Maintaining Balance And Rhythm For 18 Golf Holes (Video) - by Pete Styles
Maintaining Balance And Rhythm For 18 Golf Holes (Video) - by Pete Styles

I think we all walk to the first tee when we go and play golf for the absolute best intentions of doing the correct things, all the things we’ve watched online, all the things we’ve read in the magazines, all the things we’ve tried in the driving range. And the danger is that those great feelings, those great expectations last us for about the first three holes. And then we have a bad shot off the fourth tee, it all goes out the window when we kind of revert the type. So I think it’s quite important we really try and keep our balance and keep our rhythm for the entirety of the round of golf, which might be four, four and a half hours over the 18 holes. And hopefully, that then sets in day to day, week to week, we keep the same good rhythm.

So let’s look at the downfalls and the pitfalls that can affect good rhythm. Generally, couple of them are going to be trying to hit the ball too hard. We all get into that habit of trying to hit the ball too hard, particularly off the tee, particularly when your playing partners have hit these in tee shots, you stand it over there. They’ve launched it down there 250 yards each time and suddenly you get there like John Daly, trying to give it the big ends, you get too long, you get out of control, you lose your balance, you lose your rhythm and you take yourself out of your own comfort zone because you’re trying to keep it with your playing partners. So let’s not try and hit the ball too hard. Let’s also make sure we’ve got decent expectations. We’re not expecting to go out there and shoot level par if your handicap is 18. If your handicap’s 18 and you beat your handicap by three or four shots, that should be good enough reward in itself. You’re not going to try and get out there and shoot level par generally speaking as you have an absolute blinder. It’s not going to happen. And the fact that it doesn’t happen if you’re expecting it to happen, you get very disappointed with yourself then you start getting impatient, then you start rushing. And that leads on to the last thing that we’re all guilty off in times of time is trying to squeeze in as much golf as we can. We end up playing bad golf because we’re rushing. And that might be because the people in the golf course are rushing you around or might be the time pressure you’ve put on yourself. You know, it’s getting dark and you think, “I’ll just try and squeeze in the end of the nine holes before it gets too dark.” You end up rushing around the golf course, struggling with your rhythm, struggling with your balance because you’re getting quite impatient as well. So work on those key areas. Don’t try and hit it too hard. Have reasonable expectations of yourself and don’t rush around the golf course. That should help improve your rhythm and your balance next time you play. 2016-04-21

I think we all walk to the first tee when we go and play golf for the absolute best intentions of doing the correct things, all the things we’ve watched online, all the things we’ve read in the magazines, all the things we’ve tried in the driving range. And the danger is that those great feelings, those great expectations last us for about the first three holes. And then we have a bad shot off the fourth tee, it all goes out the window when we kind of revert the type. So I think it’s quite important we really try and keep our balance and keep our rhythm for the entirety of the round of golf, which might be four, four and a half hours over the 18 holes. And hopefully, that then sets in day to day, week to week, we keep the same good rhythm.

So let’s look at the downfalls and the pitfalls that can affect good rhythm. Generally, couple of them are going to be trying to hit the ball too hard. We all get into that habit of trying to hit the ball too hard, particularly off the tee, particularly when your playing partners have hit these in tee shots, you stand it over there. They’ve launched it down there 250 yards each time and suddenly you get there like John Daly, trying to give it the big ends, you get too long, you get out of control, you lose your balance, you lose your rhythm and you take yourself out of your own comfort zone because you’re trying to keep it with your playing partners. So let’s not try and hit the ball too hard.

Let’s also make sure we’ve got decent expectations. We’re not expecting to go out there and shoot level par if your handicap is 18. If your handicap’s 18 and you beat your handicap by three or four shots, that should be good enough reward in itself. You’re not going to try and get out there and shoot level par generally speaking as you have an absolute blinder. It’s not going to happen. And the fact that it doesn’t happen if you’re expecting it to happen, you get very disappointed with yourself then you start getting impatient, then you start rushing.

And that leads on to the last thing that we’re all guilty off in times of time is trying to squeeze in as much golf as we can. We end up playing bad golf because we’re rushing. And that might be because the people in the golf course are rushing you around or might be the time pressure you’ve put on yourself. You know, it’s getting dark and you think, “I’ll just try and squeeze in the end of the nine holes before it gets too dark.” You end up rushing around the golf course, struggling with your rhythm, struggling with your balance because you’re getting quite impatient as well. So work on those key areas. Don’t try and hit it too hard. Have reasonable expectations of yourself and don’t rush around the golf course. That should help improve your rhythm and your balance next time you play.