This morning I was playing golf with a good friend of mine Neil Plimmer, Head Pro at Mid Sussex Golf Club. As a Golf Monthly Top 25 Coach, Neil’s very interested in the area of mental golf and golf psychology. Whilst playing, he asked me what I mean when I say “Love every shot”. As always, I love answering questions on mental golf and although I’ve written briefly on it before, I feel it deserves a lot more.

The true benefit of golf psychology is not thinking better, it’s FEELING better. Your body always follows your instructions and the language it understands best is FEELINGS. So the extent to which you feel great will be the extent to which you allow your body to make great swings!

Loving every shot is not simply about enjoying the game – it is the route to playing your best golf. Loving every shot causes you to:

• HAVE A SINGLE FOCUS on the feeling and stop thinking about technique or other distractions
• REMAIN PRESENT throughout the shot you are playing at that moment, stopping you from dwelling on the past or jumping ahead to “what if’s”
• STAY INSIDE THE PROCESS of the shot and detach you from the outcome, causing your swing to complete and your head to stay still
• RELAX - “Loving” is far better at removing pressure than focusing on relaxing itself, creating your smoothest possible swings
• DEVELOP RHYTHM – as there is no rush to get the shot over with, you naturally extend the moment of the swing
• AMPLIFY YOUR “FEEL” as you become more aware of timing, speed and strike quality
• GIVE 100% ATTENTION to every shot
• KEEP POSITIVE and LEARN whether you play good or poor shots
• FEEL GREAT at the end of each round, always building your belief and motivation for the game
• PLAY YOUR BEST GOLF!

For your next round, test this out and see what benefits you experience. In order to do this, you will need to stop focusing on your swing and start to notice what you love about each shot.

Start now with the your pre-game preparation. Imagine what it would be like to give yourself permission to love every single shot, regardless of the outcomes. Consider how you would need to adjust your routine before, during and after shots to love every moment. Notice what it’s like to really love every shot – how does it feel? Fill your body with the feeling. When you play, notice what specifically you love about each shot – for some it’s the process of visualising the shot, the look of perfect alignment at set up, the smoothness and rhythm of the swing, the sweetness or sound of the perfect strike, seeing your ball fly off towards your target… What do you love most about each shot? Keep finding out more about what you love about each shot and let me know how you get on – I’d love to help you love your game more.

If you would like more help using golf psychology to score less without changing your swing, I’m giving away audio mental golf tips through a series of six free tipcasts to help you through the toughest parts of the game. Sign up for my newsletter now if you would like to receive these.

Love every shot!

Adam Sprackling