Fitness levels and the general approach to fitness in golf has seen great strides over the past decade. However, another aspect of the sport which has improved significantly over the years is psychology.
Many professional golfers have psychological experts travelling with them on the PGA and European Tour. They help professional golfers deal with many of the problems they face as a professional golfer but even without a psychologist, there are things you can do as an amateur to prepare you mentally.
One of these things is a pre-shot routine.
A pre-shot routine is a mental and physical sequence which you will perform before playing a shot. It is proven to help golfers remain focused and play shots with consistency. It also helps to ensure your stance, grip and alignment are correct for the shot you are about to play. These are the fundamental aspects of any golf shot and a pre-shot routine helps to get them into place.
Having a pre-shot routine forces you to concentrate on the shot you are about to play, rather than other things which may be happening or have happened previously. If you are playing in a tournament, it will stop you from thinking about the current leaderboard. Perhaps you played a poor shot on the previous hole but instead of dwelling on that shot, your pre-shot routine has already removed it from you mind.
Once you have a pre-shot routine in place, it will become part of your unconscious behaviour on the golf course. Therefore, rather than always having to think about everything you are doing during a round of golf, your mind can almost switch off and relax for a short time, as you automatically go through your pre-shot routine. Giving your conscious thoughts a break, even for a few seconds, can work wonders on the golf course.
Developing a pre-shout routine which you feel comfortable with, is not very difficult.
Firstly, assess the shot you have in-front of you. You will check the lie of the ball, wind speed, distance to the target and any hazards which are present. You can then select a club which will work best for you given the situation.
You can then take some practice swings, imagining where the ball is going as you make contact and seeing the result. Create a clear picture of what you would like to happen.
Step into position, ready to play the shot. Many golfers have an action which signals to themselves they are ready to start the swing. It could be a little twitch of the arm or pushing the club at the ground, anything which is small and you feel comfortable with will work. Having made this action, you know it is time to play the shot. If you do not have an action to start the swing, try looking at the target, then the ball before beginning your back swing.
Having completed the shot, you can spend a few seconds thinking about how it went, in terms of the mechanics and outcome but you must accept the result quickly. Within a couple of minutes, you will be back in your pre-shot routine, ready for the next shot.
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