Playing golf with Robyn Burns. Discover how Robyn has gone from a beginner golfer to playing off a low 20's handicap consistently.
Well, it’s that time of the month again, a talk with Tiff, and I have a great lady that is going to talk with you today and share her experience experiences with you.
Robyn has actually got her handicap down to just above twenty and she has only been playing golf for a few short years. Robyn is going to share with you how she has done that and I am looking forward to her sharing that with you.
We’ll see you in the interview and also there is something really interesting that happened and I questioned whether to take it out but I have left it in the interview as well. We thought it was pretty funny so I thought it would be great to keep it there.
Enjoy, sit back, listen, take some notes we’ll get some valuable nuggets from this beautiful lady and see you there.
Tiff:
So, Robyn how long have you been playing golf?
Robyn:
Socially, off and on for a few years but I took it up in 2012 when I stopped work and joined your clinic. I did five weeks of clinic and followed on with twelve months of swingers, with your swingers group.
I effectively started playing comp in March of the following year. I joined as a seven day member after being enticed to play eighteen holes and I have gone on from there.
Tiff:
Great. So, there is actually a funny story with Robyn. When she first came to me to have lessons, she said, right, this is how it is. I’m here to play nine holes and nine holes only, I’m here to have fun and I am not playing eighteen holes ever. I’m just here to have fun. It was quite aggressive fun, sort of thing.
It was quite interesting watching Robyn from when she first started and in that first twelve months too. Oh, my God she is going straight to eighteen and into comp. I found that quite funny.
Robyn:
I was talked into it.
Tiff:
It didn’t look like that to me. It looked like you eased into it actually.
Robyn:
Well, after the initial eighteen holes I was talked into doing it. I was a bit hesitant about that.
Tiff:
What did you find when you first started. Take the social part out of it and when you initially started to play and then you started having lessons, what did you find when you first started actually having lessons, coming to clinics and all that sort of thing.
Robyn:
I wouldn’t be playing golf if I hadn’t done that. I have continued to do that and it has just all consolidated and given me a focus and taught me how to play golf really.
Tiff:
It just gave you the basics, the good fundamentals?
Robyn:
Yes. Now I’m able to analyse my game and correct things if I am going a bit AWOL.
Tiff:
So, if you start having a few issues, like we talked about just before this interview came on.
Robyn:
A Jordan Spieth moment.
Tiff:
Yes. So now you can go back to the basic fundamentals and get back into play?
Robyn:
Definitely, I can certainly do that now.
Tiff:
Okay. What did you find over the first twelve months of learning? Was it just a huge learning curve?
Robyn:
I was a massive learning curve and I made lots of friends and it has given me the confidence to do it. I was determined to keep doing it at that stage and I did find that nine holes was probably not quite enough to satisfy. It was a wonderful grounding that first twelve months. Definitely.
Tiff:
The you started playing comp. After twelve months of playing how did you find your experiences when you first started playing comp?
Robyn:
I was all over the place, some days I played well and other days I didn’t. I had a run of really good scores and so my handicap dropped pretty dramatically which then, of course, made it more challenging and more demanding on me so my focus was on what my handicap was doing and what my score was. I had to get that out of my system and then learn to play each hole as it comes and take it one step at a time. That was a big focus of redirection.
Tiff:
That’s what was happening wasn’t it? You came down to twenty one from memory, was it twenty one?
Robyn:
No, I came down to twenty six that first year. Very quickly. The it stabilised a bit but I was getting really stressed if I didn’t play well. That was on Thursdays. I hated Thursdays in the end because I just couldn’t seem to do it.
Tiff:
That’s ladies comp day.
Robyn:
Couldn’t seem to pull it off. But I’m not like that anymore.
Tiff:
That’s quite interesting because working with Robyn. Just a slight little interruption but that’s okay. It was really interesting because we started to discuss what was going on with you at the time when you were so focused on results and we started to get that shift in you focusing on processes, just one shot at a time.
Robyn:
It has changed my way of playing golf because you have to take one hole at a time, one shot at a time and that refocused how I was playing and that sheet you gave me, whenever that was, certainly changed that too. When I had to take note of my tee shots, how many strokes I took to get onto the green, how many putts I did, that changed my golf completely.
Tiff:
It then got you to focus on processes?
Robyn:
Process and then focus on one hole at a time. I never add up my scores, unless somebody tells me what I’ve got, and then it’s a bit of a surprise at the end of the game. My handicap will go up and down, I know it does, it’s frustrating every now and again but pretty much stayed in that same two or three point range.
Tiff:
Where is your handicap right now?
Robyn:
Twenty two point four.
Tiff:
Approximately.
Robyn:
Twenty two point four. That went up in the last couple of weeks after a few amazing round that I was really happy with but at different courses. That’s one thing that golf has given me, the ability to play at lots of different courses and really enjoy it.
