The #1 Round Killer in Golf
In golf there are 7 Round Killers. These are 7 mental mistakes that will kill your ability to play to your potential. If you make any of these errors, the round will get away from you and you won’t be able to play your best. If you’d like to learn what these are and how to eliminate them, download my free mental game eBook:
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The root cause of almost all of these round killers stems from being focused on outcome instead of process. When you start to focus on outcome (i.e. the results of your shots and your score), you start to try too hard and the less you focus on what you need to do to achieve those results and then it all starts to unravel…
The answer is to have an awesome process that you follow throughout every shot on the course. So what does this process look like?
The Process For Golf
To achieve this awesome process for golf you need to combine 3 key ingredients (the 3 pillars of the perfect process) and when you’ve done this, I’m confident you can go from where you are right now, to the player to beat in the club championship and see several shots come off your handicap quickly. The great thing about learning this process is that it doesn’t require any change in your technique, it just requires some basic understanding and a change in your mental approach.
The 3 pillars of the perfect process for golf:
1. Conscious Thought
This is where you’re consciously thinking about the intention for the shot and getting 100% committed to it. It requires clarity of thought, which comes from being able to stay present and calm during the time in between shots. You’ll be thinking about a good course strategy and choosing the right shot given the situation.
During the engagement phase of your pre shot routine, (from when you start your walk into the ball to starting your swing), you’ll be consciously focusing on getting set up correctly and focusing on “sensing” the shot. The sensing part helps keep the mind quiet, so you can hand control over to the subconscious mind during the swing.
2. Sub-conscious.
It’s time to let go and trust your swing! This pillar is about how we use our sub-conscious mind. This is what we use to play the shot, once we’ve gone through the pre-shot routine with the conscious mind. The second you start to use your conscious mind to play the shot, that’s when you’ll start trying too hard to control the shot. As you may know from one of my previous lessons – in golf you need to “give up control to gain control“.
E.g. Think about something you do sub-consciously like driving your car. Your conscious mind is focuses on the traffic and the route while your sub-conscious mind is controlling the vehicle. Imagine letting your conscious mind drive the car and tell your body what to do e.g. “ok, it’s time to push your foot on the brake now” or “now you need to change gear from 2nd to 3rd”. You wouldn’t drive very well and your chances of getting in a accident would go up. The same goes for your golf game when the conscious mind gets involved in the swing. The more you try to control it the more errant your shots become and then it snow balls out of control. For the better players, the conscious mind goes through the pre-shot routine and then hands it off to the sub-conscious. I’m sure you’ve felt this if you’ve ever been “in the zone”.
“You turn off your mind. You feel your golf swing without really thinking about it. It’s almost like you don’t think at all. Maybe you have one little thought, and everything else becomes automatic.” – US Open Champion, Graeme McDowell
In a recent survey of 24 PGA Tour players, 18 said they didn’t think about anything at all during their swing. Those that did have a swing thought said it was to focus on a spot a few inches in front of the ball, to encourage swinging through, instead of hitting at the ball. NONE of them said they had ANY technical thoughts about their swing. Now compare that to the average amateur…
Next time you’re on the course, make ZERO swing thoughts your goal and although it will be difficult, mark the number of times they came into your head on your scorecard so you have a goal for next time. I guarantee that the more swing thoughts you remove the better you’ll play.
3. Acceptance
Too much focus on the outcome and judging your shots is never a good thing in golf. Reminding yourself about this during your pre shot routine will help you stay calm and manage performance anxiety.
If you can repeat this, you’ll build confidence in your process for golf as a whole which will keep reinforcing itself in a loop. The result will be a huge shift in the level of your play and you’ll move closer to your potential with every round.
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