When I discuss playing in pressure-packed situations with my professional students, I’ll always try and remind them that… all great things are accomplished outside their comfort zones. Or, I might say to them — rarely does anything exceptional happen if you’re afraid to get a little uncomfortable. And then, we actually prepare for that uncomfort — and what to do when it happens.

If you think about it, this phenomonam is true in all areas of life. Whether it’s having the nerve to walk over to that beautiful woman and ask her name. Or to walk into the manager’s office and say — hey, I think I deserve a raise. As we all know, it’s never easy spending time on uncomfortable island. But if you think about it — that seems to be where they keep all the really good stuff.

Now, how does this relate to your golf game? Well, I want to help you smash through your comfort zone in 2010 and start scoring up to your capability. Basically, I want to see you get in an uncomfortable situation on the golf course…and handle it!

Let’s just say your average score is 80 for 18 holes. How many times have you had a wonderful front-nine score of 35 or so, only to follow it up with a back-nine score of 45? Or for that matter, scored 45 on the front — but came back with a great 35 on the back? My guess would be often. And really, it all comes down to comfort zone. In both of these examples, you weren’t quite comfortable. Not comfortable shooting another 35 for a 70. And not comfortable shooting another 45 for a 90. But…because you’re comfortable with 80…that’s where you’ll end up.

Now, what do you do about it?

First, let me share an example of how I smashed through a comfort zone and finally had a good score on a tough golf course. When I first started working at Cheval Golf and Country Club, just outside of Tampa in 1995, I was a pretty good player. I don’t want to exaggerate, as we all seem to get a little better as we get older. I suppose our skewed memories give all of us an over-inflated idea of just how good we “once were.” But I was a mini-tour player in Florida and capable of shooting in the 60’s on any day on any course. I was long and had a very good short game. I wasn’t the straightest guy in the world, nor was I a wonderful short putter — but I could play. I decided to work in the bag room at Cheval for playing privileges. It was a very nice private course, with great greens… and a reputation for being impossibly hard. I figured this would be a great test every day, as I tried to bring my game to the next level. The first few weeks, I had some good rounds — but nothing spectacular. But I also had some horrendous rounds. I actually shot in the 80’s a couple times and my guess is — if you were to average my scores for those first few weeks — it would have been in the mid 70’s. Hardly the scores of someone looking to make a step to the next level. But this course was hard. And for me, it was a different kind of hard. It had OB and water on every single hole. To put it simply, it was crazy tight. So, I was hitting a couple balls a day out of bounds and Lord knows where else. I was making birdies — but also very high numbers. Part of me realized what was going on. It was the course and my inability to play it — not my game. I could still go to other courses and shoot great scores — but not at Cheval. Still, I also thought, as a pro, I should be able to play any course and to that end — my scores were awful. Either way, I was losing a lot of confidence. And for the first time started thinking about where I didn’t want my ball to go, as opposed to where I wanted it to go. I was playing scared.

But then a very serendipitous thing happened. The head professional at the time, who would later become a great friend, was a pretty cocky guy. And also a pretty good player. He wasn’t too thrilled about me taking some of his thunder, in spite of my high scores. Some of the members were talking about me as a player… and it was time for him to show me once and for all that he was the best. So he challenged me. He said that I could play a two-ball scramble against his one ball. And that he would still win. I gladly took that challenge and off we went. It was amazing. Just having that second ball as an option freed me up so much. Granted, I used it some, especially on the greens — but I felt completely different on the first attempt. I shot something in the mid-60’s and easily beat the head pro. For the first time since I started working there, I left the course that day feeling good about my game. The next day, the head pro challenged me to a red tee game. We both would play the red tees and see how low we could shoot. Again, I said okay. We had a blast and I shot something like 61 or 62. But… more importantly, I started to see the course differently. There were good scores out there — even if it took me playing the red tees and a scramble to see them. However, the next day, I played the tips, shot 65 and broke the course record. Then, the day after that I shot 66. It was almost like an out of body experience. All of a sudden, I couldn’t wait to play and see how low I could shoot at Cheval. Of course, reality set in eventually, and I came back to earth. But that four day stretch of golf was all it took for me to break through my comfort zone at an extremely tough course. And it all started with a scramble and the red tees. You see, sometimes before you can actually do something — you have to know you can do something…if that makes sense. And you have to see yourself doing it. And for me, I was able to dissect those scramble and red tee rounds and say — I’m capable of doing that here. After all, the red tees are just up — but it still is the same course. And with the scramble — it was still me hitting the shots. Plus, those two days changed me back to looking where I wanted the ball to go, as opposed to where I didn’t want it to go. By the way, at the end of the day, that is the real secret.

I’ll talk more about this in future posts — but for now, I would like you to take this away in trying to smash through your comfort zone. Play a scramble and from the forward tees… and shoot the score you’ve been trying to shoot. See yourself doing it and then feel what it feels like. I can’t tell you how valuable this is to the psyche. Lets say for example, you want to break 80 – but you just can’t seem to pull it off. And you normally play the blue tees. For the next few rounds, I want you to play the whites or silver tees. I want to see you shoot in the 70’s a few times. Then, go back to the blues with those great memories and play. If after 3 rounds, you still haven’t broken 80, go back to the forward tees for a few rounds. Keep this up until you break 80. Then, whenever you go 3 rounds without breaking your scoring goal — move up a tee and break it. Or play a scramble if you’re alone. Great golf is built of mini successes — so set yourself up to have a bunch of them.

Like I said, I’ll talk more about this subject in the future — but try this for now. My guess is that you will finally smash through that comfort zone that’s been holding you back.