Golf Mental Training Aids: By JA Francis

What's on your mind?

The game of golf is a game of skill and endurance, but there is also a mental component to the game that can separate a successful round of golf from a disaster.

There are several Golf Mental Training Aids if you feel you are throwing your shots away because your mental game is poor.

I'll show you one in particular that I think is especially good. I think it's so good, it's on my top picks list.

You can't afford the luxury of a negative thought.

Golf requires so much focus on what you are doing that even the slightest of negative thoughts or distracting worries can have a dramatic effect on the quality of your game. Doubt seeps into your mind, even more so if you are still a beginner. Your body tenses, you get nervous, jittery, and the next thing you know the ball has disappeared in the rough. I guess its a similar feeling to stage fright. Yep, golf can be this stressful.

The ability to clearly think through each and every shot, without becoming distracted or frustrated, is critical throughout the course of a five-hour round of golf. Most important, you have to perform self-therapy several times per round to keep your mind both clear and focused.

Focusing on the now

Zen philosophy says you should try to be inside the now.This means you should clear all thoughts from your head and focus on the task at hand. Do not converse with yourself in your head;your thoughts should not be about work, yesterday, the love of your life, or what you will buy when you win the lottery.Your mind should concentrate on visualizing the shot you are about to take, feel the wind, look at the distance, imagine the best result, literally imagine the swing going perfectly and the ball landing where you want it to land and then let your body take the shot.Your mental game is every bit as important as your physical game.Don't over think it just let yourself feel it by focusing on the now. Look into golf mental training aids if you need them.

The most important shot is this one.

The first, and perhaps most important thing to remember is that each shot must stand on its own. There is nothing you can do about the last bad shot that you hit, so do not dwell on it. Conversely, you shouldn't think too many shots, or holes, ahead. When there are too many variables it becomes overwhelming. You must play with the mindset that the most important shot of your entire round is the one you are preparing to hit. If you fully focus your attention on it you will give it your best shot.

It is important not to dwell on bad shots, but you should take ownership of your mistakes. Bad breaks can arise that are outside of your control, but you shouldn’t be upset that a ball took a bad carom off of a tree, rather you should just accept that a good shot on your part would not have hit the tree in the first place. Don't take it out on the club or your friends. There is no need to go through the five phases of death – anger, denial, bargaining, regret and acceptance – take a shortcut straight to “acceptance”, and begin to focus on your next shot.

Analyse your mistakes then let them go.

If you do hit a bad shot, you should spend the time walking or riding to your next shot thinking about exactly what it was that you did to hit the shot poorly. Once you have analysed your mistake, make a mental note of it, so you won’t make the same mistake again in the future. Throughout the course of a round of golf, a golfer should also make mental notes of skills that he can work on at the practice range in between rounds of play. Having done this, zen yourself back to now and focus on your next shot.

Finally, remember to have fun. A day at the golf course is a long one, there is plenty that can go wrong from the very first tee box, but stay focused on why you are there – to enjoy the day and play a game. It is a fun game to play, and even more fun when you are playing the game well, so remember to put in the hours of practice required to improve your game. If you have not taken the appropriate measures to prepare yourself for success, then you should lower your expectations of your performance, and play just to enjoy the day with good company. For information on putting golf drills and the driving range see those pages.