How to Control Your Mind in Putting

Putting is a game within the game of golf. Your golfing success depends on your putts, and your putts are affected by your mind.

A good putter knows how to control the mind by focusing on something small and simple.

In good putting, you clear all the clutters in your mind by narrowing your mental focus as much as possible. Learn to empty your mind of instructional thoughts from books, fellow golfers, or your coach. Just let your subconscious mind take over your strokes. It is like a runner on the track would let the subconscious mind take over the breathing to increase the oxygen intake; a runner does not have to consciously breathe harder in order to get more oxygen into the lungs to win the race.

So neither should you consciously focus on your strokes. Instead, just focus on the target.

For the same reason, if you worry less about scores or competitions, you would putt much better - you might even just roll the ball right into the hole in a perfect putt.

In good putting, you must realize that harboring on thoughts of the outcome of your putts will not help you roll the ball to the intended target. Learn to develop a mental discipline to shut off those conscious thoughts from your mind. In your mind's eye, you should see only a mental picture of the hole or your target.

Tiger Woods' father was said to have trained his son while he was still a very young kid to roll a ball to a hole, and then roll it to the hole again with his eyes closed. That was how Tiger Woods received his training in developing his mental golf.

A good putter not only focuses on the target, but also narrows down the target. Therefore, a good putter's target may not simply be the hole. Remember, the smaller the target is, the better control your brain and your body may have in getting the ball to the target of your choice. Learn to select a smaller target, such as a broken blade of grass, or a tiny edge of the hole. Your brain works better when the target is smaller, and your brain subconsciously has better control of your body's functions, especially your muscles and reflexes.

You may have one of the best strokes of your life when you see the target, and your mind simply reacts to it with little interference from your conscious thought.

In any sport, gaining control of the situation is important. Some people believe that you must try the hardest in order to control the situation. However, in putting, trying your hardest may not be equivalent to doing your best.

Why is that so?

That is because putting requires spontaneity, and spontaneity is controlling the mind and hence the response, but without striving your hardest to control the resulting action. Essentially, spontaneity is focusing on the process, and never on the outcome. In this way, your efforts may become "natural" and "effortless." As a result, your strokes may become more confident, free from doubt or hesitation. In putting, confidence means overcoming any unconscious attempt using excessive muscular strength to steer the shot to the target in the swing. Confidence means using your conscious mind to remember only the good shots and discarding the bad ones. Confidence also means putting the outcome of a shot in perspective - golf is only a game and whatever the outcome may be, it is not the end of the world. Finally, confidence means staying in the present moment. The past has nothing to do with the present, and only the present is real to you. Make the most of what you can do at the present moment, and the future is beyond your control. When you control your mind, you control your confidence, and hence you control the game.

Copyright (c) 2008 Stephen Lau