Golf Tips To Master Your Mental Golf Game

Bad days happen in life. They also happen in golf. You’ve probably had some bad days yourself. But if you’re like the players in our golf lessons, you don’t cave in. You try to salvage a bad day as best you can—even when it’s a real struggle.

But what do you do when you can’t seem to salvage things? Get angry? Throw clubs? Kick the golf cart?

Next time that happens try letting the struggle go. That’s right. Let it go. We’re not talking about quitting and going home. We’re talking about taking nice easy swings instead of trying to kill the ball.

Mental golf tips like this are priceless. They can transform a bad day into a good one. They can even help you salvage a bad score. Below are five additional golf tips that can help transform a bad golf day.

Imagine Your Favorite Tee Box

Ever stepped into a tee box that felt wrong? We all have. It’s upsetting. Next time this happens, try this: Imagine yourself standing in your favorite tee box where you always hit a good drive.

Now pick a target. Address the ball. And swing away. Once you’re set, don’t look at the fairway again. Instead, pick an intermediate target and look at it.

Swing Past The Impact Zone

Golfers often get trapped mentally in their mechanics. We see it constantly in golf instruction sessions. They’re concerned with correcting their mechanics and they forget the basic purpose of the shot—to hit a specific target.

Next time you get trapped in your mechanics, forget them. Forget about even hitting the ball. Instead, think about swinging through and past the impact zone. Do this and you’ll swing more fluidly and hit a better shot.

Tap Your Subconscious

Sometimes golfers try to control the shot with their minds. That usually spells trouble. Anytime you consciously try to do something, you usually fail.

Instead, say something like this to your body: “It’s all yours” or “Okay, take over.” Saying this signals your subconscious to take control. When you tap your subconscious, you tend to play better. It might feel like you’ve lost control, but you haven’t. You’ve just transferred it.

Putting To Nowhere

Next time you hit the practice green before a round, try this routine: Start by “putting to nowhere” for a little while. Because there’s no hole, you’ll probably take some nice natural strokes without pushing or pulling the putts.

Next, hit some long putts. Don’t worry about sinking them. You just want to get a feel for lag putting. Now hit some medium length putts to holes to sharpen your feel for pace and break. Finish with several three-footers. Keep your head steady. And listen to each putt fall.

Think Outside The Box

Golf challenges you. So learn to think outside the box. When we assume things are so, we limit our creatively. There’s no rule that says we must use a driver on every par 4 or every par 5. Or, that we must go for every green in regulation.

Change perspectives. It jump-starts your creativity. When Billy Caspar won the 1959 U.S. Open at Winged Foot, he laid up on the par-3 third hole all four rounds. No one else did. It was a “different” strategy. But it was the right strategy for Billy. He made par every time, beating Bob Rosburg by a stroke.

Store these mental tips in your mind. Pull them out when you’re having a bad day. You’ll get through the round without losing control. Salvage enough bad days and you’ll shrink your golf handicap.