The game of golf is a lot different than the other sports. I believe the #1 overall challenge in golf is that you are out on the course alone. No teammates to back you up if you happen to make a mistake, no players on the bench waiting to substitute in to give you a break if you start to slip a bit. You, against the course, 5 hours of a mental and physical test.
Throughout a round of golf you will come across good and bad breaks, one of my goals that I have started recently is to not let the bad breaks affect my emotions. For instance, maybe you hit the ball right down the middle of the fairway and your ball ends up in an old divot, or maybe you hit your ball left, and it is heading for the woods, but the ball hits off a tree and back into the fairway. Both situations should leave you with an easy going mindset and worrying about how to play the next shot.
My Dad used to tell me, “People shouldn’t know if I got a bogey or a birdie walking off the green to the next hole.” I now know what he was trying to teach me, and it is one of my main goals during every round of golf I play.
As I mentioned above, good and bad breaks will come during a round of golf. That is a 100% fact. What prepares you the most for those certain situations is practicing those situations. Amateur golfers always look at me goofy when I am around the chipping area and plug my golf ball into the face of the sand trap, or when I am on the range and I drop my ball into one of my old divots. I will also hit 10 normal shots and on the 11th shot I will hit a head high punch shot like I am trying to get out of the woods. Doing these things while you are practicing and when you are calm in the mind will teach you to stay calm during a round when a bad break happens. The one key thing I think about when I get a bad break is that there are 120 other golfers on the same course also getting bad or worse breaks through their rounds.
Another key part of handling the challenges of golf is having a full mindset to get through a round with 100% focus and commitment. SCNS Sports Foods is actually my way to deal with that through the power of fueling my body and mind. I start my round with the 1st Tee Bar that acts like a 2nd breakfast for me and allows me to get off to a powerful healthy start to the round. Walking from 9 green to the 10th tee box I rip open a 10th tee bar to keep my energy at the same level it was when I started the round. The 10th Tee bar allows my mind to stay 100% focused on the task ahead and does not let it worry about anything else. Having a mind that is totally dedicated to what you are doing at the present time is essential to playing your best golf. SCNS Sports Foods allows that to happen and they are key to my success on the golf course.
Andrew Wilkinson
