This would have to be the most important part of the game of golf. It is great to have a good short game, fantastic course management and be able to stroke your putts like Tiger Woods, but it all amounts to nothing if you are not in the correct frame of mind. I know a number of players, be it amateurs or professionals, who hit the ball well when practicing, but when they step onto the first tee everything seems to change. Why? The first thing that comes to mind is that you are not practicing correctly. What I is that 90% of golfers are aimlessly hitting shots on the range. When you get on the course there are hazards which come into our eye line, be it trees, water, bunkers, and even out of bounds fences. Normally, when we are on the range, we are relaxed and just hitting the balls “down there somewhere”, which makes difference to the way we hit the ball. You need to start picking targets on the range and start visualising where you want the ball to go. It is pointless to just hit shots without picking a specific target. When you get onto the course, the way to block out all of the hazards, is to pick a target, and visualize your ball going to the target with “soft eyes”, then make a practice swing that would feel like the way
you want to hit the shot. When I talk about “soft eyes”, I want you to look at the target relaxed and happy, whereas some people really look at the target with an aggressive focus which makes you have “hard eyes”. Hard eyes make you become tense and anxious. You need to feel relaxed and calm when playing a shot. The most common thing I hear from golfer when they hit a bad shot is, “I rushed it, and I should have done…..” This means the player did not clearly think about the shot and the player was not calm about the shot they were about to play. o simplify it all, when practicing, work on visualizing your ball going to a target, calm your mind when about to make a choice of club and shot, and be positive about the shot you are about to play. You will notice when you are focused on a
target, you do not notice the hazards. This makes a big difference This is just a slight insight into the mental game. Feel free to ask me any questions. I am more than happy to help.
