Golf mental toughness is an essential requirement of the high caliber athlete. Many professional players, while describing why they hadn’t reached their goals of the season often talk about “trying too hard or even not letting it happen out there,” and similar phrases. Indeed the challenge for golfing professionals is not only to sharpen their swings and putting strokes, but to sharpen their golf mental game as well.

Here are 5 golf mental game tips:

1. Learn to keep each shot in perspective. There is no need to be tensed up by a bad hole or two. There are no life and death shots in golf – only good and bad ones. You are not helping yourself by getting unnecessarily tensed or psyched up. The best golf shots are taken with a relaxed mind and a smile on your face. Remember you have years of golfing ahead. Take your time and learn your shots.

2. You must try and focus on the task at hand rather than on the outcome. This is admittedly the most difficult to do as the mind is focused on the result and its consequences. However this thinking is nothing but a distraction which will not take you any nearer to your goal. Banish such thoughts. Here is an interesting mental golf tip. Try and think of something pleasant like your favorite song. This will drive away the tension and bring you to a proper frame of mind for taking the shot.

3. Even the best players in the world get tensed up while handling tight situations. This tension directly affects their ability to swing their club smoothly. Here is a mental golf tip: stand still and take out a deep breath. Tell yourself that you are breathing out your worries.

4 . Maintain your mental golf cool on the golf green. Remember that as a golfer, you can only control your preparation and reactions, and not every thing else in the universe. Golfing regulars know that something unexpected happens in nearly every round. For example a great tee shot may land in a divot, your golf club may suddenly develop problems or you may miss a simple putt. Give each shot your best and relax. Do not fret or carry any baggage from the shot. Develop mental golf toughness.

5. Experts say that many players are so preoccupied with the thought of avoiding mistakes that it severely affects their play. In contrast, successful players are quietly confident in their abilities, and play to succeed rather than to avert failure.

These simple mental golf tips will help you to develop habits that will stand you in good stead on the golf green and help you climb the heights of golfing.

09 September 2010 in Golf Tips 0 Comments

A golf flexibility exercise that can release the tension in your lower back can be the silver bullet you’ve been looking for to improve your golf swing and finally get rid of that nagging back pain!

In fact there is no single genuine golf exercise program that does not include flexibility exercises. That is how critical flexibility training for golf is.

Flexibility programs for golf are becoming very popular, but there are many that do not effectively improve golfers’ golf swing and performance. There is a reason this occurs. If flexibility exercises are not are not specific to the golf swing and its physical requirements, they will not be effective in improving golf swing flexibility and range of motion.

There are many types of flexibility exercises for golf. Some of them can comfortably be done in the office while you are still seated on your chair in your workstation. And probably when you have a few minutes to spare or you need to spend a moment or two thinking about something, maybe a decision you have to make. You can easily do your thinking as you execute the simple golf flexibility exercise.

One of the exercises that can be done in this situation is twisting your upper body to reach and touch as far back on one side of the chair as you can. I do this one in my office when I want to take a break from the grind of running my golf training website and shipping products.

Instructions:

Sit upright in your office chair, with chest high and back straight.
Reach behind you with one arm, which will rotate your upper body.
While staying very erect, twist as far as you can go and hold.
Twist the other way and repeat.
Go both sides 2-3 times, holding for 10 seconds.

Benefits to the golf swing:

Increase rotation of trunk for an improve “x-factor”. Loosen up lower back, to reduce strain and tightness, freeing up golf swing.
Improve ability to rotate upper body over a “fixed” lower body, like in your swing.

This golf flexibility exercise should be repeated reaching out for the other side of your chair.

There are also golf flexibility exercise that can be done with tubing, and a stability ball. Others are done using a medicine ball. Most of them are described in other golf exercise articles I have written on my site.

The reason why a flexibility exercise program for golf is so effective in improving the golf swing and eliminating back pain is because they put your body in the exact same positions either rotationally or from a golf posture standpoint that stretch the muscles like no other stretch or general exercise program could do.

This will remove the tension in your swing due to restricted muscles, and enable your golf swing to feel more comfortable and free-flowing, allowing maximum clubhead speed and ultimately distance. The results will be quick and dramatic!

There are dozens and dozens of effective golf flexibility exercise for golf that will have a profound impact on your golf swing, game and body. There is no denying golf is a physical game, and you need to work on your “machine” to maximize your results.

09 September 2010 in Golf Tips 0 Comments

There are certain things in golf that will lead a player to either hit or miss a shot. One of the most common reasons for a golfer to miss a shot or in some way come short is not having the proper wrist action in golf swing. It’s a mistake that’s all too common among weekend golfers and amateurs who don’t know the ins and outs of golf. Because controlling the club with one’s hands can feel so natural, it often leads to bad shots and even broken wrists.

