MEDITATION!

Sometimes it’s better to meditate about your swing off the course than on and actually hitting the ball. This is particularly important when you are in a slump, physically tiered, mentally distracted or have an injury. Think. Sit down, picture a time when you played well and recall what you were doing. Recalling your past successes during actual play helps with visualization. Recall what those good shot looked and felt like. Using the swing of others to help. Thanks to the world of the video age, you can use the swing images of good golfers to help. Watching PGA or LPGA events help. Watch their fluid rhythm and tempo. When I’m preparing for a big tournament or event, I read nothing else but golf, think nothing else but golf, do nothing else but golf. Ben Hogan said,” You can will something to happen with your’ body and mind. The mind is strong. I want to get this one close. The mind has to produce positive thinking. All the great players do it.”

Relax the mind, keep it simple, see the target, see the shot, execute – mentally as well as physically.

Tension starts in the mind. It will destroy the feel of your swing and your confidence. You end up squeezing the club in your hands, you tighten up the wrist which leads to your forearms and than to the rest of your muscles. You have no flow or feel left. If you can keep the tension out of your swing you will have a good chance to feel the club head and swing with your hands and arms acting jointly. Keeping your mind under control will give your self a running start towards good tempo. You must develop a consistent pre-shot routine in which your preparations are the same for every swing. It doesn’t really matter how you make those preparations as long as you follow some common-sense guidelines.

Essentially you pick your target and establish your target line from behind the ball. What is important is that you go through this routine the same way every time and in approximately the same amount of time. This will get your body ready and accustomed to a certain way to begin your swing, giving it a feel that moves you smoothly into the swing without thinking about how to start your swing each time. This frees your mind to concentrate on the target and the shot your about to make. If you work on this in practice, you will find a pre-shot routine easier to do on the course therefore helping you overcome tension. The longer you stand over the ball before beginning your swing, the more chances you give your mind to start working and your muscles to tighten.

Develop a smooth pre-shot routine that doesn’t waste any time. Your mind is like a computer; it believes what information you give it. If you tell yourself you’re dreadful in the sand trap, you will be dreadful in the sand trap. Tell yourself you are fabulous in the sand. If you tell yourself don’t hit it in the water, your mind hears hit it in the water. Tell yourself only positive thoughts. Start by telling yourself where you want the ball to land.

Don’t live in the past. There is nothing you can do about it. Plan and play for the present. Play one shot at a time and than leave it and continue to the next. When you are practicing and you hit a good shot, don’t be in a hurry to hit the next ball. Watch what it doses, put it in the computer in your mind. Visualize it, feel it, make your muscles do it. “ The mind is your greatest weapon. It’s the greatest club in your bag. It’s also your Achilles heel,” There are those times when you feel so good over the ball you just know that this shot is going to be an exceptional one. Big!! Your mind says let it go you can do it, and you do.

Golf in many ways resembles art. Great artist have an intrinsic lack of control. They see it in their mind’s eye, become one with the nature of it and let it happen. There is something about not controlling your mind, not trying so hard to make things happen,

Please remember, however, that the golf swing, no matter how memorized is still a creative act born out of the conditions of the moment, no two of which are ever the same. Whereas you can reduce the swing to it’s individual pieces, you cannot reduce the game to science. It is an art and you are the artist. You are going to have more success when your mind is clear and concise in what you are trying to do.