Tip From the Archives

Regain Focus

Problem

You can be playing golf for 30 minutes and suddenly you no longer feel comfortable with your swing. This greatly decreases the accuracy of your game.

Cure

Many things can trigger this anxiety and it would greatly benefit you if you could figure out the exact cause. Keeping a journal of what you were thinking about before this happened and any activities that occurred at this time can help you do so. Perhaps this is around the time you total up your score to determine how well you are doing so far. If so, you should have someone else keep score or avoid keeping track of par. Put a strip of scotch tape over the par line on the scorecard before you even start your round.

Therapy

You need to find something to use as a crutch to help you regain your focus and to rebuild your confidence. One of the best ways to do this is to keep to a routine. This needs to be something you can do before every shot, including putts. This means if you are used to looking at your target before hitting the ball that you do it once every time you set up. Find a point during preparation that you can clear your mind and accept the fact that this is the only shot to think about. This can be as you walk to the bag to select your club. Know you have selected the correct club with an exact target in mind. Think of the activities that you need to do before hitting the ball from start to finish. For instance, you need to pull the club from your bag, stand behind the ball to imagine the ball flight, take a practice swing, set up to the ball, bend your knees, waggle the club, glance at your target and hit the ball. Think of these activities as steps that you must accomplish in the same order every time. Assign them with numbers to help you have more control over every step. This way once you set up to the ball, you can relax because you know you have all of the important steps out of the way. Now all you need to do is exhale slowly and swing.

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