Creativity is liberating

Is your aim and intention to improve your putting stroke or to hole more putts?

As far back as I can remember, I have always been told that if we improve our stroke, we will hole more putts. One creates the other. Cause and effect.

However, I would question the sequence of that or any other particular cause and effect. What we see and feel are essentially effects. When we watch good putters, we notice that they tend to keep their head very still. We see that their stroke looks smooth and unhurried. It looks like the rocking of the shoulders creates the stroke. As a result we are often encouraged to copy or emulate these traits in order to “produce a better putting stroke”.

These are observations and I would suggest they are observations of effects rather than causes. In golfing parlance, “the stroke creates the putt.”

Surely the task creates the technique rather than the other way round, or as we talk about in The Lost Art Of Putting, “the putt creates the stroke”.

In my line of work, as a golf coach based at Archerfield on Scotland’s Golf Coast, I am very fortunate on a number of counts. I am based at what I believe to be one of, if not the finest Performance Centre in Europe. The facilities are simply outstanding. In addition to two fantastic golf courses, a Tour standard grass driving range, world class short game areas and putting greens, our swing and putting studios within the Performance Centre are fully equipped with the very latest state of the art Technology.

With highly experienced and knowledgeable coaches and club fitters using TrackMan, Sam Putt and Balance Labs, GEARS 3D motion capture and super slow-motion video technology, we leave no stone unturned in our quest to help our students become the best they possible can be.

One of the most interesting aspects of what I do, is that I have the opportunity to work with an incredibly diverse group of people, from weekend golfers to seasoned Tour Pros and everyone in between.

In the last week or so, I had the opportunity to work with a couple of top athletes from different sports. One is a former Scotland rugby international and another Scot, who is an Olympic and World Champion curler who has amassed more gold, silver and bronze (mostly gold) medals than you can count.

In their own sports, they were and are very creative and during our time together, we discovered that their attention was on what they needed to do with the rugby ball and curling stone. Interestingly, despite the fact they were both great technicians in their “own” sports, their attention was NOT on their technique when they were performing at their best.

Perhaps even more interestingly, they had both become very aware of their “technique” or swings when it came to golf and much less aware of what they needed to do with the golf ball. While both their techniques looked good on camera, they weren’t producing the shots they wanted.

After digging a little deeper, we played around with the concept of focusing on the “shot creating the swing” rather than the other way round. It didn’t take long for both of them to confess “that’s what I do when I’m on the rugby pitch / curling rink!”

Almost instantaneously, they both started to create the shots they saw in their minds’ eye. Not only did they find this incredibly rewarding, one word they both used was “liberating”.

Liberating is a word we keep hearing from our students and readers of “The Lost Art Of Putting” from people around the world from as far afield as Australia, USA, The Middle East and Zimbabwe as well as closer to home in the UK.

Whether you are faced with a demanding tee shot, an iron shot into a green, a pitch over a bunker or a fast 10 foot putt with a foot of break, rather than focusing on and perhaps questioning your technique, focus on creating that shot or putt.

As golfers around the world keep telling us, from tee to green, creativity is liberating.

 To discover how creating putts can enhance your enjoyment of this great game and order a copy of The Lost Art Of Putting.

New season, new putter?

Every winter we always make the same statements.

Must get the clubs out the garage again and head to the driving range.
Must play more next year.
Must play better next year.
Must putt better next year.
Must buy a new putter in order to putt better next year.

We often talk to our students about forming a relationship with their putter and embarking on an incredible journey of discovery with it.

Statistics will tell you that you will use your putter more than any other club in the bag. That said, it makes perfect sense to take some time in selecting the correct tool for the task at hand, namely holing putts.

We have all been in the Pro Shop and found ourselves drawn almost magnetically to the putter rack in search of ‘The One’ that will finally put an end to our putting woes.

We pick one up, make a couple of practice strokes and say to ourselves ‘that feels great’ as we imagine holing putts from all over the pace to win the monthly medal or The Open Championship, before heading to the counter to pay for it.

