How much focus and concentration do you really need when you swing

[Getting better]

Let's put it this way...how much focus and concentration do you have on the driving range 10 minutes before you tee off when you are really stripping the ball? Not much. Or on the practice putting green when you are draining everything you look at? Not much. Why then do you think you need more when you tee it up on hole #1?

[lugonza_2001]

I think wether you are paractising in the range, or 1 minute before playing on the first tee, you should always focus. If you don´t pay attention to what you are doing when you have a club in your hands you are losing time, specially in a sport where skill and mind are so important.

[Stretch]

If I remember my pop psychology, you go through 4 stages learning a complex skill -- such as directing a golf ball in roughly the direction desired. There's Unconscious Incompetence ("I don't even know what I'm doing wrong!"), Conscious Incompetence ("I know what I'm doing wrong, but don't know how to fix it!", Conscious Competence ("I can do this, I just have to focus on it very, very carefully!") and, finally, Unconscious Competence ("I can do this well, even while 100% of my attention is elsewhere -- say over there, on that massive rack stuffed into that tiny T-shirt.")*

The better you are at golf, the more you're going to operate in category 4, says me, with absolutely nothing empirical to back up my assertion. While I'm making unsupported assertions, I'll also venture that most of the poor bastards at the driving range barely make it into category 2.

* May not be actual textbook description.

[sean_miller]

Originally Posted by Stretch

The better you are at golf, the more you're going to operate in category 4 . . .

Video yourself playing, and include the preshot routine and club selection chatter. You'd be amazed how easy any of us can make this game look one minute, then 2 minutes later we make it look very difficult. Alternating this routine from shot to shot is the sign of a poor player (imo) or a good player having a bad day. I found that when the target and the ball flight are the focus, the game gets easier. Good players are more skilled [than me] of course, but they can also stay in the zone for more consecutive shots.

[tshapiro]

To play your best you must concentrate to your fullest once you begin your pre-shot routine. To play the game well, your concentration should shift to the feel aspects of the game as much as possible. The quicker you can resolve mechincal and technique thinking the better. Concentration for the purposes of visualizing a shot and predicting the feel for the proper distance are things you must have. Haphazardly swing without a shot plan or feel for distance will not lead to consistently good playing.