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The Mental Game of Golf: Losing Your Cool Destroys Your
Game
Daniel J McNally
It happens all the time, no matter if you're new to golf or
you're a seasoned pro, the mental game of golf can get the
best of us. When you get in your own head and play mental
golf, you're adrenaline starts to pump, focus is lost, muscles
tenses up and then comes the miss hit. If you can't learn
to shake off a golf shot that didn't go the way we planned
and you dwell in your mind playing mental golf, the snowball
effect is bound to happen, causing a downward spiral for the
rest of your game.
A day after my wife had purchased me a shiny new set of golf
clubs for Christmas, my brother Chris and I decided to go
play a round of golf at one of our favorite courses, Hawk's
Landing in lake Buena Vista, FL. When my wife and I went to
find this new set of irons, driver and fairway woods, I was
looking to upgrade to a set of clubs that were a bit more
high performance than my old set, giving me an edge on my
game. That day I was sadly mistaken.
The first few holes on the front nine that day I played fair,
probably around my usual, with a few rough miss hits. When
we made it to the tenth hole I began to really play terribly.
At the tee box on the eleventh I was so in my own head I didn't
even address the ball correctly and due to the ball being
too far back in my stance, I thinned the ball, driving right
into the water. I then went berserk and after taking the drop
I hit my next long iron shot fat. It took 6 strokes on that
hole just to make it to the green, in turn letting me add
a fabulous +12 to my scorecard. The fun doesn't stop there,
on the 15th hole I hit my drive short(due to ANOTHER miss
hit), setting me up for a nice long fairway wood shot to the
green. So I take more normal setup, this time trying to do
so patiently. I take my back swing and due to all the tense
muscles in my upper extremities from a previous 5 holes from
hell, I came down very steep, hitting fat and sending mud,
soil and grass spraying through the winter air. This was finally
the breaking point--I was three minuets shy of being Baker
Acted and sent to my local psych ward--I launch my 3 wood
through the air like a javelin. As I stared in befuddlement
at my insane behavior, the golf club moved in slow motion
toward the golf cart. It struck the golf cart like a cruise
missile hitting its target and the club split clean in half
down the middle of the shaft. I spent the next 3 holes trying
to figure out how I was going to explain this to my wife.
(Surprisingly the store I purchased it from let me return
it and exchanged for another fairway wood).
I suppose the moral of the story is that the mental game of
golf is a killer! If you can't keep your cool under pressure
then you're in store for a disappointing round of golf. Although,
since my crazy antics this past January, I've learned a few
easy techniques to help center myself and to calm down my
mind. One technique that I've been using regularly is just
taking a few deep breaths during my pre-shot routine. You'd
be surprised how a couple of breaths in through the nose and
out through the mouth can trigger the parasympathetic nervous
system causing the body to relax. Another technique I use
is keeping your mouth slightly open with your tongue on the
roof of your mouth. I learned this from Golf Digest, your
face has 5 universal muscles and while relaxing them with
an open mouth, can help trigger a relaxed upper body. The
last technique that I use is actually an ancient eastern technique,
I chant a mantra. Chanting a mantra keeps your mind one pointed
and focused like a laser beam on the task at hand.
At the end of the day, my day of golf was just thrown off
by a new set of clubs I wasn't use to. So calm down and win
the game of mental golf, because it can save you a lot of
heartache and strokes.
Daniel McNally, Author of Diary of a Newbie Golfer
- A blog that documents the trials and tribulations of those
new to golf. Visit our blog and submit your golf tales and
I will publish it for the world to read.
Diary
of a Newbie Golfer
http://ThegolfShot.net
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