Does mental game affect your swing?

[freshmanUTA]

For some reason whenever there's hazard on the left I always hook into, or near it cause I know I have a strong hook in my bag. Is that mental? ;D

[Lihu]

36 minutes ago, freshmanUTA said:

For some reason whenever there's hazard on the left I always hook into, or near it cause I know I have a strong hook in my bag. Is that mental? ;D

Nah, it's like me and trees. I find myself staring at them, then hit them. Random odds of hitting them is like 2%.. Just like in your case random odds of hitting the hazard is like 25% 

[Valleygolfer]

Jordan had a bad day on the golf course today. He said he was having issues with "feeling" uncomfortable over the ball struggling with shots. Why didn't he just assume he has the mechanics and hit the ball to the location he wanted?

[9wood]

7 hours ago, Abu3baid said:

If you focused 100% on each shot you still aren't going to shoot significantly better than you currently do..

I'm glad I am able to admit that I suck because of bad mechanics and not because I didn't concentrate.

 

Totally disagree with you. When I stay focused my swing mechanics and shot results are definitely better. It's when I'm not focused that my shots are what they should be.

If you and your swing mechanics suck, then you have nothing to lose by trying to better focus. If the pros like Jason Day does it, then you should too.

[iacas]

9 hours ago, Fourputt said:

But it's your brain that controls the muscles.  There is no such thing as muscle memory, it's all brain.  Therefore when you make a mechanical mistake because your mind is not focused on the swing, it's a mental issue, not physical.  You know how to do it right, but your mental fuzziness or lack of concentration is the direct cause of the mechanical fault.  For that reason, you simply cannot separate them into different boxes.  The relationship is inseparable.

Nobody refers to a mechanical mistake as "a mental issue" because that's not what it's about. You can't just train the brain without moving and become a PGA Tour player. You know this stuff @Fourputt…

I defined the mental game earlier, and I haven't seen anyone really contend that definition without resorting to something like this "everything is mental because your brain controls everything!" approach.

1 hour ago, 9wood said:

Totally disagree with you. When I stay focused my swing mechanics and shot results are definitely better. It's when I'm not focused that my shots are what they should be.

If you and your swing mechanics suck, then you have nothing to lose by trying to better focus. If the pros like Jason Day does it, then you should too.

You're a 19. Your good shots are largely still not very good, and if the solution was to simply concentrate more and you'd be a 12, or a 9, then why aren't you? Seems pretty simple to just concentrate every time (or, at least given how handicaps work, during half of your rounds)?

[onthehunt526]

You can have perfect focus and make good decisions and still make mechanical mistakes. If your swing needs work, mechanically, a good mental game isn't the solution, you need to work on your swing.

[Lihu]

15 hours ago, onthehunt526 said:

You can have perfect focus and make good decisions and still make mechanical mistakes. If your swing needs work, mechanically, a good mental game isn't the solution, you need to work on your swing.

We can probably refine your statement to 98% of golfers with handicaps need to work on their swings rather than their mental game. The 2 percent scratch or better? I'm not sure?

[Patch]

15 hours ago, onthehunt526 said:

You can have perfect focus and make good decisions and still make mechanical mistakes. If your swing needs work, mechanically, a good mental game isn't the solution, you need to work on your swing.

Why can't a golfer train their mind to make th physical part of their swing work better?

Or in some cases the golfer can't absorb any more mental instruction to make the physical  part of their swing work better. 

Then there's the golfer who has mentally absorbed poor swing information, and then blames it on their poor physical abilities to perform the correct swing. 

[onthehunt526]

2 hours ago, Lihu said:

We can probably refine your statement to 98% of golfers with handicaps need to work on their swings rather than their mental game. The 2 percent scratch or better? I'm not sure?

100% of golfers, pros or amateurs with handicaps probably are doing some sort of work on the swing. A lot of amateurs are probably repeating the same mechanical mistakes. While there is no such thing as muscle memory, and your brain controls everything you do... Your physical swing is controlled by your different systems of movement. 

If my mental game is very good, It's still not going to help me with my golf swing. Though your brain controls everything you do, you're mental game and a swing flaw, have NO direct correlation with one another.

[9wood]

18 hours ago, iacas said:

Nobody refers to a mechanical mistake as "a mental issue" because that's not what it's about. You can't just train the brain without moving and become a PGA Tour player. You know this stuff @Fourputt…

I defined the mental game earlier, and I haven't seen anyone really contend that definition without resorting to something like this "everything is mental because your brain controls everything!" approach.

