Golf the Mental Game

What is the Worst “Lie” in Golf?

Let us begin with a few myth busters, shall we.

Myths -
1) If you have a perfect golf swing you'll have a perfect game.

2) You can buy a better game

3) Technology has lowered golfers scores



Most every golfer subscribes to these beliefs in one way or another. The entire golf instruction, training aid, and golf club making market bear this out. Golf magazines, tv shows, and article after article offer tips, fixes, cures and virtually every imaginable training aid conceivable to craft the perfect swing. All with the pretense of helping you play better golf.

Well has it worked? Let's take a look...

In 1978 75% of all golfers never broke 90 - so barely 25% ever shot in the 80's.

In 2004, a full 26 years later, after the advent of 460CC drivers with 45" multi-kick point shafts, cavity back irons, balls that prevent hooks and slices, and world class instruction from the smartest minds in the buz, that number has been increased by a wopping 3%!

Now a full 28% of all golfers have broken 90. But hey, let's cut the industry some slack, there's only been 90+ billion spent on golf equipment over that time! That doesn't include lessons or training aids! All that technology and collective wisdom and this is how far we've come...impressive, huh.

Seriously, any other business that produced numbers like these for their customers would be out of business. But the golfing public has an insatiable appetite that an ever growing horde of manufacturers and marketers are more than willing to feed.

Ok, do you want to pay me now or later for the moral booster? What? This doesn't get you pumped about your prospects of dropping your handicap by 10 strokes by buying the next training aid?

You mean to tell me you're not going to do that $2,500 re-shafting, ball changing, loft angle adjusting, launch angle increasing, club-fitting session you had booked for next Saturday? Hmmm, was it something I said?

As golfers we are bombarded with instruction tips, training options, and product offerings that'll have your head spinning faster than Paris Hilton after swizzeling a half dozen Crantini's.

Where's the moral you ask?

So where's the moral of this myth busting story? Do we all just give up trying to improve? Absolutely not. We all need to fulfill that important human craving of getting better at what we love. Yet where we place our attention to achieve this goal is what has to change. Our core beliefs about what causes improvement should be based on reality, not myths. They should empower us, not encourage wishful thinking and needlessly empty our wallets.

"So if it isn't gear that makes us better maybe it's lessons," did I hear you say? Certainly lessons are an asset and obviously accelerate your skill development yet they're not absolutely essential either. Ask Lee Trevino, Jim Furyk, Chris Dimarco and countless others who are self taught. And I think we can all agree that there isn't much "pretty" about any of their swings.

Do you think any of them were intent on crafting the perfect swing? Yet if we look at things from a different perspective maybe they do have perfect swings. Why? Because they work! Golf ain't a beauty contest.

In the final analysis there is only one area that promotes the quickest and most lasting change in any golfers game. And what's interesting about it is this is the only area that doesn't cost a penny to use, yet almost no-one uses it.

That area is the often quoted 6 inches between your ears! Your mind. The mental game. Using your mind in a strategic, methodical and focused way is the surest method of lowering your scores. Period.

If you want to run out and spend $500 on a new driver and another $1000 or more on irons to make you play better, feel free. You might be that one in a million that changes the statistics. I realize we'll all buy nice gear once in a while but we can't buy it with a belief that this will seriously lower our scores.

Needless to say, this article won't be sponsored by Taylor Made or Nike any time soon. I don't help sell much golf equipment! No, my approach to lowering your handicap, improving your swing, and increasing your satisfaction leans towards inner change before outer gains.

True improvement only begins when we first assess where we are in relation to our goal. Then we must take an inventory of all the things that have actually produced measurable results . Which means no denial! We can't hope to move our game to the next level by hanging on to a lie, now can we? If you do then that's what I call a real "hanging lie". And that is the worst lie in golf.

Each and every one of us has the innate ability to tap our own potential and transform any part of our lives, including golf. We just require the right road map and a good compass to keep us on target.

It's time to wake up and smell the napalm or the myths that cloud our brains will keep us believing we can buy a better game.

i know what you mean, i love it when i get to play with people, especially the ones who are bad putters, and say that if they would only by a better putter like an odyssey marxman or something that theyd probably be down to under 30 putts per round. the best part is when they actually buy it and still putt the same.

Or worse . . .

I completely agree with you (nice post by the way). I can go out and hit 8 or so GIRs with maybe 6-7 pars out of that and still hit in the 90's. I'm like a light switch, I can par 3 or 4 holes in a row and then double or triple bogey the next 3-4. It's all in my head (and my short game, must actually start applying that David Pelz's book I got).

I must admit that I suffer from the Seve Ballesteros at times, if I can go for the glory shot I'll give it a try... more often that not I'll end up in a bunker or over the green but hey part of the fun are those couple of glory shots per round that work out

I have to work on my course management a bit, which as you say is between the ears.

alot of people believe this stuff, but if your advancing in equipment and youve had irons that are 30 years old you will lose strokes on your game. Its a simple fact that technology has helped a little bit, but on the other hand yes it is all mental.

