I often have golfing anxiety dreams, and they often involve awkward situations on first tees. A typical one is that I find the first tee is positioned in such a way that I just can’t get a stance or proper backswing because of a wall, a bush or some other irritatingly placed object. Everybody else in my dream seems to cope just fine, but I can’t make it work and become increasingly flustered.
Normally, there’s a decent crowd looking on. In fact, normally I’ve somehow found myself playing in a significant tournament. I once had a dream, I was playing in the US Open at Bethpage Black and hit my first tee shot left, through the door of a Portakabin that contained various strange people from my past, working in an office environment. I was given a free drop away from a water cooler onto an unmade bed… Strange stuff.
Anyway, the point is – The first tee can trigger huge anxiety and the first tee shot is one of the most (possibly the most) daunting in golf. The main image for this article is of a particularly daunting one I faced, playing the original 12-hole layout at Prestwick GC in the year of the 150th Open Championship, using hickory shafted clubs. I managed to get it airborne but only just!
All golfers, at all levels have felt first tee nerves but there are some situations that are more daunting than others. These, in my opinion (and experience) are some of the most daunting first tee shots in club golf.
The Old Course St Andrews
The 1st tee on the Old Course St Andrews
(Image credit: Getty Images)
When I think of the most nervous I’ve ever been on a first tee, there are few moments to compare with the first time I ever played the Old Course at St Andrews. Almost every legend of our sport has played on the hallowed links at the home of golf, their ghosts tread the fairways. Old Tom Morris looks out at you from the wall of the Royal and Ancient clubhouse, crowds of onlookers stop to watch on enviously as the groups start their games.
The starter asked me to play away. I, sort of, settled and took a final look out at one of the widest fairways in golf. ‘It should be so easy,’ I thought. Just make a decent contact. But the image of Ian Baker Finch hooking it out-of-bounds left fleeted into my mind, then I glanced down the white fence on the right, then I noticed a group of students walking across Granny Clark’s Wynd and was forced to step off the shot. By the time I did finally make a swing, it was the quickest ugliest swing ever, and it produced…
..
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at Golf Monthly…