First tee nerves video

Golf Monthly Top 25 coach Barney Puttick has some tips for dealing with first tee nerves to make sure you start your rounds off strongly.

Try these simple first tee tips if nerves are preventing you from starting your rounds off well and you don't luve up to your potential in big events.

Suffering first tee nerves can have a major impact on your round. Start by thinking about your breathing.

Take deep breaths to control your heart rate – this will help calm you down. When it comes to actually playing the opening tee shot, I always tell my students that it’s vital you stick to a pre-shot routine.

This will be slightly different for every golfer, but a great option is to take a practice swing behind the ball, pick out a specific target and then set up to this target.

This will stop you from thinking about all of the places you don’t want to hit the ball, and will set good fundamentals. Try to make a controlled swing to get the ball in play. If you can do this, you’ll be up and running.

Focus on the process, not the outcome. Concentrate on swinging the club like you always do, rather than thinking about where it's going to go.

If you swing the club like you have done a thousand times before on the range, it will go in vaguely the right direction. Quit thinking negatively and concentrate on the process.

Do you think Tiger Woods or Rory McIlroy get nervous on the first tee? Well they do - all expectations are relative.

They know how they are capable of playing, and therefore they expect to be able to do it under pressure when it counts.

Woods has long been the best under pressure and as a result, the best Sunday tournament golfer there is.

He is able to play his best when it matters - seeminly playing better under more pressure. He is able to channel his nerves and adrenaline positively, and this is something you can only master with playing again and again.