Category Archives: Mental Game

The Mental Game

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Golf is really a mental game.  Very few people realize this and that is why they struggle to learn to make a consistent swing.   The golf swing is not a complex motion.  In fact, most children can execute a good swing.  If an eight year old child can execute a good swing, how complicated can the golf swing be?

Golfers who learn the swing when they are young children have the best chance to make a consistent swing.  Golfers who learn the game as adults have the hardest time.  This is because everything you learned in order to be a successful adult does not work in learning to make a consistent golf swing.  Things that a successful adult does naturally are: try harder, do a little extra, worry about what can go wrong, try to hit the ball or help the ball into the air.  All of these things do not work in trying to make a consistent swing.  In fact, they prevent the adult golfer from ever being successful in making a consistent swing!

Golf legend Gary Player said that golf is about the mind and putting.

If you accept that golf is a mental game, you have taken a big step towards learning to focus on your rhythm and making an efficient swing.  This is easy to say, but mentally hard to do.

A good example is the fact that the majority of golfers do not focus on developing a precise setup: grip, aim the club, stand to the club, and posture.  Most amateurs take lessons on improving the swing, but not much attention is given to the setup.  Most professional golfers focus on the setup much more than amateur golfers.

Along the same line, very few amateur golfers have a consistent pre-shot routine.  The pre-shot routine is intended to stop the thinking and focus on the doing.  You rarely see anyone on the driving range practice their pre-shot routine.  When you watch professional golfers’ pre-shot routine, you can tell they are focusing on the doing.  When you watch amateur golfers, you can tell they do not have a consistent routine and they are focusing on the worrying.  Developing a consistent setup and pre-shot routine is all mental.

One concept that is not taught is the word “same”.  You rarely hear this word used when taking a lesson or read about it in a golf magazine.  When golfers want to create a more consistent swing, they rarely focus on doing the same.  When you find something that works, focus on doing it the same way.

“Easy to say, hard to do.”  This saying is a common hurdle in trying to become mentally strong in golf.  We all know what we should do, but executing it is not as easy as it seems because of the mental distractions that exist in golf that prevent us from mentally focusing on the easy and effective behaviors.  Here are just a few golf concepts that are “easy to say,” but mentally “hard to do.”

  1. Be in the present. Don’t let the past or the future distract you from focusing.
  2. Swing smoothly
  3. Ignore the hazards and focus on the fairways and greens
  4. Focus on your rhythm
  5. Focus on your balance
  6. Feel your swing
  7. Swing down
  8. Bring your swing from the range to the course
  9. Do less and you will get better results
  10. Practice your pre-shot routine
  11. Be very precise
  12. Focus on executing the same swing
  13. Practice your short game (chipping, putting, pitching) if you want to lower your score
  14. Use more force on uphill putts or on slow greens

This shows how mentally challenging the game is. The key to making the “hard to do” easy, is to let go of your “natural” thoughts and fears and focus on the effective behaviors.  Unfortunately, that is easy to say, mentally hard to do.  But you must let go of your “natural” thoughts and fears and focus on adopting effective behaviors if you want to develop a consistent swing.

Being logical interferes with developing a consistent golf swing.  The things that you need to do to achieve a consistent swing are not logical.  Here are some true but seemingly illogical concepts regarding the game of golf.

  1. Most people think golf is about helping the ball into the air or hitting at the ball. But, the golf ball really indicates where to make the swing and how well you executed your swing
  2. You will never miss the ball if you focus on making an efficient swing
  3. Bad shots come from forgetting to focus on rhythm, balance, or efficiency
  4. Golf is a very precise game. Consistent means the same, not similar.  Your setup, rhythm and efficiency must be the same, not similar.
  5. Trying harder never works
  6. The pre-shot routine gets you into the “zone” and the routine must be the same.

If you embrace and remember the illogical concepts presented above, you will have the proper mindset to develop a consistent swing.

Now you know why golf is really a mental game.  Very few golfers know this.  Now you also understand why golf is so challenging.  Are you mentally strong enough to accept the challenge of golf?  If so, enjoy the never-ending journey that is the game of golf.

My blog post “The Most Important Focus in the Golf Swing,” describes what your mind needs to focus on to produce a consistent golf swing:  rhythm, the little fingers, and vertical motion.  I’m sure you are thinking “that makes no sense!”  But if you are ready to begin the proper way to develop a consistent golf swing I urge you to be open to the challenge of focusing on the illogical.

 

Timing of the Hands in the Down Swing

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One of the differences that I notice when comparing a consistent golf swing and an inconsistent golf swing is the difference in the down swing motion.  A consistent down swing looks smooth and balanced.  An inconsistent down swing looks jerky and unbalanced.

A key reason for a jerky motion is the improper timing of the release of the energy that is built in the back swing.  For this discussion I will assume that the energy is released in the proper sequence: starting from the ground up through the feet, hips, upper body, arms and hands.  I would like to cover the correct timing of the release of the hands.

I am writing this when the London Olympics has just started.  In the spirit of the London Olympics, I will use a sprinter as an analogy to discuss when the hands must release the energy in the down swing. The sprinter accelerates out of the starting blocks when the starting gun is fired and reaches maximum velocity that is maintained all the way past the finish line.

In the down swing, the starting gun is the right upper arm.  The snap down of the right upper arm is the firing of the starting gun.  As soon as the right upper arm snaps down, the right forearm will automatically snap down and the hands will automatically accelerate down past the right hip.  This acceleration of the hands feels like a snap.  After the snap of the hands, the hands reach their maximum velocity that is maintained twelve inches past the ball.  The hands must not stop at the ball.  You must think that the ball just gets in the way of the swing.

