Preparing for Competition

One of the most enjoyable aspects of being a golf teacher is when the opportunity arises to help a golfer prepare for competition. Competitive golf and leisure golf are two completely different animals. Whether it's a 12 year old preparing for his first ever junior tournament, a business man preparing for the club championship or a fellow pro preparing for the PGA tour school, the atmosphere always get a little more intense when we have the goal of competition in our sight.

What is the one thing I would do to prepare for an important upcoming event? My answer! 100 three-foot putts a day for a week. That's right! Forget hitting bucket after bucket of drivers and head to the putting green. And don't just head to the putting green, but head three feet from the hole. This is the one area in golf that if we are extremely confident about, works into every other aspect of our game.

The drill is this. Pick a straight, three foot putt on the practice green and camp there for 100 putts per day for the week leading up to the big event. How does this drill work? Well as we start to hit the 100 putts, our eye begins to see the ball fall in the hole. It begins to see it fall in the hole again and again and again. This gives us some confidence. This added confidence begins to seep into our stroke. It becomes more solid and more confident. We begin to see more putts fall. It is a positive cycle that feeds off one another. On day one of this 7 day exercise, we may only make 75 or 80 putts out of the hundred. But by day 7, that number will be well into the 90s. Maybe even 100 out of 100. Now you are ready for competition.

Why is this short putt so important in preparing for competition? Because it effects every other part of our game. When we are extremely confident on our short putts, we can be more aggressive on our approach putts, because we have no fear of the come backer. We can be more aggressive with our chips because our short putts are falling. We can attack tight pins because we know we can get up and down if we miss the green. We can move with more confidence to the next tee to blast our drive after we've holed a nice three foot par save. And most importantly, making short putts keeps the momentum of the round moving forward. Nothing kills momentum more than missing a three foot putt.

So if you have an important tournament coming up, try the 100 three foot putts per day for a week exercise. I promise you, it's is the best was to calm the nerves and build confidence for that tournament. Good luck in that tournament and bring home that trophy.

"If you control the clubface-you control the ball"