I need advice on the mental part of my game

[rezadue]

Last year was my first full year playing and by the end of it I was shooting in the mid 90s.

This year I made some small adjustments to my swing which has made it stronger and as a result I am able to hit the ball much better and and farther. When I am at the range out of a bucket of 100, there are only a handful of crappy shots. It should be noted that I do pick a target when I am at the range; as opposed to just hitting straight out there.


Now, I have two things that can give me fits. The first is my back swing tempo. I find I have a tendency to have a fast back swing and that really messes with my swing. The second is a tendency to want to look up to see where the ball is going too early.

At the range I am able to overcome these impulses for the most part. But when playing on a course these bad tendencies creep back into my swing and totally mess me up. As a result I start to fluff shots, catch them thin, fat; and all kinds of ungodly ways like that. As much as I tell myself not to do these things, I still do them. And that gets me frustrated which starts me on a very slippry slope to garbage scores.


A week ago I played at Riverbed and had this problem. I shot a front nine of 58. By the time we rounded the club house and played the back nine, I did not care anymore and felt resigned. I shot a 46 back nine. 12 shot difference. Today I played the front 9 at Glen Mar and shot an abysmal 62!!! I have not shot this bad since I started to play golf...


I know my swing is better than this; and if I can keep my back swing tempo and tendency to look up in check, I know I can shoot mid to low 40s on a nine. But.....



What can I do to keep from getting (I am not sure what is the proper adjective here) anxious, over excited, careless, or what ever it is that is causing me to make the same mistake over and over again on the course which I keep in check on the range?????


Help me before I throw my clubs and bag away.

[little brit]

Don't beat up on yourself so much.

I am pretty much in the same situation as you. It was my first full year last year also, and I too at the end of the year was shooting consistantly in the low 90s. My first time out this year I did 9 and scored 45 which I was very pleased with, then I went out, did 9 again and scored 55. I also find that I forget things like looking up as you do, but I think with time and practice this will happen less and less. It is frustrating as I am fairly competitive with myself and stubborn. Sounds like you are the same I guess we just have to relax and enjoy the scenery knowing that our improvement will probably be slower than when we started. I have noticed that no matter what level of golf you play though, that you are never really satisfied fully. There are always things to improve, but with each game there is always something that you are particularly pleased with and I try to focus on that, the lovely scenery, the beautiful day and the friends I am playing with. (Although a great score would make it all that much better )

[bobblehead]

I had(and still have) the same problem when I started playing golf but my scores were not as good as yours. Try to relax and make sure your breathing properly...when people get angry or anxious they tend to shorten their breathing. A pre-shot routine helps and as you play more golf your confidence will build and bad shots will affect you less.

I read the book "Fearless Golf" by Dr. Gio Valiante and it helped a bit. He's on the Golf Channel monday nights and has helped PGA players such as Chad Campbell, Davis Love III and Chris DiMarco on their mental game.

[dbleber]

Stop thinking! Just go out and play, maybe try a round by yourself and just try to relax.

[rezadue]

Thanks for the advice. At this point I will try anything.

[sharkhark]

This may help a bit. I last yr started taking advice (finally!!!) to take more club. I always take one to 2 more stronger clubs in almost all cases.
As a result I make a more relaxed swing. When hitting irons full out, maximum distance, I looked up in a hurry to see if I made it.
By using more club, I know I am likely not to come up short, and as a result make a relaxed swing, that by default goes straighter, and scores come down.
Just try one round, just one, where every shot is one more club than usual. I bet you have little to no shots over green, and better contact, less looking up. Try it. Can't hurt right?
ps don't cheat though and start picking choosing when to take more, I am talking virtually every shot.

[rezadue]

Well, I went out yesterday and played a round at Glen Mar and had the same damned issues. I could not get rid of them. I ended up laying another egg and shot 113.

