Happy Friday everyone! Question for you - why is it that we all hit range balls like Tiger Woods - striping it over and over and over again, in full control - yet when we get on the course we feel like we put a blindfold on and can’t seem to find any resemblance of a golf swing? The answer is very simple, and it’s one of the hardest things to overcome - PRESSURE. Hitting shots when it counts is much harder than hitting balls on the range, when the worst that can happen is you rake another ball over and try again. We know playing golf under pressure is difficult (imagine playing for a green jacket!), but there are ways that you can practice performing under pressure so you can take your range game and put it on the course!
Most of the issue isn’t always the amount that someone practices, but the ways that they do it. Aimlessly hitting golf balls in repetition doesn’t do much for you - intentionally practicing and simulating on-course conditions on the range is the best way to get comfortable in these situations. Here are 3 ways that you can simulate pressure in your practice and learn to perform under the gun!
Let’s go!
1. Give Yourself ALL Varieties of Lies
When you’ve seen it before, you’re brain won’t freak out on the course
Perhaps the biggest difference between range practice and playing on the course is the variety of lies you might experience. It’s fine to give yourself a few perfect lies when you’re warming up or if you are working on a mechanical part of your swing, but if you want to see results on the scorecard, you need to simulate the lies that will be found on the course!
One great way to randomize your lie is to drop each ball from shoulder height, and then proceed to hit it from wherever it settles. You might even purposely find a thick patch of rough or a fairly bare spot where grass isn’t so perfect and drop the ball there. The more you can train your brain to remember certain types of lies, the better it will be at remaining calm when you experience the same thing on the course.
Another way to practice this is to hand place your ball in the worst lies you can possibly create. Put your ball in a divot, step on it and press it into the grass, hit it off of a downslope or a side-slope - give yourself tough situations and see how you respond. The number of scenarios you might encounter during a round is endless, so do what you can to familiarize your brain with randomness.
2. Create Games on the Range
Make your practice harder to accomplish and you’ll improve
What better way to practice performing under pressure than to add inordinate amounts of pressure to your range sessions? Creating games and trying to complete them in the parameters that are set is a great way to transition from mechanical thoughts to applying those mechanics to the game at hand.
Here’s a simple one - pick two objects out on the range roughly 20 yards apart - this is your “fairway”. With 10 balls and your driver (or any club you plan on teeing off with), see how many ‘hit’ your fairway. And apply some pressure, too - if you set your goal at 7/10, don’t let yourself stop until you hit that goal! You’ll learn pretty quickly how to stop worrying about your swing and just focus on the task at hand.
Another game idea also involves 10 balls, but uses your scoring irons/wedges. Pick a target on the range roughly 100-150 yards away, and measure how many of the 10 shots you can hit within a reasonable proximity from the target, say a 10 yard radius.
PRO TIP: For both of these games, or any game that you play, set your goal to be higher than you would expect. Push yourself beyond your limits - this is how you grow! And add some stakes if you can stomach it- every time you fall short of your goal, you MUST stop and do 20 pushups right there on the range. Or you MUST buy the first round of drinks for your weekend foursome. Whatever makes it interesting for you.
3. Take Your Practice On-Course More Often
Practice where you need to perform
Golf is one of the only (if not THE only) sport where the playing field changes constantly, which means with every shot your stance, lie, and yardage is different. You’ll never have the same shot twice. So instead of hitting a bucket of balls, go out and play 9 holes and toss a few extra balls down in random spots on each hole.
When you’re out on the course, however, there are some ways you can apply pressure outside of simply shooting the best score possible. One way is to play a “worst ball scramble” with yourself. Here’s how it works- on every shot, play two balls, but you have to take the worst one of the two. Chances are, you’ll be forced to hit a LOT more shots out of poor lies, or from sub-optimal distances or angles. If you can get your '“worst-shot scramble” scores to rival your best normal scores, you know you’re dialed.
Below @zcorngolf demonstrates what a “worst ball scramble” looks like:
PRO TIP: If you really want to challenge yourself, take your worst ball position, and make it even harder. Instead of playing from the first cut of rough, put it in the 2nd cut of rough. Instead of playing that 80 yard approach with nothing between you and the green, move it 20 yards to the right so you’re forced to play over a bunker. If you make your practice harder than what you’ll experience in a typical round, your true rounds will seem like a cake walk!
TODAY’S TRIVIA
Answer to Win a Vessel Golf Player V Pro Stand Bag
(1 winner chosen on 6/30/25 across all June trivia entries, 1,000 correct respondents minimum)
What is the name of the shortest hole in the Open Championship course rotation?
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