Winter-2022

TAKE YOUR BEST SHOT B Y L A I RD SMA L L How to Overcome Fear on the Course and Play Your Best Golf f you’re playing Pebble Beach Golf Links for the first time, chances are you already know about the tee shots on holes 7 and 18.You may also be familiar with the forced carry over the ocean on No. 8 and the downhill, sidehill approach shot on No. 10. The anticipation of hitting these shots is as great as playing the course because you’ve seen them in pictures and on television countless times. However, this anticipation only stokes your level of anxiety when it comes time to play. When coupled with the natural surroundings, small greens, and many hazards the architect has thrust at you, it’s easy to become rattled by Pebble Beach, or any course with challenging obstacles for that matter. We all have shots we fear, whether they are forced carries over water, long bunker shots, short bunker shots, or tee shots with out of bounds near- by. We fear them because we haven’t had a great deal of success with them in the past, or we’re afraid of the outcome. At Pebble Beach, it’s hard not to think about the ocean on No. 8, even if you can’t see it, because you know it’s there—just as you know the water is lurking to the left of the tee on No. 18 and to the right of the green on No. 10. So, the question remains, how do you overcome this fear? The answer has as much to do with your attitude, preparation, and ability to stay calm and focused while on the course as it does with your actual swing mechanics. As John Wooden once said, “Don’t let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do.” Instead of letting negative past experi- ences swirl your head as you tee it up, focus on understanding your own identity and capabilities while on the course. As a player, it’s easy to create a narrative of whom we might like to be or to focus too much on what the machines and videos say we should be. While both are necessary to improving, they can result in decreasing returns if focused on too heavily. Your swing can only get so good—we have a limited capacity on the mechanics of the game. However, there’s an infinite capacity to being adaptable while playing the game! The best way I can think of to demonstrate this is to try a two best and worst ball scramble. Play a few holes, take your two best shots on a hole and your two worst shots—play them out and see your score. It immedi- ately shows the performance gap between the best and worst of you— both of which we take to the golf course or a tournament.To understand your performance gap and why you have that gap is your first step in rec- ognizing your identity as a golfer.Those golfers who understand their per- formance gap can now focus on those specifics with their coach. Here’s an interesting story about Johnny Miller's win at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. Johnny hadn’t played in a PGA TOUR event in over a year and, at the last minute, decided to play in the 1994 event. As it turned out, he played some wonderful golf and found himself in the lead with three holes to go! Chasing him was Hall of Fame golfer Tom Watson, Corey Pavin and my student Kirk Triplett. As Johnny would later share, “I started to feel the pressure on the 17th tee on Pebble Beach. I thought I was starting to choke from the pressure. I took a moment and reflected back on my golf game and what happens to me when I’m under pressure. I realized that I tended to hit the ball thin, a couple of grooves low on the clubface, and the golf ball tended to curve to the right. So, I got up on the tee, pulled an extra club, aimed left of the green close to Stillwater Cove and the Pacific Ocean and swung the club as hard as I could. The ball started left and curved right and landed on the green. On the 18th hole with the Pacific Ocean on my left, I teed up my driver and I teed the ball very low, almost on the ground. I knew from past experience that with a driver teed up that low, the ball had no “Don’t let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do!” ~John Wooden I 94 C A R M E L M A G A Z I N E • W I N T E R 2 0 2 2