How many times have you gone from crushing ball after ball on the driving range before a round, to showing up on the first tee box nervous, tight, and anxious?
If this sounds like you, congrats, you’ve officially got the first-tee jitters, where your golf nerves have fully taken over your mind.
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Whether it’s performance anxiety because you’re playing in front of others or something else, the first-tee jitters is a problem that can take over — and then ruin — an entire round of golf.
But with a little structure, you can finally kick the jitters for good — and the video below explains how.
First-Tee Jitters are Common
So how can you finally calm your golf nerves and defeat those first-tee jitters? Dr. Mo Pickens, a golf psychologist who specializes in competitive performance enhancement, shares some helpful tips in the video above.
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“For a lot of people, [teeing off on the first tee] brings some pressure,” Pickens says. “They really want to make sure that they hit that first tee shot good, and they’ve been practicing and feeling good, but then they get out on the first tee and hit a lot of poor tee balls.”
As mentioned earlier, there are a lot of reasons why this might happen, but for the sake of time, Dr. Mo wants to share how to avoid this from ever occurring again.
How to Calm Your Golf Nerves
According to Pickens, one of the problems with first-tee jitters is the time it takes for golfers to go from the driving range to the tee box, with many stopping to get drinks, hit the bathroom, or just socialize before swinging the club again.
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“It’s probably been 10-to-15 minutes since you hit a golf ball,” he explains. “During that time, you have a lot of excitement and adrenaline, but you also have tension building up in your forearms and wrists.”
That tension often leads to breaking your pre-shot routine, speeding up your swing tempo, and letting your focus wane — resulting in a poor shot.
So Pickens says to calm those golf nerves, do the following before your first official shot of the day.
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“Before you walk into your routine, get behind the ball and just make a couple of really hard swings at 110-to-120 percent,” he suggests. “By releasing some of that energy, it’ll actually help your tempo once you’re over the ball.”
Once you get some of that adrenaline out, Pickens says you can focus on a defined target, not just a general landing area.
“Now I can finalize my target and walk up to my ball with my normal pre-shot routine,” he adds. “So I can walk in, line up the clubface, take my normal stance, look at my target, mimic my takeaway, set the club down, and swing.”
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The key to crushing negative golf nerves is to set your expectations and to establish a trusted routine. By committing to that process, you’ll avoid first-tee jitters and get your round started off the right way.
Craving more golf swing tips and golf instruction? Be sure to subscribe to Rainmakers Golf on YouTube for more relatable swing advice to help your game improve.
This story was originally published by Athlon Sports on Feb 13, 2026, where it first appeared in the Golf section. Add Athlon Sports as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
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