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Posts Tagged ‘golf strategy’

September25

Learn how to REALLY take your range game to the course

By: David

The optimal way to practice golf for lower scores, is to get as close to course conditions as possible when you are on the driving range. In other words, standing there for half an hour or so hitting to the same target, is not going to help you score better. Anyone of any level of technical ability can learn to hit the ball straight at the same target after they’ve repeatedly hit that same shot over and again. Your body learns that same repetitive movement very quickly. You have not, as you might start to think, mastered the game of golf and be ready to hand in your resignation and play on the PGA Tour. Most of the golfers who say, “If only I could take my range game to the course”, have experienced exactly this on the range, and in actual fact, have not really been improving their chances of scoring on the course.

When Ben Hogan practiced on the the driving range, he would play holes in his mind. You would see him frequently switching clubs as he played tee shots, approaches and chips. Every shot would involve him having a clear picture of the hole he was playing and the shape of the shot he was going to hit.

Once on the range, pick a fundamental to work on and make that your only technical thought. Now “play” a few holes! Play which ever course you like, but be sure to not hit the same shot twice, like you wouldn’t on a real golf course. On the course you do not have the luxury of playing a shot over, so train your mind with this practice and it will increase your focus on the shot. If you hit the ball left of your target , imagine that you have hit the ball left on your virtual hole and picture that next shot you need to hit to get the ball to the green. This exercise teaches you to synchronize your body and mind to produce the shots that you are visualizing and make the most of every opportunity you have to hit the ball to the target.

The driving range is a place where it is easy to get on auto-pilot, thinking that you are improving by hitting the same target again and again, but in reality, you have not learned a better scoring game. Use this valuable time to practice playing and I’ve no doubt you will see the results on the course.

drivingrange3 252x300 Learn how to REALLY take your range game to the course
Use this time wisely and you will definitely score better on the golf course.

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August13

How do you cope with the pressure of a major championship?

By: David

At 7674 yds, Hazeltine National Golf Club is the longest course in major championship history, but the winner of this week’s 91st PGA Championship will have won the mental game just as much as the physical. But how do we learn to cope with the pressure of the stretch of a major championship?

One of the most respected golf psychologists and mental coach to Lucas Glover and Stewart Cink (yes, the past two major winners), Dr. Morris Pickens, recently said to CNN: “It doesn’t just happen, you have to develop the mental game off the golf course.” The best players in the world are continually working on this.

Ultimately, success in such high pressure situations such as a major championship golf comes down to having the ability to be “emotionally detached” from the outcome of the situation. This means that you are free from riding the emotional roller-coaster that golf can sometimes become, and instead you are able to quickly let go of bad (and good) shots and stay in the present moment.

This is what Tiger does best. He is able to remain aggressive whatever the situation. His goals are obviously very high, but his game is not affected as much by poorly hit shots or equally the future effect of his good shots. He doesn’t need his “A” game to score well, whereas most golfers do.

It is well known that Tiger Woods was learning the mental game at a very young age. Tiger was introduced to Dr Jay Brunza by his father Earl, and he was taught skills to become emotionally detached in pressure situations.

We are more likely to achieve our goals if we can learn to be unaffected if we do not reach them. This does not mean you are indifferent and apathetic to your own success, it’s quite the opposite. Emotional detachment frees you from the past and future and lets you focus on the “here and now”. If we are thinking about the consequence of playing a shot either well or badly, we are not going to execute as best we can. You have to become non-judgemental to both good and bad shots in order to do this.

If you allow yourself to be affected by the outcome of your shots, you are setting yourself up for failure. You have to have a clear goal and a positive intention for the shot, but you have to accept the outcome quickly. As you will know from my previous blogs, good golf is played in the subconscious. Use your shot routine and visualization and feel exercises to become fully absorbed in a positive intention for the golf shot, not the consequence of whether it is executed well or poorly.

Whether it be golf or anything in life, we will perform better if we do not let our emotions get in the way. In the case of finishing off a major championship win, this week’s winner will have to use everything he has to stay focused on the present and remain unaffected by the emotions of potential victory or failure.

