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The Art of Focus
Ninety percent of golf
is mental. Oh heck, make that 95%! Arnold
Palmer stated, “The toughest 6 inches in the
game of golf is between a player’s ears”.
The fastest way to
lower your score is to master the ability to
focus.
Most golfers tend to
think they must practice more, find a new
instructor, buy more videos, get the swing
right, change those clubs. But one of the
often overlooked and most important mental
aspects of the game is focus.
Now you want to make
sure you focus on the result you want. In
golf the shot is determined by your level of
concentration. You’ve likely just rushed
right in and played shots without
concentrating. No wonder the ball ended up
going haywire!
It’s better to make ten
focused swings than 100 quick, thoughtless
ones. Your swing will naturally break down
when you’re fatigued. So be sure to take a
break when you’re practicing. Brain breaks
give your mind and body a chance to
implement what you’re learning.
One way to practice the
art of focusing is to light a candle and
stare into the flame, only thinking of the
flame. Every time your mind starts to move
to any other thought, bring it back to the
flame. Think of the dancing orange colors,
how they melt inside of each other.
The first time you do
this, you might be hard –pressed to last for
3 minutes. Work up to 20 minutes, and your
ability to focus on anything will have
improved immensely. You’ll be able to take
this enhanced skill to the golf course.
When you’re playing,
just think about the next shot. During down
time, allow your mind to relax and wander
for a few minutes. Don’t try to concentrate
the entire game, or you’ll get very
fatigued, very quickly. Save the mental
workout for thoughtful shot decisions and
center on what shot you’re going to play
next.
Also, keep your cool
and behave in an emotionally controlled
manner. You will perform more effectively.
In the great game of golf, emotions soar and
fall quickly. You can go from totally happy
to totally ticked off in no time at all. In
fact, the feeling of anger is actually a
series of reactions that happen in just
1/30th of a second.
Stop it at the first
spark. The important thing is to figure out
what is really making you angry. Think of
the grand scheme of life and how today is
just a speck. Your golf game is a speck on
a speck. It helps to minimize the situation
and look at the big picture of what’s really
important in life.
Master the mental art
of focus, and you’ve got 95% of the game of
golf all figured out!
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