When you think about the way you hold the club and swing it, there are really only several ways your wrists can move, up and down and forward and backward. When someone uses the forward backward method, it can lead to a broken wrist. The up and down motion is just as bad, cocking them so to speak. The adverse effects of these movements are exactly why the way you hold your golf club is so critical to your game. If you are holding the club incorrectly, it can make for a bad game. Some golfers may seem surprised by this, others not so much. This is the difference between a seasoned golfer and an amateur.

Hinging of the wrists becomes automatic when your left arm is placed in the right position when you go to swing. Your wrists also hinge when your legs move in a forward direction while the club is still moving back. Your ultimate goal is make sure that this hinging of the wrists happens with every shot you take so you’ll want to keep the wrist on your left arm flat just like the forearm of your left arm and the back of the hand. If correctly positioned, your wrists will hinge automatically. If not correctly placed, a breaking movement will happen causing many adverse effects, including a lost game.

08 August 2010 in Golf Tips 0 Comments

My dear friend in golf, let me begin this article by saying, and I am sure you will agree that there is not a golfer on this planet who has not missed a two foot putt, or bladed an easy chip into the rough instead of onto the green. We have all been there. Now, the question is, what makes us do that?

Why and how can we miss such an easy shot? Is there a simple answer to this problem, or is it more complicated than we can understand? How can we overcome this anomaly in our game? Can we be winners all the time?

Well let us first take a look at the very basic parts of golf. What do we need to play golf apart from golf clubs? We need a passion, a desire to become good. A clear ambition to have a low handicap, and take pride in our status as a golfer. If we do not have all of these, not just one or two, we need all of them, if we desire to be a reasonably good golfer.

We need a clear ambition and focus, TO LISTEN AND LEARN, from people who are experts and professional players at golf.

The second vital aspect for helping you lower that handicap is, taking the time to learn the basic set up routines. This involves taking lessons from professional coaches and doing exactly what they teach you. It is extremely important that you set out a special time to practice all you have been taught by these coaches.

Then you must set out a warm up drill pattern, which means arriving at the golf course early, and taking on the exercise drills which will warm up all your muscles and help you focus for the task ahead.

If you are serious about avoiding most of the pitfalls golfers fall into, then you must practice drills, and learn how to focus on your game. Remember you are not just competing against an opponent, you are competing against the course. This is your biggest opponent. If you beat the course there is a great chance you have also beaten your opponent.

What is written in this article is only a small part of the many aspects in golf where one can improve their golf and avoid most of the pitfalls. For further valuable information on how to improve your golf, just click on below, and help your golf improve.

08 August 2010 in Golf Tips 0 Comments

Whilst it isn’t nearly as elitist as it used to be golf is still considered a more prestigious sport despite more and more men, women and even children enjoy an occasional round of golf. This judgement seems to be made on the idea that golf is still quite expensive when compared to other sports. Obviously the higher end golf clubs can cost a lot but this is rightfully so since there are players who require the quality of clubs that can help them to perform to the best of their abilities.

There are ways though to enjoy golf without spending vast sums on equipment, green fees and memberships as well as any other associated expenses. The game of golf can be played on a limited budget which makes it great for players who are either only just trying out the sport or they are only infrequent golfers.

The equipment can be the biggest challenge as you’ll obviously need a set of clubs to be able to play, but as a full set of clubs can cost quite a bit when you are only just trying the game out you may be able to lease some clubs from the club shop. Not all courses have this option so it is best to check before you set off for the golf course. They won’t lend you a full set typically, it may only be a few irons and a putter but they should be OK for a beginner to see if they like the sport.

If you find you enjoy the game of golf then complete sets of clubs for beginners can be bought for quite reasonable amounts and will often include a sturdy golf bag too. These clubs will not only be affordable but beginner’s clubs are much more forgiving with shots hit as they have enlarged ‘sweet spots’ so you can hit the ball slightly off-centre and it will still go where you want it to.

Saving money on membership fees and green fees can be tricky as you may find the nicer the course is then they tend to have higher green fees to help maintain the course to its high standard. Some clubs may be members only but if you know someone who is a member then you can normally get a game with them as many clubs encourage this to help entice new members to sign up.

Some golf voucher schemes can actually cut your green fees in half as some participating golf courses allow a ‘two for one’ deal on green fees, if you can find any of these schemes then they will certainly help keep the costs down for you and a friend to enjoy a round of golf.

08 August 2010 in Golf Tips 0 Comments