Under pressure!
New study reveals why golfers can crumble
Posted: 8 December 2008
by Bob Warters
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Ian Poulter handles the pressure to hole a crucial putt at the Open in 2008
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Birmingham University student Andrew Cooke presented some fascinating research to the British Psychological Society’s Division of Sport and Exercise inaugural conference today, identifying why as sports players, many of us tend to wilt under pressure.
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Justin Rose misses a Ryder Cup putt
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Most of us have experienced, if not witnessed, what some in the media have termed as 'choking' or 'bottling' in a competitive situation and Andrew says he has the symptoms, if not the cure.
It can happen, he says, at any level of competition, from professional footballers missing a penalty, to a pool player missing the final black in their local pub. His research has set out to discover what makes people 'choke' by examining their psychological and muscular responses to increasing levels of pressure.
As part of his research he studied 58 novice golfers in a putting contest undertaken with varying levels of pressure, created by offering cash prizes and direct competition - just like a Tour pro. Participants were filmed and measured for changes in perceived pressure, anxiety, muscle activity and how they made their stroke.
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Montgomerie's reaction to a chance missed
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Even top golfers won't be able to handle a pressure situation when they face a vital putt, though the likes of Tiger Woods and Pasraig Harrington have proved that it's at times like these that they're at their very best.
Unsurprisingly, Andrew's results showed that more putts were made by his amateurs under lower pressure, rather than under medium and higher conditions.
He says: ‘The phrase ‘bottled it’ or ‘to choke’ is common in sport and my research shows that the harder you try the worse your performance can be. Pressure disrupts the ability to move fluidly and my golf research shots were pushed or pulled wide of the hole. Therefore it was the increase of effort and pressure due to competition that causes choking.’
Why we choke?
*Feeling the pressure
*Not concentrating
*Lack of self esteems
*Lack of discipline
*Inconsistent action
*Trying too hard
How not to choke
*Develop a smooth repeating action
*Focus
*Breath evenly
*Think positive
*Strike putt firmly enough to reach the hole
Tell us your experiences of 'choking' on the forum. What's the most pressure you've been under - on and off the course? How did you cope? What's the best pressure shot you've hit?
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Discuss this story
Every medal does it for me.... I had a week with two 44 pointers, I just knew the next medal had my name on it. On the day I pulled two balls in to the long rough and lost them both, the starter had to give me a lift back to the tee (V. embarrassing) and the I spanked one down the middle. This is typical of every medal, I only ever have two scores 97 (buffer) or 103 (.1). I had a look at my stats over the weekend, I have always had double bogey or worse on the last 3 holes - my head starts counting how many shots I need and that's it. The very next week I scored 47 points... my pants changed colour for the last few holes, all that was going through my head was sllllllloooooooowwwwwwwwllllllllllyyyyyy. What a round that was  We have Karl Morris presenting early next year, hopefully he'll sort my swede out!
Posted: 08/12/2008 17:09
Everyone chokes from time to time. Tom Watson was labelled a choker until he strangled a few claret jugs, as was Mickleson. I choked in the summer when needing to hole a 3ft putt to beat my opponent on the 18th green in a singles semi-final. Dam it hurt. So did losing the first play-off hole. Normally so reliable with short putts...but I choked, simple as that.
Posted: 08/12/2008 20:15
Most pressure I have felt was teeing it up in the English Mid-am Champs. My mate who caddied says I was white as a sheet and hyper ventilating. And the treble bogey start didnt help. I am not normally a nervy type person at all, never get first tee nerves etc, but I think I was just somewhat dumbfounded at myself for having the audacity to come play with proper golfers, most of whom were scratch, close to it or better than that from courses I have heard of, whereas I was from a 9 hole muni, and felt I really shouldnt have been there. How did I cope with it? I didnt. I hacked. All the way round. Next day and round I continued to hack, until finally playing a hole well which immediately settled me and I played fine (too late of course) for the rest of the round. I learnt 3 things from that experience - that real good golfers can be nice as I was paired for the 2 days with one of the best ams in the UK and he was a pleasure to golf with, that if you earnt your spot you have accept you earnt it and deserve to be there, and finally that there really is no substitute to getting rid of nerves than playing decent - good golf engenders confidence. On the upside I cant ever recall choking, or maybe I have eradicated such happenings from my memory 
Posted: 08/12/2008 21:13
Best mass choke I've come across was this year: Playing in a 4ball better ball knockout competition with a mate, against 2 single figure handicappers at their home course. All 4 players had played some great golf, we arrive at the 18th, 1 up, its a par 5 and I am the only one with a shot. Water up the right on the first part of the fairway and a lake on the left protecting the left hand side of the green. I hit off first and watched in disappointment as my ball sliced, for the first time that day, and just crept into the water hazard. My partner hits a good drive right to the centre of the fairway. Our opponents both pull their drives a bit left, one is in the rough, the other creeps back onto the fairway. Opponent 1 decides to go for broke, goes for the green in 2 - plop. Drops one and repeats the feat. I take a drop out of the hazard and hit a decent layup to the centre of the second half of the fairway. Opponent 2 pushes his second wide out to the right in the rough. My partner, now sitting pretty (we only need to halve the hole) takes out a mid iron to lay up - scoops a remarkable slice into the lake on the left! I hit my approach to land about 8 inches off the green, about 8 feet from the flag, putting across a wicked slope. Oppo 2 hits a great pitch out of the rough to 3 feet. So I have an 8 footer across the slope to win the match - tracks for the hole then lips out, does the slingshot thing and ends up 2 1/2 feet away, above and across the slope from the hole. So down to opponent 1, who has putted like the 6 handicapper he is all day and hasn't missed inside 6 ft all day. Somehow, I knew he would choke.. and sure enough, he hits it 6 inches wide of the hole. So down to me with my 2 1/2 footer. The hole looked about the size of an eggcup....everything is shaking like a shi$$ing dog... somehow the ball crept into the hole for a win. Given the fact that no hole up until that point had been won or halved in worse than par, it was a dramatic demonstration of how pressure turns grown men into shivering wrecks.