Then today I went to Riverbend and my round started the same way with the same issues. i took 7,7,6,7 on the first 4 holes. After the first four I just threw up the white flag and decided just to hit some balls and see what I can do about my mechanics. Immediately I was shooting better and ended up finishing the front 9 with a 53. The back 9 was magical for me and I shot a 41!! All of this was playing with a strong wind!!!

That put my total at 94 which is my best so far.

Now I just gotta stop putting pressure on myself when I play and just try to make shots. If I can bottle the back 9 I had and bring it out again; I will be laughing.

Here's hoping I can do it again.

Thanks for the advice everyone.

[BC MIST]

Now I just gotta stop putting pressure on myself when I play and just try to make shots. If I can bottle the back 9 I had and bring it out again; I will be laughing.

This indicates that you have found one of the keys to playing better. The scores you make are incidental to how you strike the ball, chip and putt. This is obvious. You have to make an honest assessment of how you strike the ball when you practice to how you do this when you play. If they are similar then you have to accepot the 90's and 100's until your mechanics improve. If you play worse than you practice, then how you think is not allowing the skills that you have to come out.

By trying hard to score, you won't, as doing so creates stress and fear, both of which interfere with your natural stroke. Thinking target is the same, as it is future, not present, and creates the fear of failure mode. Playing for money does the same as it puts the emphasis on results again.

So, assess your skill. If you played as you practiced, what would you likely score? Sounds like the mid 80's? Your current mid 80's skill level is subconscious, however, something conscious is interfering with that subconscious. Suggestion: (1) Plan the perfect shot in you mind. This CONSCIOUS action is your preshot routine and the preshot routine DOES NOT INCLUDE gripping the club and setting up. (2) As you grip, setup and swing, you mind should be on something NOT golf related. Repeat a phrase, the words of a song, whatever, you want, but NOT golf. By doing so the swing that happens is your subconscious swing, and your subconscious swing is better than you conscious one as evidenced by your scores.

You should practice this when you practice. Work on mechanics for a few shots, then work on playing the shot on the range, thinking exactly how will think on the course, when you play a shot.

When you play, get emotional about your good shots. Be emotionless about your bad shots because your emotional reaction reinforces the shot that immediately precedes it. The word DON'T should not exist. "Don't hit it in the water, don't 3 putt and so on, cannot be part of your mindset as your subconscious does not know don't. It hears "hit in in the water, 3 putt."

Easy to say, a challenge to change, but it can be done.

[dH]

Great advice BC. I feel ya Reza, I shot a 65 front 9 and 47 back the other day. Than yesterday started out par, bogey, bogey but ended up w/ a 48.

I like Moe Norman's "Let it happen, don't try and make it happen" I dont care anymore if I don't shoot well today I'll shoot well tomorrow hopefully. That mentality has helped me make some better shots. I still think it's physical one day I'm hitting at the range and at the course just awsome. Even put one on the green from ~200 out w/ a 5 iron. Next day swing doesn' tfeel natural, no distance and slicing. I wanted thd distance so bad I was gripping so hard I riped the skin off my pinky, thumb and a big dent in the side of one of my fingers. My point of the last statement is that as much as ew think it's mental I also think if your a beginner like me your body isn't trained yet and that's most important because my muscles don't remember whats supposed to happen and I do know that if I consciously try and "make it happen" I can guarantee it won't. Lots of the time my best shots are w/ no practice shot just go up there look where I want to and swing thinking about something I read in the forum or something 100% unrelated to anything I'm doing. The flip side lots of awful shots and I ask myself why the Heck are you thinking about that X right now. I dunno this game is crazy but so am I.

[Chieflongtee]

Considser bacweighting your clubs to slow your tempo whether you want it or not.

[leftylucas]

I am not one for gimmicks but I would try the Medicus trainer, I have one and suffered from the same problems with tempo. It did help me a great deal with that. you can adjust the hinge for your swing. It will break if you take it back to quickly. It will also break if you come over the top. A week with this and your tempo will improve.

