A golf buddy may inform you about hazards ahead or you yourself may find an obstruction, whether it be a creek, pond, bunker, or some other hazard you are specifically trying to avoid. But was the last thought you hand in your mind before hitting your shot. Now that you have that obstruction on the back of your mind, sometimes the ball falls to the one area you were adamantly trying to avoid!
Visualization
It was already tackled in a previous write-up about why visualization is so important. Your mind works best with imagery, so picturing your target in your mind's eye is the way to tell it where you want the ball to go.
Now thinking about where you DON'T want the ball to go will actually have the same effect. It sends the message to your mind saying that that is where you WANT to hit the ball. The mind will not know the difference.
When you are faced with a difficult shot, the mind wanders to all of the places and obstructions that can get you into trouble. Whether you have to hit the ball over the water or try squeezing your drive into a tight fairway, you have to concentrate on the image of where you want the ball to end up.
Putting extra focus on your target when faced with a difficult shot will actually make you perform better under these pressure conditions and hit the ball safely towards your intended target.
It is also important to really focus on your target when you are protecting a lead or trying to play it safe. Take this situation for example, you are up by two going into the last hole and there is an out of bounds down the left hand side. You obviously avoid the penalty shots to make it easier for you to walk away with a bogey and force your opponent to birdie to tie you. There are players however, who are so cautious and conservative that they focus more on where they do not want the ball to go, rather than focusing on the target.
You can obviously choose to play it safe and give yourself some margin of error if you hit to the left, but once you draw up the right strategy for your new target, then you can just focus intently and execute your shot.
Response to Fear
Fear will always be the thorn in the backside of every golfer because once you fear the possible result of a shot, then you will likely try to over-control your swing. Your conscious mind will try to direct the movement of the body. If a golfer needs to hit a fairway or green they tend to try and "steer" the ball where they want it to go.
Fear produces reactions in the body. It always comes back to the fight-or-flight response. When faced with a situation we fear, our body tenses up and adrenaline pours through our veins. When this happens, tension prohibits a free swing and is replaced by tightness and restriction thereby producing bad shots. When you are pumped full of adrenaline, you do not swing at the same tempo and lose your rhythm. This scenario almost always ends up on a poor shot, worse is that your ball usually ends up at the area where you don't want it to be.
You need to start learning how to relax if you want to overcome this tension. If you can incorporate deep breathing into your preshot routine, then you can loosen yourself up to play a more relaxed and much improved game.
Learn how to master the mental game of golf with the helpful tips provided at EasyPars.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jamie_L._Faidley
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