If we are given the structure, we can all improve our golf by learning mental game techniques. My audio session, the Golf State of Mind will give you a well structured program to help you achieve this.

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August7

Phil Mickelson talks about how “mental rehearsal” kept him sharp during his 6 week break from playing

By: David

phil1 235x300 Phil Mickelson talks about how mental rehearsal kept him sharp during his 6 week break from playingDuring the press conference ahead of the WGC Bridgestone Invitational, Phil Mickelson gave us an insight into how he stayed sharp during his 6 week break from the game. He explained that “mental rehearsal is just as important as physical rehearsal”. He went on to describe how, although he was not able to swing a golf club, he was able to keep his touch by visualizing shots and feeling them with his practice swings. He was actually able to practice, without being on the driving range or golf course. This tells us a lot about the application and power of the mental game for the world’s best. They know how important a strong routine of visualization and feel is to their game and they continually work on improving it. Simplify your game by thinking more in this way, instead of always working on technique. This has nothing to do with your physical ability, it’s about learning to synchronize your body and mind with a clearly defined visual goal. This is the way to play better golf. As Phil explains, this is something you can work on without a golf club, so there is no excuse for not practicing a better mental game.

* photo courtesy of Daily Mail, UK.

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August5

Your “spot” is key for a good short game

By: David

As you will know if you have read any of my prior blog posts, the key to good golf is visualization and feel. The more we can learn to synchronize our body and minds towards a clear visual objective, the better. The area where this will be the most rewarding for lower scores is the short game (or the “scoring” zone). Seeing and experimenting with as many different shots as possible will make your body learn to trust and commit to what the mind sees, and remove analytical thought and doubt. A simple technique to move towards this, is to picture exactly where the ball will land on the green and focus upon only that over every short game shot. If you can learn to focus as tightly as possible on this spot, you will be amazed at how much closer you get to it and how much better your scores become. This technique will begin to give you a subconscious understanding of how far the ball releases on the green. The key is to make this an integral part of your pre-shot routine and the more you can remember to do it, the easier it becomes.

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July24

Good golf is about visualization and feel

By: David

Good golf is about developing strong mental habits. When we are on the golf course, we naturally feel more pressure than when we are practicing, so our practice time needs to be spent ingraining positive mental habits, so they become part of our subconscious thinking on the golf course. If we can continually perform a routine of analysis, visualization, feel and commitment during our practice, we will reduce the number of careless shots we play on the golf course and play better golf.

Jack Nicklaus once said:

“I never hit a shot, not even in practice, without having a very sharp in-focus picture of it in my head. It’s like a color movie. First I “see” where I want it to finish, nice and white and sitting high on the bright green grass. Then the scene quickly changes, and I “see” the ball going there: its path, trajectory, and shape, even its behaviour on landing. Then there’s a sort of fade out, and the next scene shows me making the kind of swing that will turn the previous images into reality.”

Johnny Miller said that he even saw how many bounces the ball would take on the green before it stopped and which direction it would bounce. This level of positive visualization is what we are aiming to achieve, so it is important we take every opportunity to practice it. Of course we are not going to start hitting every shot as we visualize, but being able to see a clear picture of the shot will make us commit to it, which reduces doubt and produces a better execution.

Everytime you practice, develop the habit of meticulous visualization of what you want the ball to do for EVERY shot. This will help us do it subconsciously on the golf course. As Golf Psychologist Bob Rotella tells us, every shot should have a purpose. Before every shot, ask yourself what you want to achieve with it. Most golfers have a tendency to start trying to correct technical faults in their swings on the golf course, which takes focus away from the purpose of the shot. NEVER have technical thoughts while swinging. Focussing on a positive visualization will also work towards reducing other negative interferences such as how you look in front of other players or focusing on hazards. This is one of the elements of my mental game audio teaching.

On the range, try to hit as many different shots as you can, instead of thinking about technical drills and hitting to the same target. This will develop synchronization between your mind and body. Your body will start to learn the feelings associated with shot shapes and you will improve your visualization skills. Hit high shots, low shots, draws and fades. This will encourage you to get into the habit of picturing the shot in your head before swinging. Then you can feel that shot with your practice swings.

