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Weekly Ezine May 24/04 |
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The Week on the tours:
While Daniel Chopra was setting a scoring record of 30 under par to win on the Nationwide Tour, for the third week in a row, the PGA Tour players were struggling to hit double figures under par. Only Steve Flesch and Chad Campbell were able to do it, with Flesch holding on for the one stroke victory at The Colonial. Flesch hit the ball almost flawlessly on Sunday, but missing a few three foot putts allowed Campbell to stay close. Flesch became the third lefty to win on tour this year with lefty's winning four times in 21 events.
Tom Watson and Tom Kite turned on the heat after D.A. Weibring double bogied early, but Weibring was able to hold on for the wire to wire win at the Allianz Championship in Iowa. Next week the Champions have a major with the Senior PGA Championship at Valhalla.
Sherry Steinhauer was the winner on the LPGA Tour at the Sybase Classic in New York. Next week Annika Sorenstam returns to action at the Corning Classic. It will be her first appearance there since 15.
PGA Tour:
2004
Bank of America Colonial:
1 Steve Flesch
-11
2 Chad Campbell -10
3 Stephen Ames -9
4 Craig Perks -7
T5 Bo Van Pelt -6
T5 Skip Kendall -6
T5 Tim Petrovic -6
T5 Robert Gamez -6
T9 John Senden -5
T9 Jeff Maggert -5
T9 Mark Brooks -5
T12 Loren Roberts -4
T12 Kenny Perry -4
European
Tour:
2004 Deutsche Bank-SAP Open TPC of Europe click
here for results
Champion's
Tour:
2004 Allianz
Championship click
here for results
Nationwide
Tour:
2004 Henrico
County Open click
here for results
LPGA Tour:
2004 Sybase Big Apple Classic Presented by . . . click
here for results
For full field scores and stats on all the tours, go to PGA
Tour.com.
This week:
PGA tour:
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2004
FedEx St. Jude Classic |
TV
Coverage: |
European Tour:
2004 Volvo
PGA Championship
May 27-30
Wentworth Club
Surrey, England
Defending: Ignacio Garrido
Purse: $4,022,213 ($670,365 to winner)
Champion's Tour:
2004 Senior PGA Championship
May 27-30
Valhalla Golf Club
Louisville, Kentucky
Defending: John Jacobs
Purse: $2,000,000 ($360,000 to winner)
Nationwide Tour:
2004 SAS Carolina Classic
May 27-30
TPC at Wakefield Plantation
Raleigh, North Carolina
Defending: David Morland IV
Purse: $500,000 ($90,000 to winner)
LPGA Tour:
2004 LPGA Corning Classic
May 27-30
Corning Country Club
Corning, New York
Defending: Juli Inkster
Purse: $1,000,000 ($150,000 to winner)
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"The best place to refine your swing is, of course, right out on the practice range... You will have an opportunity to make the same mistakes over and over again so that you no longer have to think about them, and they become part of your game." - Stephen Baker
Dealing with pressure on the golf course
Pressure is the killer of many rounds of golf. Whether you are playing for $1,000,000 on tour, or trying to break 90 for the first time, emotional pressure can cause the best of us to lose our brilliance. While some people thrive on pressure and intensity, golf is a game where it has to be kept under raps because tension in the body will ruin any golf swing, and especially putting.
The first thing that goes when pressure is applied is our breathing. Breathing speeds up and becomes shallow, causing the heart rate to increase. The brain then reacts by putting the body into fight or flight mode to regulate oxygen ratios in the body. When this happens our brain tends to get less oxygen, causing us to lose focus and rational thought. Our thoughts will tend to be panicky and usually negative, causing us to make bad decisions and overreact.
The two most important things to do when pressure is applied in golf are to focus on and slow down our breathing. Taking long (not necessarily deep, which can actually cause tension), slow breaths with the emphasis on getting all the air out, and making sure there are good pauses between exhaling and inhaling (without holding your breath) will help to invoke physical relaxation and steadiness. Focusing the mind on the breath will also invoke a state of thoughtlessness which is very important on the course. One way to do this is to actually count your breaths silently and rhythmically as you walk or ride between shots. When you start your preshot routine, make sure you keep this breathing going and do not rush or skip any aspect of your routine.
Learning self-hypnosis can be helpful with this as you build a cue (like tugging on your pants) that signals the body to relax. To easily do this you must practice off the golf course and at the range where there is no pressure. Get yourself into a relaxed, thoughtless state by doing the above breathing and then in that state perform the cue several times (I personally grab the bill of cap to anchor this state). This will begin to imprint the cue so that whenever you do it, this relaxation automatically happens if you repeat it enough.
A great resource for helping you have a strong mind under pressure is the Golf Mind Software put out by Dr. Fran Pirozollo who has worked with many professional athletes including Justin Leonard who is one of the most mentally tough players on tour.
For more
golf tips click
here.
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Do you have relevant questions, comments, or opinions about golf that
you would like to be heard? Have any suggestions to improve this ezine?
Please email them to sean@lowerscoregolf.com
Top Ten PGA Tour money winners:
Through Byron Nelson Championship:
1
Vijay Singh 14 events $4,409,137
2 Phil Mickelson 12 events 4,134,100
3 Tiger Woods 9 events 2,494,583
4 Stuart Appleby 11 events 2,177,120
5 Ernie Els 7 events 2,126,125
6 Davis Love III 10 events 2,058,253
7 Adam Scott 7 events 2,025,000
8 Sergio Garcia 9 events 1,637,141
9 Jonathan Kaye 12 events 1,554,975
10 Stewart Cink 12 events 1,551,053
Good Golfing,
SEAN HARDER