However, do we really take time to think of this latest acquisition as a precision tool designed to do a specific job? Is it the correct length and lie? Does the design suit your particular stroke or style? Is the grip the correct thickness? Is the weight and balance going to help or hinder you in your quest to hole more putts?

We strongly recommend you take the time and effort to get your putter custom-fitted. Most golfers nowadays buy custom-fitted drivers, fairway woods, irons and even wedges but have you ever thought about having your putter custom-fitted? If not, we suggest you do.

Before you splash out, find someone who can and will conduct a thorough and comprehensive fitting process. If you’re lucky, they might have a SAM Putt Lab. If you’re really lucky, they will have a TrackMan with the Performance Putting software.

TrackMan for putting? Yes, TrackMan for putting. We all know how good it is for club and ball data on full shots, we want to know what the club AND ball are doing on any given shot don’t we? So why wouldn’t we want to know what the putter AND THE BALL are doing when we hit a putt. After all, we need to know how the putter is going to influence the ball if we are to become a better putter.

Can you imagine going for a custom-fit session for a new driver and looking at club data only? No ball tracking? Of course not, that would be ridiculous! So why would we not want to know what the ball is doing in a putter fitting?

Without knowing what the ball is doing, you might as well wear a blindfold.

If you are in the market for a new putter, think about it carefully and where possible, make use of the latest technology to confirm that your new ‘magic wand’ does in fact help you hit your putts on a good line at the appropriate pace.

Please note that regardless of how much of your hard earned cash you invest in a new putter for the new season, the one thing that does not come included in the price is a ‘user’s manual’. That is one of the many reasons Karl Morris and I wrote ‘The Lost Art Of Putting’ which is available on Amazon and at – thelostartofgolf.com

Hole more putts. Shoot lower scores. Have more fun on the golf course.

Is what we see really what we get?

Do you love watching the world’s best players on TV most weekends?

What do you enjoy most, watching their swings or the shots they create?

Historically, we have been encouraged to watch players swings by commentators as dissecting a swing and exposing why the ball went long, short, left or right, gave the men with the microphones something to talk about.

When the ball finishes in the left hand rough off the tee, we are told that the player “came over the top of that one.” The swing is then replayed in slow motion and the commentator or analyst will start to go into the technical details of what happened to cause the ball to miss the fairway by 5 yards.

This is pretty much how the analysis, coaching industry and golf culture works, which is largely unhelpful. Think about some of the golf lessons you have had. You meet the Pro, have a quick chat and are then asked to hit a few shots with your 7 iron to a flag on the range.

You hit 4 or 5 shots a 7 iron. Good bad or indifferent,  you ask the Pro “what is wrong with my swing?” He will then form an opinion based on his knowledge and tell you what you need to do to in order to swing the club better. If you make a good swing, you’ll hit a good shot right? If that way of thinking is working wonders for you, then we suggest you continue just as you are.

The big problem with that “system” is that if we always ask what went wrong with the swing, we will automatically start to tinker with it, changing this, that and the next thing. You want to become more consistent, so in a bid to achieve that goal, you are constantly making changes. Whether that is a change to your grip, stance, posture, backswing or whatever, do you honestly think that you can achieve consistency through constant swing changes?

Rather than ask “what is wrong with my swing or my putting stroke?”, would it not make more sense to ask “what is wrong with my shots or putts?”

If you miss a six foot putt two inches to the left of the hole and it finishes two feet past the hole, would you ask what was wrong with your stroke or what was wrong with the putt? If you start to question your stroke, there are any number of conclusions and solutions you could come up with. Trying to decipher how much of that information is useful and applicable could take some time and even then, you would probably be guessing.

If you question what was wrong with your putt, you would soon figure out that you got the line and pace slightly wrong. End of story. The journey from two inches left and two feet past the hole is a whole lot shorter and less complex than the journey of trying to figure out what went wrong with your stroke, alignment, eye position, tempo, path, length of backstroke or follow through, never mind did you keep your head down! Trying to figure that on when you still have 15 holes to play could lead to all sorts of ever changing and conflicting thoughts and ideas.

