Lynn Marriott and Pia Nilsson are the co-creators of VISION54, a way of thinking that believes that it is possible for a player to birdie every hole. Their most famous student was Annika Sorenstam, winner of 10 Majors and the only woman to break 60 on Tour.
Their instruction concentrates on what happens on the course and how to handle all the different scenarios that are thrown up over the course of a round.
So, who better to quiz and pick the brains of in order to help you think clearer and better this year (and beyond) on the course? Golf Digest ranked them the No 1 and 2 women teachers in the States, so sit back, drink in all the brilliant advice and get the most out of your game in 2016.
Often I know I’m going to play badly even before I have started. What advice could you give?
PN: First of all, whoever we are, none of us know whether we are going to have a good round or a bad round and none of us will ever know.
If there is something that doesn’t feel right is there something under your control that you can do about it? If you feel like you are all tense and tight in your body then take some deep breaths to relax. If you know you can’t hit a pitch shot can you hit a different type of shot?
So it is about checking in with ourselves and deciding what you can do to help yourself. Often we think we are going to play badly and we play great.
I still get freaked out by playing in medals whereas in Stableford or knockout I’m fine. I’m always waiting for a disaster to happen?
PN: Your mind is going to the future and predicting things. We never know if our next shot is going to be our greatest shot ever or a bad shot or something in between.
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The most important thing is not to believe everything in our heads, we have a lot of thoughts but it doesn’t mean that everything is true. Try singing a song or counting your steps or anything to distract yourself. There is more pressure in medal play so you have to be better managing your mind and the time in between shots.
I don’t visualise any shots, how do I start?
We have more than one sense; we have our visual sense, we have our kinesthetic sense, we have our auditory sense and taste and smell. Some people aren’t strong visualisers and that is fine, some people don’t need that. What you do need to do is decide on a target and make a decision.
