For many golfers and/or potential golfers, the most intimidating thing in the world is stepping up to the tee. For some reason, the tee becomes ten feet tall and a sudden and insurmountable foe. These players step up to the tee and begin reciting all the steps they should do and get so nervous and sweaty palmed that they literally forget everything.

Or, these players are so stiffly reciting the ‘proper protocols’ in their minds that they forget that the very reason they are playing in the first place is to have fun, to relax, and to be entertained. Wow, what a concept! It’s amazing how seriously we take this sport that is supposed to be a source of fun for us.

The tee can be intimidating, but it is just another golf shot. If you hit a worm burner that only goes 100 yards it doesn’t mean your world has ended. We have all had bad shots and I don’t think there is an honest golfer on this planet that would dare tempt the golf fates by claiming otherwise. If you do find one such player, rest assured that he or she is being a little less than honest. We all shank, hook, slice, hit rampant worm burners, and land in the lake on occasion.

Allowing yourself to be intimidated by the tee is almost quadrupling the odds that you will make one of these miss hits. In fact it almost guarantees that you won’t be making your best possible golf shot. If you want to know the absolute basics of the tee off, you’ve come to the right place.

Here are a few steps you can take towards a much better tee time:

1) Breathe. This is often overlooked and yet so necessary. If you don’t breathe during your swing, chances are you will rush your shot subconsciously in order to get to the point where you can take the breathe that your body so desperately needs.

2) Swing through the ball rather than to the ball. By swinging an equal distance before and after the ball you are insuring that your club will carry the ball up and outward to go the distance that you need in order to have a nice, long drive.

3) Keep the clubface square. An open or closed clubface can result in a nasty hook or slice. While a good slice sounds good in the clubhouse, it is not a good thing on the course. In fact it can quite easily result in much time squandered searching for your ball or worse taking a drop.

These three things may not seem so significant and yet when combined, they work to create a solid drive that will impress not only you, but your fellow golfers as well. Remember not to sweat the small stuff. Rounds of golf are won and lost on the green not at the tee. Worry more about your putts than your drives, practice often, and play consistently–these things will serve your golf game well in the long run.

17.1 Golf Psychology

I want to step outside of the box for today, and talk a little bit about psychology. I hope you can stay with me on this lesson, as it is an important one. One of the most confusing things to me in golf is how often you improve one part of your game, only to have another part completely deteriorate. Here is what I’ve realized: It’s not your fault.

17.2 Managing Practice Time

We manage our game according to our values. If you have three hours to practice golf, you would spend those three hours practicing the parts of your game that are most important to you. For the majority of people, it would be hitting 7 irons or drivers on the range, trying to hit it a bit further (I’ve been guilty of this myself). Everything else (chipping, putting, wedges, management game, mental game, cleaning your bag and clubs) will be lower in importance and you won’t have time to do it or practice it.

17.3 Every shot is important

What happens in golf is that even when you do empower one part of your game, say you choose to have chipping as the thing you practice most, another part of your game will get lower on that list. That’s just the way we are. The key, I believe, is in your mind to link the less important parts of your game to the most important, giving you the energy to discover why every shot is important during a round of golf. Don’t you notice you love to hit the shots you hit well and you dread the shots you don’t practice? I’m not implying that you will love every shot, but you will give the proper attention to them during practice and energy to them while out on the course.

17.4 How to change your results

Here’s an exercise for: from these parts of the game, rank them in order of importance to you; what shots do you like hitting the most:

Putting, chipping, sand shots, specialty shots, full wedge shots, long irons, mid irons, driving, mental game.

For me they were:

1. Mid Irons

2. Long Irons

3. Driving

4. Full Wedges

5. Mental Game

6. Chipping

7. Putting

8. Sand Play

9. Specialty shots

Whatever your 9 are is fine. For a moment, we will assume you have the same likes and dislikes in the game. Now take a few moments to decide which part of your game you want to be higher on the list. Got it? Now write down 50 reasons why improving that part of your game will allow you to practice more of the things higher on your list. For me, I wanted to improve the short game, so they were:

1. I could go for more par 5’s in two, knowing I can get up and down (and I can still hit my long irons)

2. It would give me more confidence on par 3’s (when I’m hitting mid-long irons) because I know I can get up and down.

..And 48 more reasons like this. You want to link the parts of your game that are of lower importance to the ones that are higher up on your list. While doing the exercise, you will feel a shift in your energy and while on the course, you will feel the energy surge up as well, as soon as you get over those shots.

So what are they for you?

Although short game is lower on my list than long irons, I still practice them and understand the importance. When over a short game shot, I’m still focused and going through my routine like any other shot. I enjoy hitting long iron shots, but do not avoid hitting short game shots. They are far more important than long iron shots. But take Greg Norman and Ben Hogan. They were arguably two of the greatest long ball hitters ever. But did they both have world class short games? You bet they did.