The Recreational Golfer: Golf Mental Game Tips for Focus and Concentration

Shawn Clement shows you the proper way of focusing when over the ball; this will help you organize what really should be going through your mind at the moment of truth!

In this video, Shawn gives some great tips on how to focus while over the ball. For the short game shot example, he says he looks at the flag stick but that the trees behind the green, the bunker in front, and everything else is blurry...in other words he is just focusing on the target.

Something that surprised me was that he then said that even the golf ball should be blurry when you are looking down at it...just the flag stick should be in focus, even if you are not looking at it.

Next he goes through some practice shots to get the feel for the shot, to see if it feels like the shot has the momentum to reach the target and land near the hole.

What did you think of this video? Great Tips? Actionable? Tell us in the comments below...

Mental Golf Tips: The Importance of the Mental Game of Golf to Lower Your Handicap

If you want to lower your golf handicap it is often not enough just to practice your golf swing. You should also learn to improve your golf mental game techniques. Many recreational golfers don’t even bother making the effort to understand the mental approach to golf, but it is this area of the game of golf that can make a big difference and help you to lower your handicap.

The Professional Golfer

When you watch a professional golf tournament on the TV, you may have noticed the way the leader board can change dramatically. One player is going strong for a while and suddenly crumbles, or another one takes a giant leap from lower down the leader board to the top. The normal reason for when PGA Tour professionals fall off the leader board is because of a lapse in their mental part of golf.

As you can imagine, it takes golf mental toughness for these Tour professionals to keep their game together over the four days of a Tournament. In some events and even in some Majors, you will see a lesser known pro win against the odds. Maybe it is because there was no pressure on them to win or they were just on their game, but it is generally the player who can control their golf mental game that takes the prize.

Top 10 Worst Golf Chokes and Collapses - Mental Lapses?

Choking is something that every golfer, even the greatest golfers (well, except for Jack Nicklaus), does at one time or another. Sometimes, the pressure just gets to you and you can't execute the shots you want to hit, or you start making poor decisions. Here are our picks for the 10 worst chokes or collapses in golf history...

Source: golf.about.com

The Recreational Golfer

Many recreational golfers will spend time and money on golf instruction programs, professional golf lessons, golf swing aids, golf practice equipment, and even golf fitness equipment. Hardly any, however, will invest the time and money into improving their mental game of golf. Incredibly, it is the one area of the game of golf that doesn’t require much effort or money to learn.

What is the Golf Mental Game?

Jack Nicklaus walks up to his ball on the 9th ...

The mental side of golf covers such things as golf focus, concentration, thinking clearly, and your golf mind. Without using mental golf training techniques, you may succumb to such problems as anxiety, fearfulness, and nerves. So if you are a generally above average golfer but you have a bad round of golf every now and then, it could be your mental side of golf that is the cause.

Jack Nicklaus said, "The game of golf is 90% mental and 10% physical," and Bobby Jones once said, "Competitive golf is played mainly on a five-and-a-half-inch course, the space between your ears." Professional golfers realize the importance of the golf mental game and how to work on their golf mindset.

Golf Concentration

One of the biggest problems that the recreational golfer has is one of worry. They worry about other golfers watching them tee off, they worry about hitting a slice, and they even worry about what their playing partners are thinking of their swing.

To overcome this constant worrying you need to concentrate only on your game and your swing; don’t worry about the other people around you. After all, professional golfers manage to take no notice of the spectators, the camera crews, and the other golfers. The solution is to focus on the target and not on the situation. One of the keys to your mental golf game is to block out everything around you and just concentrate on your game.

The game of golf is supposed to be enjoyed, not feared. One easy way to enjoy your game is to smile! When you are addressing the ball, instead of furrowing your brow, try smiling; this will relax your facial muscles and ease your anxiety.

The Mental Aspect of Golf for Golf Focus

Lastly, you need to learn how to focus on just the shot at hand. Forget about the last drive that was sliced into the woods and forget about the following difficult par-4 with a dogleg left and deep fairway bunkers. You have to only focus on the shot that is before you; how far to the green, which direction is the wind coming from, which club to use, what will be your target, what type of swing and ball trajectory will you be trying to accomplish.

These are the only things that should be entering your mind when you are preparing to hit an approach shot, for example. Do not worry about the group behind that are waiting to tee off or about your playing partners watching you. Your only thoughts should be on how you are going to play your next shot.

So, it doesn’t matter if you are a complete beginner or a seasoned golfer that can no longer get in the “zone,” you need to master the golf mental game to be a good golfer.

Renegade Golf Psychology - Tapping

The above video is from mental golf coach, Stephen Ladd. In it you will learn how to eliminate negative emotions so that you will be able to control stressful situations that you might have out on the golf course.

Click Here to Learn an Alternative Golf Psychology That Will Give You a Golf Mindset of a Seasoned Pro