The Mental Side of Golf

I recently read a short story about Jack Nicklaus. He misses a short putt, and then a fan says to him, "Sorry you missed that one Jack." So then Jack says, "I didn’t miss the putt. It just didn’t go in."

What I believe he was trying to say, was that how in his mind he made the putt, because he applied the mental side of golf first. He saw the ball go in the hole, before he actually took his putt.

Having the correct mental mindset should be the first step in your game of golf. Before your body does anything you want it to, you first had to think about what you wanted it to do. Even a simple task such as walking, requires your mind to calculate a number of things, like how far each leg needs to move, where each foot is going to land, and where your body weight needs to be distributed, so that you maintain your balance. Taking a golf swing or putt is no different, your mind needs to calculate the whole process every time.

Take a moment before each one of your shots to setup your mental game. Relax yourself, and take a deep breath. Clear your mind of any thoughts you may have.

Visualization is key when starting out with the right mental mindset. Go ahead and see perfectly clear, in your mind, where the ball is going to go. Don’t focus on remembering your faults in golf. If your shots tend to go to the left, don’t think about that while visualizing. In your mind, see the ball gliding exactly where you want it to go, every time.

What you are doing is training your mind. Your body is going to try to mimic what your mind sees. Focusing on your golf shortcomings, is only going to keep you continually repeating those mistakes.

Once you have correctly visualized your shot, you need to gain a complete feeling of your shot, doing exactly what you want it to do. Create a feeling of complete accuracy.

Finally, keep your mind focused. Keep that shot in your mind’s eye, and keep the feeling that comes with it, completely, until you have made your shot.

To sum up the mental side of golf, just remember the following four things. Relax yourself, visualize the shot, feel the shot, and maintain the visualization and feeling until the shot has been made.

Obviously, one important thing to always remember is that the ball isn’t always going to go exactly where you want every time. When this happens, remember to simply move on to the next shot, with the same positive attitude and mindset, and don’t worry about it. Clear your mind of negative thoughts, and focus only on the positive.

Remember to always start your game, and each one of your shots, with the mental game first. By keeping this part of your golf strategy, and continually practicing, you will be sure to become a better golfer, with more accurate shots, in no time at all.