1. Attitude is worth more strokes than your swing- Give me a person who thinks positives vs. a person who swings well every day. I promise the person who thinks clearly and positively all the time is going to average a better score than the person who swings well but has a poor attitude. A huge key to good golf is always believing in yourself and being very positive. Thinking, at every moment the best shot of the day is going to be the next one. If you happen to hit a poor shot, you actually grow in confidence because you know that you are only going to hit a few bad shots per round. If you think about that for a minute, it'll sound silly. Growing more confident after hitting a bad shot?! That sounds impossible, but if you frame it in your mind the right way, it is not impossible and it is actually not that hard. If you were to keep stats of your rounds for any length of time at all you would find that you, on average hit (x) number of bad shots and (x) number of perfect shots. Whatever those numbers are, is your business. You do hit perfect shots but, after you do, you always say something like, "Well at least I had one today"! That is the absolute wrong way to think about things. But, lets say you hit 8 really bad shots a round and 4 really great shots a round. I am saying you must get to the point mentally that when you hit a bad shot, you smile knowing you are 1/8th of the way done hitting bad shots today! But, furthermore when you hit a great shot you truly, wholeheartedly believe the amount of great shots are limitless.
2. "No matter how poorly you play, there is always someone you can beat, and no matter how well you play, there is always someone that can beat you" -Harvey Penick
This is all about managing your expectations. Golf should be a fun event no matter your skill level. We are not all going to play in the final group on Sunday, the reality is most of us are not going to break 100. But, we can perform better if we do not let our bad shots or lack of skill get in the way. You can not perform your best if you go into a round of golf expecting and hoping to shoot even par if you have never broke 90. You need to manage your expectations. Additionally, very skilled players are going to be bested on certain days. Some days you just have to tip your cap to the guy next to you and take the loss like a gentleman.
3. Play the course, not the competitor- Too many people get caught up in trying to play against someone in their group. Whether it is someone that drives it farther, hits it straighter or chips better than you, you cannot get caught up in trying to play their game. You can only play your game. Take a mental inventory of what you are good it and what you need help with. If you can identify a few areas you can improve that is great. If you can identify where your best areas are you can really make the game easy on yourself. For example, lets say you have a great short game. You get on the 1st tee and hit one that comes to rest on the left edge of the fairway. You get to your ball and see that the pin is tucked in the back left beyond a bunker. A good way to think about the second shot is to miss to the open area. Either you hit the fat part of the green (Middle to right side) or you miss the green to the right and are able to use your strength of chipping to make a par. Most amateur get into a lot of trouble by taking the tucked pin on and ending up short siding themselves and leaving a very tricky shot. Doing this brings double bogey or worse into play. If you play a smart second shot to the open area you leave yourself a very simple next shot. You now have par in your sights and will walk away from the hole with now worse than bogey. Find what you are good at on the golf course and try to put yourself in that position as many times as possible!
This is all about managing your expectations. Golf should be a fun event no matter your skill level. We are not all going to play in the final group on Sunday, the reality is most of us are not going to break 100. But, we can perform better if we do not let our bad shots or lack of skill get in the way. You can not perform your best if you go into a round of golf expecting and hoping to shoot even par if you have never broke 90. You need to manage your expectations. Additionally, very skilled players are going to be bested on certain days. Some days you just have to tip your cap to the guy next to you and take the loss like a gentleman.
3. Play the course, not the competitor- Too many people get caught up in trying to play against someone in their group. Whether it is someone that drives it farther, hits it straighter or chips better than you, you cannot get caught up in trying to play their game. You can only play your game. Take a mental inventory of what you are good it and what you need help with. If you can identify a few areas you can improve that is great. If you can identify where your best areas are you can really make the game easy on yourself. For example, lets say you have a great short game. You get on the 1st tee and hit one that comes to rest on the left edge of the fairway. You get to your ball and see that the pin is tucked in the back left beyond a bunker. A good way to think about the second shot is to miss to the open area. Either you hit the fat part of the green (Middle to right side) or you miss the green to the right and are able to use your strength of chipping to make a par. Most amateur get into a lot of trouble by taking the tucked pin on and ending up short siding themselves and leaving a very tricky shot. Doing this brings double bogey or worse into play. If you play a smart second shot to the open area you leave yourself a very simple next shot. You now have par in your sights and will walk away from the hole with now worse than bogey. Find what you are good at on the golf course and try to put yourself in that position as many times as possible!
