The Golfers Mind
"The inner game has always been the last frontier in golf. Why? Because the source of all excellence is within, and because that's usually the last place we look for it."
Timothy Gallwey
The Inner Game of Golf
Aim & Alignment Series
The Golfers Mind
Improve Your Mental Focus in Golf for Added
Consistency, Better Shot Making and More
Golfing Fun!
OK let's have a look at how to improve mental focus in your golf game. This is the key to playing from a state of relaxed flow as it is in many ways the doorway that can lead into the flow state. Being able to focus down and get completely absorbed in your shot, allowing the mind body to work without conscious thought.
You will know when you are fully focusing by the fact that you are completely “into your golf target” and nothing interrupts your train of thought. If you think about a noise somewhere or the consequences of a bad shot, you are not focusing on the shot at hand.
Lets put it this way. Your body goes where your mind leads so make sure your mind is where you want your body to go. In terms of the golf ball you do not want to hit down at it. You want to send the golf ball to your chosen target, so you must get your body to move in a way that propels the ball to the target. To do this, get your mind on the target and let your unconscious mind move your body and the ball to that point on the golf course where you want the ball to finish.
If it’s a drive, focus on a small piece of grass, perhaps a slightly different shade than the rest, where you want the ball to stop. Imagine the ball flying there, landing, bouncing and rolling out to your precise point. If it’s a putt, put your mind in the hole, after all that’s what you are trying to do with golf, get the ball in the hole.
Remember: Where your mind is focused, your body will move to.
Remember: What you focus on, you get more of.
Think about the shot that you want to hit, not the one you are afraid of hitting. If you are worried about fluffing a chip shot, chances are you will. If you are nervous about slicing it out of bounds, you may find you do it all too often. If you are nervous about distance control on a putt, you may find yourself three putting a lot.
All very annoying isn’t it? And yet in a way it’s perfect! Because you are actually doing what you are thinking about, just not what you want to do. So this is the classic example of you get more of what you are focused/thinking of.
To get more good shots, keep your mind fully absorbed, focused, into your target while imagining in as much vivid detail of how the ball will travel to give you WHAT YOU WANT – must be what you think about.
The mental game of golf is a large and fascinating subject and compared to making
physical Bio-
Despite the fact that there is much to learn about the mental game, if you just practice and implement these few but very significant techniques you have learned in this article, you WILL get great benefit from them in enjoyment, shot making and the lower scores at the bottom of your card.
Wishing you Blue Skies and 65’s.
Mark.
