Whenever you arrive at the golf course before any round, your technical skills are what they are. The goal for a round shouldn’t be to shoot a low score but to focus on the things that are going to give you the best chance of accessing your best technical skills, and hence, give you the best opportunity of a low score.

Essentially, the result of a round of golf is a cumulation of what you were focusing on throughout. Are you aware of what you are focusing on and whether it helps you or not? In this article I’m going to help you find out what you need to focus on and how to hold you accountable to it, so you play better golf more often.

Some Questions For You

First, let’s see if you have the answers for the following questions:

• What are you focusing on before, during and after every shot?
• Is there consistency with your focus or do you find yourself searching for swing thoughts that work and become more and more disconnected with your intention for each shot?
• Do you know from experience what helps you produce your best swings and shots?
• Are you able to remain “emotionally neutral” and positive in between shots, or do you spend time listening to that little voice in your head that’s sowing the seed of doubt in your ability?
• Are you able to stay present or do you spend time speculating about the future?
• Does your body language and self-talk remain confident?
• Are you free of tension and how good is your tempo?

We need to become more aware of what we’re focusing on during a round and train ourselves to habitually focus on the things that will help us stay confident, relaxed and in the best state of mind to play every shot to the best of our ability.

No two golf swings are the same, and neither is the optimal mental approach to golf for each player. However, there are certain fundamentals to the mental game that we can ALL work on regardless of the level we play at.  

As a mental coach to golfers for the past ten years and having worked with all levels of player from weekend golfers to Tour player, I know firsthand what top players focus on to maximize their chances of success, and this is what I want to help you with.

How can we do this?

Reflection

Identify patterns in your play. As part of my post-round review process (and you should do this yourself), I’ll ask a player to list the best shots they hit that day. Then I’ll ask them to try and remember what they were focusing on before and during those shots.

Reflection like this (and experimentation during practice) can help you form “process goals” for your shots (i.e. what you need to make sure you’re focusing on). Some of the more successful students that I work with are keen journalers and try to find patterns in everything from how they much sleep they got the night before, what they ate before and during their round, what they did during their warm-up, etc.

Holding Yourself Accountable

All my students use what I call a “Mental Game Scorecard”. This helps them stay accountable to what’s most important and over time, makes them much more aware of what they are focusing on during a round. It also helps us learn what particular mental skills we need to improve.

When you use the mental game scorecard, you’ll get a mental score for your round, which tells you how well you performed mentally, which will determine whether you gave yourself the best chance of playing well.

Having mental goals for your round is the best way to unlock your best technical game and gives you the best opportunity for scoring well.

The next step: Let’s see how good your mental game is!

I’d like you to take the challenge and I’m convinced you’ll see better results. To download your copy of the mental game scorecard and post-round review, please click here.

How you feel (mentally, emotionally and physically) as you step onto the first tee is going to make a big difference to how well you play throughout the round.

Many of my students begin their mental warm-up a few days before a tournament, but in this lesson, I’d like to share a pre-round routine which is designed to give you a confidence boost, get you feeling relaxed (but focused) and get you in the right state of mind to play well. This Pre-round Mental Warm-up should take only 10-15 mins.

How To Warm-up Your Mental Game

1) Spend some time “in the present” (5 mins)

Instead of trying to predict what’s going to happen over the next 4-5 hours and increasing your stress levels, relax your mind by focusing on the present moment. There are a few ways to do it (this is also known as meditation), but the easiest is to simply focus on your breathing. This not only quietens your mind by focusing it on just one thing (instead of jumping around between thoughts), but combining this with the right breathing exercises is a great way to regulate your heart rate and feel more relaxed. At first it’s not easy to hold your attention on your breaths (without getting distracted) but it gets easier with practice. I would highly recommend making meditation a regular daily exercise and not just before rounds, and this is a great start!

2) Visualize Your Personal Highlight Reel (3 mins)

In this part of the warm-up, we’re going to get a reminder of your past success and how well you are capable of playing. The idea here is that we get positive images of success to the forefront and give you shot of confidence. Spend a few minutes thinking about some of your most successful moments on the course. These could be winning trophies or particular shots or feats on the course. Try to see those moments as vividly as possible and remember how confident and powerful you felt.

3) Visualize success in the round you are about to play (2-3 mins)

Next we’re going to imagine what success looks like in the upcoming round. Many of the great players say they did this. Sit down, close your eyes and visualize hitting great shots on the course you are about to play (drives, approaches, putts etc). Getting these images into your subconscious can help them become a reality.

4) Remind yourself of your process goals (1-2 mins).

Your goals for the round should have nothing to do with score or other things that are not 100% within your control. Process goals are certain actions and thoughts you know you do/have when you are playing well such as visualization, proper rehearsal, accepting shots, a good attitude etc. Write these down and measure your success by them. If you’d like to get a free copy of the Golf State of Mind Mental Game Scorecard, please visit www.golfstateofmind.com

5) Be grateful (1-2 mins)

Spend a couple of minutes thinking about the things you are grateful for in what you are about to do, no matter how you play. Put the round in perspective no matter how serious it is. You are about to go and play the game you love, not something you hate. You’ve been afforded time in the fresh air, in beautiful surroundings with people you enjoy. Golf is something great, not something to fear. Think about these things and have an attitude of gratitude.

