The Angry Bees!!

I had never heard the phrase "angry bees" before. But on holiday with my friend James it seemed a well used phrase by the time we came home. Standing over a shot and being very uncomfortable, due to feeling awkward, or mentally focusing solely on bad shots. James felt at times like the negative thoughts or feelings were like an angry swarm of bees getting louder and louder in his head before playing a shot. This was seemingly very debilitating and caused him to step away from shots on a number of occasions.

The main reason for a rock solid pre-shot routine, is to hopefully take the quality shots being hit in practice be taken onto the golf course. Poor golfers generally complain about practicing well but losing quality on the golf course. This will be fixed by practicing a pre-shot routine on the range, then repeating it on the course. A pre-shot routine can be a physical thing (picking an aiming point,practice swinging), a mental thing (visualising the shot, imagining what a good shot will feel like) or both.

The other reason for a pre-shot routine is to avoid thinking of negative things, previous poor shots played recently, imagining bad shots. A general feeling of dread when about to play a shot, can be paralysing. It can be a vicious circle, thinking bad will cause bad giving the player more ammunition for them to think about.

Build up the confidence slowly on the range, then take the pre-shot routine on the course, and slowly build up the confidence there too. Confidence is a fragile thing and solid practice on the range and golf course is the only way to build up it up. There are no short cuts. Try to build up your own routine, think positively and comit to the routine every time!