A mindset for playing golf

This is important but I’ll keep it short.

Too many of us try and combine playing golf with thinking golf. By thinking I mean, thoughts on technique, worrying about the score or concern about others. The bottom line is playing golf and thinking golf are completely different and need to be separated.

But most don’t get it. We stuff about on the golf course and worry about our swing, score and style. The golf course is for play – and play uses a different part of the brain than the thinking part.

When you try and combine the two the game gets difficult.

You get uptight.
You get overly nervous.
You feel weak and lack coordination.
You stuff up when you least want too.
The harder you try the worse the game becomes.

Sound familiar?

If so then you need to use the golf course for playing. Get outside and swing away and have some fun doing it. There’s plenty of time off the course to do the thinking. Don’t waste that precious time when you’re on it.

Sidenote: I’m willing to bet you’ll have something exciting to share if you can leave the thinking behind and go hit the ball in any way that feels good to you. Report back here with your stories.

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7 Comments

  • Gregor

    Reply Reply July 27, 2011

    “There’s plenty of time off the course to do the thinking. Don’t waste that precious time when you’re on it.”
    To me, this short statement basically sums it all up and it’s taken me a long time to get it. You need to automate off the course first, so that there’s nothing to think about when you’re on it. Let your routine take care of business, but it needs to be well prepared so that there’s no need to re-think it.
    I’ve been working on my alignment and set up in the house and the garden recently. When I played yesterday my first thought before my first shot was make sure and align properly. I went through 3 horrible holes before I finally let go and stopped worrying. All of a sudden I was hitting fairways and greens all over the place. My conscious thought probably undid all my good work until I let my automatic kick in.

    • Cameron

      Reply Reply July 29, 2011

      Hi Gregor: If you can’t even control your stance when on the course what chance have we got for the rest of the swing? There is a lot of good info in your comment.

  • Grayden Provis

    Reply Reply July 28, 2011

    I hear you Gregor. When I finally realized how much more valuable “post game” thinking is than “during game” thinking it freed me up to just relax and swing away. I knew that my post mortem in the days following would work out what happened which meant I didn’t need to think about it at the time. It makes every round a “practice” round in a way – and thats very enjoyable.

    • Cameron

      Reply Reply July 29, 2011

      Grayden: Yep, you get all the practice you need when you play golf. And we don’t always need out conscious mind interfering with the learning process – it just happens. Good stuff.

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