I’m not saying your shouldn’t practice the physical game. Pick a fundamental to work on during every session. Whether it be grip, alignment or posture, this is where our technical focus should be. The rest is about visualization and feel. The more we can learn these valuable skills, the more shots we will have in our repertoire for the course, which is the key to scoring well.

David MacKenzie is a mental game golf coach to both professional and amateur goflers. You can learn more about his mental game teaching by visiting www.golfstateofmind.com

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July19

A crazy game: Why Tom Watson can win The Open

By: David

We all know that golf is crazy game. And Tom Watson leading The Open after three rounds is a testament to that. That a guy of 59 years old can lead going into today’s final round at Turnberry will no doubt have many “old-timers” dusting off their sticks and dreaming of new career.

However, it is no coincidence that so many of the more “experienced” players have graced the leaderboard. The Open Championship is probably the most “mental” of all the majors. The “bomb and gauge” players that now consistently perform well on the PGA Tour are nowhere to be seen. That type of golf does not work at The Open. It is pure golf, a game of strategy, and rewards the thinking player over the power hitter. This was how the game was orginally intended to be played. You have to play smart and be very patient.

The key to playing links golf successfully is about hitting the right spots and using the contours to maximize roll from drives and to get close to the pin on approaches. Tom Watson has been hitting 300+ yd drives, purely because he knows the spots to hit. Take yesterday’s approach on 17. It was no fluke that the ball took a hard bounce left and rolled into the center of the green. Experience and well thought out shots helps enormously at The Open.

The short game and putting is where this championship will be won and lost. On links courses, there is no right way to play a shot within 50 yards. The subtle slopes can affect the ball in any number of ways depending on the line chosen and the trajectory of the shot. It is all about using your imagination and being creative, which Tom Watson has in abundance. Visualization, feel and commitment are the key ingredients. The is what I try to instill in my students and you can learn how to do it through my audio teaching.

Having won the Claret Jug five times, Tom Watson has more than enough experience to handle the pressure of a final day. But ultimately we all know that it’s going to come down to how well his rather jerky short putting stroke can handle it also. He has the composure to deal with the inevitable double bogeys and the patience to know when and when not to attack. I hope for golf’s sake that he does it. It would show the world that this game is not about how far you can hit it, but how playing smart and thinking your way round can be just as effective.

For more information on how you can learn mental techniques to improve your game every time to you play or practice, please visit www.golfstateofmind.com

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July18

The Art of Putting: A pure mental game

By: David

I’ve called this article “The Art of Putting”, because if you want to get better at it, it is imperative that you think about it as a visual art and not a technical science. Good putting is performed with the senses, which we can heighten every time we play. You need to see and feel everything and learn to trust your instincts. The more intense your focus is on the line and the greater your commitment to it, the better you will putt. Developing and practicing a solid routine of positive visualization, feel and trust, will give us the structure we need to become better putters and lower our scores. This is what I teach my students through my coaching and mental game audio session.

Putting is where scores are made. If you are an 18 handicapper and you make 36 putts a round (2 per hole) this represents 40% of your total number of strokes. So clearly it is worth dedicating at least as much practice time here as you do on your long and short game. This time is not about simply about perfecting your stroke, it’s about developing acute positive visualization and feel with every putt.

The most important factor in putting well is visualizing and committing to a line. Only you know how hard you are going to hit it, so only you can determine the the line you are going to hit it on. Reading the slopes and understanding how different grasses affect the putt will simply come with experience. The body performs better when the mind is focusing on visual images, instead of words or technical instructions. The mind needs to tell the body what it wants to do, not how to do it. Developing acute visualization of the ball rolling on its line into the hole will give your body all the information it needs to execute a putt well.

With your practice strokes, get into the habit of seeing the ball go in the hole. Whether you pick a spot to aim at or you see the whole putt, ALWAYS visualize holing every putt. Tiger believes he is going to hole every putt no matter how far away he is. If you have read any motivational books about the secrets of successful people, it is having a very positive image of this success that typically differentiates them from people who do not achieve it.You need to start believing you are a good putter and convincing yourself of a positive visual outcome before you strike the golf ball.

