As a teenager I seemed to have all the time in the world to play golf. Nothing got in the way, and I mean nothing. I played in wind (some shots flew back over my head when I played in 70mph winds the day after the 1987 hurricane!), rain, snow, the dark – I was what you’d call committed (or committable, I’m not sure!) Although my golf psychology wasn’t very good, I did give my mental golf game 100%.

Then other things happened, like A-Levels, girls, parties, university and the golf took a back seat. Over recent years, my old love of the game has come back to me with a vengeance! When I started playing more regularly again, my expectations of playing to my old 6 handicap, were somewhat optimistic. Breaking 80 again kept eluding me. Until one day.

One day I had a lesson from my local pro, Darren Cook at West Hove Golf Club. His comments on my swing were very reassuring and he made one simple adjustment to my set up. I started to hit consistent shots. So the next day, I went out for a round, aiming again to break 80.

But something was different inside me. All I actually wanted to do, was to practice that one thing Darren had taught me. If it worked and I scored well then that would be a lovely bonus. I set about my round, and focused on the same thing for each shot. Sometimes I got it spot on, other times I didn’t quite nail it, but I was determined to practice this one thing. After nine holes I found myself 1 over par. Well, at this point I had a choice – either I could start focusing on my score or I could simply carry on focusing on this one thing I wanted to practice. I decided on the latter. At the end of the round, I was really pleased with myself that I stuck to my guns and practiced what I’d been taught.

So if you’re like me and your commitment to the game can’t always be total, there’s one thing you need in order to play well after a long break. A SINGLE FOCUS. In fact, any focus, other than your score. Your old measure of success was, quite rightly, your score. Yet if you’ve had a long break, your score probably wouldn’t be the fairest measure of your performance on that day. So instead, pick just ONE thing to work on – whether it is a part of your set up, having a clear image inside your head before each shot, following a pre-shot routine, controlling your state on each shot – whatever you choose is perfect, just pick ONE thing. Judge your success purely in terms of how well you stick to that one thing. Playing this way will help you be present to what you are doing in the moment – not how you used to play or how you would like to play, but how you ARE playing. As you focus on your learning, so the results will then look after themselves.

In my back nine, my focus slipped slightly as the prospect of breaking 80 came closer and closer. I came back in 2 over, finishing with a 3 over par 75.

Try out these mental golf tips, make your game single minded, let me know how you get on, and get back into this great game of ours! If you would like further exercises to help you improve quickly, sign up now for my free golf psychology newsletter and receive your own audio coaching tipcasts.

Love every shot!

Adam Sprackling

Mental Golf Coach