1st Tee Nerves

[RayG]

After playing for so long, a first tee in front of others is a normal occurrence. Even on the odd 'special' tee's like Pebble Beach with 30-40 people milling about, or at Bethpage Black with it's little Peanut Gallery behind the tee box. I sometimes will have a little joke and ask; "could everyone turn around or close their eyes for the next several seconds so they won't see me praying..? I don't care if you see the swing". Gets people a bit looser and makes me relax a bit after a chuckle. But it's just like any other tee shot- it doesn't count any less or any more- it's one stroke.

[stealthhwk]

Others have posted similar advice, but Ill throw in my .02. This happens to me a lot and when it does, I take my favorite club (a 7i or 4 hybrid) and tee off with a nice ez swing. If its the hybrid, its in the fairway and long enough to go for it on most holes. If its the 7i, no big deal. 7i+7i equals about 325 for me. So, two sevens and a wedge and I still get one putt for par or two for a bogey. This does two things: eliminates jitters, and starts the round in a nice positive manner. This way, by the time I step up to the tee at number two, Im ready to rock.

[mcanadiens]

It has actually occurred to me reading this thread, how truly awful I really am. 

My safe club, currently, is the bloody driver. 

[9wood]

I use to have 1st tee jitters, but no longer. After watching other golfers in the line up ahead of tee off, I find that many of them haven't mastered the tee off as yet. I'm not saying that I have. But I have noticed that on tee shots I can hold my own against quite a few of them and this over time has given me confidence and helped me to erase the 1st tee jitters. In fact I now enjoy teeing off while others behind me are watching. It seems like I do better when I have an audience or some competition.

[Jaymancds]

I went out yesterday and just tried to get out of my head on the first tee.  Worked pretty well, and I stayed in the fairway.  It was short but I used a 6 iron to tee with.  Throughout the round the driver just wasn't working for me so I ended up teeing up with a 6 iron for the majority of the round.  Still got some work to do, but I did see some improvement. Thanks for all of the advice.

[bkuehn1952]

If you ever have a day where no one is waiting, try hitting several tee shots until you nail one.  It is nice to be able to mentally recall a drive piped down the middle whenever you are teeing off.  If your only memory when standing on the 1st tee is being nervous and hitting a big slice, it is hard to create a mental picture of a good shot.

[Austin_Sachs]

A big thing I have learned about first tee nerves is to enjoy them and use them to your advantage. If you try to lose them, I guarantee you will not like the results. For me it made me lose some of my love for the game and competing. The best players in the world get nervous because they care about what happens, so learn to embrace the nerves.

[rusty35]

lots of people use visualization to help.  Try this, next time you are on the range with the driver (or whatever club you feel most confident in teeing off with), imagine you are on tee #1, everyone is watching you.  should be easy to get yourself into that headspace with lots of people on the range.  if you hit a good one, smile and move on, hit a poor one, then just tee another up.  soon you will lose sense of those around you, or at least it won't bother you so much.  GL

[pumaAttack]

Confidence is key.  Go out there and be confident you are gonna bomb a drive down the middle. Make the people in your group and the ones watching from a far jealous of your shot. 

Going into it timidly doesn't produce great results.