If we think about lagging it to the hole, we will miss more putts. I’m not saying you need to be so aggressive that you blow every putt 6 ft past the hole, but always focus on making it. We need a vivid a picture of the ball following its line and dying into the cup. Be so precise that you see the side of the cup the ball will drop in. You are actually playing the putt in your head before you hit the ball and seeing it go in a couple of times will increase your confidence and give you a far greater chance of making it. Use this mental imagery to feel the speed with your practice strokes, which will pre-set the right tempo. Once you are over the ball, you can be confident in the fact that your mind has all the information it needs to allow the body to hit a good putt. Then let the subconscious mind take over and concentrate on a solid strike.

If you can do all these things during your routine, you will have hit a good putt whatever the outcome. Your power of positive visualization will intensify with every putt. Overtime, this process will no doubt lead to better putting, greater confidence and lower scores.

For more information on how you can learn mental techniques to improve your game every time to you play or practice, please visit www.golfstateofmind.com

Copyright Golf State of Mind, Ltd 2009

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July4

The Shot Routine: how to get “in the zone” for every golf shot

By: David

This is the most important part of learning the mental game.

It is what we need to continually repeat and practice to become better players. It enables us to go into a concentration zone on demand, during our rounds and practice. Watch any of the top players in the world and they have the same approach to EVERY shot, which optimizes their chances of playing it as they intend. The shot routine enables us to switch from being relaxed and enjoying where we are and what we doing, into a highly focused state which connects us with the shot required. With practice, entering “the zone” can become an automated process. There are many drills and processes we can go through to improve the way we play the inner game, but the shot routine provides us with the structure and the triggers. This is what I teach my students through my coaching and mental game audio session.

Most negative interferences in the execution of a shot happen before we start the back swing. The routine takes us away from any negative thoughts and reminds us to be in a positive state of mind. Our routine will lead to increased confidence for each shot, by knowing that we are subconsciously visualizing, setting up correctly and positively committing to the shot. The more we practice this routine, the more acute our powers of positive visualization will become and the closer we will get to executing the desired shot. But we need a post-shot routine also (and this is why I like to call it “The Shot Routine”). We need to get into the habit of being non-judgmental towards the outcome of the shot, whether good or bad, and thus move closer to removing the emotional ups and downs of golf which negatively affects our performance.

The Pre-shot Routine:

The aim of the pre-shot routine, is to get as prepared as you can be for executing the golf shot you intend to play. Reducing all possible variables before making the back swing will give us the confidence to perform better. There are many ways to play a golf shot, but the important thing is to visualize and commit to the one we have chosen. The more we can commit to a shot, whether it is the right one or not, will always result in a better execution. We can actually play the shot during our rehearsal, seeing the ball flying to its target and feeling the swing required to make that happen. This process does not require any skill at all, it’s simply committing to the routine and committing to the shot. There is no excuse for not doing this as well as the top players in the world. It trains the mind to keep you in the present moment and thinking about nothing else but the how you want to play the shot at hand. The more precise you can be with your routine, the more focused on it you will become and the less distracted you will be. If you include two practice swings and two glances at the target in your routine, then try to repeat this every time.

Here is my suggestion for a sound pre-shot routine for a long game shot:

1. Analyze and determine the correct shot to play. The most important thing here is to get a clear picture of the shot and determine the best club to execute it. See the shape of the shot in the air. You need to see it as vividly as possible. Pick a clearly visable spot on the horizon (or green) where you want the ball to start.

2. Now feel the shot with 2 practice swings. With each swing, see the ball flying to its target. This lets you feel what your body needs to do to execute your visualized shot. This exercise is also increasing your commitment to the shot, reducing doubt and negative images. We get to feel and look at what we want to happen. If you have no plan, it is easy to have doubt.

3. Now get aligned. Alignment is a fundamental of the game we must continually practice. Poor alignment will lead to poor shots no matter how positive your visualization. It can be helped greatly using the following technique. From directly behind the ball, close one eye and pick a spot (one that you can clearly see), 6 inches directly between the ball and your target-line (where you want the ball to start not finish).

