At the recent NEC Golf Show, many of the better golfers seeking mental golf tips from the Single Minded Golf stand had the same issue. It was PASSION! For some of them, one of them a tour pro, the challenge was not to practise harder, but to love the game more, so they could relax and be free to enjoy playing their best golf.

It’s easy, when committed to the game, to forget why we are playing it in the first place! We can get so consumed by our hunger to improve that we stop enjoying ourselves. This is a dangerous rut, as when the hunger builds, it often leads us to think more than feel. We try out more and more golf tips to find the answer but our games plateau as we spend more and more time in our heads, not our bodies.

So what does golf psychology have to say about staying in love with the game?

Simple, LOVE EVERY SHOT.

Ask yourself now, what’s important to you about the shots you play? I’m guessing “getting it right” probably features high up, and “loving the shot” probably quite low down. If this is the case, you need to change your priorities.

Consider this: anything less than totally loving each shot isn’t getting it right!

So if you want to experience your game differently now, follow these practices to truly develop your mental golf and replace old habits with new ones:

1. Stay focused on what you CAN control. Choose a precise target for each shot and then ONLY focus on the freedom of really loving the feeling of your swing until it completes. Make this the most important aspect of your game, LOVING your swing until it finishes. Let go of any fears - you are only allowed to look for where the ball has gone once you have completed your full swing. This means you have to allow the ball to go wherever it goes - once you've hit it, you have no more control over it anyway!

2. Make your practice swing and your actual swing exactly the same, so your body knows what to feel. For example, if you are wanting to strike the ground after the ball, make sure your club hits the ground in the same way in your practice swing, so your body is ready. Then, when you play your actual swing, you can pretend the ball is not there and just hit the repeat button, loving your swing.

3. Change your measures of success. For your next round, write down two scores for each hole – one will be the total score (as normal), the other will be the total number of shots you allowed yourself to love right through to completion.

The truth of effective golf psychology is that you need to stop thinking and start feeling. When you free yourself to truly love every shot, your feel and love of the game will continue to grow and grow. If you have enjoyed these mental golf tips, check out the tipcasts and share your new insights into golf psychology with your friends.

Love every shot!

Adam Sprackling

Mental Golf Coach