We have said it before and will say it again, what really matters is it what the ball does or indeed needs to do in order to go in the hole. It needs to travel on the right line at the right pace and as pace determines line, if you’re smart, you’ll pay particular attention to the pace. Without the right pace, how can you possibly get the right line?

When you are glued to The Masters this week, you will see a number of different putting “styles” but each and every player will have the same intention on the greens, to get the ball in the hole in as few shots as they possibly can.

It’s time to take action

How many times have you read a magazine article or watched a YouTube video and thought, “That’s what I need to do.”?

You read or watch it again and again and subconsciously think that merely by observing and absorbing that information you will be transformed into the golfer you deserve to be.

If fitness and lifting weights is your thing, do you believe that your biceps will start stressing the seems of your t-shirt by watching videos of bodybuilders training at the gym? Of course not. That would be a ridiculous concept.

You may learn the hows and whys but until you take action, no visible or measurable change or improvement will occur. Those sleeves will continue to remain stress free. It doesn’t happen by osmosis.

We’ve all watched videos of great putters holing putts to win tournaments,  observed their stance and stroke and thought “All I have to do is stand and stoke it like Tiger Woods, Jordan Spieth, Rory McIlroy, Justin Rose or Francesco Molinari and I too could putt like a Major Champion.” Really?

Yes it is possible you could try to copy their style or technique in your imagination but until you drag yourself out onto the putting green and start holing putts, your pipe dream will remain just that, a pipe dream.

You get your golf shoes on, get all your gadgets and alignment aids out, take the cover off your putter and head to the putting green with a sleeve of shiny new Prov1s and a new sense of purpose.

Today is the day you will become a great putter, just like the guys in the videos. Only they didn’t have any alignments aids or gadgets on the 18th green and I’m pretty sure they only had one ball, one opportunity and one intention, to get the ball to disappear when they holed that winning putt.

So many instruction manuals, articles and videos tell you what you and your putter should do but more often than not, they forget to mention the most important aspect of any putt, or any golf shot for that matter, the golf ball.

In the best selling book “The Lost Art Of Putting”, Karl Morris and I encourage you to look at putting slightly differently to the way you have until now. We suggest you pay less attention to what you and your putter need to do and pay more attention to what your golf ball needs to do.

After all, we are trying to get the ball into the hole, not you or your putter.

Through a series of simple but highly effective concepts, principles and training exercises, The Lost Art Of Putting will help you reconnect with the artistic and creative part of your brain that has become numb through information overload and the futile search of perfection.

We hope you enjoy the book but until you take action and get himself out onto the putting green with your putter and a golf ball, if you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you always got.

Take action and explore The Lost Art of Golf website.

The secret behind McDowell’s PGA Tour comeback

It was great to see Graeme McDowell back in the winner’s circle on the PGA Tour with his one shot victory in the Corales Puntacana Resort & Club Championship.

Playing on invites alone his future on the PGA Tour had been in question.

Not anymore!

I started working with G-Mac again three weeks ago and it was clear after a long barren spell he had gotten away from many of the simple tools and techniques he had employed with me in the past.

By his own admission Graeme had got too bogged down with technical thinking and away from the art of creating golf shots and more importantly creating putts.

In particular with his putting a simple pre-shot breathing technique that frees him up to create putts had been lost in the attempts at technical perfection.

It is so easy when you are struggling with your game to disappear down a technique-driven rabbit hole.

I discussed some key ideas with Graeme about getting back to where he belongs at the top of the golfing tree.

Graeme McDowell WITB 2019

In the third round at Puntacana, en route to his first PGA Tour title since 2015, he had 20 putts. TWENTY!

A career best in his 676th PGA Tour round.

And 15 of them were consecutive single putts. FIFTEEN!

Hole after hole the ball poured into the cup with beautiful pace, and it set him up nicely for a moving-day round of 64.

