By Ben Esposito, Founder of In The Golf Zone
Golf presents its fair share of challenges that require mental techniques, focus, and training.
However, the mental game can also be influenced by a culmination of different hidden components of a golfer’s skill and preparation. These hidden components can significantly contribute to a junior golfer’s confidence in tournament play.
Here are the top 4 hidden mental components that prepare juniors and competitive players to take on all challenges on the golf course.
An Exceptional Short Game
The short game is—and always will be—an underrated skill in golf since it’s much less flashy than hitting bombs. Even though I’m probably not the first to tell you that the short game contributes heavily to scoring, I want to point out that the safety net of a great short game is the ultimate hidden mental game tool.
For example, having confidence in your ability to get up and down from everywhere and anywhere takes the pressure off your approach game, allowing you to swing freely. Also, cleaning up unforced errors leads to less frustration and more momentum-building during the round. No one likes to leave a hole feeling like they gave one away.
Even though a player needs to develop the mental skill of letting go of bogeys, saving pars more often helps conserve energy for other areas of focus. If a player is frustrated after a missed green, I work with them on expectation management and how to get their short game to a level where they’re confident enough that a missed green doesn’t shake them. This combination allows for the most accelerated progress in scoring and confidence.
A Go-To Shot
The best safety net for a player’s long game is a reliable go-to tee shot. It’s extremely valuable to have go-to shots under pressure. It’s essential for a tournament player to have multiple shots they can rely on.
Most of a player’s tee shot practice should revolve around this and testing it in their full pre-shot process. I believe a player should have more than one backup shot; this way, on a given day, at least one out of the three options is working.
The more safety shots you have off the tee, the more confident you can be in getting around the golf course. It’s ideal if one of the go-to shots is in the opposite direction of your natural driver ball flight and uses a different club. For example, my safety shot hierarchy is:
Driver → Tee-low driver (cut) → Mini driver (draw or straight) → Punch driving iron or fairway wood.
Nutrition
It’s easy for junior golfers to get nervous and not want to eat at all. In fact, it’s super common for parents to ask me about this.
Dialing in a player’s on-course nutrition is a process of trial and error. Taking the time to try out new food or snack options can seem tedious, but it’s ultimately worth it. Sometimes what a player attributes to “choking” under pressure on the final stretch of three holes is actually a sign of running out of steam.
Competitive golf under pressure has the potential to burn an incredible amount of calories. Ensuring that you are fully nourished and hydrated is essential to optimizing performance.
Good Practice
Having a practice plan that hones your skills in a way that preps you for tournament play is essential to a player’s confidence.
To do this, a player must be honest about their progress, track it, and make practice harder than the playing field. It’s easy to get caught in a loop of making practices easy, redoing shots until they feel good. But this creates fragile confidence.
To get the most out of learning and building the skills for tournament play, players need to be challenged in practice.
Learn More
Ben Esposito is a professional golfer and former Division I college player. He is the Founder of In The Golf Zone and helps junior golfers nationwide enhance their on-course performance through mental game mastery.
To work with Ben on your mental game, learn how to build a practice plan, and utilize drills that help you play your best in tournaments, book your free consultation here or visit inthegolfzone.com.