Doing this routine shortly before your rounds (either at home or at the course) will have you feeling ready to go out there and relish the challenge!

Please leave a comment if you have any questions. If you’d like more mental game tips, please check out Golf State of Mind.

This is a guest post by David MacKenzie from Golf State of Mind

What you do and think about in the few hours before a round has a big influence on your performance. In this lesson, I’ve put together a list of 10 pre-round exercises I work on with my students.

I’m not suggesting you do every one of these, but give them a go and see which ones help trigger more confidence. You might also like to check out my 10 Minute Mental Game Workout

1) Have no expectations and set the goal of “process” not “outcome”

Do not “expect” to play well. Good golf is about embracing the possibilities and not expecting anything with regards to the final outcome. Expectations create pressure and that’s certainly something you could do without.

Chasing a score, typically has the opposite effect. Focusing on score means you are focusing on uncertainty, which will set you up for a rocky ride. You need to put your focus on those things you have 100% control over.

The only thing within your control is the process of hitting good golf shots.

Tour player’s talk about the importance of focus on “the process”, instead of getting caught up in all the distractions around them (their score, other players’ scores, what just happened and what might happen etc).

Make the shot routine (which includes the post-shot routine) your only goal for the round and make that your measure of success. This will ensure you are firmly in the present and the scores will follow. Having this mind-set from the beginning will take the pressure off and make good scores far more likely!

2) Visualize success

When you’re driving to the golf course, play the round in your mind and imagine birdie-ing every hole. I don’t want you to start thinking about your score and setting that as a target for yourself, just imagine what it feels like to hit it down the middle of the fairway from each tee and hit your approach shots close and then hole the birdie putts. The idea here is that you are ingraining those positive images in your subconscious which will give you a better chance of making those images a reality when you’re on the course.

3) Make your warm-up repetitive

Watch any of the Tour pros and their pre-round routines are very repetitive. The idea here is that when you get to the first tee, you feel like you’ve done everything you can to prepare for a great round. If you know your total warm-up time is 45 mins, divide it up ahead of time, so you know exactly when you should be moving onto the next part. What this also does is make the time before any round feel the same, so if it’s a big tournament, it can feel just like a round with your buddies and lower your nerves.

4) Don’t judge your warm up

Another key thing to remember is that the way you hit the ball during your warm-up has no indication of how you’re going to play on the course! Get in to the habit of being non-judgmental towards all shots, which is what you’ll be doing on the course. Definitely don’t start giving yourself a lesson. Trust is one of the key thoughts of the day. Play a few holes in your mind, changing clubs from long to short. As soon as you hit one quality shot with one club, put it back in the bag and move onto the next one. This means your last shot with each club is a good one!

5) Eat and drink right

Start your pre-round preparation by fueling your body for a good performance. Be sure to drink plenty of water – it’s proven that being dehydrated lowers performance and if you’re thirsty, you’re already dehydrated. Eat just enough to be neither hungry or full and keep it healthy (avoid starchy and sugary foods which will raise insulin and make you crash). Pack healthy snacks like fruit and nuts to maintain your energy levels (to stay focused) throughout your round.

6) Stretch and get your muscles loose

Always be sure to warm up your golf muscles and stretch properly. There are plenty of exercises choose from.

7) Start your “playing” warm-up with Putting

The slow movement of the ball is a good way to start synchronizing your body and mind for playing. One of main goals here is to get familiar with the speed of the greens. To get your feel warmed up, start by putting to the fringe from various distances and move on to putting to tees. This will narrow your focus and make the target of the hole seem bigger on the course. Finish by holing 10 1-2 ft putts (ones you can’t miss), to get the look and sound of the ball going in. It’s great for your confidence. Now when you’ve finished your putting warm-up you won’t have missed a single putt!

8) Play out of a variety of lies and distances when warming up your short game

To warm up your short game, try to play as many different shots as you can from a variety of different lies. This will not only get the creative juices flowing, but it will get you familiar with the type of grass you’re about to play. Get into the habit of visualizing and picking landing spots for each shot. Like your long game warm-up, be non-judgmental and as soon as you hit one good one, move on to the next location.

9) Practice your shot routine

Between every 2-3 shots, throw in a full shot routine that you’ll go through before and after every shot, just like you’re going to do on the course. Practice putting your focus in the right places. This is your blueprint for a good round and the only thing you can control on the course.

10) Have an attitude of gratitude and appreciation

Get into the Golf State of Mind. This involves being truly grateful that you have this opportunity to do one of the things that you love. Tell yourself, you’re going to enjoy it whatever you score, as there’s no reason not to! This is your hobby, not your job (unless you’re a tour pro). If you don’t enjoy it, you should think about doing something else with your free time.