It was interesting to hear a baffled TV interviewer struggling to get to grips with how a simple breathing technique could have such a big effect on his results. Here’s what Graeme had to say:

I’ve been working on some routine stuff the last couple of weeks. Something small’s kind of clicked, something I used to do really well years ago. I became not so good at it and I’ve tried, I’ve been practising.

“It’s just a breathing thing and it really clicked with me last week a little bit and it’s been working really well on the greens again this week.

“It’s helping me relax and it’s helping me just stand there and hit nice putts.

When pushed for more detail, he added:

Just before I take the putter head away, just a little bit of an out-breath to relax.

“It’s something I used to do very well way back when and it’s amazing how you instinctively get good at things and then you stop being good at things as well. That’s cleaned my routines well up on the greens.

It’s a simple breathing technique detailed in The Lost Art of Putting.

We pay so much attention to the minutae of how to move the putter and so little attention to the way the mind works and how we need to embrace visualisation and creativity to allow the body to do its work.

So much of what I discussed with Graeme is contained in The Lost Art of Putting, make sure you buy your copy today.

Why does the putter always get the blame?

How many putters do you or have you owned?

How often do you change your putter?

Why does the putter always get the blame?

Many years ago when I was a teenager who “needed” a new Ping Anser to transform my putting, my late father informed me that the issue in fact lay “With the Indian, not the arrow!”

I obviously knew better at the time and saved up my pennies to buy the aforementioned magic wand and guess what? I didn’t putt noticeably better immediately. I did after a while but that was probably down to the hours I spent holing putts on the practice putting green to win The Open and The Masters. At least that what I imagined they were for.

You know how it goes, you have a bad day on the greens the very same day one of your playing partners has a good day with his latest acquisition. Next stop – Pro Shop to buy a new one. It has to be the putter’s fault you missed four 3 footers on the back nine right? The putter and stroke always get the blame and it’s easier to buy a new putter than it is to actually figure out the REAL reasons you keep missing putts.

Straight to the putter rack you go, pick up the latest, counter-balanced, face groove technology, thick /  thin /  longer / shorter grip putter, make a few practice strokes on the Pro Shop carpet and before you know it, you’re handing over your credit card to pay for THE putter that promises eternal success and happiness on the greens.

You head home, remove your clubs from the boot of your car and take them indoors.  You take out your new putter, just to check it is actually the one you have just splashed out a good amount of your hard earned cash for. You remove the headcover, take a few more practice strokes but there is something missing. A USER’S MANUAL.

Regardless of how much you spend on a putter or any club for that matter, the one thing that is always missing is a user’s manual. Can you imagine spending a chunk of cash on a new phone, iPad or laptop, removing the packaging only to discover you have to figure out how to use it all on your own? I can imagine you would be less than impressed.

Buying a new putter is no different. Unless you know how to use the tool you have bought to perform a specific task, in this case holing putts, the chances of that new implement changing your putting fortunes are slim at best.

Every putter manufacturer promises a greater MOI, the best feel ever, a pure roll, you name it, your new putter will provide it. I’m not suggesting for a moment that these claims are false, there are some fantastically well designed and produced putters available but ultimately, you as the golfer must learn how to get the ball in the hole with it.

If you really want to learn how to hole more putts, shoot lower score and ultimately have a whole lot more fun on the golf course, postpone that visit to the Pro Shop for the time being and order your copy of the best selling book – The Lost Art Of Putting.

Work on creating good putts and watch your stroke improve

Training aids are all very well, argues The Lost Art of Putting author Gary Nicol, but not if they become a crutch denied to you when you step out on the course.

What does your current putting practice regime look like and are you sure it is helping you to hole more putts on the course?

All too often, we see golfers of all standards, from weekend players to tour pros, “working” on their putting with an array of all kinds of gadgets and training aids – from putting gates to alignment mirrors, and chalk lines to lasers.

While they might look like they are working hard, what are they actually achieving? What happens when you have to leave your putting aids in the locker room before you head out on the course?

