Do you get nervous on the first tee of many rounds you play—but find that you settle in a little better several holes later? If so, you’re not alone.
Have you ever stopped to consider why that is? Most likely, it’s because you have a vested interest in how well you play, which is natural. And everyone knows that first impressions are often lasting ones.
What many people don’t take into consideration is that others on that tee may be just as—if not more—nervous than you are. It reminds me of the amateur that was playing in a Pro Am with the great Tom Watson. They got to the first green and he was sure that Tom would be interested in seeing his putting stroke. He then realized that the only putting stroke Watson was interested in was his own.
We all want to look good and play well right from the get-go. Here are some suggestions I have on doing just that.
Dress the Part
When you look like a golfer—you feel like a golfer. One of my college baseball teammates, a pitcher named Mike Bielecki, even at that level dressed like a professional. While I wore droopy socks, he always wore his entire uniform in a classy way. Perhaps that’s why he went on to strike out six of the nine Yankees he faced in the 1996 World Series. I read that his nickname in the bigs was “Style Master.”
I’ve heard it said that you should dress like you have somewhere better to go. There’s truth in that. So, even if you hit a bad tee shot on hole #1, there are not only 17 more holes to play that day, but there are probably other more prestigious courses to tee it up on another day. This could just be a steppingstone to that.
Visualize
Before your round, visualize yourself playing the course, especially the first three holes. That way you’ll get out of the gate smoothly. No one wants to play catch up from the get-go—all the while wondering if they “have it” that day.
Your visualization process should incorporate as many of the five senses as possible. You might start with SIGHT, which is probably the most dominant sense. Picture yourself walking onto the tee box, pegging the ball and hitting a nice drive—with the right trajectory and the shot shape that the terrain calls for—which finds the fairway and winds up much closer than where you are standing.
You might move on to SOUND, or the auditory sense. Harvey Penick in his Little Red Book: Lessons and Teachings from a Lifetime in Golf, confessed to the reason why he decided to become a teacher. He said one day he was at the Houston Open and he walked over to the tee to see the new kid from West Virginia (Sam Snead) hit his drive. He said, “I not only saw it, I heard it. It sounded like a rifle and the ball flew like a bullet.” Well, you probably don’t hit the ball like Slammin’ Sammy, but the truth is many people (especially the one who hit it) can tell the sound of a well struck ball. Incorporate the sound of a good shot into your pre-round visualization routine.
You might also want to include other sounds into your routine (e.g., the sounds of the outdoors, such as birds, which you could decide is a harbinger of what’s to come).
Then there’s TOUCH. If you’ve played golf for any length of time, you know the feeling you get when you hit the ball flush. It feels effortless. And, interestingly, you don’t just feel it in your hands—it appears to permeate your entire body.
When you shake the hand of your opponent (or playing partners), you might even perceive that they have sweaty palms, which could tell you a little bit about how they’re handling the pressure of playing against you!
TASTE just might be the hardest sense to conjure up on the first tee. But perhaps you chew gum—as Tiger Woods did in the 2019 Masters. He explained it by saying, “Well, I’m chomping on this gum because I usually get hungry, I keep eating so much. And it curbs my appetite a little bit, which is nice.” I’m not sure I believe his explanation—but his gum chewing that tournament did give me the impression that he knew what he was doing—which he obviously did—as he went on to win.
On the other hand, if you need a little levity to calm your nerves on the first tee, you might think of Jackie Gleason, the beloved television and motion picture comedian, who was a big golfer in his day. The expression that is most attributed to him is “How Sweet it Is.” That could inspire you to taste something sweet—or perhaps just relax and enjoy yourself.
And finally, believe it or not, your sense of SMELL can be invoked. I have heard that Ben Crenshaw could smell the dirt in the hole beneath the cup. And, depending on the course you’re playing, you might even think of the flowers you’ll get a whiff of once you get out on the course.
I have found visualization to be extremely beneficial—whether I’m speaking to a group of strangers—or out on the golf course.
Breathe
When we’re nervous, our breathing gets shallow. Our “shakes” come from the fight or flight syndrome. Our bodies release too much adrenaline, which causes blood to rush from our internal organs into the muscles. This extra work causes our heart to beat rapidly, requiring more oxygen, so you must breathe harder. We need to learn to harness the adrenaline flow and use it to our advantage for peak performance.
When we learn to breathe from our diaphragm, we’re able to quell any nerves we have and perform more effectively. We take breathing for granted—but it has a huge influence on our lives. The #1 bestseller by James Nestor, Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art, sheds some eye-opening light on the previously mundane topic. One of the findings is that elite athletes felt invigorated–rather than exhausted—while breathing through their nose. They all swore off breathing through their mouths ever again.
These tips—dress the part, visualize, and breathe—should help you get started on the right foot. And then, all you’ll have to do is transfer your weight and find the center of the clubface, which will have your ball sailing right down the middle.
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