Performing well under pressure mostly comes down to preparation. Either you’ve put in the work to feel confident about your game—or you haven’t. That all said, there are some basic methods I use in my routine to promote making a confident swing. They relate to my breathing, backswing and how to commit to any yardage. Test these for yourself and see if you don’t feel better in your big moments.
EVERY SHOT STARTS WITH YOUR BREATH 
So much about performing well under pressure comes down to breathing. It’s something my coach, Darren May, and I talk about often. Before every round, I do a breathing exercise that takes 10 minutes. If you watch me closely, you’ll notice that the start of my routine before every shot begins by simply placing my hand on my stomach for a brief moment. It’s a reminder to breathe more deeply using my diaphragm rather than just my chest. The idea is to slow your heart rate and get in the right mental space to execute a shot.
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NO THOUGHTS AT ADDRESS BUT ONE 
I never want to think about swing mechanics over a shot, especially while in contention or during a key moment in a match. That’s not going to work out well for me. After I decide on my target and the shot I’m going to try to hit, I leave all that as I step in, take three looks, and then the ball’s gone. That said, under pressure, the tendency among many golfers is to get quick and not complete the backswing. When you practice, think about getting the sternum over your trail knee. That’s a full shoulder turn, and good things happen from here.
HOW TO REALLY TRUST YOUR YARDAGES 
The best pressure players won’t vary from their routines for even a second. Scottie Scheffler is a great example. What helps me commit and go is I’m never in doubt about the yardage. From practice with a launch monitor, I know how to hit any number based on my system of four swings. While it might not look that different to your eye, my feel for my shortest backswing and through-swing is “chest-to-chest.” For a slightly longer swing that produces a little more distance, the hands rise higher and go “ear-to-ear.”
Then I have a 95-percent swing (I nail its numbers most consistently) and, finally, a full-power swing. When I won at Hartford this year, on the final approach I wanted to fly the ball 146 yards. That’s my ear-to-ear 9-iron. Easy.
This article was originally published on golfdigest.com
