In 1988 Steven was leading the prestigious Australian Masters by two shots after sixty-nine holes. The field for this event at the time included six of the world’s top ten players, headed by Norman, Langer and Faldo. (His game fell apart finishing double bogey, double bogey. 7th place was all he could manage). Pressure had changed the way he played, for the worse. He realized that this was a general problem that most golfers face. As a coach, he was working with many promising players. He wanted to solve the problem for every player, not just himself.
It was clear at the time that current practice methods were not adequately preparing players for the pressure of competition. Steven since has dedicated his coaching to developing better training methods aimed specifically at conditioning golfers to perform under competition pressure.
Steven’s research led him to evaluate his golf practice in general. He has identified nine problems that his training methods now target with a more effective and proven approach.
9 Problems:
1. No assessment - Most golfers have little idea of their true strengths and weaknesses.
2. Lack of a suitable target - Most golfers only have a vague idea of their target when practicing.
3. Favorite club - Most golfers spend the bulk of their practice time with a favorite club.
4. Golfers don’t like exposing their weaknesses. Subsequently they avoid putting their ability on the line when practicing.
5. Wrong shots - Most golfers practice the long game almost exclusively. They appreciate the value of the short game but don’t find it enjoyable to practice.
6. Too technically orientated - Most golfers seem nearly always to be working on their technique and rarely practice playing the game.
7. Wrong routines - The hitting routine used for practice is usually quite different to that used for playing.
8. Lack of concentration - The mind set and attention used in practice is different to that needed for play.
9. Golfers put more emotion in to their bad shots than good shots when practicing. Because it is easier to remember the bad shots, the result is that a negative self-belief develops.
Steven’s overall philosophy is one of a holistic approach, that includes the technical,
physical, mental and strategic training factors.
