In a way, after playing for the very first time, it’s amazing that anyone ever plays a second round of golf. Golf can at one moment be the most enjoyable and rewarding sport, and at the next moment, the most frustrating.

Anyone who has played a round of golf knows what we mean.

Golf’s Mental Game

It’s generally understood that golf is a competition against yourself, not the golfers in your foursome. Yes, at the end of the round you compare scores and declare a winner. But, at the moment you step up to play each shot, no one is between you and the ball. Whether it is a great shot, a hook, a slice or a duff, you are entirely responsible for it.

You and your thoughts that is.

More than any sport we know, golf is at least as much a mental game as it is physical. And the onslaught of challenges starts to chip away at your confidence from the moment you step up to the first tee. There you are, you haven’t settled into the round yet. The starter’s watching. Maybe another foursome too. It’s a par 5. No pressure.

Even if you manage to keep the shot on the fairway, away from the bunkers, the pressure’s still on. Now you have to make the most of what appears to be a relatively easy shot. You simply can’t misplay such a great lie.

Try This to Help Improve Your Confidence on the Golf Course

There are lots of ways to improve confidence in your golf game. Like anything else, the more you golf, the better you play. Lessons never hurt anyone’s golf game and simply knowing that you’ve made the investment can help your confidence. But, yes, it is an investment and you might have to play more often than you do.

So try putting away the scorecard.

In addition to all the mental challenges of playing the game, golfers also write down their scores at the end of every hole. Even if you did well on a hole, your three-over-par on that other hole glares at you every single time you look at the scorecard. Try playing a round without keeping score. Play just for the enjoyment. Enjoy the day. Enjoy the course. And enjoy the company of friends!

This doesn’t mean you stop trying to make the best shot every time. In fact, the idea is to try to focus on only the shot, not the score.

Not paying attention to your score may or may not work for you. It’s tough not to keep score in your head. But the idea is, if you find any way to improve your confidence and your ability to play the game, you’ll enjoy golf even more.

As the new golf season approaches, you might be in charge of planning and managing a golf tournament for your company, organization or even for yourself and your friends. While just about anything related to golf is fun and enjoyable, tournament planning can get as complicated and involved as it is for planning any other event.

While we have given you tips for planning a corporate golf tournament to help you better manage everything involved, there’s one aspect that, while still involving a certain amount of decision making, might be more fun than others.

Golf Tournament Games

While most sports have variations of ways to play, like 3-on-3 for hockey, golf has seems to have more than any other sport. The good news is that means you can come up with lots of ways to add new levels of challenge and fun to a tournament. The bad news is you have a lot of tournament games to consider. Here are just a few:

1. Shotgun Start

If you have a lot of golfers in your tournament, a shotgun start is a great way to avoid having anyone wait around to begin play. In a shotgun start, all groups begin their round simultaneously by teeing off from different holes on the course. Their tee-off hole becomes the first hole in the round for the foursome. If you have a day-long tournament, the shotgun format means you can host the tournament for 120 or more golfers

2. Modified Shotgun

If you have fewer players, even not enough to start a group at every hole, but you still want to minimize waiting times and the overall time it takes to run the tournament, a modified shotgun format is the answer. Just like a shotgun start, all your groups will start and end the tournament at the same time, but there will be additional public and member golfer play surrounding your event. Your golfers must also maintain a certain pace of play so as not to interfere with the surrounding golfers.

3. First Tee Start

Like the name implies, groups in a first tee start tournament tee off in from the first tee one after the other. This is a great format for smaller groups whose golfers may be more familiar with each other as it allows more time for socializing and even a bit of friendly banter at the end of the round when golfers can cheer each other on from behind the 18^th

4. Nine Hole Event

One of the main reasons many companies and organizations avoid staging golf tournaments, despite the game’s popularity within the organization, is the amount of time it can take to play a round of golf. Try as they might, perhaps the biggest logistical goal of any tournament is to find a common time when all your invitees can spare the amount of time it takes to play a full round of 18 holes, and take part in any pre- and post-tournament festivities.

If you want to enjoy all the benefits that come from hosting a corporate or community golf tournament, but you want to minimize the time commitment needed to participate, a nine-hole event gives you the best of both worlds.

If you’re looking for more great ideas to make your tournament more enjoyable, get in touch with us here at Royal Ashburn.

Even if you finally got the driver of your dreams for Christmas, hopefully, the wonderful person who gave it to you knew that you had gone through all the proper steps before choosing it.

Beginner golfers and more advanced golfers alike are not always experts on choosing the right clubs for their game. But, a golf swing is such a complex thing and the intricacies of each one can mean significant differences in scores depending on the club used.

Very often, the cost of a club is the main determinant of its suitability for your game. While less expensive clubs, bought from a non-golf retailer can save you money, you might not learn the game properly or gain the confidence you need due to a higher rate of duffed shots. And, no matter how good you are, your swing may not suit the stiffer shafts of some of the more expensive drivers.

Without further ado, here are just a few tips for better golf-club buying, for both beginners and experienced golfers.

1. Buy from a Golf Specialist

It’s easy to think that, because you’re just starting, it’s a waste of money to get clubs that are more expensive. But, on the contrary, it might be a waste of money if you don’t buy clubs that give you the highest chance of successfully picking up the game. Specialized golf stores and pro shops at golf clubs are the best places to buy clubs because they understand what beginners need, they know how to assess your swing (even if it isn’t fully developed), and they understand a range of clubs so they can make the right choice for your particular game.

2. Try Them Yourself

One of the things a specialty pro shop can help you with is giving you the opportunity to try different clubs. The best pro shop will suggest options, but the rest is up to you. You’ll need to take a few swings and determine for yourself which club is the best one.

3. Consider a Half Set of Clubs

Most beginners just need to keep swinging and try to make good contact to get their game into shape. Having every iron available can be a waste. The differences in the shot between consecutive irons is so subtle, it can be difficult for beginners to appreciate. Opting for a half, or at least smaller set of clubs can save you money while giving you more time on each club so you can better appreciate the differences when you begin using other clubs later on.

4. Try Perimeter-Weighted Club Heads

Golf club heads are usually weighted closer to the ‘sweet spot’, or the center of gravity of the club, to maximize driving distance. But beginners can have a more difficult time hitting that sweet spot, which can affect your swing in two ways. First, hitting outside the sweet spot will reduce your driving distance. Second, it will also increase the amount of vertical twist the club might go through due to an off-center hit, which will further reduce driving distance.

Like the name suggests, perimeter-weighted clubs distribute the weight of the club head around the perimeter of the club face, thereby greatly increasing the size of the sweet spot and reducing the incidence of club rotation due to off-center hits.

There are lots more ways of choosing the right clubs for your game, but many of them depend on your swing. The Pro Shop at the Royal Ashburn Golf Club is open throughout the winter, so you can take your time in finding the perfect clubs to optimize your game.