You're a 19. Your good shots are largely still not very good, and if the solution was to simply concentrate more and you'd be a 12, or a 9, then why aren't you? Seems pretty simple to just concentrate every time (or, at least given how handicaps work, during half of your rounds)?

I never claimed to be a good golfer. I only claimed that I produce better shots when I focus and concentrate in contrast to when I don't. Besides, getting close to being 70 years old I'm not expecting to play as good as you younger big hitters.  Cherish your younger years. Someday old age will creep on you and your power hitting will be gone.

 

[DrvFrShow]

I was at the driving range yesterday. I was in a stall between two pros. I was having trouble hitting my driver. One of the pros told me to stop trying to make the perfect swing and just hit the damned ball. I put it out 230 yds carry just right of center with a draw. Okay.

Some of us also need to get out of our heads and start trusting our swings.

[Yukari]

Primarily in a sense that pressure situation puts tightness on the swing.

[Patch]

Here's my take on mechanical vs mental in the golf swing. Mechanical in a physical sense refers to something done unconsciously. Unconscious and subconscious are pretty much synonymous with each other. When a person swings the club, the body's movements are getting the information they need to perform from the subconscious part of the mind, which is a mental aspect of any golf swing. 

Any what thats what I am sticking to.

[iacas]

1 minute ago, Patch said:

Here's my take on mechanical vs mental in the golf swing. Mechanical in a physical sense refers to something done unconsciously. Unconscious and subconscious are pretty much synonymous with each other. When a person swings the club, the body's movements are getting the information they need to perform from the subconscious part of the mind, which is a mental aspect of any golf swing. 

Any what thats what I am sticking to.

That's pretty much the opposite of the way most everyone else sees it. The "mental game" is the conscious part - the stuff you can think about and control.

[Hardspoon]

There are three main elements I consider part of the "mental game": 

1.) Temperment: if you get angry after a bad shot (or several), and it affects your next shot (or shots) or decision-making

2.) Focus: if you have difficulty paying attention to the details (either your current swing thought, if you have one, or on your game plan), and it affects your swing or decision-making

3.) Anxiety/Nerves: if you get nervous over an important shot, or because of an intimidating hazard, and it affects your swing or decision-making

I don't count swing flaws or general decision-making (i.e., whether to lay up on a par 5) as "mental game".

With my (admittedly narrow) definition in mind, to answer the original question, I don't think mental game affects me much at all. My only problem might be focus, but that maybe costs me a shot every other round at WORST. I don't get angry or nervous, so that's not an issue.

[Jakester23]

24 minutes ago, Hardspoon said:

There are three main elements I consider part of the "mental game": 

1.) Temperment: if you get angry after a bad shot (or several), and it affects your next shot (or shots) or decision-making

2.) Focus: if you have difficulty paying attention to the details (either your current swing thought, if you have one, or on your game plan), and it affects your swing or decision-making

3.) Anxiety/Nerves: if you get nervous over an important shot, or because of an intimidating hazard, and it affects your swing or decision-making

I don't count swing flaws or general decision-making (i.e., whether to lay up on a par 5) as "mental game".

With my (admittedly narrow) definition in mind, to answer the original question, I don't think mental game affects me much at all. My only problem might be focus, but that maybe costs me a shot every other round at WORST. I don't get angry or nervous, so that's not an issue.

I agree completely with your 3 elements.  I don't think 1 & 3 affect me nearly as much as 2 even though Im not a very good player.

[Lihu]

9 hours ago, 9wood said:

I never claimed to be a good golfer. I only claimed that I produce better shots when I focus and concentrate in contrast to when I don't. Besides, getting close to being 70 years old I'm not expecting to play as good as you younger big hitters.  Cherish your younger years. Someday old age will creep on you and your power hitting will be gone.

One of my occasional partners and range buddies is over 78 and hits exactly the same spot on the face every time and drives 200 yards with a very efficient swing. He only swings about 80-ish. I hope to swing like that when I'm that age, and it'll be swinging efficiently that would make that possible.

I don't think I've ever seen him hit a bad shot, good mood or bad mood. In fact, I don't think mental attitude does anything good for him because he's always berating himself for being so old all the time. All the time. He's always complaining about one thing or another, but still hits good shots. I think he even came out a week after an operation or something, and still shot well while complaining. 

He claims to be bogey, but he shoots too many pars to be bogey. He putts and chips better than a pro, but that's not too surprising given 60+ years playing.

[onthehunt526]

My mental game is "Scratch", but my swing says I'm a 10. I have to learn to "pour water from my left shoulder". My swing is self-made, because it had to be. 

I know my mechanics need work, I've got a long way to go, so if I make a bad swing it's a mechanical issue, yes, there's no such thing as "muscle memory".