I'm sure you've heard the term that golf is a mental game and is 90% mental and 10% physical, or variations on that. However, I think to talk of the 'mental' game is misleading in my view. Obviously you can't play golf by just thinking about it - there's some pretty physical stuff too!

I coach golfers to improve their awareness on the course. This involves being aware of what you're thinking AND how you're moving. You can't have 'mental' without 'physical' - this is like saying you can have a mind without a body or vice-versa. Yes, the term 'mental golf' refers to being confident etc as this leads to better play. But I find a player who is 'aware' on the course becomes a more confident golf by gaining greater control over their actions. The more you know how to make the ball do what you want it to - the more confident you will get! The more confident you are - the better golf you will play!

So I say, combine your mind and body to play your best golf through improving your awareness - if you're not sure what this means try my ultimate golf fitness test.




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Alison had been playing golf for just two years and had developed a good swing and approach shots but struggled when it came to putting. She admitted feeling anxious when she had to sink a putt; this was made worse if it meant finishing under par or winning the hole. I watched her putting in my teaching room and everything looked fine but as this was a no-pressure shot it didn’t tell me anything. So I suggested she could have the next lesson free if she could sink a long putt into a plastic cup - this also made me a little anxious! As soon as there was something riding on the shot I noticed she held her breath and visibly tensed her jaw and tightened her grip on the club – she also missed the putt.

Once you’ve read the green and lined up your shot you should no longer be concerned about the hole when you address the ball. You’ve done the maths and worked out which direction the ball should go, and how hard you should hit it. So when you come to play the shot you don’t need to worry about sinking the putt- you just need to stay relaxed and focus on the task in hand, i.e., to carry out the next part of the plan.

Alison was thinking about the position of the hole, the consequences of missing and getting tense in the process. Once she’d lined up and was in her stance over the ball I asked her to focus on the movement of her ribs for a moment whilst she looked at the ball. Then I got her to be aware of the touch of her lips and to check there was a space between her upper and lower teeth. She found these thoughts helped her to relax and detach herself from the putt – she needed to ‘be in the moment’.

By maintaining these thoughts she was able to stay poised and achieve the smooth pendulum action required for a good putt. She tried a few without aiming at the cup and then with the cup without bringing anything extra, mental or physical, into the shot. She was able to take this onto the green and with practice her putting improved dramatically.

The techniques I used with Alison, and more, are available in my book 'Golf Sense'.

Also see:
How Practising Getting Out Of Bed Will Improve Your Putting
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A recent study in Canada has found that talking to yourself can help improve performance. Psychologists from Toronto University gave volunteers self-control tasks in which they were asked to talk to themselves or keep their mind blank. They concluded that using your "inner voice" plays an important role in controlling impulsive behaviour, according to scientists.

Can it work on the golf course? Could keeping an inner dialogue going with yourself help to improve control of your club? I guess it depends on what you're saying to yourself. Other studies into golf performance found using technical terms to analyse what just happened on your previous shot could be detrimental to your game. I firmly believe that keeping it simple and focusing on non-golf terms has a very good impact on performance.

For example, just talking to yourself and saying something like 'keep breathing' or 'am I lifting my shoulders' help to keep you in the moment and take undue stress out of your body. This helps to free up your muscles for a better swing and can prevent injury. Unfortunately I coach many golfers who are having the wrong sort of dialogue with themselves and being totally oblivious to its affect. Your muscles can only do what you tell them to do - the trick is to know exactly what you're telling them to do!

What do I mean by this? Try the simple golf fitness test here and see if you're not surprised by the result :0)
  
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