Practice Under Pressure*

My golf instructor showed me a drill that involves putting ten in a row from four feet away. I was surprised when he told me the purpose of the drill was to teach me to putt under pressure. Once I was within a couple of putts of achieving the goal, sick and tired of failing in earlier attempts, I would learn to putt when I desperately wanted to make it. Over the next few weeks my putting improved dramatically. I realized that I had been simulating the physical conditions but not the psychological conditions of putting during an actual round. It made me reconsider how to practice, and teach, a lot of other things.