORY

ASK YOURSELF

GOOD QUESTIONS

HARNESS YOUR FOCUS AS

YOU APPROACH THE GREEN

T

hink back to the last

putt you got really

nervous on. If you

pull the situation

apart, you can begin

to see how those nerves were based

on a prediction of failure. E ectively,

you were anticipating just how

unpleasant or problematic a miss

would be. It‘s a situation you really

don’t want to confront, so the stakes

• and the nerves – rise.
  To get the better of nerves, you

need to re-evaluate your

response to a missed

putt. You need to change

a rank fear of missing to

an acceptance of it. When

you tell yourself that it is

entirely possible that you

can miss the putt – but that

you can deal with that outcome

• the nerves disappear. It’s an
  approach that takes the sting out of
  a future you’re not prepared to deal
  with. It’s a sort of negative positive.

Note this is very di erent

from expecting to miss the

putt; you are still doing

your utmost to hole it, as

ever. The di erence is

in what you tell yourself

about what happens

should you miss. While

you are trying to hole it, you are

prepared to miss it... and you will

deal with that. Try it out next time

you face a really important putt –

you’ll feel much calmer.

NERVES...

ANDHOWTO

TAME THEM

N Karl

Morris

golf australia | AUGUST 2019 57