Golf Mental Tips to Improve Your Game

In this post, I want to talk about golf mental tips to improve your game. Bobby Jones said that golf is a game played on a course 5 1/2 inches long – which just happens to be the approximate distance between a person’s ears! Your mind has an overwhelming effect on how well you play and learning how to control your thoughts during your golf swing can dramatically improve how well you strike the golf ball.

Just think of someone like Charles Barkley who was an excellent basketball player and yet has some type of mental road block that prevents him from swinging a golf club correctly. In this article, we’ll look at some golf mental tips to improve your game – especially during your swing, which is the most important part of anyone’s game.

If you happen to be suffering from negative thoughts that are affecting your golf swing, these revolutionary tips will help. Hopefully, Mr. Barkley will read this page as well!

Over Analyzing

Or as some people call it, analysis-paralysis is spending too much time actually thinking about the shot, thinking about what you want the ball to do, concentrating on where your hands and arms should be during every part of your swing, and worrying about what will happen if any of these things doesn’t go perfectly.

Now, I’m not saying you shouldn’t think at all about your swing – not at all – but once you have decided what you’re going to try to accomplish on the next shot put everything else out of your mind.  I realize this is sometimes more easily said than done. If you have trouble clearing your mind, there are some excellent mindset techniques in the Renegade Golf Course.  Over analyzing the situation often leads to the next mental hurdle that a lot of beginning golfers need to overcome and that’s indecisiveness.

Indecisiveness

One of my pet peeves is when I observe someone who cannot make a decision. This is most evident – to me at least – when I’m driving. Something I see often is a person in the car in front of me turning into a lot or down a side street and they must come to a complete stop before making their turn for fear that it may not be the correct lot or the exact street they were looking for.

They are indecisive because they are afraid of making a mistake and it is this fear of making mistakes that fuels their indecisiveness. It’s a vicious cycle that can be broken with the proper mental training. What some folks don’t realize is that life is full of mistakes – the game of golf is full of mistakes. But the fear of making a mistake is usually much worse than making the mistake itself.

Think of the driver I mentioned above – so what if they turn into the wrong lot or missed their street by a block, they can just go to the correct lot or around the block and wind up where they intended without too much hassle or inconvenience.

However, it’s much worse when these drivers come to a complete stop on a busy or narrow road with traffic moving at full speed behind them – just because they are unsure about their directions. To me, being indecisive about where a person is traveling or the next golf shot is the same thing and it comes from the fear of making a mistake.

Fear of Mistakes

The fear of making a mistake is usually worse than the mistake itself. Fear often leads to the inability to perform. This is true of a golfer on a golf course or a performer on a stage. The inability to make a good swing or execute the next golf shot is worse than making a good swing, but maybe hitting the ball slightly off target.

When I golf I consider an shot where I do the following things right a good shot (no matter what the outcome): 1) Execute a smooth, full swing without hesitation, 2) Make reasonably solid contact with the golf ball 3) Maintain my head-down posture until after I complete my swing.

See, that is a successful golf shot to me – I don’t worry about where the ball ends up or what challenges I might face on my next shot if this one ends up in a hazard or worse, For many people, the fear of making a mistake is almost paralyzing. Fortunately, there are some great hypnosis techniques that can virtually eliminate this mental handicap in less than fifteen minutes.

Focusing on Outcomes

When a golfer focuses too much on the outcome of his or her next shot, this can have a  negative effect on the actual execution of the shot. Golfers must believe that if they do everything they are supposed to do throughout their swing that the result will be favorable.

Most people know to keep their head down, maintain a consistent swing plane, perform a good shoulder turn and hip rotation, release through the downswing while keeping an eye on the ball, and execute a good follow-through. But how many beginning golfers can do this consistently?

The reason why some folks have difficulty with this is that they are too focused on the outcome or too focused on the what-ifs – What if I don’t hit a good shot? What if my ball ends up in the hazard? – and so on. There really is a very simple tip to overcome focusing on the outcome and it is this: “Don’t worry about it.” Plain and simple.

Conclusion

The mental aspect of golf is a very large part of the game. Even professional golfers sometimes need to hire a sports psychologist to help them overcome any mental handicaps they might be suffering from. Hopefully, you are not suffering from any of the mental roadblocks outlined above, but if you are there are ways to overcome these mental hurdles.

There is a lot more to the mental side of golf and the roadblocks mentioned above are only a small aspect of this part of the game – which encompasses a lot more than I can get into in one short article.

However, if you feel that this is a part of your game that requires improvement, I suggest you check out some of the mental golf tips offered in the Renegade Mental Golf System, which is a complete course focused on overcoming some of the mental challenges beginning – and even expert – golfers face.

Good luck and hope to see you on the course!