Tiff:
Do you find too that it’s helping your golf development, not just playing at your home course but actually going out (because you are playing a lot of games everywhere else).
Robyn:
Definitely. In doing that you play with different people because a lot of them are stroke rounds. I prefer now to play a stroke round rather than a stableford round which I never ever thought I would say. Playing with people that I don’t know makes me focus on my own game. There is not chit chat, it’s a more focused game than playing a casual stableford game and I tend to play better.
Tiff:
What about your pennants experiences? Talking about one shot at a time, is there anything else that you found really helped you when you started to play pennants? I know when Colleen and Irene spoke about playing pennants there is a lot of nerves in the beginning, did you find that too?
Robyn:
I’ve played two divisions now, the first year I had to be talked into Bronze fourth and that was really nerve racking. I was so nervous the night before that I hardly slept but I was really pleased in the end that I did. Last year I was in Bronze two and slightly more relaxed about it but still it’s a hard thing to do to front up and know that you have to win for your team. It’s not an individual thing, it’s a team thing so there is a lot more pressure on you to do it.
Tiff:
How do you find the pressure is with you now? Do you find yourself able to find your focus when you are performing for the team?
Robyn:
Once I get going, once I have hit that first shot if it’s a good shot, if it’s not a good shot then I tend to put a bit more pressure on myself. If I start out on that first shot well then I relax into it pretty quickly.
Tiff:
What about when you are playing for yourself, moving on into stableford or stroke or something like that do you find (because we were talking about it earlier) do you find that if you start to lose it when you are actually playing, what are you finding that’s helping you get yourself back on track?
Robyn:
Well, just putting Tiff on my shoulder and reminding myself that I have to slow down and I have to turn with the ball and I have to just keep my focus on the ball rather than looking to where it’s going. I have to get myself into, okay, we are going to take this one slowly and once I’ve done it and it works then I’m back on track again.
Tiff:
Excellent. What is the plan now for you with your golf?
Robyn:
Playing at different courses again. I don’t have an ambition for my handicap. I don’t really want to get down into A grade.
Tiff:
Is there a reason?
Robyn:
Well, I find the better you get at golf the harder it is because you have to maintain that level and so you put more pressure on yourself. Whereas if I maintain around this twenty mark, twenty one, twenty two even, it gives you a few more points to play with and the pressure is not quite as great. I’m quite happy to stay around that mark and just to play a lot of golf and to play more with Peter.
Tiff:
That’s her husband.
Robyn:
Also to travel with golf which we have done quite a bit of but to do a bit more of that which is really what it was all about in the first place.
Tiff:
Fabulous. It’s interesting that you are saying about your handicap. You are quite settled because I know when you did come down and you came down quickly, it was the shock of where you got to and also then it was the mental struggle of trying to maintain that handicap.
Robyn:
There was a lot of pressure from other players too. The better players at the time who were on those low twenties said oh, you’ll be in A grade before you know it, you’re an A grade player. There was always that pressure that I had to perform and people were watching what I was doing, whereas now they are not watching and I am not fussed about that. There was a lot of pressure on at that stage.
Tiff:
So the plan is now to enjoy your golf and to play with your lovely husband.
Robyn:
Also to continue my clinics and my private lessons.
Tiff:
Keeping you on track.
Robyn:
Continue to fine tune all the time which makes a huge difference.
Tiff:
Is there any advice that you could give to someone who is watching us here with this interview right now? Is there anything that they should really be focusing on do you believe?
Robyn:
Yes. I think you need to practice, I think any opportunity you can to do a clinic or a lesson, no one is ever too good to have a lesson. To just make it one hole at a time, one shot at a time, slow it down and enjoy it and enjoy the friends you make through it. Very important.
Tiff:
There is a good community environment in it as well?
Robyn:
I’ve made lots of wonderful friends through golf. When I started playing golf I didn’t know anybody at the golf course and now I’ve got hundreds of friends there. It’s become a very important part of my life.
Tiff:
Great. You can get to go away with them as well and play other courses and do other things outside of golf with them.
Robyn:
It’s been wonderful
Tiff:
Fantastic. Well, Robyn thank you so much for doing this interview today.
Robyn:
Well, I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for you.
Tiff:
How nice. I really appreciate you coming down and having a chat and sharing your insights to what you experienced with golf and I’m sure that person behind the camera is appreciating your wisdom through all your experience so thank you very much.
Robyn:
Pleasure.
Tiff:
Have an awesome day and see you soon.
Well, that was great wasn’t it. Robyn gave some really great nuggets there, so what I would love you to do is to leave a comment and let me know what you liked best about what we talked about.
Also if you got anything valuable that is going to help you improve your golf, I would really love it if you would share that with me.
Have an absolutely awesome day, take care, and remember; tee it high and let it fly.
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Tiffany Mika
P.S. If you want consistency in your golf game. Get the 3 Steps to Consistency that will give you the consistency that you need in your golf game. Click here to find out how!