Concentrating on anything requires giving your all to whatever the task at hand is, whether it be writing an article or hitting a golf shot. One of the problems we face on the golf course is the amount of time that we are taking to complete a round. If I asked you to concentrate 100% on any task for a period of 4 hours you would struggle, there would be a few moments during that time that your mind wandered and became busy thinking about something else, and this is where golfers make the mistake when it comes to concentrating.
Golfers must be able to switch on and off. Enjoy what is happening around them, take in the sounds, smells, sights and conversation between the group. Instead we try to focus fully on the game and lose concentration to easily, flipping from one thing to another with no structure or direction. It is always interesting for me to hear the different subject topics being talked about on the golf course, many of these conversations are broken and contain little structure.
To be able to perform to our best ability throughout the 18 holes, we must learn to switch on and off. Completely forget about golf and shift our focus away from the golf and onto something else, but equally we must be able to switch back that focus and dedicate 100% of ourselves to each individual shot.
Teaching ourselves to do this takes a lot of time and awareness, and it is the awareness of how we behave on the golf course that we need to enhance. There will be one golfer, probably one of the most talented in the club that has seemingly failed to meet their potential, that turns up late, possibly hungover and walks off the 18th green as the champion, doing it week in week out. Making people question what is the problem.
The problem most certainly not their concentration or ability, they have plenty of ability and they are able to focus themselves on the task at hand, instead the problem comes when they have to dedicate time, hours rather than seconds, on improvement, they become distracted bored and although they are exceptional players, they will never quite make the grade, but you can learn from them. You need to be able to switch on and off like they do, when it is necessary, relax when you can and enjoy the environment or the company you find yourself in.
Trying to remain 100% focussed for 4 hours is not helping you play better golf; in fact, it is probably making it harder. Relax and enjoy yourself, and only focus when you need to.
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