Performance in Golf is Like a Chain

To be successful in golf, you have to master many skills. Ball control alone involves driving the ball in play, hitting greens in regulation, chipping or pitching it close, and putting consistently. Add decision making and self management, and Mastering the Game involves mastering many skills. (Remember Truth #1?)

Each one of those skills is like a link in a chain and when you pull on that chain, what will give way? The weakest link.

Truth #9 - The Weakest Link Breaks Under Pressure

In golf, many things tug on your chain: wind, lies, rough, hills, distractions, competitive pressures, attempts at a new skill. The list could go on and on. Dr. Rick Jensen suggests this great example.

If you are playing with your regular weekend foursome, how many times do you actually putt out? How many gimmes do you take from 1, 2 or 3 feet? Get into a competitive situation, say your club championship, and suddenly those gimmes become must-make shots. Because you are not likely to have practiced short putts, you are also not likely to make all of them, particularly under competitive pressure. And when you don't, you assume it was a mental error.

Instead, the weakest link just broke down. As Rick pointed out in Truth #8, you're not good enough to "choke" if you haven't mastered a skill by walking it up the four steps to mastery. What many golfers call choking is simply a weak link being exposed to pressure it wasn't designed to handle.

Are You Ready to Work on Your Weakest Link?

If you already really know your weakest link, we can help you master it by helping you walk it up the four steps to mastery from Truth #3: understanding cause and effect, supervised practice, transfer training and finally, successful play.

Many golfers, however, don't really understand where they are losing the most strokes. To avoid that, we encourage our students to keep stats using Shot by Shot. This allows you to precisely pinpoint the weakest parts of your game and to work with your coach on those. Over time, this approach fosters continuous improvement in your game.

If you are ready to shoot lower scores, work on your weakest link. We're ready to help!