[spalding]

I know I'm only 4 years late to this post, but I can relate with you, jamnet. In fact i was about to post a similar post until i saw yours. I have always said that tournament golf and regular golf are two different animals. Even going from the range where I would be striping everything, to the first tee where I would snap hook the first one off of the tee is an all to often occurrence.

I have read all of the Rotella, Joe Parent, Gio Valiante, etc books, and know the importance of playing one shot at a time, sticking to the routine, and being target oriented. My problem, however, is that, in a tournament, I feel like I'm playing with someone else's golf swing...and he sucks! This leads to an over sensitivity to everything (alignments, rushing the routine, etc), nothing feels right, internal warning lights go on....which produces tension...and FORE left.

I agree it is all about fear, and overcoming it. And other things can help...course knowledge/gameplan, a solid routine, and of course, a good short game. In fact I think those are the things that allow you to have patience, make better decisions, and reduce tension.

So I would like to know how people deal with playing with their tournament swings.

Best stated in Caddyshack, "I'm a veg, Danny...."