Tips to Beat Your Buddy

by Jeff Skinner

The October issue of Golf Magazine has to be one of the best in a very long run.  It is packed with interesting and informative articles that any golfer would truly appreciate.

Connell Barrett and Gary Van Sickle have put together a plan that every golfer can use.  In their “How to Fix Your Match” they offer a dozen pieces of advice to give you an edge the next time you face a must win match.  Whether it’s a club championship a weekend better ball or a head to head match against your buddy they have tips that are sure to help…or at least get a good laugh.

Some of their plan is basic, solid info like practice your putting by using Phil’s around the world drill.  But some other aspects of the plan kind of push the envelope:

GET HIM TIPSY…A week or so before your showdown, treat your opponent to a lesson. On you. (No, no — you insist!) Make it with a reputable local pro. This act of “generosity” is a Trojan horse. We all know that one’s handicap instantly doubles after a full-swing breakdown.

EAT A BREAKFAST OF CHAMPIONS…If you want your opponent to hit it fat, get him gorging on fats — plus sugar and caffeine. A pre-match trip to Waffle House can help you and hurt him, says Austin, Texas–based sports dietitian Sally Bowman. “Sell him on the biscuits and gravy, pork sausage and fried eggs, while refilling his coffee a lot,” she says. “He’ll have a mid-round sugar crash and will feel sluggish and sleepy the entire day.” Meanwhile, you should nibble on fruit, whole-grain toast and a couple of eggs, with decaf coffee and plenty of water for hydration. Oh, and pack a couple of potassium-rich bananas for a mid-round energy boost.

But one of my favorite suggestions was to use your brain power and go mental on him.

GO MENTAL…Comic strip hero Dilbert once explained his inattentiveness at a meeting by telling his boss, “Sorry, I was brain-golfing.” There’s a reason that virtually every top pro works on the mental game: It pays off. You, too, should be brain-golfing. Peak-performance expert Jim Fannin, who has worked with Luke Donald, suggests that before you fall asleep on the eve of your match, you should spend 30 minutes visualizing your victory. Paint clear, triumphant pictures — your 12-footer dropping to clinch the match, or your vanquished rival doffing his visor and shaking your hand. Fannin says that the images will continue to play in your mind overnight, sending your subconscious a powerful message: I’ve already won. “The next day, just play out the inevitable,” Fannin says.

I “brain-golf” all the time.

And maybe the most creative of all was their idea was to utilize the cart girl to shake up your opponent.

CALL IN LACEY UNDERALL…Slip the sexy cart girl — yeah, the one who wears Daisy Dukes — $20 to swing by just before your opponent tees off on the first. Have her say, “Good luck on your big match, guys. The winner gets a big fat kiss.” Watch your suddenly unfocused opponent hook it into the pond. You’re 1-up!

Don’t we all want to beat our buddies?  That’s part of the fascination of this game and this piece will give you some ways to one up your pals.

Click here for the full 12 tips.