At the end, I was transported back in my mind to some of my own less elevated experiences of playing on tight courses and small greens. It brought to mind how much better I play in those conditions. One of the tightest courses I can remember playing on regularly was Blackmoor Golf Club in Hampshire. In my 20’s and early 30’s I used to just scrape into their open amateur tournament, the Selborne Salver. We used to play 36 holes there on the Saturday and a further 36 on the Sunday in the Hampshire Hog at North Hants Golf Club, home of Justin Rose, with a combined 72-hole competition, the Hampshire Salver. I notice that you now need a handicap of plus 2 just to enter – scratch players need not apply!

Anyway, Blackmoor is very tight with the fairways threaded through dense woodland to fairly small greens. I noticed that my golf improved when I played there and how I always took the increased accuracy and golfing confidence with me to the next few tournaments.

The small greens at Harbour Town also reminded me of playing to temporary winter greens at Brookmans Park Golf Club. That was where I started to play golf and like many beginners, I was a fanatic. I played in all weathers and conditions. Brookmans Park was a fairly damp course in the winters back then and we were often on temporary greens. I’m pleased to report that they’ve improved the drainage there over the last 40 years since I started there and it’s now a good venue all year round.

I remember two big improvements in my game playing to those temporary greens. Firstly with an 8-yard diameter green, my approach shot accuracy improved greatly and my chipping got better and better. When we got back on the main greens, my golf was much more confident and assured.

Now, I don’t suggest that you find a course where they use temporary greens a lot of the time. However, there’s no reason why you can’t imagine a narrower fairway within the confines of the real fairway and a smaller green, perhaps an 8-yard diameter circle around the flag, and imagine you are playing on a course like Harbour Town. The good news is that if you narrowly miss your imagined fairway or green, you may still be on the real one.

I don’t know if you saw much of Sergio Garcia during the weekend and saw just how unhappy he seemed to be with himself and the course. It was no surprise to hear his negative comments about the course after his final round. One quote really stuck in my mind, "I don’t think it’s fair," he said. "It’s too tricky. Even when it’s dry you still get mud balls in the middle of the fairway. It’s too much of a guessing game. They can do whatever they want. It’s not my problem. I just come here and play and then go home."

Now, he clearly wasn’t the only one exhibiting similar feelings through their body language and in one particular player through his obvious anger. I saw many players having apparently mishit shots resulting from “mud balls” and I saw many different reactions. I didn’t notice any anger from Kenny Perry when his “mud ball” on the second playoff hole veered off to the left – he was disappointed, but just got on with the job of playing the ball as it lies, without complaint. I suspect he would have said that it was the same for everyone. Maybe that attitude got him into the playoff, even if his mental game seemed to desert him over the last few holes.

I wonder what Justin Rose would have done if he had been in Sergio Garcia’s shoes. If you read my post Positive Reframing for Better Golf Performance like Justin Rose on 3^rd April you’d know the answer.

Golfers who complain bitterly about the “Rub of the Green” rarely enjoy their golf that much or perform to their best and I know that before I got into golf psychology I used to suffer in that way. One possible exception is Tiger Woods with his clear annoyance and sometimes outright anger over things like “unfair” gusts of wind affecting his shots. He still scores amazingly well despite the anger. Perhaps he would score even better if he could manage it as well as he handles the rest of his mental game.

On a final happy note, I was delighted to read of Sergio’s later apologies in the press, as I think he has the potential to be the real successor to his mentor, the great Seve Ballesteros.

I was talking to an old golfing friend of mine about his round of golf. I’d like to stress that he’s not a client and just isn’t interested in talking to me about golf psychology – he’s still a good friend, though. Anyway, he was moaning about the condition of the course that day and how on every shot he just seemed to have a worse lie than he expected. If he was on the edge of the fairway, the ball was nestling against the edge of the rough. If he was in the bunker, it hadn’t been raked properly. If he was on the green, there was always a pitch mark just in front of his ball. He just went on and on about his bad luck and how bad he felt about it. And he wished he hadn’t played at all that day. I wasn’t surprised to hear that he’d had a bad round and hadn’t enjoyed himself and the company of his golfing friends

Earlier that day, I’d heard a story about Justin Rose that put my friend’s experience into sharp contrast. Now I don’t know if you are aware that one of the US golf networks is experimenting with equipping caddies in PGA tournaments with microphones. The idea is that we can better hear the exchanges between caddie and player. This certainly sounds interesting and could well provide some support for the ideas I’ve included in my “Your Own Virtual Caddy” golf hypnosis audio programme. This programme is free when you sign up for my Golf Hypnotist Ezine – there’s a subscription form to the right of this article.

So coming back to the Justin Rose story, apparently Justin had been having an “unlucky” day, just missing fairways and greens and bouncing into bunkers – the sort of experience that would have driven many of us, including my friend above, to distraction. Anyway here’s what Justin was heard to say to his caddie, “you know, this lie’s not at all bad, look at that rough over there that I could have been in, it’s much worse.” The whole way round, he turned his perception of bad luck into good luck and got on with the job. Now I don’t know if he enjoyed himself, but I do know he scored well that day and I wouldn’t mind betting he enjoyed overcoming the “rub of the green” that day. I’m sure that he felt better after his round than my friend did.

Next time you get a bad lie on the golf course, remember to reframe it positively. Think how much worse it could have been and the shot you have to play won’t seem so difficult. You may find you enjoy your golf more as well.