“ Why is Golf so hard. I keep my head down and my eye on the ball. Why do I have such a tough time being consistent?” I have heard this from many players in my 20 years of teaching. Being good is not as hard as you think. It is one of the toughest sports if you stick to all the clichés that you here from other players. Like keep your eye on the ball and keep your head down. The biggest problem with is that the ball is not in motion. In all other sports the ball is in motion. That is why you need to keep your eye on it. How can you hit a ball in motion if you can’t see it? Because in other sports the ball is in motion we become more reactive and our motion is more athletic. This is how we have to be in Golf. When you are reactive you don’t have a ton of thoughts rolling around in your head. You don’t have time to think how you are going to hit the ball you just react. It is important that in Golf we become more reactive and free our minds of Swing thoughts. This takes practice just like anything else that you want to become better at. This first thing is to understand what has to happen and be able to get it to happen through drills. It is like playing piano. You first learn where the notes are in a keyboard. Then your learn scales and chords. As you practice your scales the motion begins to become more comfortable. Like in music the scales are like drills in Golf. You practice the drills until the motion becomes more comfortable or reactive. Once you get the motion down you don’t have to think about it. You just do it! I know easier said than done. Well clearing your mind take practice also. The best in the game even have trouble with this from time to time. So here are a few things you can do to get that reactive free flowing swing that produces results more often.
Gain a feeling for the shot you want to hit before hand. When you practice on the range try to hit a certain shot and take a practice Swing to feel the motion before your go. Take this same feeling on the course to feel what you want to produce before you pull the trigger.
Clear your mind. When you react you have zero thoughts in your head. You are in a state where thoughts don’t occur. Once you know what you have to do you don’t want to have to think about mechanics to produce it. You do that in your practice Swing to feel the motion. Once you know what you have to do you don’t need to tell yourself over and over again. Just do it!
Once you hit a shot accept the outcome. There is nothing you can do once the bell leaves the club. Just forget about it until it’s time to hit the next shot. If it is a bad shot then just tell yourself that this is normal and it happens in a round. No player hits every shot the way they envisioned it. Let it go and enjoy your time till the next shot. You are on the golf Course and there to enjoy the time.
Stay positive and always have positive self talk. The best way to ruin a round is to beat yourself up when things aren’t going your way. Remember you are you own coach out there so talk to yourself like you would as if you were you own mentor because out there you are.
