How Focus Can Improve Your Golf Game

"Try these great golfing tips your next time out."

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.

Related Pages

Perfect Posture - Understand how your posture affects your swing mechanics - Quick tips for improving your swing by improving your posture - Focus on knees, back, and shoulders.

Perfect Posture Part 2 - The correct posture for holding a golf club - The quick posture setup to use during your round - How to adjust your posture for different clubs.

One Piece Takeaway - The one piece takeaway movement - How to do your backswing in one continuous motion for peak impact force - Concept of retaining natural movement in your golf swing.

One Piece Takeaway Part 2 - The one-piece takeaway movement - Improve your posture and improve your swing - Practice exercises for developing the right golf swing posture.

Alignment Tips - The Most Important Lesson in Golf - How to properly square up before you address the ball - Tips on proper alignment of your swing.

In The News

Loud Golf Clubs May Damage Hearing (LiveScience.com via Yahoo! News)
Did Santa bring you one of those thin-faced titanium, long-distance drivers to put in your golf bag? Did he also leave behind earplugs?

St. Johns board OKs golf carts on some roads (Miami Herald)
Golf carts will soon be legal on some country roads in St. Johns County in northern Florida.