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The Ryder Cup week is one of the most exciting events in professional sport. Major championship golf is high adrenaline stuff, but The Ryder Cup takes it to another level. Add in the team aspect, playing for your country/continent and the noisiest fans in golf and you get the high pressure atmosphere that has created so many great moments over the years. No doubt this year will be no different.

The reason we love The Ryder Cup is because of what’s at stake and watching how the players perform under the pressure. To be a successful Ryder Cup player requires a top notch mental game and proven strategies to diffuse pressure. Here are my views on what the players will have to deal with this week and the strategies they will use to adapt to it.

How does The Ryder Cup pressure affect the players?

Most players who have played in The Ryder Cup say it’s the most pressure they’ve ever played under. The pressure comes from not wanting to let down their teammates and their country, with the world of golf watching. They all want that feeling and the legacy of being on a winning Ryder Cup team, you can tell that from the passion that exudes during the 3 days.

Pressure affects us in different ways – what’s important is that you know how it affects you.
The pressure that the players will feel on the first tee of The Ryder Cup might be similar to the pressure that you’ve felt in some of your rounds. Heart racing, hands shaking, a racing mind, etc. That first tee shot will be uncomfortable, there’s no doubt about it. The key is to prepare for it and know what you intend to do. Pressure limits our ability to direct conscious thought, so you’ll need to make sure that you’ve prepared for it well. There’s no winging it when you’re playing in The Ryder Cup. What mental strategies for golf would you use?

How to deal with the pressure of the ryder cup

The brain’s default is to think of what could go wrong, so it’s important to override that by focusing on the possibility of success. Prompt yourself to think about what success looks like. Remind yourself of the times in the past that you’ve played well under pressure. Like any “big” event in your life, you’ll benefit from rehearsing it. Using mental imagery or “visualization for golf”, you can get an immersive experience that can create the feelings of pressure and you can run through in your mind how you want to behave and what actions you’ll take.
Change your perspective on pressure – it’s a privilege! The greats of the game are able to embrace it and see it as an opportunity. If you can get past those feelings of discomfort you can use the energy to your advantage.

What's happening on the first day of the Ryder Cup at Whislting Straits between the United States and Europe? We have you covered from first tee shot to final putt.

Tom Felton, known for his portrayal of Draco Malfoy in the "Harry Potter" movies, collapsed while playing a celebrity golf exhibition Thursday at the Ryder Cup.

The foursomes for this weekend's Ryder Cup at Whistling Straits were announced on Thursday.

Tony Finau says this version of the U.S. Ryder Cup team will be different because it's a "whole new team" with "no scar tissue."

Brooks Koepka said his comments about the difficulties of Ryder Cup week, which caught the attention of former U.S. captain Paul Azinger, were given a negative spin.

The United States will enter the Ryder Cup as the betting favorite over the Europeans, and bettors are somewhat divided about which side will prevail at Whistling Straits in Wisconsin.

Which player will steal the show at the Ryder Cup? Will Steve Stricker give Brooks/Bryson a shot? And which side wins? We answer all the big Ryder Cup questions.

We all want improve our scores but we struggle to keep our focus as we play every round of golf. By now you must know that the most important shot in golf is your next one (Thank you Ben Hogan.) Unfortunately it takes about 3 great shots to par every holes. Yes, that would be 3 shots in a row on every hole. Unfortunately those miss-hits in the middle of your sequence don’t turn into Mulligans. I have found that your focus on hitting the fairway with your driver and hitting more Greens In Regulation (GIR) are critical for your success on every hole.

Rhythm and Direction Control
You may be able to hit further than others in your foursome but if you can’t hit the fairway or hit the ideal target for your next shot, your playing partners will usually take you down. You will never be successful in this game until you generate the following two (2) consistencies:

1/ Rhythm: Don’t let a burst of adrenaline spoil your rhythm. Consistent rhythm, at about an 85% swing speed, is so critical to allow time to shift your weight to your leading leg at the top of your swing. Think of it as “The PAUSE THAT REFRESHES”. Rushing at the top will kill your weight transfer and create an inconsistent impact. I use the mental words “1 and “ to give more time to add wrist lag and weight transfer at the top of my swing before I begin my down swing at the count of “2”.

Counting in your mind will slow down your backswing and give you time for the perfect position at the top.

2/ Draw or Fade Control: When you swing with the same rhythm, you should end up with a consistent draw or fade depending on the club that you are using. It is critical that you figure out when you will draw or fade with every club when practicing on the range. Of course sometimes our expected draw or fade turns into the dreaded straight shot. So make sure that you line-up properly to avoid trouble with any surprising straight shots.

U.S. Ryder Cup team member Collin Morikawa said he's ditched the bad habits that "crept in" after he kept playing with a tweaked muscle in his lower back following the Olympics. "I'm 100% healthy," he said.

The Europeans did their best to get the pro-United States crowd on their side with some green, yellow, white and, of course, cheese at Whistling Straits in Wisconsin.

Ian Poulter, who has a 14-6-2 career record entering his seventh Ryder Cup appearance, of which five were European wins, said it would mean "a little bit more" to beat the U.S. team at Whistling Straits as an underdog.

As golfers we typically don’t have very good awareness regarding how we are moving. We know what we should be doing, but we have a hard time executing the intended move. My explanation in the following video addresses one such situation. Watch…

A few notes:

I know this might sound contrary to what you’ve been trying to do for a long time, but consciously try to move forward and up through the strike

Feel that the trail shoulder makes a concerted “push” towards the target throughout the downswing

Something that has worked for my students and I has been to push off the trail foot on the way down into impact

The Ryder Cup is a different animal, which means you don't just look at the Official World Golf Rankings to put them in order -- which is why you'll find some lower (Rory McIlroy) and some higher (Jordan Spieth) than you might expect.

There is a contingency plan in place at the Ryder Cup in the event a player tests positive for the coronavirus and is unable to play in singles on Sunday: the "COVID Envelope."

In an effort to make sure his players "make it count" at the Ryder Cup this week, European captain Padraig Harrington assigned each player an historical number, stitched onto their bags, commemorating the rare accomplishment of making this team.

Despite a monthslong feud, Bryson DeChambeau said Tuesday that everything was "fine" between him and Brooks Koepka at the Ryder Cup this week.

Tiger Woods is jumping into the digital collectible craze. The golfer is offering thousands of NFTs through a company co-founded by Bucs quarterback Tom Brady in collaboration with Upper Deck.

Nearly every player who has made the Ryder Cup will insist that first tee shot is just different. But what do they mean? In their words, they tell you.

It started with a complaint about slow play, then snowballed into something much larger. Don't remember all the details? That's OK -- there have been a lot. We give a rundown of how we got here.