We all know how it feels to tee up our balls on the first hole with plenty of people watching on.
It’s an unpleasant feeling, mostly because none of us want to embarrass ourselves, right?
The problem is, those first tee nerves don’t help us one little bit and they are certainly not conducive to producing quality golf shots.
Help is at hand, though, in the form of Rory McIlroy.
McIlroy has won 30 PGA Tour titles, including six major championships, and has 21 DP World Tour to his name.
He has also appeared on eight Ryder Cup teams, winning 21.5 points in the process.
However, none of that means that he’s impervious to first tee nerves.
Rory McIlroy’s secret to coping better with first tee nerves
If McIlroy struggles with nerves then it goes without saying that every single amateur golfer will experience the same feeling ahead of their first shot of the day.
When speaking on the WHOOP Podcast, McIlroy responded when asked how he deals with first tee nerves.
“I say this all the time. It’s counterintuitive to a lot of people to do this, but I do,“ McIlroy admitted.
“If you’re trying to overcome anxiety or nerves or on performance, I do try to think about, well, what’s the worst that could happen?
“I’m not gonna die on the golf course, thankfully.
“I used to have, like, first tee nerves, like, big time. I would struggle on the first tee. And so I would say to myself, well, what’s the worst that could happen?
“So if you hit it in the trees, okay, then what do you do? You go up there and you figure it out, you know, you’re skillful enough to hit a punch shot out of the trees and, you know, get it up to the green and get it up and down and make a par and move on.
“For whatever reason, imagining, like, the worst-case scenario, give me a level of comfort, because I felt like any worst-case scenario that I could bring up in my head, I’ll be able to deal with.“
Rory McIlroy gives himself ‘a sense of freedom’
McIlroy explained how picturing the worst thing that can happen actually gives him a sense of freedom.
“Especially on the first tee for me… if you get nervous on the golf course, you get tight… it gives me a sense of freedom. And like, if I can swing free, that’s when I play my best golf,“ he said.
“So whatever thought process I need to get into to get there, whether that’s imagining the worst-case scenario.
“I think I’m not standing behind a tee shot and visualizing myself hit a bad shot. Like, I’m visualizing myself hitting it where I want to. But I think just even before I get to that point, thinking, well, what’s the worst that can happen?
“And then if the worst that can happen isn’t that bad, it’s like, well, that’s okay. You’ll be able to manage it.“
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