Tag: Mental Game
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Waiting Between Shots
You’re standing on the tee. The group ahead is still in the fairway. Five, maybe seven minutes before you can hit. What happens in your head? If you’re like most golfers, you find this annoying. A violation of your right to play when you’re ready. “What is that guy doing? Why doesn’t he just hit…
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The Second Mistake
The shot after a mistake is one of the most important one of any round. You hit a poor shot. The ball finds the trees, or the water, or buries in a bunker. What happens in the next 90 seconds determines whether you save par or make a double. Most golfers spend those 90 seconds…
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Course Management: Before the Shot, Not After
Most golfers believe course management means avoiding trouble. Don’t three-putt. Don’t make double bogeys. Stay out of the water. This thinking isn’t wrong—it’s just incomplete. These are outcomes, things that happen after shots are played. Real course management happens before you ever address the ball. Consider the three-putt. The obvious solution is becoming a better…
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Think During Your Routine, Not Your Swing
Today I was paired with Doug and his wife Lea in one cart, and Ted with me in the other. All three of my playing partners were excellent golfers with great swings and a clear understanding of what it takes to play the game. Such a pleasure to play with. They taught me a lot.…
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The Perfection Prison
Golf is a game of misses. Even the best players in the world are simply managing their mistakes far better than the rest of us. They also recover from a miss in astonishing ways. Ben Hogan said golfers should be satisfied with hitting just a few shots per round that feel absolutely perfect. Faultless golf…
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Intentional Practice
The range lies to you. Repetition every 10-15 seconds, identical setup, zero consequences. The course tells the truth: extended time between shots, building your stance from scratch each time, no mulligans, every shot different. The harder we try to control our swing, the more we interfere with what we already know. Mindless repetition—hitting ball after…
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90/10
Try this exercise. Grab a piece of paper and draw a vertical line down the middle. Label one column “Mechanics” and the other “Mental.” Now list the things you practice in each category. Take your time. Be honest. The Disparity If you’re like most golfers, the mechanics column filled up quickly. Grip. Stance. Backswing. Weight…
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Why Tips Don’t Stick
You’ve done everything right. Watched the videos, taken the lessons, filled your head with advice from every credible source you could find. Grip pressure. Shoulder turn. Weight shift. Lag. Release. You know more about the golf swing today than you did a year ago. So why aren’t you playing better? The Paradox Here’s golf’s cruelest…