Mental Edge

Hoping this is the right place for this, but how about some tips on staying "sharp" through entire round. Fundamentally, I feel I am shooting the best I ever have, but my biggest problem is a few blow up holes where I lose my train of thought and end up making a poor shot. For example, last night in league I pulled a 3i off the tee on a par 5, after punching down the fairway, I was left with a 120 yd pitch. There was about a 5 minute delay on which I completely lost focus and ended up taking a double bogey on that hole. After that it was really tough to find my momentum again as I began to string some bogeys together. So how do you guys keep your mental intensity up and continue a run of holes when it's so easy to fall into autopilot mode after stringing together some good holes? This has always been an issue for me and lately, has been holding me back from achieving the next level of my golf game.

I have no idea if this is the "right" approach or not, and its probably pretty individual....when I get into the situation where I am waiting on my next shot I actually kind of turn my mind off a bit from the shot at hand.  I look around the course, breathe in the fresh air, get a drink of water, enjoy the fact that I am out golfing and not doing something else, maybe enjoy a bit of conversation with a fellow player....then when its my turn I go into my routine for making a good shot.  I used to get impatient about waiting and it would take me out of the game mentally, or I would try to concentrate on my shot the whole time but it was too long for me.

A good pre-shot routine helps. I know some folks who even use a post shot routine.  It's my opinion a golfer can't stay focused for the entire round of golf. Sure they can look at what's in front of them between shots, and decide their best course of action, but to think they can stay focused on their swing for the whole 3-4 hours the golfer is on the course is not going to happen...most of the time. . I don't even think most of the professionals can do it. Just to many distractions between shots.

Of course when one is in the "zone" where everything is clicking just right, then perhaps during that period time the golfer is focusing correctly for longer periods of time. Problem is, even getting into the "zone"  is not something that happens all the time.

I have always thought it was easier to stay focused for a shorter period of time, than for hours at a time in anything I ever did. The end result always turned out better. I mentioned a post shot routine above. Never thought about it, but I have one I suppose. For me it's forgetting about my last shot, good or bad.