The Mental Golf Blog

In a perverse way way it was comforting that Dr Karl Morris described Louis Oosthuizen’s golf mind as being “scrambled” and “a mess” prior to The Open Championship. It proves to us ordinary golfers that even the elite sometimes have a difficult time focusing correctly on and off the golf course.

Both the US Open and The Open Championship in 2010 illustrated another interesting facet of mental golf.

The seventeenth holes at Pebble Beach and The Old Course came in for some criticism from the players and media alike when they were stiffened to provide a greater test with claims that it was bordering on the impossible to get the ball near with a long iron. The holes are a very tough par 3 and 4 respectively and obviously had the potential to have a massive impact on the outcome of the championships.

But what if these holes had been a par 4 and a par 5? Would they pros have approached them any differently? In theory they shouldn’t have after all the object of the game is to get the ball in the hole in the least number of shots possible so it doesn’t really matter what the par is on the scorecard.

I contend that concentrating on the number that you are “supposed” to score on a hole can cause unnecessary expectations and pressures and that by plotting a sensible route around the course, irrespective of the “recommended” par figure, golfers would score better. Pros & amateurs alike.

I hope you like the blog. Why not subscribe to our Great Golf Green Fee Deals newsletter and receive the free report “Free Birthday Golf” that tells you of over 320 golf courses that will grant you a complimentary round of golf for your birthday? Download

Technorati Tags: #17 hole, 17th hole, Golf Mind, Karl Morris, Louis Oosthuizen, old course, pebble beach

As I began to research mental golf visualization I realised that despite an general agreement of a definition of a mental rehearsal of a desired future outcome the term also meant slightly different things to different people and as a result I’ve put them together as immediate, short, medium & long term visualization.

Immediate Term Visualization

Most golfers who have played for a while will have experienced the phenomenon of “seeing” the ball doing something in their minds eye. I have most often experienced this on the green where I have actually seen the curve on the line that a putt will need to take in order to enter the hole. Of course it doesn’t always go in! But it is significant that the “clearer” the picture or visualization the more successful I have been in holing the putt. I have experienced this on other shots too but it is less frequent.
Obviously visualisation can apply to “bad” images too golf psychologists all flag up the dangers of negative imagery for instance concentrating too much on avoiding the OOB  or water hazard on a hole. They say this can give a negative mental image of your ball entering the hazard and actually increase the likelihood of that happening. The gurus, therefore, advocate positive imagery, to be aware of the danger points on holes but to conjure up positive images in your minds eye of your ball soaring down the fairway or hitting the green close to the flagstick and rolling out close. Again they emphasis that the clearer you can visualise a particular outcome the greater the chance of it happening.
The way to do this is to have a very specific target in mind before visualizing the shot not a general “middle of the fairway” target but a much tighter “dark patch of grass 280yds from the tee 6 yards to left of centre” target.
Top golfers certainly buy into this theory Jack Nicklaus is widely credited with having incredible visualisation skills and is quoted as saying “I never hit a shot not even in practice without having a very sharp in-focus picture of it in my head.” and that he thought golf was 10% technique, 40% position and 50% Creative Visualization.
This immediate term visualization on the golf course is specifically target orientated in that the only images to be conjured up are of the ball heading towards the target.

Short Term Visualization

This can involve a course management strategy for playing a particular round of golf, a plan of how to tackle individual holes and shots. For the pros it will involve practice rounds, rehearsing shots from different parts of the fairways and greens. They also pay particular attention around the greens eg where it is best to miss the green and leave an easier recovery. For instance Ben Hogan believed that every pin placement required a specific approach, that back pins should be attacked with a low shot and front pins with a high shot. A right-side flag back needed a fade and left pin a draw. Obviously the drawing up of the course management strategy involves physically playing the course but the visualization part comes in imagining how the holes should be played and the constant “replaying” of the visualization prior to the tournament.
Amateurs and club golfers do not usually have the luxury of playing numerous balls in a dedicated preparatory practice round but they have an advantage in that they often play particular courses time and again and are therefore able to put together a course management strategy to suit the strengths and weaknesses of their own game.
The best way to plan such a strategy is to “play” the course backwards in your mind working out the ideal spot to have played your previous shot from and formulating a plan to work your golf ball into those positions from the tee and fairway.               