[rezadue]

Thanks again for the advice guys. BC, I found your email particularly interesting and read it a couple of times and thought about it for a bit before posting a reply.

As for my striking ability, so far this year (with the exception of the last 14 holes yesterday) I would say that there is a big discrepency between my practice sessions and actual course play. Of course my bad tendencies(see above) still creep in to the odd shot when practicing, but it is nowhere near as often. So if I am making an honest assessment of my ball striking I would think that I am much better than a 100-115 player. Similarly, I don't think I am necessairly a mid 80s shooter either. I have never had a nine hole that good and that could be an anomoly just as the 110-115s I have scored lately.

What I do know is when on the course I do put pressure on myself to score well and if I hit a couple of bad shots, then things tend to go downhill. Sometimes when standing over the ball I feel anxious and impatient. Other times I over analyze and think too much. As a result I rush my backswing or look up to see where my ball is going, or whether I am hitting a good shot or not.

Yesterday, after the first 4 holes I just said the heck with scores, I am just going to try to hit some relaxed shots and let the ball land where it may. For my irons I took what felt like a half swing but in reality is more like a 3/4 swing ( I have videotaped myself and know that I my backswing is farther along than I precieve it). For my drives I forgot about trying to smash the crud out of the ball. I Through it all I kept my eyes on the ball only; during the ENTIRE swing. And immediatley I was shooting better, more consistent and curiously longer (I hit a 7 iron 165 yards into the wind where I normally hit 145 yard with no wind - I am 5' 7" and 150 lbs). And my accuracy improved immensely. I ended up hitting 8 fariways out of the last 10 (which is great for me). The other 2 drives were pretty near the fairway and in both cases, my second shot was absolutely great!!

All of this reinforced my assumption that most of my problems have been mental. Don't get me wrong; I have lots to improve on in my mechanics but that is what should help me get from mid 90s to lower scores. Just to add to why I think this, at times I don't sleep well the night before going out to play a round with neighbours or colleagues; early the next morning. I am excited to be going out to play and anxious!

I certainly like your suggestions on preshot routine and mental part of your setup and will try that the next few times I go out. At the same time I am going to try to not expect to score a centain number before I start and just go out and try to shoot well and see what happens.

I definitely think I have identified what I need to do. I just gotta do what I think I should do more consistently on the course.

Reza

This indicates that you have found one of the keys to playing better. The scores you make are incidental to how you strike the ball, chip and putt. This is obvious. You have to make an honest assessment of how you strike the ball when you practice to how you do this when you play. If they are similar then you have to accepot the 90's and 100's until your mechanics improve. If you play worse than you practice, then how you think is not allowing the skills that you have to come out.

By trying hard to score, you won't, as doing so creates stress and fear, both of which interfere with your natural stroke. Thinking target is the same, as it is future, not present, and creates the fear of failure mode. Playing for money does the same as it puts the emphasis on results again.

So, assess your skill. If you played as you practiced, what would you likely score? Sounds like the mid 80's? Your current mid 80's skill level is subconscious, however, something conscious is interfering with that subconscious. Suggestion: (1) Plan the perfect shot in you mind. This CONSCIOUS action is your preshot routine and the preshot routine DOES NOT INCLUDE gripping the club and setting up. (2) As you grip, setup and swing, you mind should be on something NOT golf related. Repeat a phrase, the words of a song, whatever, you want, but NOT golf. By doing so the swing that happens is your subconscious swing, and your subconscious swing is better than you conscious one as evidenced by your scores.

You should practice this when you practice. Work on mechanics for a few shots, then work on playing the shot on the range, thinking exactly how will think on the course, when you play a shot.

When you play, get emotional about your good shots. Be emotionless about your bad shots because your emotional reaction reinforces the shot that immediately precedes it. The word DON'T should not exist. "Don't hit it in the water, don't 3 putt and so on, cannot be part of your mindset as your subconscious does not know don't. It hears "hit in in the water, 3 putt."

Easy to say, a challenge to change, but it can be done.

