The club that you hit the most often from the tee box on Par 4’s and Par 5’s sets you up with the opportunity to fulfil the intention of this great game: hit the lowest score possible.
To fulfil your potential, you must be confident off the tee.
One key factor is, you can choose what is best for YOU. Is it your driver? 3 wood? Hybrid? Or something else?
Over time, of course you can work on your technical game and confidence with the other clubs off the tee but for now let’s look at your favourite club.
You want to be in a position where you “know” that you can step up and stripe it even on the toughest of holes. For most golfers playing some sort competition (even if it’s just with your buddies) it’s going to need to be something long enough compete. Usually, this is a driver or 3 wood.
The importance of the tee shot is so ingrained in most golfers that they have developed problems with it. This can of course be some sort technical/swing challenge (see a great PGA Teaching Pro for that). However, it can also be mental. FEAR has crept in. After many mishits and lost balls, tension, and “negative visualisation” is greatly ruining your chances of ripping it down the middle.
This can become what I call a “negative cycle” and some golfers can end up struggling off the tee for, literally, years.
The key is to get back to a solid, repeatable routine that includes picking a specific target and ends with 100% trust and a free swing.
One thing that can impact trust is trying to work the ball like Seve Ballesteros if you haven’t practiced it. With a few exceptions, if your natural ball flight is a 15 yard fade and it’s relatively repeatable then work out a way to fit your shot into the hole. If that means dropping down to a wood or a long iron then so be it. There’s no ego here, that’s playing intelligent golf.
Your mindset is in control of the strategy not the golf course or the conditions.
The MASSIVE advantage from the tee is that you have options. There will be many moments during the rest of the round where you don’t have options but off the tee, you do. If you’re committed to playing your best golf (you wouldn’t have read this far if you weren’t) then PLAN AHEAD. Look at the course plan and strategize what club you will use off of each tee. You can even look at wind strength and direction in advance from the weather forecast.
If you just read that last paragraph and thought “that’s a lot of stress”. Ask yourself if it is as stressful as the result of 14 poorly planned/fearfully executed tee shots.
Being confident off the tee is only likely if you have minimal “thinking” to do. You want to be able to picture the shot, go through your routine and then execute.
Tee shots are often where beginners and children have the most fun. You can CHOOSE to keep it that way. Have fun knowing that the tee shots are a place for you to gain an advantage on your playing partners. Especially the difficult holes. When everyone else is tensing up and getting fearful, you’ll be staying loose and swinging freely.
Does that mean that you’ll rip it down the middle of the fairway on every tee shot?
Of course not.
But remember this, the intention of this amazing game isn’t to hit the fairway. It is getting the ball in the hole in the fewest number of shots.
This is where the key to being confident off the tee comes in. DO NOT BECOME OBSESSED WITH THE OUTCOME.
If you want to be obsessed with something, become obsessed with strategic planning, having a solid routine, seeing the shot and swinging freely.
If you do hit a poor shot that ends up somewhere a long way from where you intended. Presume that it was a freak accident, realise that it has NOTHING TO DO WITH THE NEXT TEE SHOT and step up on the next tee as if you’ve just ripped a basket of balls on the driving range.
It may be easier said than done but then again, so is golf in general. Commit to practicing the above and watch what happens.
hope this helps my friends!
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