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One of the best junior golfers in the country shares her tips for managing on-course nerves
Sarah Stier
Among the many great teachings from performance gurus Pia Nilsson and Lynn Marriott, here’s one every golfer should take to heart: “One of the most important things of which to be aware in golf is to know how you are when you are great.” In other words, recognize how you’re feeling when you’re playing well, so you can recreate it—especially during pressure moments on the course.
One of the best junior golfers in the country, Asterisk Talley, has learned to do just that. After her first round at the U.S. Girls’ Junior on Monday, the 15-year-old Chowchill, Calif., native spoke with Golf Digest about how to handle nerves during big events. Talley has found that she does better when she focuses on making the tournament round feel like a casual practice session.
“For me, I feel like I play really bad when I have nerves,” says Talley, who shot a two-under 69 in her opening round at El Caballero Country Club in Tarzana, Calif. She’s noticed that sometimes after a bad tournament round, she’ll go to the putting green and start making everything.
“I'm like, well, it's probably because I'm not worried about it right now, I'm just hitting the ball in the hole and I'm not worried about what my score is going to be or anything,” Talley says.
Nerves can feel inescapable in big moments on the golf course, but Talley, who is ranked No. 7 in the AJGA girls’ rankings and recently claimed the U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball title with partner Sarah Lim, has some tips for how to manage them.
“I try to think about it just being like a normal round,” Talley says. “I try not to think about it too hard because I know especially with tournaments that are more than one day, anything could happen the next day. So I just feel like I try to think of the possibilities.”
In golf, it can be easy to see all of the negative possibilities: What if I hit it into the water? What if I three-putt this green? What if I chunk it into that bunker? The list could go on forever. But what Talley says here is important: There are also many positive possibilities to think about on the golf course. If you catch yourself going down a line of thinking about all of the bad things that can happen, redirect that thinking like Talley does and focus on the things that could go right. Then approach your shot with that positive result in your mind, instead of negative thoughts.
“I try to see the shot before I hit it and then that usually helps me hit the shot that I want,” Talley says.
Talley combines this positive visualization with confidence.
“I tell myself: I hit these shots all the time. Why would this be any different?”
If you’ve been struggling with nerves on the golf course, redirect your thinking like Talley and you’ll find those stressful shots become a whole lot less stressful.
