{"id":27745,"date":"2026-06-26T13:45:08","date_gmt":"2026-06-26T13:45:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/27745\/"},"modified":"2026-06-26T13:45:08","modified_gmt":"2026-06-26T13:45:08","slug":"four-bad-habits-tournament-golf-exposed-within-my-game-how-to-play-golf","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/27745\/","title":{"rendered":"Four bad habits tournament golf exposed within my game | How To Play Golf"},"content":{"rendered":"

Golf Digest senior writer Alex Myers is on a one-year mission to see how good he can get at golf through daily training, practice and playing. Read more from his \u201cLate Scratch?\u201d series here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

As I struggled around the beautiful, but difficult CC of Darien during my second official tournament round<\/a> of the year, I couldn\u2019t help but think of something Scottie Scheffler had said the day before following the final round of the U.S. Open.<\/p>\n

\u201cBeing in the arena is not for everybody.\u201d<\/p>\n

The World No. 1 was talking more about the crowds at Shinnecock that had largely turned on his Sunday playing partner, Wyndham Clark, but his words hit home with each poor shot I hit without a gallery watching. When my qualifier round for the Met Amateur Championship was over, I turned to my caddie and coach, Quaker Ridge head pro Mario Guerra, and said, \u201cI\u2019m just not a tournament golfer.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNot yet,\u201d Mario said encouragingly. \u201cNot yet.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mario had plenty of thoughts about my performance, but there were a few things he emphasized throughout that he\u2019s certain can help me the next time I decide to go back in that arena. Hopefully, they can help you as well.<\/p>\n

As I hit balls on the range ahead of the round, I was a bundle of emotions. After my first tournament round of the year the previous month, I thought I would feel more comfortable when I got to the course, but that wasn\u2019t the case. Maybe it was the unfamiliar surroundings. Maybe it was seeing hordes of really good players. Regardless, my heart was definitely pounding. It\u2019s crazy how different tournament rounds<\/a> feel.<\/p>\n

My urge was to hit as many golf shots as possible, and with Mario watching, to analyze each one. My urge was wrong.<\/p>\n

Remec Carlson, AKA the “CEO of Golf,” had told me something similar when we played together<\/a> at the Golf Digest Open earlier in the year, but I needed to hear it again. Instead of pounding drivers over and over again, Mario had me constantly switch between clubs and change up my targets. This got me loose while better simulating playing mode. It also didn\u2019t burn me out. Which leads to his next point . . .<\/p>\n

Mario could sense my nervous energy bubbling over, resulting in me acting as both a play-by-play announcer as well as an analyst as soon as I made contact with each shot. After a few minutes of that, he told me that I needed to \u201cbe dead out there.\u201d And that we were going to use the rest of our practice time to work on short game and putting and to try to get my heart rate down as much as possible by the time I was called to the first tee.<\/p>\n

Mario prompted me to take deep breaths in through the nose, and it reminded me of the breathing exercises I had done<\/a> with Dr. Josh Brant at the Golf Performance Center a few years back. I had settled on breathing in through the nose for a three count and then breathing out through my mouth for another three count, and I had rehearsed that so much that spring that I played my best pressure golf ever on that year\u2019s buddies golf trip. But I had largely abandoned the practice since then. Why? Good question!<\/p>\n

Anyway, I tried to steady myself with better breathing, but there were other things Mario picked up on that I had no clue were possibly detrimental to my play. Using some body language to beg for a putt to drop on the fourth hole. Talking to my golf ball in the air. Talking to myself in between shots.<\/p>\n

Obviously, I know that harping on the negative and saying things like, \u201cI suck\u201d isn\u2019t advised. But\u2014intentionally or not\u2014some of the things I did generated positive vibes. It didn\u2019t matter. While Mario had wanted me to conserve my physical energy on the range, he said I needed to conserve my mental energy on the course. We did fist bump a few times when things went well, but overall, he wanted me to stay calm. The overall thought is that if you deplete your mental energy, then you’re more likely to make bad decisions.<\/p>\n

The topic of golfers spending energy in reaction to nerves is one Sam Weinman has explored<\/a>, and it’s something I\u2019ve talked about with mental coach Josh Nichols as well. He advises that you start practicing the process of trying to slow down in the rounds leading up to a tournament because you can\u2019t just flip a switch and start doing things differently in competition. Just like a particular shot you\u2019re working on at the range, the more reps you do of it, the more likely you\u2019ll be able to do it under pressure as well.<\/p>\n

