10 May Concentration

Concentration in golf is so important and to hold it for the duration of 18 holes is a gift that not many of us have.

If I had to make observations on the top players who do well and those who don’t, it would have to be that those who do seem to consistently play well have a belief in themselves and the ability to translate it into victory by unflagging concentration.

As one famous tour player said ‘once you know you can win, concentration becomes the vital factor’. It’s a question getting into the right frame of mind. When Jack Nicklaus was in his prime he was quoted as saying — “pressure is relative — I only get nervous when I don’t know what I’m doing — I haven’t been nervous for ten years.”

The gist of what Jack meant was that if you know you’re doing A, B, and C right, all that’s required is concentration — application if you like.

Once you have complete command over your concentration, nerves cease to exist. You become unaware of the circumstances you’re in.

If you’re thinking well, it doesn’t matter whether the three-foot putt on the 18th is to win some money from your friends or for the British Open.

You just hole it however, and here is the problem with golf — it’s just not possible to concentrate that well day in, day out,  —  all you can do is just keep working at it.

Out of Bounds: I seem to have tickled the funny bone of many a golfer out there — which only goes to show that you need a good sense of humour to play this game.

The funny gravestones of golfers’ past just keep on coming, here’s another one — ‘HERE LIES THE BODY OF GOLFER JONATHAN BLAKE WHO STEPPED ON THE GAS INSTEAD OF THE BRAKE’…

REMARK: This article was originally published by the Bangkok Post on the 10th of May 2014.