An inefficient and jerky down swing occurs because the hands snap too late: at the ball.  The hands snap too late because the golfer is focused on the ball instead focusing on snapping the hands at the right side of the body.  Focusing on the ball causes the golfer to use the hands in order to hit or lift the ball.  When the hands snap too late, the snap really becomes an inefficient jerk of the hands.

Using the sprinter analogy, snapping the hands too late is like being left in the starting blocks when the starting gun fires.  A smooth and efficient down swing is created when the hands snap down as a result of the snap down of the right upper arm.

Don’t be left in the starting blocks.

Channel Adult Training in Golf

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We know that our adult tendencies interfere with our quest to become consistent golfers.  How can we use these characteristics, try harder and do above and beyond, to help us improve our swings and be more consistent?

Try Harder

Instead of trying harder to hit the ball, you need to channel the try harder characteristic to try harder to focus.  Focus on your rhythm, balance, and being efficient.

Since this is easier to say than do, it is appropriate that you really try harder to focus.

Do Above and Beyond

The characteristic to do a little extra can affect your consistency because it can cause you to lose your rhythm.  In most cases, it will cause you to slow your rhythm.  Instead, use extra effort to be more precise.  Be more precise in your setup, rhythm, balance and being efficient.  This takes increased awareness of your swing, going above and beyond to be precise.

Law of Diminishing Returns

The Law of Diminishing Returns is definitely in the realm of adults. The definition is “A law affirming that to continue after a certain level of performance has been reached will result in a decline in effectiveness.” This law can be applied to the golf swing.  The next time you are at the driving range, try to swing with what you feel is approximately 50% of your maximum force.  You should be able to have the ball go straight while you finish in balance.  Next increase the amount of force to what you feel is approximately 60% of your maximum force.  If you have a decrease in performance (worse distance, direction, or balance) then you should settle on using only 50% of your maximum force, because 50% of your maximum force gives you the best results. You need to find what your point of diminishing returns is.  It will definitely not be 100%.  It is commonly believed that professional golfers only use 80% of their maximum.  For amateurs, 50% – 70% would be more realistic.

 

It is a Challenge for Adults to Learn the Golf Swing

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If you are like me, you have taken many golf lessons.  You have also spent countless hours on the driving range trying to improve your swing.   Why is it so difficult to develop a consistent swing?  It is my contention that learning how to be a successful adult actually sabotages our quest to develop a consistent golf swing.  How does this work?

Extra Credit

In order to be successful as an adult, we had to do well in school.  This means we did well in tests. If we wanted to do well in tests, we did the extra credit problems.  As an adult, doing “a little extra effort” is natural to who we are.  But in golf, doing the extra credit problem will result in an “F”: a failing grade!

Instead of just doing only what is required to produce a good golf swing, it is natural, as successful adults, to embellish or add a little extra motion with our arm, hands, or body to ensure a good result.  In fact, doing a little extra always results in poor results.  It is difficult to go against what is natural and only do the minimum to produce a good golf swing.

The Ball 

So here we are with a golf club and a golf ball.  Naturally, we know what to do. We have done our homework.  We know we want to hit the ball with the golf club.  We also know we want to hit the ball in the air.   Well, the golf swing is making a motion with the club towards the target and the ball just gets in the way.  That is easy to say, hard to do for adults.  The big distraction is the ball.  The reality is that golf is not about hitting the ball! This is a lot easier for an eight-year-old to grasp, but is beyond adults.  You have seen how golfers execute the practice swing with a rhythmic and efficient motion, but then use a different swing when the ball is present.  This is because the ball is now the focus instead of a free and rhythmic motion.  Now the focus is to try to hit the ball and try to help the ball in the air and we wonder why we don’t have a good swing.  All golfers have a good golf swing but they only use it in the practice swing!

Try Harder

Another thing that adults do is to try harder.   When we did not do well in school, we were told to try harder next time.  Trying harder is what successful adults do naturally.  But trying harder never works in golf.  This is another example where our natural instincts, as adults, prevent us from making consistent golf swings.

The Trap

The biggest trap in golf is the thinking of “I need to keep up with the competition.”  When a golfer is successful, the next thought is not “I’ll continue to do what got me here,” the thought is usually “I need to drive the ball farther.”  It is the trap of I need to keep getting better so I need to change my swing.  This has happened so many times to professional golfers that they get lost and never regain their swing that initially made them successful; that got them there.  Examples are Ian Baker-Finch who won the Open Championship and tried to get more length.   Lydia Ko, who won professional tournaments at the age of fifteen and became number 1 at the age of eighteen and tried to get more length.  Tiger Woods won major championships by 10 shots and made at least four swing changes.

The really great golfers, Ben Hogan, Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer, Byron Nelson, Gary Player all kept using the swing that brought them success.

Even weekend golfers who finally break 80 decide to tinker with the setup or ball position the next time they play and barely break 100.  It is difficult for adults to leave well enough alone.  If you are playing well, then try to keep doing the same thing for one year.  If you want to improve something, spend the time to improve your chipping and putting.

What should we do?  We need to be mentally strong to go against what are natural tendencies:  hit the ball, do a little extra, try harder.  We need to consciously change who we are.  We need trust that if we focus on making a motion towards the target, the ball will get in the way and go towards the target.  That is easy to say, hard to do.  But that is the challenge for golfers who are learning the game as adults.