Needed: mental game advice

[Bourbon and Coke]

My method is a little simplistic, but it may help:

Before every swing, identify simple, attainable goals.

On the range, aim for a target. On the course, pick something pertinent (the 150 yard stick off the tee, maybe.)

There is no sense in judging your performance on your ability to make shots you can't make. Keep your goals simple: get the ball out of the fairway bunker, inside 100 yards. Keep this punch under the trees.

If you focus on one meaningful, attainable goal, you'll hit far more successful shots. Your score will decrease. When you feel more confident in hitting simple, meaningful goals, you can begin judging yourself based on more risky endeavours.

What I have found is that simple goals like "hit this shot straight" have begun giving way to "land this ball on the green" and I no longer worry about hitting straight. It becomes natural because my confidence builds.

[hipcheck4u]

Thanks to everyone for so much feedback on this subject. I played again this morning and shot 111. I was playing on a course I have not played before and didn't have very high expectations because the last two rounds I played on new-to-me courses I shot 126 and 120. I was satisfied with my score today because I was in control mentally for the whole round and focused on each shot, rather than each hole. When I caught myself trying to count how many strokes I had made to that point, I immediately stopped my thought process and worked on getting the best out of the next shot. By the way, I had more fun than I had on a golf course in a few weeks.

[Mr.Buckethead]

My 2 cents.


Quit hunting for birdies. Hell, at your handicap, quit hunting for pars. Learn to treat bogey as a birdie. Every time you make a bogey, celebrate as if you just made a birdie. If you treat bogey like a real reward, you will start to make smarter decisions on the course and will not press as much.

Once you start shooting in the 90's, begin to treat par like a birdie. When I keep this in mind, I play so much smarter and shoot so much lower scores. In fact, the first time I treated par like a birdie, I shot a 77. Every time I got a par, I gave myself a little fist pump and a smile. Next thing you know the pars start rolling in and the MAJOR mistakes/errors were avoided.

[hipcheck4u]

My 2 cents.

That is great advice. I have dabbled with this strategy but never fully committed to it for a full round. I have a tendency to avoid "taking my medicine" when I find trouble and try to advance the ball to the green rather than punching out to the fairway. If I do as you say, I will give myself that extra shot in order to get back on track and cut my losses. Thanks!

[RickPro]

what you need to do is not to focus on golf. focus on other things. like strike up a conversation about cars, boats, sports, whatever. this will help you not focus on golf and let loose and relax and play because there will be no pressure.
just approach your ball and let it rip.
the less you focus on the golf, the better you do.

try that and let us know how you do.

[Kevin04]

I was a 35 handicap last year and now it's coming down although alot of this has to do with me learning alot of basics of golf, I only started playing reguarly last year and had no idea about ball position, posture, the mechanics of the swing etc and I have worked hard and can feel my golf improving, I'm going to have a real go again at the handicap in August and a big goal of mine is to get it down to near 20.

A huge improvement in my golf game was my mental attitude, I've never been one to throw down clubs or shout on the course but I used to beat myself up about hitting a stupid shot and if i did poorly on a hole and scored a 8/9 or something, I'd be constantly thinking about that..
This year, I've been focusing on forget the last shot and remember the shot before or so which was a good one. Think to yourself ''Hey, I hit that 5 Iron straight 200 yards - a few shots ago, I can do it again''

I played the game of my life today - 43 on a 36 -9holes. I shanked a few drives and took 2 out of the sand on one hole scoring a 7, last year I'd have maybe fell apart but I forgot about it.


Another fun game to play for a high handicaper is every hole is a par 5, so if you start poorly with a triple at the first you can always just think ''I'm only plus 2 and next up is a par 3 and if i manage a eagle(proper par) i'm back to even'' etc - it really is good way to enjoy the game for a high handicap and at the end of the round if you score a 100 - in the par 5 game you are only plus 10, it's all positive thinking.

Go out there and have fun, nothing beats a good nice clear day and a day out with your pals.

Good luck

[Ruari]

focus on the present and play the best shot you can, wherever you find yourself. How the ball got there - a great shot or a stupid shank - doesn't matter. It's in the past, nothing you can do to change it.
What you can do is make the next shot the best you can. Even if it's a 30-yard chip back onto the fairway from behind a tree. Make it the best 30-yard chip ever.
Keep hitting the best shots you can and you'll get better.
Don't worry about the score. As Kenny Rogers once said, 'there's be plenny of time for countin', when the dealin's done'.

[Biegoe]

I didnt read through the whole thread, so I don't know if this has been mentioned yet. But if you have a bad shot, get upset about it, for 10 steps. Then it is over. The ball is where it is and start to focus on that shot. I saw Tiger say his dad taught him this. You get that frustration out, and be done with it.

That tip did wonders for my game. Once I get through being pissed, I start thinking how can I make this shot without killing my score. Last nite I hit one in the trees, and instead of being pissed and just quickly punching it out to who knows where, I found a line to run it up to the green on. Ended up with a 5 on the par 4, but its better than an 7 or 8!