[BC MIST]

My point of the last statement is that as much as ew think it's mental I also think if your a beginner like me your body isn't trained yet and that's most important because my muscles don't remember whats supposed to happen and I do know that if I consciously try and "make it happen" I can guarantee it won't.

Be careful with this line of thinking. You may condition your muscles but they are incapable of remembering. It is your brain that remembers and with frequent repetitions of the CORRECT motion, you will gradually create the electrical circuitry necessary to perform the motion correctly, 100% of the time, unless you think in some way that will interfere with this. Slow motion swings and repetitious moving to the correct positions with maximum mental involvement, will accelerate your progress, and bore you to death.

I have not ridden a bicycle for 30 years and I have not shot a foul shot in basketball in 10, and yet I know that I could ride a bike the first time on and make more foul shots than I miss without any practice. When was the last time you missed your mouth with your fork (when sober)? Feeding yourself is a subconscious habit that you do every time without thinking about it, and hopefully, in time, your golf swing will become the same. Thinking about how you are doing it while you are doing it leads only to inconsistency and frustration.

The problem in golf is that we learn the wrong stuff as a beginner, almost perfect the incorrect and then spend the rest of our lives trying to correct the incorrect. That is why lessons at the outset are essential. My dad had me take 16 lessons from Earl Stimpson before I ever set foot on a golf course. I know this helped develop sound basics and why I scored in the 100's (101) only once in my life. No, I didn't quit golf after that 1st game.

Another problem is that many have become convinced that you can buy the right golf clubs and if you do, you game will suddenly improve. New golf clubs with the same 'ole swing and mindset, will not lead to improvement.

[LobWedge]

Remember this. The shot in front of you is the most important one you're ever going to hit. Leave the past behind, what's done is done. The future hasn't happened yet, the ball will find it's own way there.

["Richard"]

Remember this. The shot in front of you is the most important one you're ever going to hit. Leave the past behind, what's done is done. The future hasn't happened yet, the ball will find it's own way there.

Did you read deepak chopras book or something? ahahah I joke I joke

[Vokey Design]

Stop thinking! Just go out and play, maybe try a round by yourself and just try to relax.

Great advice .. you need to get out on a course alone and DONT KEEP SCORE .. just play a practice round... this will releave some of the pressure..

I had a problem with getting quick on the back swing as well ... and one day I saw VJ doing a clinic on the range and he was talking about how this is his fault when his swing is off.

VJ counts in his head durring the back swing ... one...two you have to practice this to get the tempo I found that it was too easy to say 1 2 really fast so I used
NICE N EASY start saying this when you begin your take-away and finish easy at impact... it worked well for me and if I am having a bad day I still go back to it.

Cheers.

[Hacker]

Lots of good stuff here to chew on. I'd kill to have one of those syrupy smooth swings like Ernie or even Michelle Wie (Yes, I'd take the swing of a 16 year old girl over mine.........in a Heartbeat )

[Darin_CS]

Well considering she still hits it farther than most men... I can outdirve her, but she hits way mrroe fairways than I do.

As far as the topic is related, is sounds like you know how to play, you just cant take what you know on the driving range to the course. The difference is, on the driving range, your not afraid of a bad shot, because it does not penalize you. The idea is when you take your shots on the course, to try and feel like your on the driving range. Pick your spot and club like you do when you practice, and then forget the entire hole exists. Then fire away.

The biggest problem is when people are on the driving range, they just step up and hit ball after ball, and they hit it well cause they are relaxed. They almost never go through their preshot routine on the driving range. Then when they hit the course they start using their preshot routine, which completely changes the feeling you just had on the driving range.

My recomendation is to get those 100 balls, and when you hit them, go through your entire routine for each ball AND DONT MISS A SINGLE BALL. I used to have the same problem and that is one difference I made. I then went from a 15 to a 3 handicap in 3 seasons. (mind you I practice the rest of my game as well).

Good luck

Cheers