Medium & Long Term Visualization

Now we’re in realms of goal setting, one of the classic questions asked at job interviews is “Where do you see yourself in 5 years time?” asking the applicant to project forward and express their ambitions. Self Help books and gurus advocate visualization as a way of keeping ambitions in the forefront of the mind, to imagine that you have already achieved it, to see it feel it etc, to act as if it has already happened and then it will become a self professed reality.
In terms of golf, longer term goals can be to reach a certain handicap, turn pro, win tournaments etc etc.
Gary Player was a great positive thinking golfer always reinforcing his ability in his mind saying “We create success or failure on the course primarily by our thoughts.” It must have worked for him, he won nine Majors!

Have you claimed your Free Birthday Golf yet?  Subscribe to our ezine and get the report!

Technorati Tags: Golf Mind, golf strategy, Mental Golf, visualization

Steve Bann, is one of Australia’s most successful golf coaches counting Stuart Appleby and KJ Choi amongst his pupils.

Here he discusses how golfers gain confidence in their ability and game. It’s good stuff!

Technorati Tags: confidence cycle, Golf Mind, Mental Golf, steve bann

Mental golf is a term, it seems, which means different things to different golfers. To some it may mean overcoming negative thoughts on the golf course, to others it may mean a swing thought or key and to others it may mean the way in which they think their way around; course management.

The mental side of golf is an area that has really come to the forefront in recent years with a great number of mind coaches, seminars, DVDs, CDs and books available to teach us how to elevate our games to greater levels. To help us produce the kind of golf we really know we’re capable of.

This wealth of information can, though, add to the problem, just as equipment junkies think they can buy a game by parting with ever increasing amounts of cash for the latest whiz bang driver, irons, wedges or putter, we are now encouraged to believe we can improve our golf by reading a book. And another book, and another and another…………………!

The problem is, information overload can hinder our game just as surely as getting tied in knots over the latest swing technique theory, Stack & Tilt anyone? And ironically, the gurus advocate a clearing of the mind before we play a shot to think of “nothing” which is very difficult to do just ask people who do yoga.

Technorati Tags: Golf Mind, Mental Golf

Mental golf skills covers a wide range including confidence, course management skills, and competitive strategy amongst others. In this blog I will be discussing different techniques and programs. Reviewing books, CDs, DVDs and give up to date hints and tips from the foremost golf psychologists in the game.

You would be forgiven for thinking that knowledge of mental golf techniques is a modern phenomenon with the number of tour professionals employing mind gurus but this quote by Bobby Jones, “Competitive golf is played mainly on a five-and-a-half-inch course, the space between your ears.”, shows that understanding the role of the golf mind has been around a long time.

Mental golf awareness is a skill that becomes more important as a golfer becomes more proficient in the physical aspects of golf technique and their scores become better as they improve their mental golf.

It is an oft quoted cliche that 90% of golf is in the mind, attributed to almost any famous golfer you care to mention but without doubt taking time to understand and learn from mental golf experts will help golfers enjoy their game more and lower their scores.

A number a years ago I dabbled with one of those self hypnosis self development tapes that was supposed to subliminally reinforce optimal performance. I must confess I was hopeful but sceptical about the whole thing. One of the suggestions was “Success & Excellence are my keywords for a conditioned resonse”!
Anyway, to cut a long story short I was playing golf one particular day and had a very tricky sidehill 30 foot putt on a treacherously fast green. As I lined up the putt I was chanting to myself the “Success & Excellence” mantra and was absolutely astonished but delighted when I the ball tracked the exact line I had imagined and dived into the hole for a birdie.

From that day on I was convinced that there was something in this mental golf malarkey and decided to investigate it further.

Technorati Tags: Golf Mental Game, Golf Mind, Golf Psychology, Mental Golf