3. Fear is the most crippling swing flaw- (seizing the butterflies) Every great golfer has nerves, heck every golfer gets nerves. Whether its just hitting the first tee shot of a Saturday nassau or its playing for millions of dollars on the PGA tour, you are going to have nerves. The thing with these nerves is that you can embrace them or let them cripple your performance. Nerves can actually elevate your performance if you embrace the nerves. Embracing the nerves can be as simple as knowing you are nervous and smiling your way through it. Being nervous means you are on the brink of performing your best. Normally golfers are not nervous when tapping in for a triple bogey, however you are nervous that you are going to leave that eagle putt short. Its the thought that you are going to do something great that brings on the nerves. So next time you get into that situation and feel the nerves coming on, embrace them, smile your way through it and know you are on the brink of doing something pretty cool. Think about all the practice and all the time spent hitting that shot over and over again. If you have practiced the shot, you know you can do it, all you have to do it complete it again.
4. Have a pre-shot routine and stick to it- Having a solid pre shot routine is another way to not only get yourself back to a comfort zone but also embrace some of the nerves you are feeling. Golf is a very social game and that is a reason so many people love playing it with friends. However there is a time where the game becomes serious and you should focus, the great news is that it is only for around 30 seconds before you hit your shot. Whatever you do for your pre-shot routine, do it before each and every shot. From the time you grab the club and know the yardage, you need to get into a zone where you only focus on what you want to accomplish. Pick your target, visualize the shot you want to hit, take your practice swing and hit it. This doesn't give you time to worry, fear, and be scared of what you are doing. You have to consciously make yourself only pick your target, visualize the shot and then take a practice swing. Lastly, hit the shot as best as you can. Once you get to where your shot landed, do it again.
5. Focus on what you want to happen, not what you don't want to happen- Another easy way to play your best is to only focus on where you want to hit the ball. Never ever tell yourself what not to do. Your mind will not hear "Don't hit it left" it will only hear "Left". If you have a tee shot that has always been difficult for you try telling yourself exactly where you want to hit it. Physically tell yourself, " I want to hit my ball up the right side of the fairway". Then focus on that and perform the shot. You will be way more successful if you focus on where you want to go and not where you don't want to go. There is a simple quote that I like to use to remember this, "Play golf to play great, not to not play poorly".
6. Staying in the present- To play your absolute best you need to be in the present, you hear successful athletes talk about this all the time. They are going to take it "One play at a time" or "One game at a time" what they are doing it reminding themselves to stay in the present. On the golf course you will never play your best if you allow yourself to worry about shots that are upcoming or shots that you have already hit. If you step on the first tee box and are worrying about the tee shot on #7 you will not be focused on the shots you need to hit before that, and when you get to that tee box you will be a box of nerves. It is an easy way to psych yourself out before you even start playing. The only shot you can control is the shot you are hitting. You can't fix the shot you hit before and you can worry yourself about shots you are going to play in the future. Focus on the present and the shot you have in front of you, its the only one you can control.
8. Get away from number based results and more into the feeling and process- This mental strategy is very simple. Stop worrying about the actual numbers you make on each hole and take inventory of the feeling of each shot. If you can get yourself to constantly have the same feeling of each shot the physical numbers will take care of themselves. Golfers can easy paralyze themselves with the thought that a putt is for par, or I need two pars on the way in to shot my lowest round this month. If you can get yourself to only focus on the feeling of each shot and trying to repeat that feeling you will notice your scores coming down.
9. The freedom of not giving a shit- This final mental thought is, to me, the most important. Once you have been able to accomplish all of these mental thoughts and get yourself in the right frame of mind. Before you hit the shot you have to convince yourself that you do not care at all where the shot goes. Of course you want to try your absolute best and you want to shoot great scores but, you have to not get in your own way before you hit the shot. Right before you take the club back tell yourself you do not care where the shot goes. Free yourself from trying to aim each shot. Just allow yourself to swing and see where it goes. This is the reason most people hit the ball great on the driving range and not so well once they get on the course. Its because you do not care where the ball goes on the driving range because you know you can pull another ball over and try it again. You need to take that mentality out to the course as well. If you can make yourself believe that you are not worried about where the ball is going you will in essence, free yourself up to play better golf!
These mental thoughts are all very easy to accomplish but they do take some practice, just like your putting stroke or full swing takes practice. Next time you go out to play or practice, choose one or two of these mental thoughts to practice and focus only on trying to accomplish that task. You will be surprised how much your body is freed up to play at its highest potential. Remember golf is about having fun and challenging yourself. Enjoy it, play well!
These mental thoughts are all very easy to accomplish but they do take some practice, just like your putting stroke or full swing takes practice. Next time you go out to play or practice, choose one or two of these mental thoughts to practice and focus only on trying to accomplish that task. You will be surprised how much your body is freed up to play at its highest potential. Remember golf is about having fun and challenging yourself. Enjoy it, play well!
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