Using training aids can be helpful but the main issue with the vast majority of them is that they focus your attention on what you and your putter need to do at the start line of the putt.

While starting the ball on line is part of the equation, that start line will depend greatly on the pace you hit any putt.

Think of all the training aids you use or have seen. Do they focus your attention on line or pace? What is more important, line or pace? Pace determines the line, pace gives you options on line. Conversely, focusing your attention on line, which almost all putting aids do subconsciously, limits you to one pace, perfect pace.

If all your attention is exclusively on line, how can you possibly get the pace right? Think about that for a minute. If pace determines line, why do we spend a disproportionate amount of time focusing on the line?

Over and above that, if you spend all your time practising with training aids, what happens when you have to pack them away in your golf bag or leave them in the locker room when you head to the course? If you become so reliant on certain aids that you can only hole putts when using them, what happens when you are in a situation where you are not allowed to use them – ie on the golf course?

You get to the green, mark your ball, read the green and now you have to create a putt with no mirror to check your eyeline, no rails to guide your stroke and no start-line gates to go through. You become so accustomed to having all these gadgets then all of a sudden, your comfort blanket has been removed.

Having spent so much time training your stroke and start line, generally hitting straight putt after straight putt from a fixed point, you are faced with a tricky 15-foot, downhill, left to right putt for par.

Now, you have to get the pace right as you don’t want to rush it 4 feet past or leave it 3 feet short bang on line. Your training aids haven’t exactly prepared you for this scenario.

You can’t rely on your gadgets on the course, so why spend so much time practising with them? All the training or practice you have done bears little or no resemblance to what you experience on the golf course, so why invest so much time and money on them?

To make the most of your time on the practice putting green, take what you will be using, and indeed are allowed to use, on the course. Namely, your putter and a golf ball.

Don’t take three golf balls: after all, you don’t get a second or third attempt on the golf course. Leave your training aids behind and focus on holing one putt at a time.

By using one ball, your attention will be on getting that ball into the hole – not on your stroke, not on your eyeline and not on the start line. By focusing on what the ball needs to do rather than you and your putter, you can now start to pay attention to the finish line – the hole.

In order to become a truly great putter, you need to learn the skill of predicting what the ball needs to do to go in the hole.

Prediction-based on one opportunity, just as you have on the course.

Not prediction-based on what you learned from your first or second attempt. If you hole your third attempt from the same spot, you are not learning prediction, you are basically learning from and reacting to what happened on your previous attempts. Again, this is not a luxury you are allowed when you play.

If you must use your putting gates, make better use of them and place them just short of the point you want your ball to enter the hole. After all, the finish line is more important than the start line.

To hole more putts, it is essential to create good putts not good putting strokes. The paradox here is that as you get better at controlling your golf ball, your technique improves.

We are led to believe that the stroke creates the putt, whereas we have seen sufficient evidence to suggest that the putt in fact creates the stroke.

Work on holing putts and your stroke and strike will improve and here is the evidence to support that.

“My stroke has improved technically in every area, and I have spent precisely no time working on my stroke.”

Sports Publications’ commercial director and scratch handicapper Tom Irwin is amazed by the transformation in his putting.

Before

“I have always been a negative putter. In all senses of the word: negative about my abilities, and with a negative approach on the course. I have never really been comfortable with my technique, I have always struggled with strike and therefore pace and distance control. Rounds with putts in the mid-30s are commonplace.

“When Gary and Karl asked us to work with them on The Lost Art of Putting it was a privilege to spend so much time with them, listen to what they had to say about the ‘art’ of putting and, of course, read the book.

“I have to admit that it took me a long time to convert, at first sceptical about what felt like a non-scientific, non-technical approach. In search of the answer I went on a SAM putting lab late last year and the results were predictably awful.

“So, over winter, away from competitive golf I have taken on board many of the principles of The Lost of Art of Putting. Like visualisation, reading putts from the low side and practice strokes while looking at the hole. Plus I have used many of the practice drills they recommend.

