First Tee Nerves - Mental toughness in Golf

Written by Professor Aidan Moran. Aidan is Director of the Psychology Research Laboratory in University College, Dublin. Aidan’s work for the last twenty years has included one to one coaching on mental toughness with top players including Major winners. Narrated by Sara Dylan.

Standing on the first tee of a competition can make even the most experienced of golfers feel nervous. For example, Justin Rose, a Major winner who has represented Europe in three Ryder Cup teams since 2008, admitted that he gets anxious every time he stands on the first tee of Ryder cup matches. As he said: “you never get accustomed to it. You don’t do it often enough to get comfortable”. This idea applies to all golfers – regardless of their ability level. Clearly, one reason why we feel nervous before our first shot in a competition is because we don’t play often enough in that situation. And because we want to get off the first tee as quickly as possible, we tend to swing too fast, which may produce the bad drive that we had feared. But take heart, almost every player feels anxious before a competition. And there are a number of practical steps outlined in this short audiobook which you can take to overcome this problem.

There are 10 audio recordings in this series including: Concentration, course management, developing mental toughness, enjoying your golf, first tee nerves, handling mistakes and setbacks, increasing your confidence, performing under pressure, pre-shot routines, and putting well.

Contains nine special tips to improve this strategic aspect of your game, and a short visualisation exercise.