Play Within Your
Comfort Zone
When playing match
play against an opponent on a lower handicap, it's common for
some golfers to often play shots which are way out of their
usual comfort zone.
This is caused by fear
of the opponent, which often makes a player feel they need to hit
great shots throughout the entire round just to be competitive
with their opponent. Whilst it's admirable to be ambitious (!),
this mindset can be fatal in competition as just one early bad hole
will often deplete all the confidence from the player, and
provide the stronger player an unexpected gift of breathing space.
Once a stronger player
is given an early lead, it's unusual for them to relinquish their
control, and so it's imperative that you never give a
lower-handicap player this kind of breathing space. This means
that a slightly different approach could be taken, where less
respect is attached to the handicap of your opponent, and more attention
is given to simply playing your own game.
Here's why; even
the lowest handicap players often begin their round whilst experiencing
some level of nerves or anxiety, and
so this is the very best time to exploit your opponent - simply
by playing within your ability and (as best you can) staying
with your opponent's score for the first 3-4 holes.
After three or four holes, if the
two players are still level, this is generally an unusual situation
for the lower-handicapped player -
and it is not unusual for even highly seasoned golfers
to begin to tighten up slightly and overtry on their shots
(and we know how fatal that can be). This is brought about
by the pressure exerted upon them - simply because of the fact
that they are still equal with a player they feel they
should be beating! Consequently even some of these better
players' games can begin to unravel and self-destruct.
On the other side of the coin,
by playing within yourself and sharing the early
holes of the round, you can then begin to relax a little and believe
that you are truly capable of competing with your opponent. This
way, you have played yourself into the game - and if your
opponent happens to self-destruct, well that's simply a bonus.
Of course, this is not to say that
you shouldn't take some risks at times - as there is calculated
risk involved in all good golf. But the difference is taking
risks that are within your level of confidence and
ability on that particular day, rather than taking risks which
are way above your comfort zone.
A classic example might be where your
opponent (on a lower handicap) hits a long tee shot onto the green
of a par 3 hole, which will leave him or her with a 20-foot putt.
In this situation, you have a choice of two different mindsets
or approaches:
The first is that you make an emotional
decision where you give too much respect to your opponent
- by assuming that they will make this putt.
This mindset can force you to be overly ambitious on your
tee shot, in order to try and duplicate the quality of
your opponent's tee shot, instead of choosing a shot you would
feel more comfortable with.
This often results in your shot finding
the bunker, rough or maybe overshooting the green. Result: A bogey,
and your opponent two-putts in, to par and win the hole. This
hole gives your opponent a vital boost of confidence, and provides
the opposite effect by giving your morale a severe battering -
and more often than not, this hole will set the trend for the
remainder of the round.
The second mindset to this
situation is to be less emotional - where you might choose to
instead play a more comfortable tee shot. Whilst this might
leave you a little short of the green, it leaves you to chip onto
the green and ultimately putt in, to par the hole. Result: You
share the hole, which means you are still maintaining
the pressure on your opponent, whilst reinforcing your own belief
that you have what it takes to compete with this opponent.
Of course, that is just one scenario;
if your opponent had hit their tee shot within an inch
of the hole, this would change your approach entirely - as
in this situation it would then become sensible and
necessary to go for an ambitious tee shot, in order to attempt
to hole the ball in two strokes. There are times for playing within
your comfort zone, and times for playing outside of it - it is
the choice as to when, that is all-important.
The key is to play within yourself
until you feel the time is right to take the calculated
risks, as this approach maintains the pressure upon your opponent
whilst helping to build your confidence against a supposedly superior
player.
So have faith in yourself that your
game is good enough and ensure that your choice of shots
is not based on emotional decisions - it might make a world of
difference.
