Sir Nick Faldo: How to deal with first tee nerves

We can all be anxious about hitting that opening shot – especially when it’s a big event – but here’s a tip from one of the all-time greats of golf to help ease your anxiety.

Whether it’s your first ever round, a big event, or you’re just desperate to play well – who hasn’t felt the stomach knot or the legs turn to jelly when standing over that opening shot?

First tee nerves can be crippling, and it can set the tone for your day on the golf course as one bad shot follows another.

Sir Nick Faldo has found himself in some anxious situations over a stellar 50-year career in the game. The six-time major champion played in 11 Ryder Cups and has arrived at the tee when in the frame for countless tournaments over the decades.

So how does he deal with first tee nerves? The key is preparation.

“You’ve got to have a picture,” he explains. “Let’s say, you’ve probably driven to the golf course. You go, ‘Oh, God I hope the starter Bob’s not there. Every time Bob’s there, I top it off the first’.

“What have you just pictured? You’ve got to see it. If you know what to do, and know how to do it, you go: ‘On the 1st hole there’s a bunker left. I’ll hit a little fade off that bunker’.

“You can rehearse that on the range so you’re all right. Then you walk down [to the tee] and it all looks the same.”

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Sir Nick remembered a tournament late in his career where he couldn’t focus on that ‘picture’.

He said: “I went to Germany with my son Matthew on the bag. I looked down the fairway and went ‘out of bounds left, bushes on the right’.

“OK, start again. Bushes on the right, OB left. I couldn’t see the fairway and I thought, ‘I’m done’.”

He added: “You’ve got to have laser focus on the 1st tee. Make a decision. ‘I’m doing that. I know what to do’. You stick with it. it’s as simple as that.”

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