A couple of things we can learn from Sir Nick Faldo

“I was just absolutely mesmerised when I saw the Masters that year, particularly by Jack Nicklaus striding across Augusta’s impossibly green fairways. I marched downstairs and announced to my Mum that I was going to take up golf. ‘You’re having a haircut first’ she said, which seemed like a fair enough deal at the time – even if Augusta was waiting!” Sir Nick Faldo

Let’s start with a little fact file to summarise just how remarkable Nick's career was...

Started playing golf at 14

Won his first amateur championship at the age of 18

Represented Britain at the Ryder cup at 20

3 major wins US 1989, 90 and 96

3 open victories 1987, 90 and 92

As the quote at the top states, Sir Nick Faldo was inspired to get into golf, by the great Jack Nicklaus during the 1971 Masters. When he turned pro he had almost immediate success and won his first tour event in 1977, this was just 1 of 29 European tour titles. During the mid-1980's Nick changed his swing and as a result lost distance. This prompted him to re-evaluate his own game and the distances he could hit his clubs. So what can we learn from Nick's game:

His understanding of his own game

Nick understood his own game by understanding the fundamentals of what the club had to do to perform a particular shot, he did this for his distances. In summary Nick knew the limits of his ability so that no shot was hit half-heartedly of too aggressive as he realised that this changes the tension within the body and reduced his level of consistency.

His mental preparation

Whether Nick was on the driving range or on the course, he took it seriously and always set himself a goal to achieve at the end of every session or round, this helped him stay in the moment and stay in control of his emotions. Another important factor within Nick's mental locker was his understanding of the variables on the golf course which he could and couldn't control.

Factors he could control- Club selection, shape of the shot, type of shot and his mental approach.

Factors he couldn't control- Distance, environment and state of game (e.g. opponents)

This helped Nick remain level headed and rational throughout his round with regards to the emotions he displayed on the course, if he was in the middle of the fairway but in a divot, this was something that was out of his control so there's no need to get angry and let it affect his game. Accept it and move on!

I just want to leave you with a few more quotes from Sir Nick, but mainly the take home point from this piece is 'take control of your game, take time to understand it and trust your swing'.

"The word is control. That's my ultimate -- to have control."

"It goes without saying that it is no good having a perfect setup, perfect grip and perfect golf swing if the whole thing is misaligned. It sounds obvious but many players simply do not spend enough time getting themselves on target."

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