With the Big Break Invitational coming to Reynolds Lake Oconee September 30-October 3, local golfers as well as viewers around the world will be able to see how competitors handle the pressure of battling it out with something more than a $2 Nassau at stake. As the field of 40 men and women prepares to do battle, we asked two of Reynolds Lake Oconee’s finest and most experienced golfers for their advice on keeping cool, calm, and collected when everything is on the line.
Charlie King is the director of instruction at Reynolds Lake Oconee and the head of the Reynolds Golf Academy. He has worked with professional golfers at all levels, as well as top amateurs and a variety of club members, and he tells them all the same thing: With competence comes confidence.
“When a person comes into an event playing well, it tends to bode well,” says King, who wants his players on top of their games, but not to overdo practicing or overthink things ahead of time.
“The desire to win can work against you,” King warns. “Working too hard, practicing more than normal, it’s good to a point, but in the arena it tends to make them play worse. Those are the players who are too tight, trying too hard, forcing it to happen rather than letting it happen. A person with confidence is allowing it to happen.”
King doesn’t want his players doing things too differently when approaching a big event or playing in it. He talks to all his students about their “standard,” that is, not letting each individual shot seem too important and keeping on an even keel.
“Do your routine, maintain that mindset of confidence, then step up and hit the shot without any fear of outcome,” King said. “Do that throughout the round and then when it’s over, think about how many times you lived up to that standard of going about your business regardless of the score. It’s especially important early in a match to play to your ‘standard.’ If not, the ebb and flow of the tournament will affect you.
“Stay in the moment. Decide in advance what your standard is going to be and then keep to it.”
One player who definitely has stayed in the moment and succeeded is Tom Cornelia, who has won the Reynolds club championship three times and played in numerous regional and national events through the years.
“I’ve lost a lot more than I’ve won,” Cornelia says, “and I’ve learned that controlling your emotions is a big part of playing well. People get anxious and want to get it over with, so they do things in a hurry; they play in a hurry, their mind hurries even if their body doesn’t. They have to slow down. My college coach used to tell us to chew gum. In the wind, he said walk slower. When you want to go faster, do everything slower.”
Like all good players, Cornelia has compiled his own rules to help him concentrate and play well when it counts. There are three main things:
1. “I do not allow myself to be a broadcaster. That means I won’t be the guy who hits a shot and then starts saying out loud, ‘I hit 7, I should have hit 6.’ Or, ‘That putt should have broken right but it didn’t.’ They describe every component of what they just did and it’s always negative. Now, as soon as I’ve hit the shot or the putt, I forget it. Literally.
2. “No ‘summaries’ allowed. I don’t stop and think, ‘I’ve hit the ball perfectly for five holes but I’m one over. At this rate, I’ll shoot an 80.’ Do not keep track, do not extrapolate, and do not draw conclusions. Whatever you’ve done is over. Look forward, not backward.”
3. “No self-deprecation. No, ‘I am terrible at these’ after chunking a chip. Again, hit the shot and let it go. I’ve found that if I can avoid those three things —broadcasting, summarizing, and self-deprecating — I stay in the present. And that’s the key.”
Cornelia has learned other good lessons to apply to when in competition mode: “The more conservative you play, the better. Avoid big numbers. At this level, even par wins a lot of tournaments, and that means laying back off the tee, laying back on par fives, focusing on playing a conservative — and smarter — game.
“And something about club championships,” he notes. “It never fails, even on a course you know well, you will find yourself in a spot that you never knew existed. You’ll hit one sideways, bounce it off a tree, or across a path and into a ditch that you didn’t even know was there. It’s going to happen. Accept it and move on.”
