In golf much like in anything else for that matter, if you need to learn something, you need feedback. Positive feedback increases the chances that you will repeat the action, negative feedback means you will do your best to avoid it. In relation to golf, if you hit a really good shot, you need to reinforce the experience into your brain, in order to enable yourself to repeat it in the future. For every bad shot, learn from your error and move on.
Learning from Good Shots
Sometimes when you watch the pros, you can see them pipe a drive long and down on the middle of the fairway, but bend down and grab their tee and turn around before the ball has even a chance to land. They already know it's good, they already know it's going to the fairway, so why watch it?
You only have about four seconds of short term memory storage for each movement that you make, which is why it is very important to hold your finish and watch the ball come to a finish. By watching your shot to the finish, you are relatively still and this allows your body to really feel the shot that you just hit and correlate those feeling with the results. Since these are positive feelings, then it's a good thing.
One other reason to watch your shot come to a finish is so that you can store it into your mind's eye. The more positive shots that you see and experience, the easier it will be for you to visualize a similar shot when you need it. Once you get used to that feeling and once you are able to store enough memories to satiate your palate, then you can walk up to even the tightest holes on the course and be able to recall the drives that you hit perfectly where you wanted to.
Learning from Bad Shots
If you want to learn from the errors that you made out on the course, then you need to be detached to them. You can't get angry or frustrated because by then, it will cloud your judgment and will make you be irrational on your approach. Instead of worrying about your swing error, you can go and start with your approach and routine to the shot. Ask yourself these questions:
1. Were you prepared?
2. Did you visualize the shot you wanted to hit?
3. Did you trust the club and shot you wanted to hit?
4. Were you ready to hit it?
5. Were you consciously trying to control any part of the swing?
After answering those questions and you still have not found the mistake in the previous shot; then you can take a look at your setup. Was every part of your body aimed correctly? Was the ball in the correct position?
If you feel like you did everything the right way and just made a bad swing, then try not to correct it in the middle of the round. This will only lead to more problems on the next holes. Wait until your round is over, and then work on your swing mechanics on the range.
Every time you play, it is infinitely better to focus on your good shots. Many golfers fail to realize just how many things they are doing right or how many quality shots they hit. Most golfers are instead too pessimistic who think they should hit every shot perfectly, and when they don't they label themselves as bad or terrible. The more you focus on the good things going for you in your game, the sooner you can fix the small problems you do have and improve on them.
For more tips on how to take your game to the next level, check out tips for mental strength section at Easy Pars.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jack_T_Jones
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