Prepare Your Mind with Practice
IN: Golf Psychology | by Andrea Furst | 19 Feb 2007
Imagine this - You have made extra time to practice your game, you have had a few extra lessons than normal, you have even been spending some time at home swinging in front of the mirror and putting along the carpet in the hall, and what's more you have had several extra rounds over the Christmas and New Year period.
Surely, this has to add up to a better golf game - but, no, you have had the first few club competitions for the year and your new and improved golf game has not yet graced you with its presence.
The time and energy and effort invested in your golf game out of hours are not being reflected in your competitive game.
Frustrating
It is frustrating because there is a gap between what you want to see on the course and what you are seeing on the course. It is frustrating because it is logical to think that the additional investment 'should' equate to a greater return. It is frustrating because the motto of "the harder you try the luckier you get", is not applicable on the golf course you are playing!
To address this frustration and why the practice may not be following you to the course, let's first examine one of the major differences between typical practice and competition.
Generally recreational golfers (even the seriou' ones) will only practice technical and maybe physical skills that can add value to their game. This is where most of the problems start. In the golfing world, there is an acceptance that the mind plays a large role in the successful golf game, however if players are not practicing the mental skills in preparation for competitive golf then they cannot just click their fingers and expect that their mind is going to be fit and fully effective for them on the course when they have given it no or minimal tender loving care.
Mental skills training can assist and compliment your physical and technical skills. But what mental skills do you need to improve your total game (i.e. total game = technical + physical + tactical + mental)?
Mental Demands
Here's an exercise for you to do to determine what mental skills you need to play competitive golf.
First, write down all of the mental demands of competitive golf. What situations or experiences does a player come up against when they play competitive golf that are taxing, or at least demanding, on the mind of a golfer?
I often ask players to talk about the mental demands of golf as if you were introducing someone to the game - what would you tell them they should expect to have to mentally deal with on the course? Some of these will be unique to golf, (eg unlucky and lucky bounces, continually hitting the ball badly despite best efforts to do a better job this time), and some of these will be common amongst several sports (eg people watching, noises - mobile phones, talking and movement).
Once you have done this, the second part of this exercise is to list the mental skills and strategies that you need to develop to match these demands. This list should contain skills and strategies that players can learn and develop and incorporate into both practice and competition. Some examples may include resilience or bounce-back factor, relaxation, self-talk, goal setting, and patience. These are all skills that can help you to be better equipped to take on the challenges, nuances, and idiosyncrasies of competitive golf.
I recommend that you review your practice and carefully assess exactly what you are practicing and decide whether it is quality practice that adds value to your total game. You need to be practicing to compete or you are simply practicing for the practice range or for practicing's sake - neither of the latter two are appealing to someone who really wants to become a better player.
If you are serious about making your practice count and be an obvious contributor to your competitive game, split your time between the four areas of your total game which means you should be dedicating specific time to physical, technical, mental, and tactical skill training. We should see in your practice schedule that you are preparing for the variety of situations and experiences you have on the course when you compete.
So, start by selecting one or two of the mental demands which you are not currently matching on the course, and dedicate some time to training your mental resources.
Our aim is to have mental resources > mental demands, just like the pros.
