Mental Skill Training For Golf

The Concept of Harnessing Your Mental Faculties For Golf

This is a 'concept' first and foremost because when it comes to winning, what goes on in your mind, the way you visualize and conceptualize your own success will be decisive.  In short, without even looking at a golf culb, what you are about to read should become an integral part of your overall golf training fitness program - the fitness of the mind; your fitness to play golf and win. 

How do Successful golfers Manage their Minds?

Does a golfer relax between holes and focus at the tee?  Is mental skill training for golf actually a skill?  And if so, is it a skill to be developed or just recognized?  Or is mental skill training for golf a reversal of thinking – escaping the mental processes for a time?

Getting a Grip

I know these are too many questions for one short article.  Mental skill training for golf is a training practice that looks at all these questions. The idea is to get a grip on the specific mental faculties that the successful pros exhibit.

Naming The Qualities

Our list includes concentration, focus, endurance or staying the course, dealing with pressure, noise, nervousness and frustration in competition.  Concentration helps everything, especially keeping the goal in mind.  Focus keeps us in the moment – one shot or hole at a time.  Endurance deals with fatigue, cardio health and stamina.  Dealing with pressure lets you stay the course and deal with the task at hand.  Handling distractions play a part – psychic duels, noise, hecklers and one’s own mind all require some attention.

A Question of Control

So, you see, mental skill training for golf encompasses the entire game, from start to finish.  Perhaps, with years of experience and diligence, training your mental skills for golf might result in a significant improvement in your game.  It might not be the work of a lifetime, but it can only give you a slight advantage over someone who has less control over their mental faculties on the golf course; someone who has neglected considering development of the mind as part of their golf training.

Relax Your Way To Fame And Wealth
 
Tai Chi has become popular in recent decades.  Technically a physical exercise program of Chinese origin, tai chi has been called meditation in motion.  Mental skill training for golf could take a lesson or two from tai chi.  Or, in the case of a Tiger Woods, tai chi might recognise a kindred spirit in the game of golf when Tiger plays.  In a clear mind, the invisible line connecting ball and hole becomes almost visible and tangible.  After all, it’s all about becoming one with the ball, isn’t it? Once you become one with the ball, getting a hole in one should be no problem.