Curse of Water Hazards

[-Mini-]

Am I the only one who is cursed by water hazards, I always tend to lose my concentration and focus when shooting over a water hazard. I know I can easily clear it, if I was shooting over grass. But when I get the water hazard I tend to think about it too much and my shot is never as good. How about you guys?

[opie]

Think about all the good things that happen when you hit the ball. Focus on the fairway, aiming point and how the ball is going to travel. If you think "water", "slice", "hook" etc that's probably what you're going to do. Soon as I started thinking fairway and aiming better my tee balls improved drastically. Same with water

[CarlSpackler]

Think about all the good things that happen when you hit the ball. Focus on the fairway, aiming point and how the ball is going to travel. If you think "water", "slice", "hook" etc that's probably what you're going to do. Soon as I started thinking fairway and aiming better my tee balls improved drastically. Same with water

I agree. Acknowledge the trouble but focus on your target. It seems that the ball tends to go to the last thing you think of.

[ks8829]

focus on the following:

1) what water hazard
2) take one more club
3) smooth solid contact
4) play the ball in the back of your stance for solid contact

[DavidFehertysBike]

Unless the hazard is less than 20 yards away from where im planning to land my ball, i dont think about them at all. If it is too close for comfort, ill take normal swing with extra club and be prepared to recover if i miss long.

[HytrewQasdfg]

Think about hitting the purple elephant that is standing on the other side of the hazard.

[billm408]

It's my belief that the human brain doesn't comprehend the word "don't". So when you're standing over a shot and thinking "don't hit it in the water", "don't go left", "don't leave it short" etc... all your mind hears is

hit it in the water
go left
leave it short

My advice is to tell the committee to shut the hell up!

[shankapotamus]

You should check out some books by Bob Rotella.

[klaymon]

Water does not affect me on approach shots or par 3's. The only water that would concern me is forced carries on long tee shots. Otherwise, I know I have enough club to get over it and it's a non-factor.