The Mental Game...Think Your way To Lower Scores

Written by Bob Power


I've had people tell me that when they come torepparttar golf course they try not to think about anything and others that say that their head is full of thoughts. The one time that you need to have a clear mind is when you are standing overrepparttar 133262 ball ready to hit. Before and after that you need to control your thoughts. In fact a clear thought out round can really help you relax and have a more enjoyable round.

Warming up and streching can help you get intorepparttar 133263 golf mind set. It will also getrepparttar 133264 blood flowing. Before I tee off onrepparttar 133265 first hole I take two clubs and swing them about 20 times in a full easy golf swing. This getsrepparttar 133266 muscles loose andrepparttar 133267 blood flowing.

Before each shot stand behindrepparttar 133268 ball and think about where you would like to hit it. Pick a spot inrepparttar 133269 fairway or onrepparttar 133270 green where you will target your shot to. Think about and even try to envisionrepparttar 133271 shot as you stand behindrepparttar 133272 ball. When you set up to hit clear your mind, swing easy and commit torepparttar 133273 shot. If your shot does not work outrepparttar 133274 way you wanted spend a very little time in analysingrepparttar 133275 shot. If you know what you did wrong then fine, but if you don't know what happened, forget it. Your not going to figure it out onrepparttar 133276 course anyway. Try not to get frustrated it' onlygoing to spoil your next shot or your entire round.

Don't practice onrepparttar 133277 golf course. I played with my sister in law one day and all she did was remind herself ofrepparttar 133278 25 different things she learned at her golf lesson that week. She never hit a good shot all day and leftrepparttar 133279 course more frustrated than when she arrived. Practice atrepparttar 133280 driving range.

As you walk to your ball after you have hit it try to take inrepparttar 133281 surroundings and enjoyrepparttar 133282 time you have onrepparttar 133283 course. Try to get as much relaxation out of your round as possible. Enjoyrepparttar 133284 people you are with or enjoyrepparttar 133285 personal alone time you have, it's precious.

As you approachrepparttar 133286 ball try to decide in your mind where you are in yardage fromrepparttar 133287 green. There are usually markers onrepparttar 133288 fairways or makered with colored stakes onrepparttar 133289 edge ofrepparttar 133290 fairways. Knowing how far you are fromrepparttar 133291 green will help you think about what type of shot and what club you will use.

The Mental Game...Play To Your Strengths

Written by Bob Power


This is how I use to play, see if you recognize it.

On my way torepparttar course, inrepparttar 133261 back of my mind I was going to have my best round ever. Getting torepparttar 133262 course I would sign in and go torepparttar 133263 first tee with little or no warm up. I would swingrepparttar 133264 club a few times, tee uprepparttar 133265 ball and with butterflies or shaky knees boom, I would shank it inrepparttar 133266 woods, or slice it bad, or top it about 100 yards. Frustrated I would go find my ball, normallly in a bad lie or have to lift it out ofrepparttar 133267 woods if I could find it. Then looking atrepparttar 133268 green about 250 yards inrepparttar 133269 distance I would get outrepparttar 133270 old 3 wood and give it my best (worst) swing. Again I would shank it, top it, slice it or some other terrible shot. Byrepparttar 133271 time I was finishedrepparttar 133272 first hole I was looking at an eight or worse, and thus started another frustrating bad round. I did this over and over again for over two years.

One ofrepparttar 133273 first things I figured out from listening torepparttar 133274 pros and experts was that golf was a mind set, and in order to play good golf to have to play smart. That means playing within your strengths. This is part of "good course management". That's right, course management is not just making good shots, it's also playing torepparttar 133275 course design and playing to your strengths as well.

Let me give you an example of how I use my strengths now to lower my score. The other day I was playing our number 5 hole, one ofrepparttar 133276 hardest par fours I have played. Not in length, but in design. It's a dog leg left and you ned a really good tee shot over trees torepparttar 133277 fairway beyond to have any chance of reachingrepparttar 133278 green in two. That'srepparttar 133279 way most people would approach it. And ifrepparttar 133280 tee shot is not good most people are thinking boggey. But why?

I hit my tee shot a little right ofrepparttar 133281 trees and landed inrepparttar 133282 fairway about 220 yards fromrepparttar 133283 green. What would you do? Get outrepparttar 133284 3 wood and try forrepparttar 133285 green? That's what I would have done, even last year. That shot for me, because I rarely play it or practice it, is a very high risk shot. Hitting that shot increases my chance from boggey to double boggey tenfold. I am not mentally prepared to hit that shot with confidence. But I was thinking par allrepparttar 133286 way though.

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