Match Play Thoughts in Stroke Play |
Adjusting Your Mental Approach
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| by Jeff Troesch |
 One of the things that I’ve noticed over my
years of consulting with players is that the
vast majority of players with whom I work
feel that they play better in a match play
situation than they do in stroke play. This
is certainly not true for everyone, but for
those who do, the positive difference is
often related to how they approach each
hole. When playing in match play, these
players are regularly playing with more
abandon and less fear. The notion that
the “worst that can happen is a lost hole”,
frees some players up to swing with more
assertiveness, go for more direct lines, and
putt more aggressively. While it is also
true that there are some players that are
overly aggressive to the point of playing
unwise shots or trying to overpower a golf
course, a lot of players have the opposite
tendency of playing more tentatively.
Match play enhances the likelihood that a
player will play one shot at a time (or at
least one hole at a time!) and creates an
environment that is easier for most to let go
of what happened on the last hole and focus
more on the one they are in. This is a
critical mindset that is the essence of
strong mental discipline and mental
toughness.
For each player, I would advise that they
recognize the self-talk that they use after a
hole in match play and incorporate how they
interpret each hole and how they get
themselves on track. Using that same
internal dialogue strategy can pay off in a
big way in stroke play as well!
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