Have you ever made a flawless shot? Can you recall your thoughts at the time?
When I ask participants these questions during a seminar, very few can actually recall their exact thoughts just before the shot. However, the majority of them can sum up how the shot felt in one word: effortless.
Just a feeling, no considerations of proper technique or potential catastrophe. Finding the recipe to quickly recreate that carefree feeling is the key to reproducing those shots consistently.
Where you focus your attention at any given time affects how you feel. Do you agree that your mood has an impact on how you swing?
Does constantly dwelling on your mistakes make you feel good or does it instill the idea that you’re not good enough to be able to forget them?
Why do you take classes?
Learn from your mistakes is the obvious solution. Technical errors that are obviously wrong must be fixed, but obsessing over them constantly can trick us into thinking that replaying mistakes in our minds will help us get better. It’s a never-ending cycle.
How do you respond after a missed shot?
The majority of devoted golfers immediately look for the responsible technical error. The most underemphasized component of conventional instruction is your capacity to quickly counteract this tendency and turn your focus to the sensation of a perfect shot.
Perfect swings are supposed to lead to perfect shots, or so we are told. What do you consider to be the ideal swing? When you focus solely on the desired outcome, your body is free to recreate the best swing it is capable of.
Although it sounds simple, how does one actually practice attention control?
Practice shifting your focus from perfecting technique to recovering from missed shots. Set aside twelve balls for your subsequent trip to the driving range. Take one of these balls and purposefully hit the shot that you fear the most whenever you make three flawless shots. It might be the dreaded s___k, a cold top, or even a slice. Start concentrating on re-creating the sensation of a successful shot as soon as you make it.
Do I want you to work on your bad shots? Without a doubt, because there is always a ball left in the air, a bad shot on the range is simple to brush off. How frequently has a single shot started a chain reaction that ruined a good round? Whatever shot you take will have a certain value depending on how much focus you give it. You can quickly adjust and refocus once you know how to purposefully hit a bad shot.
You may not have the physical dexterity to regularly hit three-hundred yard drives, but any golfer can develop the “mental toughness” to play beyond their skill level.