4. You are now ready to execute the shot you have visualized and rehearsed. Start by setting the club down so the face is square to your spot. Now set your feet so you are square to the club-face and your spot. Your body will now be well aligned. Center yourself and feel balanced and connected to the ground. Feel athletic and ready for action.

5. Take two deep breaths and feel relaxed. You can now be very confident you are set up to the target correctly and you have committed to your shot. Take a glance at the target seeing your shot and then look at the ball. Do this twice. Try to have that picture of the target and the shot in your mind’s eye.

6. Now make your swing focusing on nothing else but making a good strike on the ball. Having the image of the shot and the feeling associated “pre-programed” will give you a much greater chance of hitting it.

So to summarize the pre-shot routine, the steps are:

Analyze

Visualize

Feel

Commit

Align

Center/balance

Execute

For more information on how you can learn mental techniques to improve your game every time to you play or practice, please visit www.golfstateofmind.com

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June30

What is the most important thing to work on to lower scores?

By: David

Yesterday I played a round with a Callaway Sales Manager at The Wisley Golf Club, Surrey, England. Our discussions confirmed to me one of the key premises of my mental game teaching.

With optimism, he informed me of Callaway’s latest technological advances in club manufacturing and how they are making the game easier for the average player. “Golf clubs today are very forgiving and the bounce that drivers have in the face means far longer drives, they are getting better and better.” So when I asked him whether he thought that golfers on average had improved their scores since Callaway released the first “Big Bertha” in 1991, he replied “probably not.” This seems like a crazy revelation. Despite all the hundreds of millions of dollars golfers have spent on new clubs during the past twenty or so years, the manufacturers have ultimately not delivered on their promise – to lower our scores and make us better players. So if the latest innovation in golf club design allows us to hit it straighter and longer, why has this not led to lower scores? The most logical explanation is that our focus on the long game and becoming better off the tee, has reduced our focus on the area that ultimately makes up our scores – the short game.

Perfecting the swing and seeing the ball fly 300 yards down the fairway seems to be the most important thing to work on when we are practicing. But results tell us that where we really lower scores is in the “scoring zone”, or within 50 yards. PGA Tour players only hit an average of 64% of greens (roughly 2 in 3). But the fact is they get up and down almost all of the time. This is because they know the importance of practicing the short game and developing touch and feel on and around the greens. This is what I teach my students through my coaching and mental game audio session.

So even if we were good enough to hit the ball straight enough to hit the PGA Tour average in greens in regulation (GIR), we would still have to get the ball up and down a minimum of 6 times a round. If we have not practiced this area, we are going to have a hard time doing so.

The closer you get to the hole, the more mental the game becomes. The short game is about experimentation, visualization and feel. We need to ingrain the feelings associated with different shots in our practice, so that we can rely instinctively on them when we are on the course. The number of possible shots you can have around the green is infinite. You are rarely faced with the same shot. It is important to practice from a complete variety of lies and distances. Practice opening and closing the club face and moving the ball around in your stance. See how the ball releases out of different lies. Start to visualize and feel shots. Pick targets to aim at on the green and have the ball roll over. The key is to have a very clear picture of the shot you want to hit and start to learn the feelings associated with that shot.

Putting could be considered an almost pure mental game. If you can learn to hit the ball out of the center of the putter, the rest is about visualization and feel. You need to see the ball follow a line and disappear into the hole. Always commit to a line, whether you think it is the right one or not. The more you practice a visualization and feel routine when putting, the more you can rely on these senses and score better on the golf course.

The short game is where we are rewarded most for our practice, more so than on the driving range. If we want to lower our scores we have to spend more time learning this part of the game. Instead of hitting a bucket of balls on the driving range, go and use the chipping green. With more practice like the session I have described above, you will heighten your senses and give you greater confidence in your ability in the scoring zone.

For more information on how you can learn mental techniques to improve your game every time to you play or practice, please visit www.golfstateofmind.com

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