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The words "in the zone" and mental golf have become the buzz words in golfing circles due to the enormous success of Tiger Woods. Few golfers understand the hidden potential these words have for playing better golf. If you are serious about lowering your scores then you need to assess your mental game plan, and swing. Your success or failure at golf is largely due to how you manage your thoughts. I find it amazing how easily golfers can talk themselves out of a game and be distracted by outside influences. Many of course do not have a preshot routine to properly prepare for the shot to be played. The reason for a routine is to eliminate outside distractions that can interfere with your mind before you play a shot. Lets face it, never in any other sport do we experience highs and lows like in golf and this can be not necessarily from round to round but also from one hole to the next. How you deal with these emotional highs and lows is what counts the most. One great way to stay focused is to stay in the present and forget about the past and what is coming up in the near future. In golf we need to play one shot at a time and put all our energies into that present moment. This is the only way to stay focused when it counts the most. It will surprise you that most of us have experienced being "in the zone" on and off the course. Just think of the times when you have day dreamed or you played a magnificent shot. That is what it is like. You were is a relaxed and concentrated state and not reflecting on whole lot of thoughts or ideas. If you can develop a present mind set and apply it more often you will be on your way to scoring much lower scores consistently. You may be thinking that this is all fine for good golfers to follow but what about high handicappers. Sure some may struggle with their game more than others but employing a positive mindset can overcome weaknesses in your game. It is the intensity of concentration that separates the professional from the amateurs. The best place to start is to establish where your weaknesses are in your game and improve on them. It may be from the tee, fairway, around the greens, or on the green. If you are unsure where your weaknesses are, evaluate each round you play by counting how many fairways you hit, how many putts per round you have, how many chips and one putts you have. The weak areas will immediately surface. Count also the number of double and triple bogeys you have in a round. They are real score wreckers for any level of player. Reducing these numbers will drastically drop your scores. If you are a beginner then you probably have about 50 putts for 18 holes. Work on improving this by setting a goal to have only 45, then 40 and so on.
Consistently monitoring your rounds played will give you instant feedback of your strengths and weaknesses. You can still play good golf even with your weaknesses if you have some mental strategies in place. Here are some strategies that you can help you.
Take enough club with your approach shots, being past the flag gives you more confidence and there is less trouble to get into. The same goes for putting always try to get the ball past the hole if it does not drop. Play the golf course and not your opponent. Establish a pre shot routine and more importantly stick to it. Try to keep to the same swing speed for the whole round. Concentrate on the process or feel of a good swing and try to repeat it as often as you can. Do your best to control your emotions for the whole game. When you are in trouble the next shot has to be in play.
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