I was playing golf with Jack the other day and he mentioned that, when he was at the Masters he talked with Doug Sanders, one of the most flamboyant dressers in the history of the PGA Tour and the winner of 20 Tour events. He said that he knew Doug had shot a lot of really low scores andasked him, 'How did you go so low so often?'
Before Jack could tell me Doug's answer, I chimed in, 'He always thought to himself that he was a lot less under par, if not just even par.' Jack was blown away with my answer and exclaimed, 'That's exactly what Doug said.' I then went on to say that, for example, if I shot 4 under the first day of a tournament, when I started the second day, I considered in my mind that I was starting even par. For that entire round, I treated my score as it being based on starting even par. I maintained that thought about my score every new day of a tournament. I think the same way just playing a regular round of golf.
Can this concept of scoring help all golfers of all levels and handicaps? Absolutely! We play golf in the conscious and sub-conscious mind. The key is to keep your score on your scorecard, and not dwell on it in your conscious mind. The key is to shoot it, just do it, not keep thinking about how you are relative to par, and if you are on track to shoot your best front nine score or even best 18 hole score ever. You have to just keep swinging and putting, shoot a score and move on to the next hole until you are done. Then, when you sit down and add up your score, you can allow yourself the luxury of enjoying the moment of shooting a good or best ever score.
While still playing, you cannot allow yourself the luxury of thinking about enjoying having a good round. Keeping your scoring in your conscious mind is like playing 'RUSSIAN ROULETTE' with a loaded gun. Play it long enough and you loose, blowing up your score.
The secret to playing and scoring low is to play in the sub-conscious mind as far as calculating your score and thinking and knowing where you stand relative to par. You know absolutely where you stand but your only concern and conscious thought is to think about your next shot, the execution of your next shot and so on. You are thinking about playing, and even when you write down your score for a hole, the score, good or bad, stays on the card not in your mind. You stay in the playing scoring zone of mental activity, not on the actual score. You should do this on all rounds, especially in tournaments.
Many players, from Tour pros and top amateurs shooting a course record, to average to high handicappers shooting their career round, stay in the moment of playing, not calculating or continuously thinking about their good playing that round. They are only thinking about the next shot, making a good swing or putt. They are not thinking about holding on. They are thinking about making one more birdie, and then another as long as there is another hole to play. The last thing they thing about is how many under they are or how many more then need. They just think about making more birdies and going lower.
Most golfers who have been in this 'scoring zone' know that the worst thing that can happen is to be pulled out of the zone. Most often it is by a fellow competitor, whether innocently or purposefully using gamesmanship, saying something like, 'Do you know that you are 7 under par?' Or something like, 'Do you know that if you par 18 you will shoot your best round ever?' Statements like these are the 'Kiss of Death.' They just took you out of the subconscious scoring mode and into the conscious thinking mode where we can and likely will trip on over and fall down. You play to make a score which you keep on a scorecard. The scorecard is the only place where your score should be while playing.
Counting your score as you play, and talking and encouraging and cheering or rooting for yourself to make two more pars to shoot your career round is the wrong way to go low. And, the worst way of all is negative encouragement or cheering where your thought or self comment is a statement like, ' just don't double bogey or bogey this hole or hit a bad shot, or don't 3 putt and you shoot your best score.' Keep score on your card during a round'¦never keep it on your mind!
The Surge!