Posted: 09/12/2008 13:24
Some great stories, in particular Paul L's. A few months back I went about 4 rounds where the back 9 were just dreadful. Typified by no more than 4+ over after 9 and finishing with 10+ on the back 9 for each of these rounds. In each case the fact that I could be scoring well was on my mind so wasn't staying in the present, more like the 19th. I'm glad to say I haven't done this since; there is a much better spread of fortune/failure!
Posted: 09/12/2008 22:28
I'm surprised when professionals choke, because they have already had to make headway in pressure situations to have achieved that status. I'm not surprised when one of the lads bottles it when in contention, or in front of a crowd, because not everybody has put themselves in that sort of 'pressure' environment. Adrenalin is the major cause of these errors, the excited feeling or the stress can cause a surge of the stuff around your system. Adrenalin prepares the body for fast reaction and will cause the trembling over a putt and the timing mishit off the tee. Some people control adrenalin very well, mainly because they are used to it and it will actually enhance their performance. Control techniques would include slow deep breathing, prowling about or practice swinging to burn it off. Another technique is to breath out and hold it when making a shot, either a drive or a putt - the tendency when excited is to breathe in and hold it - making it difficult to turn and also giving a twitchy charge of oxygen to the muscles. ...... in extreme circumstances you will also find that adrenalin is brown. I am quite fortunate in that I have always put myself in highly stressful environments. Not an adrenalin junky but being under the spotlight, figuratively and literally, has enabled me to overcome nerves. However, on the golf course, getting rid of adrenalin can manifest itself in stress induced Tourettes 
Posted: 10/12/2008 10:28
One of the tracks i sometimes play has a great 18th finishing hole. The whole of the bar is watching as each group play it. Each time i played this hole i screwed it up. The worst time was a few months back. I hit a beast of a drive right up the center of the fairway leaving myself about 150 to the pin. I selected an 8i as the pin was pretty close to the front. I took a few practice swings and felt good about the shot. I put a great swing on the ball but somehow sent it 20yds too far. I couldn't be too disappointed as i just hit a pure 8i 170yds which is unheard of for me. The ball was sitting up on the back of the green and i though i would just chip it out with a sw and let it release down towards the pin. By this time everyone was watching and making it pretty obvious. I made a few nervy practice swings and then made an awful stab at the ball. My sw went straight under it and it went no where. Someone from the par made a daft comment. I went back to the ball and done exactly the same thing again. Everyone cheered! Again i made the same stupid swing and just got the ball out. I hade about a 30foot putt for a double bogey. I was mega pissed now so just used my wedge and belly'd the ball. Sods law it went straight in. Afterwards i had a drink in the bar and there was alot of banter directed at me.
Posted: 10/12/2008 11:16
Everyone has choked. All of the posts I read (and Mad Albert came close to identifying the problem) point to the reality that the mind goes to the past and the future both on the course and in life. The question is how do you stay in the present? I am shamelessly offering my book Peace and Par - Enjoying Golf in the Now (www.amazon.com) as the answer to the choke. What Peace and Par offers is an ancient technique that (with some practice) will in a few breaths bring the mind to the present. There is no fear in the Now. And, when you think about it, although we can learn from the past, it's over! The future doesn't exist because when you get there, it is right now. After you read it, e-mail me and tell me: a) whoa, this changed my life. b) are all you Americans dumber than a bowl of rocks? or c) I still choke, but now I don't care.
Posted: 10/12/2008 20:10
my worst choke not to much of a bad one but i was playing a course for the first time with the club pro, he was my friends friends boyfriend. i started poorly as i was nervous but a few good holes and i started playing well. after the trun we played a par 5 and we both had birdie putts he holed his and i felt the pressure but hold mine. the next a short par 4 i hit a great drive and only had a wedge in, he took an iron of the tee and had the honor and hit it to 4 feet, i hit one of the best wedges of my life hit it inside his and tapped in for birdie so we here both -2 for the 2 holes. next hole a par 3, he said to me bloddy hell your only +4 for 11 only 5 shots behind me. so i knock it just off the green the green has a wicked slope i knock it, to 5 feet its all down hill to off the green, i tried to nudge it to the hole it ran all the way off the green, anyway ended up with a triple 6! when he added up the scores i had an 81. 
Posted: 12/12/2008 22:27
My choking usually starts on the first tee when I duck hook my tee shot into the water. One of the biggest chokes I've been involved in happened to my opponent instead of me. It was a three-day event, and I was down nine strokes after the front nine of the final round. When the dust cleared, I was two strokes up as we headed to the 18th tee and I won going away.
Posted: 13/12/2008 00:32
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