Many amateurs do not fully utilize a golf psychology tip to help them shoot lower scores. Professionals are much better at monitoring their bodies and emotions. Of course, they also have caddies, coaches and other parts of their entourage keeping an eye on them to make sure that they are using the correct golf psychology tip. The regular folk like us do not have this luxury however, there are some things that we can monitor and do to help us relax if we get tense on the golf course:
Golf Psychology Tip - Monitoring your breathing is a very effective way to calm yourself down. The best part is that you can do this at anytime. Whether we have realized it or not, all of us have started breathing faster on the first tee of a tournament. To give yourself a baseline, practice at home. Monitor your breathing at home when you are relaxed and notice how much tension in your body, how fast you are breathing and are you breathing from the top of your stomach or your lower stomach.
Golf Psychology Tip - Another thing that you can monitor is your walking pace. Again, this is a very effective way to calm yourself down and you can monitor your walking pace at anytime. Although most of us guys would rather go to an insurance seminar than to go to the mall, you might earn some bonus points with the spouse by going to the mall and walking.
On your mall walk, you would be able to monitor what is a slow pace, what is a comfortable pace and what is a fast pace. In addition, try walking at different paces during the day and monitor how your body feels at the different rates.
Golf Psychology Tip - Focus on your pre-shot routine - once you have a pre-shot routine ingrained then this is a good way to click into auto-pilot. It is critical that your pre-shot routine is repetitive and does not waver. A change could cause anxiety and mis-trust in your golf swing.
Golf Psychology Tip - Picturing a calm place such as a beach or a lake will also calm you down. This may sound a little corny to some but, it works. It is probably my favorite golf psychology tip. We visit my in-laws from time to time. They live in the middle of Kentucky horse country. It makes it easy to relax away from the usual city life. To give you a clearer picture, in this particular county you may only purchase land in five acre plots or more.
While we are there, I walk everyday and there is a big barn that sits on tops of a hill in the distance. These walks are very relaxing. The Kentucky quarter happens to have a picture on the back of the coin that reminds me of that barn that I look at on my walk. When I mark my ball with a Kentucky quarter, I am able to remember my relaxing walks and I can feel my body relax right there on the putting green. You need to find your place whether it is the beach for you, your back yard or a sunset. The point is it does not really matter as long as it relaxes you.
Pick the golf psychology tip that will work best for you or use them all. Being able to monitor your body tension, monitor your breathing or having a place to go to during your round could just be the golf psychology tip that you need to allow your best performance!
Your golf divots can help you to improve your golf game. How? Simply because your divots indicate the path in which the clubhead is coming into the ball. As an example, if your divots are pointing to the right of your target then that means you've approached the ball from the inside. But if you're a left hander reading this it would mean you've cut across the ball.
If your divots are pointing to left it means that you've approached the ball from the outside (if you're a left hander and your divots pointing to the left it means you've come from the inside). Obviously if your divots are straight at the target then that means you've come into the golf ball on a perfect path.
Now the only other variable that determines where the ball goes is the clubface position at impact. I'm going to give you the combinations of clubface and path so you can tell what has happened after the shot.
Divot Pointing Right
==> If your clubface is square to the divot you'll produce a straight push.
==> If your clubface is open to the divot you'll produce a shot going to the right and then fading/slicing.
==> If your clubface is closed to the divot you'll produce a shot starting to the right and then drawing/hooking.
Divot Pointing Straight
==> If your clubface is square to the divot you'll produce a straight shot.
==> If your clubface is open to the divot you'll produce a shot going straight to the right.
==> If your clubface is closed to the divot you'll produce a shot going straight to the left.
Divot Pointing Left
==> If your clubface is square to the divot you'll produce a straight pull.
==> If your clubface is open to the divot you'll produce a shot starting left and then fading/slicing.
==> If your clubface is closed to the divot you'll produce a shot starting to the left and then drawing/hooking.
So once you've determined the divot shape you normally get and the shape of shot you produce as a result of this and the clubface at impact then I suggest you do the following. And this applies no matter what you've been doing.
The path in which that the clubface is travelling is most important because, as you've just read, even if your clubface is square it only matters if the path is pointing straight at your target. And besides, you cannot easily manipulate the clubface while you're swinging....but you can groove a consistent path and here's how.
Go out to the practice area and place a club down so it's parallel left of your target. Now place a shoe box or something similar just outside your ball. Doing this will mean you are basically forced to swing back down into the ball on a straight path. Because if you come from the inside or outside you're going to hit the box.
Simply keep swinging and you'll notice a big improvement in your divots. And now I hear you ask about the clubface. Don't worry about it. Simply by grooving a better path when swinging you'll automatically improve your clubface positioning and this will happen at a subconscious level.
Finally, just concentrate on the path first and the clubface alignment will take care of itself. If you do try to control the clubface alignment while you're swinging you might hit the ball straighter but as a result you'll lose serious distance. And the reason for this is because whenever you "try" to do anything you create tension. And tension in the golf swing is one of the biggest reasons golfers don't hit the ball as far as they could do.
You know you play your best golf with a free and easy mind and swing, so use drills to train your swing and don't try to manipulate it by giving conscious directions as to how the clubface should be positioned. Just simply swing and let it happen.
Both Max Johnson & Nick Bayley are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
Max Johnson has sinced written about articles on various topics from Finances, Shopping and Modelling. Max Johnson writes golf articles for . Click for more on. Max Johnson's top article generates over 246000 views. to your Favourites.
Nick Bayley has sinced written about articles on various topics from Golf Guide, Golf Guide and Home Management. Nick Bayley is a professional golfer who has discovered just one golf swing fault that could be stopping you from ball striking consistency and success. But luckily for you, now you can take a simple 2 minute golf swing test to see if you have this swing. Nick Bayley's top article generates over 8100 views. to your Favourites.