I partially agree. I think the single largest improvement to my game was the investment in lessons. I signed up with GolfGalaxy and their local pro here in Edmond, OK. It cost me $130 for three video taped lessons that were then e-mailed to me. I have played for 16 years in the low 100's.

I had the worst push slice and I was too stubborn and constantly tried to fix it myself -- which consisted of me almost facing dead left to hit somewhat straight.

In the first lesson he recognized that I had a weak grip and made a couple of other small tweaks that immediately started me hitting dead straight with a slight draw.

I don't get into all the golf gadgets but I try to keep an open mind about the mechanics of my game. If I start having old items pop into my game I go back and watch my video lessons.

I would imagine that if you took those polled in the 80's that most of them have seen improvement in their games. I would suspect that the slight increase (instead of a huge increase) is due to 2 factors:

1. there are millions more that play now and I would bet that more than 75% of the beginning golfers don't shoot under 90. So that brings down the overall % a little, and

2. courses are much longer than they were 20 years ago, which means that even if you hit the ball farther and straighter, you are playing a harder course.

Technology is a major contributor to good players staying good later on in life. Without it they would be doing so much worse due to longer holes and shorter drives. You also need to figure that those numbers are inflated with "weekend hackers", some of which don't bother to get better through practice. But I think golf is a physical game (not talking brute strength), if you can train your body to do the same shot everytime, all the time, the mental part will come with. Youll have confidence in your shots and find yourself scoring lower.

I'm not trying to be smart here but to me confidence is a mental game. But, yes it is a catch-22.

Well for humans its a catch 22, because if you were a machine that could perform the same swing everytime there wouldn't be this confidence factor. But the main reason I stress the physical is that no one is physically perfect since you can always get better in some respect.

It's true, people say if i had a new Titleist D2 i could hit farther and drop there handicap by 3-4 shots. Then they get a new driver and they slice it or hook it worse than they did with there old driver.

My golf coach recommended i get a new driver when i get my handicap below 24, a decent not top of the range putter when your below 28, top range putter when below 18 or so, new irons when your 12 or below, new wedges when you get new irons. Some people you see have an r7 driver, Mizuno irons, vokey wedges, scotty cameron putter & when you ask them what there off they say 27 or something, the'd probaly be better off with a set of top-flites or dunlops that are decently offset & have high lofts.

Plenty of those guys out there. And you're right, they would be better off with a set of Top Flites and a Ram driver. Develop a swing and then get clubs accordingly. I'm still waiting for my swing to develop so I can do the same.

While a quality swing is important for quality clubs, as long as you have your basic fundamental swing. Posture, grip, swing speed, swing path. You can get fitted for clubs. Bad clubs can also hinder you from performing better, since you have to adjust your swing for those clubs. Such as myself I had clubs that were about an inch and a half to short for me, which caused me to lose my posture. Very hard time fixing that.

I feel that I have made a breakthrough in regards to my mental game. I normally shoot between 85-88. My round usually consists of pars, bogeys, a couple double bogeys and maybe one or two birdies.

However, I was thinking about how I play and I decided that if I only treated pars as I do a birdie, then I might shoot a lower score. It kept me from being too aggressive and for the most part too overly optimistic (yeah, I think I can flop it over the sand trap with 3 feet of green to work with, and other such stupid shots).

I went out playing as if scoring a par was as good as scoring a birdie. If a birdie comes my way, awesome, if not, so be it.

The results? A 77.

1 birdie
11 pars
6 bogeys.

By not pressing for birdies and playing over my head, the game was filled with a lot less anxiety and agitation. I hit my driver, then hit to the middle or front of the green, 2 putted and walked off happy.

I know a guy who is still learning the game, this maybe his 3 rd year playing. He doesn't really grasp the consept of speed or lining up a putt. Eventhough he doesn't take to the time to set up for a putt, he bought a $300 Scotty Cameron. It is truly funny.

Tools Don't make a good mechanic, but I have to admit I can hit my ping rapture hybrid 10 times better then my ping 3 iron !

Is that all mental ? maybe , but I will take that advantage anyday.

Ray

Fantastic post. I am with you 100% I catch myself sometimes getting ready to do something stupid, and ask, "What in your past makes you think you can hit a 210 yard shot out of the rough, over the lake and stop it on the green?????" Just punch it down the fairway, get the next one on the gree, and try to make the par putt. The worst case is a bogey.

Smart golf.

While I'm sure the original asertions are true, it's important to note that this is for everyone who has ever played golf. If you use the USGA's statistics on handicaps, then roughly 20% of players with a handicap have a single digit index. This would indicate that 20% of AVID golfers probably have shot in the 70's.

I agree about the myths of perfect swing, buying new equipment etc.I also believe lessons are probably taken most often by avid golfers, and thus do improve substantially.