Tournament golf has a special way of exposing your weaknesses. And on this day I was reminded of my nasty block-slice with the driver that shows up under pressure. I tend to spin my shoulders up too much and too early from the top and that move is compounded by me dragging the club through impact instead of releasing.<\/p>\n

I did the second part on a bunch of approach shots as well, but it was the worst with my driver as my stats showed<\/a> I lost 6.6 shots off the tee to a scratch golfer despite being positive on the stat through eight holes (The latest Arccos update<\/a> is fantastic, by the way):<\/p>\n

Once I got in a rut with the big-right miss (a few so bad I wouldn’t be able to replicate them on a driving range if given 100 tries), it was difficult to get out. But the good thing is that you can learn from this and that you can get out of it, if you\u2019re willing to actively adjust and not just assume you\u2019ll get your range swing back. As Mike Tyson famously said, “Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth,” and tournament golf will punch you over and over again. But by focusing on keeping my back to the target longer at the start of the downswing, eventually, I turned a few drives over on the final few holes like this one:<\/p>\n

It was too little, too late, but now I know what to expect the next time nerves creep in. And I better know how to adjust.<\/p>\n

Taking one shot at a time is a well-known golf mantra and I equated this to how the New York Knicks maintained a \u201cZero-zero\u201d mentality throughout their recent NBA title run no matter what the score in their series was. But doing that becomes increasingly difficult on both a given hole\u2014particularly after you hit a tee shot onto the range you didn\u2019t realize was OB . . . sigh\u2014and on a back nine when you know you\u2019re headed towards a terrible score.<\/p>\n

There are other ways, though, to stay in the moment. As I waited to attempt a four-foot putt, Mario caught me rehearsing a full swing and said, \u201cWe\u2019re putting now.\u201d After hitting a good recovery shot on another hole, I continued to talk about how poor the tee shot was when Mario advised, \u201cTreat this as if this was where you hit your drive and let\u2019s hit a solid approach.\u201d And after a decent drive on the par-5 18th, he challenged me to \u201cfinish with a couple good shots.\u201d<\/p>\n

I actually responded to that last one by laying up and then hitting a 9-iron to two feet for a birdie putt that even I couldn\u2019t miss. After adding it all up, it was a (gulp) 87, albeit from the tips at nearly 7,000 yards. But it probably would have been a 97 without Mario on the bag. \u201cYou need more tournament reps,\u201d Mario told me after. \u201cAnd you need to work on your mental game.\u201d<\/p>\n

This was encouraging to hear because Mario has seen me hit a lot of good shots\u2014just not as many under pressure\u2014and he thinks I have the swing to become a scratch player. Still, this was the most difficult article I\u2019ve written since I started this \u201cLate Scratch?\u201d series<\/a>. I felt deflated. I felt embarrassed. And I felt like I let down Mario and others helping me.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re not a professional golfer,\u201d Mario reminded me. \u201cYou\u2019re a golf writer. It doesn\u2019t matter what you shoot.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was hard not to get caught up in the result, but he was right. And despite the struggles, I did see some improvements from my first tournament round. It had also been a pretty fun workday with Mario, who was so gracious with his time and positive spirit. Plus, I enjoyed my two playing partners, Bob, who holed out for eagle on 18, and Michael, who remembered me from nearly two decades before when I covered him as a high school golfer for the local newspaper before he went on to play college golf. It was a good reminder that although he\u2019s much younger than me, he\u2019s a grizzled veteran of tournament golf.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m not sure I\u2019ll ever be able to say that about myself, but that\u2019s OK. As I\u2019ve written, the goal of entering these events is to make my normal rounds\u2014and even my rounds playing for our group\u2019s green jacket\u2014feel easier. Being in the arena might not be for me, but that doesn\u2019t mean it can\u2019t help me. After the round, I headed back to a much quieter range and hit balls until the heavy rains came that stopped play.<\/p>\n

\u201cKeep working hard and getting better,\u201d Mario texted me after. \u201cThat\u2019s the only option.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s been my plan throughout the entire year. And this speed bump won\u2019t change it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Golf Digest senior writer Alex Myers is on a one-year mission to see how good he can get…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":27746,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[11122,11124,166,44,1069,163,11123,82,11121],"class_list":["post-27745","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","tag-amateur-golf","tag-four-bad-habits-tournament-golf-exposed-within-my-game","tag-game-improvement","tag-golf","tag-how-to","tag-late-scratch","tag-recreational-golf","tag-story","tag-tournament-golf"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27745","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27745"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27745\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27746"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27745"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27745"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27745"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}