Golf Technology Far East

How do I improve my Mental Game?

Golf is a game that is played on a five inch course - the distance between the ears. (Bobby Jones)

THE MENTAL GAME

Many golfers make the mistake of treating golf as a purely physical game. Nothing could be further from the truth.

While the main functions of making a shot might be physical in nature, the end result depends on what thought has gone into playing it.

Consider a simple chip shot from just off the green. It is relatively easy to practice the mechanics of the shot to obtain consistency of swing and accuracy in where you land the ball. The problem arises when you actually have to do the shot onto an actual green not the same practice green you have been using for two years. All of a sudden you are looking at a different picture with a lighting fast slope that is undulating and perhaps even taking an over hit pitch into a lake or bunker. Now it is about where you land the shot and how much it will roll or turn and not necessarily how far you pitch it.
Picturing the actual shot; the ball landing, jumping up, spinning, rolling forward, taking a curve etc is not easy to master. It needs skill, imagination and most of all the patience to actually stop and think about what is going to happen after you hit the ball.

The mental approach to a shot is never better observed than when a golfer faces a hazard. How many times have you hit a six or seven iron unerringly towards the marker on a practice ground with never a moments thought. Stand on a tee with a small lake or pond between you and the green and you just know you are going to top the shot and go for a swim. Even worse is when the pond or lake if to the right or left of the fairway ... here comes the hook or the slice.

My own golf club Ashley Wood in Dorset, England has typical examples of holes that can change a scorecard. Golfers who have been striking the ball straight and long arrive at the 10th hole which has a tee with woods on the left and right. All of a sudden these straight driving golfers are suddenly pushing their drives into the trees on the right or developing a hook or pull that leaves them in the trees on the left. Similarly, on the 14th hole that has woods on the right everyone finds themselves hitting the ball way out to the left onto the parallel 15th fairway to keep away from the trees.

The question you have to ask is why do I suddenly hook or slice on this particular hole when I have been playing straight down the middle for the rest of the round.

Normally the answer lies in your frame of mind when you are about to play the shot. If you do not adopt a positive approach and picture a successful conclusion to the shot then it is nearly certain that tenseness and stress will creep in to your swing. Picture a positive outcome (really picture the shot that you want to see) and you are more likely to relax and play a good shot. Not only are you picturing a positive outcome but you are putting yourself into a positive frame of mind.

THINK ABOUT IT....IT ONLY TAKES A MOMENT BEFORE THE SHOT AND YOU KNOW IT MAKES SENSE.