So many golfers think that the key to improving your golf is in perfecting the swing mechanics. Not even close. If you want to be on the PGA tour, well yes, you should work with a swing instructor. If you just want to break 80 or 90 or even 100, your biggest gains will come with mental tactics like increasing your confidence.
If improving your golf was all about the swing, then why do we have balloon-score rounds right after taking our lessons and spending hours on the practice range? Because golf is a mental game right?The meaning of the word "confidence" and how it applies to golf is everything for improving your golf and what happens to us on the course when we're playing. . The greatest shot killer is not bad mechanics, it's DOUBT!Also remember Brad Faxon's words: "most golfers just suffer from too much doubt when it comes to putting."
If you haven't experienced doubt on the putting green before and seen it's ugly effects, then you are already the greatest putter in the world and I want to know your secret.
So many top pros have recounted in interviews that the best putting they ever did was when they were in their teens. Why? Because they had their best mechanics? Because they have a more steady nervous system in their youth? No, it's because they are full of confidence and have reached a basic fundamental skill level. They have very few past failures and disappointments that cut into their natural cockiness. And that's all you need! The best putters in the world have long recognized this.
Do you remember being a teenager and you felt invincible? Like you could do anything and nothing bad would happen to you? As we get older, things happen to us and we become more afraid to try things and we get closer to our own mortality.
When I was a teenager, I can remember being unafraid to go swim out to 10 foot waves in the ocean so that I could ride them in with my little blow up raft! Getting rescued by the lifeguard one time cured me of that real quick. I went river rafting once and after running a class 3 rapid, walked back up to the beginning of the rapid and SWAM it! I can also remember jumping off a 50 foot cliff overhanging a lake without knowing what was under the water. I look back at those times and think "how in the world did I ever survive being a teenager?"Could you go back to that time, in your head and create that state that is stored in your unconscious mind for confidence? Of course you can, just call upon your memories of those events and re-experience them right there on the course.
And that's all there is to it. They are just feelings you've had in the past and your memories can bring you there again. Those memories are your most powerful weapon to managing your mental state when you are improving your golf game. Manufacture confidence and remove doubt and watch your scores drop!
Golf Visualization: How to develop it
All the top pros say you have to "visualize" your shot before you take it. Some folks tell me that they have trouble doing this. Here's a simple way to develop this skill that you can use for any performance outcome you want to achieve
Golf iron tips: do this one thing and watch your iron game improve dramatically
Golf iron tips: the best of the best. I could write about swing planes and x-factors and checkpoints etc. But do you really think that will help your game from a short article on the swing? No. Do this one tip in this article and watch your iron game improve dramatically, no matter how you swing.
Golf chip shot: its a lot easier than you think
A golf pitch shot is probably the one area that amateur golfers ignore the most. They think that it is so complicated and so they never work on it. The fact is, if you just think about doing these most important parts of the shot, it becomes very easy...and consistent.