After

“I felt that my putting was getting better, but I wanted some reassurance so I went back on the SAM Lab and the results were staggering.

“As you can see from the numbers, my stroke has improved technically in every area, and I have spent precisely no time working on my stroke. Amazing!”

How trusting his technique has transformed McIlroy’s putting

What can you say about Rory McIlroy the hasn’t been said before? His ball striking is off the charts. He is arguably the best driver of the golf ball in the modern game. When he plays his best, he is virtually untouchable. His recent run of form has been incredible!

Over the last six weeks, Rory’s record has been pretty special and elevated him to the top of the FedEx Cup rankings, amassing a cool $4.5 million along the way.

  • Sony Tournament of Champions: T4th
  • Farmers Insurance Open: T5th
  • Genesis Open: T4th
  • WGC-Mexico Championship: 2nd
  • Arnold Palmer Invitational: T6th
  • The Players Championship: 1st

Rory is currently the hottest player on the plant right now but the general consensus among the armchair experts is that he can’t putt.

En-route to winning at Sawgrass, he made 21 birdies and an eagle over four days, finishing on 16-under-par, one shot clear of the evergreen Jim Furyk.

Can’t putt? Really?

Trust me, it is impossible to win round that course, or any other golf course for that matter, if you can’t putt. Granted, his putting may not quite match up to the exceptionally high standards of his long game but he is working on it and it is clearly paying dividends.

As he approaches his 30th birthday, Rory is becoming a more complete golfer than ever before and I would not be at all surprised if his best days are ahead of him rather than behind him, as many have been suggesting in recent weeks.

All the doubters who have been calling him out and saying he can’t get the job done at the weekend will hopefully be overdosing on humble pie after his history-making performance at Sawgrass last weekend.

McIlroy is not just a great ball striker and a phenomenal athlete but a serial winner. He may not have won as often as some might think he should have but he has won all over the world and won big.

Rory McIlroy putting

Rory is a bright guy. He knows what he needs to do in order to improve and embraces that at every opportunity. In an interview after winning The Players, he said: “Honestly, I think it was all those experiences coming close and not winning early in the season that helped me today.”

Rather than beat himself up for not winning, he put those experiences to good use, knowing one day they would be beneficial to him.

The first time I saw Rory in the flesh was during a practice round in Qatar way back in 2008 when he asked if he join one of the guys I was coaching for the back nine. At the time he was a slightly chubby with a shock of curly hair sticking out from under his cap. He hit the ball a country mile, his short game was razor sharp and he putted with incredible confidence and freedom. While he didn’t hole everything from from everywhere, he certainly looked like he could.

Above all, he was very tuned in to what he needed to do on the golf course in order to construct a score. It was fairly evident way back then that he had a very high golf IQ.

Rory McIlroy putting: So what’s changed?

Since that first encounter, his body shape has obviously changed, he has become an even better ball striker, he has fantastic imagination and creativity, and while his putting may not have progressed at quite the same rate, he has continued to work that aspect of his game.

He has sought counsel from Phil Kenyon, who has done some great technical work with him. He also spends a good amount of time with Brad Faxon, universally recognised as one of the all time great putters. He has looked at putting from both a technical and an artistic point of view in a bid to find the best way forward for Rory McIlroy.

Faxon’s take on the art of putting allowed Rory to “free up my head more than my stroke”.

He added: “I sort of felt like I had been complicating things a bit and thinking a little bit too much about it and maybe a little bit bogged down by technical or mechanical thoughts.”

Rory McIlroy putting

When he trusts his technique and just lets his talent and considerable skills take over – guess what? – he starts to hole putts like he used to when he was winning majors and making the rest of he field look decidedly average at times.

Long may that continue.

With the Masters looming large on the horizon only a few weeks away, Rory’s current form will surely make him one of if not the favourite to slip on that coveted Green Jacket on April 14.

Can you imagine the looks on the faces of the players at the Champions Dinner in 2020 when they sit down to an Ulster fry and pints of Guinness?

