On weeks like a Major Championship, part of the challenge is adopting a gameplan and being comfortable with it.
Among the morning wave in the first round at The 154th Open, Robert MacIntyre chose to be conservative rather than bold and was very effective in carding a three-under 67.
In what were benign conditions, the Scot went about his business in a very deliberate manner as he elected to play irons off several holes for position and trust his approach play and putter.
The strategy paid dividends as MacIntyre found 13 of 18 greens in regulation, while he holed 127 feet of putts - comfortably the most of any player by the mid-afternoon on Thursday.
“It was a test of discipline and almost acceptance,” he said.
“I probably took the club off the tee which then left a fairly long shot in on some of them, but my job was to get it on the fairway, stay out of these pot bunkers."
MacIntyre mixed four birdies - including two to start his day - with a solitary bogey at the eighth, but his patience was tested right from the off by a drone flying overhead as he prepared for his opening tee shot.
He added: "I knew from the practice days this was going to be a real test of my patience, real test of my mind, and I thought I done a great job."
MacIntyre came into the final men's Major of the year on the back of a confidence-enhancing tie for third at the Genesis Scottish Open.
Such is his experience and record at links venues, including three top-ten finishes in six Open appearances, the World Number 15 arrived in Southport among the pre-tournament favourites.
But having not played at Birkdale when it last hosted The Open in 2017, MacIntyre is in no doubt that he will have to be at his best to maintain a title challenge as the week progresses.
“It's one of the hardest links courses I've ever played,” he added after his great start.
"Just for the sheer fact of the positions of the pot bunkers on certain holes with the length of the hole."
Such is the firmness of the fairways, and how narrow they and several of the approaches to greens are, MacIntyre is primed for an on-course battle.
“I enjoy it when I've got a fight. I'm not just fighting the golf course, I'm fighting myself, I'm fighting with Mike [his caddie]," he said.
