Play Better with Mental Toughness

Use 1 ball to putt

Putt with one ball, because that’s all you get on the actual course!  When you practice, don’t drop 3 balls (or more) and go at it. It serves absolutely no purpose, other than showing that you can adjust from one putt to another. 

Use 1 ball to chip

If you’re going to win a tournament, then you’ll have to get it up-and-down under pressure. We only have one ball on the actual course! We need to execute our full routine and our focus while chipping.

Develop the habit of chipping with only one ball. Implement this strategy the closer you get to tournaments and get up-and-down with only one ball. 

No earphones or earbuds while you practice or play

Listening to music while you practice does not work on your focus or your mental game of golf. Keep the music on in your car or limit it to the gym.

“Practice puts brains into your muscles.” – Sam Snead

Golfers often talk about playing better on the range than on the course. There’s no stress or consequences on the range, but there is no variability either.

We don’t get better having the range rake-over mentality and hitting ball after ball only working on the swing. We need to avoid getting in the groove on the range and instead randomize our shots and practice. We adapt and improve by constantly forcing ourselves to go through our full routine and hit different shots.

Use different shots and work on your creativity

It’s important to not “hope” you got better but “know” you improved after practice. If you set a difficult to reach goal, then you’re training your mental toughness.  Once you hit your goal, be sure to move on to something different.

Ask yourself, what do you want to achieve for this practice?
Being competitive requires thinking competitively

When we understand the emotions that we will feel, then we can prepare our mind better and be ready for the same type of pressure. Remember, “pressure is something you feel when you don’t know what the hell you’re doing.”  

Competition builds mental toughness!

Short Game. Short Game.  Short Game.

The short game in golf is like rebounding, because if you can get up & down 70% of the time and make 70% of your putts inside 10 feet. It’s time to move to the next level. Your shots around the green and ability to save par are directly connected to your mental game. The short game in golf won’t win you any championships, yet not having a strong short game will lose it mentally for you.

Pros have told me over and over that the shots inside of 110 yards give or take (pitching, chipping, and putting) will up your ability to play golf at the next level

Good Shot Bad Shot

We work on our mental game of golf by moving on from poor shots to a shot with focus. After you hit a poor shot is the opportunity to address this mental skill.

You will hit bad shots during a round, so don’t allow your confidence to be affected by a bad shot. Instead, work on your mental game!