'I Cut My Handicap By 25 shots In A Year… Here’s What I’m Doing This Winter To Go Even Lower In 2024'

Looking back on last winter, fresh off of hitting my goal of getting to single figures in a year, I spent most of my practice making swing changes.

After meeting my coach, Jason Banting, last November we got to work on a much needed rebuild of my swing – undoing the defaults I had embedded on my quest to cut my handicap.

A year later and my practice this winter looks a little bit different.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m still making swing changes to tighten up my technique because the winter is the perfect time to do it. But I’m also dedicating time to an area of my game that I know will be key to shooting my best scores in the spring – my mental game.

Having seen the difference in my scores when my mindset has been strong vs. struggling, I’m keen to use the winter to build three “mental muscles” in particular.

Playing Well When There's A Pressure To Perform

There’s nothing quite like the feeling of a card in your hand when you’re playing golf. For me, it brings an anticipation of wanting to play well and a pressure – hoping my practice pays off when it matters.

Even though I work hard to stay in my process over every shot, there’s still a part of me that slips to the outcome, making a mental note of how I’m scoring as the round goes on.

That’s why I’m excited to build my scoring mindset this winter, by practicing playing well under a self-imposed pressure to perform. I’m working on this mental muscle by setting myself a 3 Hole Challenge.

I’m going to play the first three holes of my home course to set a score and then my challenge is to better that score in the next round and one more time after that.

My goal with this game is to create that feeling of pressure – of wanting to do well – and then practice staying in my process over every shot, even though my mind might wander to the score I hope to shoot or scramble back.

To really put myself under it, I’m also hoping that the pressure builds as the rounds go on, especially in that final round when it’s my last bite of the cherry with the challenge. Even though I’m getting nervous just thinking about playing that final round, I know I need to embrace, rather than avoid that feeling, so that I can make a breakthrough in my mental game and shoot my best scores in the spring.

I’ve filmed the first two rounds of my 3 Hole Challenge for my YouTube channel if you would like to see how I get on.

Bouncing Back After A Bad Hole

We’ve all seen it with the pros and experienced it in our own games – the ability to bounce back after a bad hole can make or break a score.

That’s why I’m working on building my bounce-back-ability this winter, by…bare with me on this one…purposefully leaking shots on a hole to then have to bounce back on the next.

I know what you’re thinking…weird…but I want to feel that disappointment of having to scribble a score down that stings and then practice playing the next hole with the goal of steadying the ship or even getting a shot back.

The purpose of this game is solely about practicing letting that disappointment go, rather than let it throw the rest of my score.

Getting Comfortable Scoring Well

A big lesson from my game this year is that closing out a round when you’ve got a cracking score going is a skill. And it’s something I want to build my bandwidth for, so that when my mind realises I’ve got a great round going, I can keep pressing rather than panic.

That’s why to practice that feeling of scoring well, I’m going to play Solo Scramble, where I go out on the course and play a Texas Scramble format but solo. I’ll hit two (or more if you want to) drives and play my best one and then do the same with my next shot and so on.

My goal with this game is to build my confidence taking shots on, knowing I’ve got two (or more depending on how many balls you want to play) bites of the cherry. And although this might not replicate the feeling of playing with one ball, I’m hoping it will help me to get familiar with writing down good score after good score…as we would hope for in a Scramble!

With the conditions of most golf courses being less than ideal in the winter, I’m hoping the three games above will bring a purpose and focus to my practice, even if it’s only over a few holes.

So if you’re wondering what to focus on in your practice or simply want to flex your mental muscles ready for the spring, I hope that how I’ll be working on my mindset this winter might inspire a few ideas. I’d love to hear if you’ll be giving one a go – let me know on Instagram.