Golf is in a much better place when its superstars are grabbing all the headlines and McIlroy is unquestionably a superstar. Even those who think he “can’t putt” must agree with that.

Keep up the good work, Rory, and we all look forward to seeing you ease into that Green Jacket some day soon.

You will hit bad shots – get over them and you’ll score better

It was very interesting to hear the 2018 Open champion Francesco Molinari say what his thoughts had been during the final round of this year’s Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill.

He swept to an improbable victory with a stunning 8-under-par final round to cruise through the field having been well back in the pack after three rounds.

When asked what his goal was for the final round, he simply said he had gone out with the intention of just to keep hitting good golf shots.

For me, what would seem an almost trite statement had an element of genius about it.

So often players are asked on the TV: “What do you think you will need to shoot tomorrow to win the tournament?”

Some players then say something along the lines of, “I probably need 5-under”, or whatever they perceive the mark to be. For me, this sets up a big problem.

If you think you need 5-under to win then how does your thinking get affected if you start with a double bogey? You have projected into an imaginary future what you think you need to do relative to everyone else. You have no control whatsoever over what they do.

You also have less control over your overall score than you think. A ball bounces to the left instead of to the right and you are in trouble, putts lip out instead of going in. You clearly have a big influence over the score but not complete control.

For most golfers, the more the score is at the forefront of their mind, the more destructive it tends to be. You can want to shoot a good score as much as you like but the wanting very rarely reflects in the having.

Rory McIlroy looks upset and angry

The score also tends to put you into unpredictable mental time zones. If you are not a certain number under par relative to your target score then it is very easy to try to force that score. If you are doing really well against your projected number then again it can be really easy to start to want to hang on to your score and protect it.

Yet there is the simple idea of wanting to just keep hitting good shots. Who is in control of that intention? From the very first hole to the very last you are totally in control of your decision to focus on this shot in this moment. You have complete autonomy on the effort you put in to this particular shot in front of you. The key for me is to understand the intention to hit good shots doesn’t mean you will achieve this on every shot, not even close. But you do have control over the commitment to stay with your plan.

As the legendary coach Fred Shoemaker once said to me: “Perhaps the bravest thing a golfer can do is to stay open to the possibility the next shot will be a good one.”

You may have missed a bunch of putts but is it possible this putt right here and now might find the bottom of the cup? Is it possible? You may have missed a raft of greens but is it possible with this 7-iron in your hand that you will find this green? It is possible. The only time you shut down the possible is when you decide to; when you create a story saying “it isn’t my day”.

As I mentioned at the beginning of this piece, it sounds too simple and too obvious to say what Molinari said, “to just keep hitting good shots”, but, for me, it is a wonderfully effective mental game strategy because you are the person who is driving the bus.

You are in charge of this commitment and nobody can stop you honouring that commitment – only yourself.

Give this ridiculously simple idea a go the next time you play. Know beforehand that in all probability you will hit a bunch of bad shots, but deal with them. Let them go and get back to your simple good shot commitment.

At the very least you will enjoy the good shots more and be much less anxious about trying to control a score from start to finish.

Improve your putting with this ladder drill

Gary Nicol and Karl Morris are co-authors of the best-selling book The Lost Art Of Putting, so who better to give us some putting tips? This time, they show us a drill that involves just a few tees…

The ladder drill involves a handful of tees and will help you to improve your putting. The first thing you do is make a semicircle of tees around the back of the hole, a grip length away from the hole.

You then place a tee a few feet away, then another tee a few feet past and so on depending on how far you want to go back. The aim of the game is to hole the putt but make sure you don’t go outside of the tees behind the hole.

If you come up short or go past the tees you need to start again. If you hole the putt or finish in between the tees and the hole, you can move onto the next station.

You don’t need to move to the next station on the ladder. If you want you can go from the first to the third or simply whatever range of putting you want to work on the most. The only rule is that to move onto a new station you must either hole the putt, or make sure the ball does not travel past the tees.

Watch the video at the top of the page for more advice from Gary and Karl.