And lastly…

Make sure you have a yardage book, plenty of tees, a pitch mark repairer and a ball marker in your pocket. You could even splurge $10 on a new glove instead of playing with the crusty, wrinkled one you’ve played over 20 rounds with!

This is a guest post by David MacKenzie from Golf State of Mind

Most golfers lose way too many shots to poor mental decisions and not knowing how to systematically approach each shot and control their emotions to maintain confidence. This article will show you the 5 most common mental game mistakes that most golfers make and how to eliminate them.

1) Don’t analyze your swing, or think about it while swinging

Any thoughts about your swing on the golf course is counter-productive to a good score, whether it be in between shots or during your swing. Trusting what you have is far more important than trying to correct something or forcing a movement while swinging. Trying to consciously control your body during any action makes the task more difficult.

Think about if you drove your car while consciously thinking about what your body is doing (“foot on brake, now accelerator…”) and you’d probably get into a crash! Instead you simply trust your ability as a driver. Thinking about your swing while swinging creates tension which interferes with the free-flow of a good swing. It’s fine to think about it on the driving range when you’re practicing a new movement you’ve learnt in your golf lessons, but on the course your mind has to be quiet to play your best.

Swing thoughts usually creep in during a round when a few wayward shots are hit, and subsequently the golfer analyses the swing and attempts to correct the problem. A lot of these off line shots are simply caused by tension, which increases with the more control over the swing the golfer attempts to have.

There’s a saying that In golf, “You need to give up control to gain control” and I strongly believe that to be true. Instead of being focused on the body’s movements, we need to be connected with the objective – to hit the ball to a specific target with a pre-determined shot shape, and then trust the body to do what we’ve practiced. The best swing thought is to trust the swing you have, but if you need some help, you can try saying the words “one-two-three” – “one” for the back-swing, “two” for the down-swing and “three” for the follow-through. This should help eliminate the swing thoughts.

2) Don’t think about your score (unless you really have to)

Unless you’re in a situation where you need to know your score for strategy, like during the closing holes of a tournament, it’s best to forget about it. Some of the best rounds in history have been shot while the player didn’t know what his/her score was. You’ll find that when you play your best, it’s like you don’t care about your overall performance and you don’t judge it, you’re just enjoying playing the game and hitting good golf shots.

This is the mentality we need during every round. Score is something that is external and out of your control. Tying your performance to it can create a roller-coaster of emotions. If score is your absolute goal of the game, how are you going to feel when you score an 8 on one hole? Will it dent your ego and ruin your round?

If you can shift your goal for each round from score to executing a good process and just enjoying the game no matter what, you will score better. Your focus has to shifted from outcome to process to play your best.

3) Don’t beat yourself up, be your own caddy and remember it’s just a game

How you talk to yourself on the golf course can make a big difference in how you perform. Caddies are generally selected, not only because they can calculate yardages and read greens, but more so because they know what to say to a player and when to say it. You can bet your life if Adam Scott hit the ball O.B. and Steve Williams was to say “What the @#$% was that? How can you hit a shot like that you loser!”, he would be fired on the spot.

Saying such things, doesn’t help a player, it would lower their confidence and make them more tense before the next shot. Instead the caddie would offer some encouraging words to help the player forget about it and move on. Most of us don’t have the luxury of a caddie, so we have to create our own “inner caddy”, so we boost our confidence and bounce back quickly from shots we’re not happy with.

To do this, start to develop a list of phrases that you can say before and after a shot. Unless you’re playing golf for your livelihood, it really shouldn’t make you upset. After all it’s a game that allows you to practice real life challenges, like facing adversity, focusing, having a positive attitude, staying in the present and so much more. Think about this next time you hit the ball in the trees.

4) Don’t just aim at the fairway or green – have a very precise target in mind

As a continuation of #3, caddies will always help their player pick a very precise target instead of telling them to aim down the fairway or at the green. But most amateurs do exactly that and it costs them several shots per round. Ask any of the top players and they’ll tell you that they make their target as small as possible. In the photo above, Phil Mickelson’s target might be that thin silver tree branch behind the green. It definitely won’t be the whole green or even one half of it. Next time you’re out there, make this a part of your pre-shot routine and you will notice the difference.

5) Don’t forget about your routine

The shot routine (which includes the pre-shot and post shot routine), is an absolute must if you want to play your best golf. It’s the most effective way to ensure that you choose and commit to the right shot and then have the optimal reaction whatever the outcome. If you don’t have a very meticulous routine (which eventually becomes a habit) you are simply throwing away shots. All the necessary thinking can be done easily in the one minute allowed. This one ties in nicely with Mistake #2. Instead of making score your goal, make your routine your goal for very round and focusing on everything that’s great about the experience in between.

Make correcting these mistakes a goal for your next round and I‘m confident you’ll see improvement!

If you are serious about improving this part of your game, Golf Science Lab is having an online summit with some of the top psychologists and coaches in golf. It’s called the Unlocking Performance Summit, and you can sign up here.