Golf Mental Game Tips – Master The Inner Game

Before I tell you what my golf mental game tips are I need to give you a warning about someone. Right this very second there is an enemy who is very close to you, so close that you could feel their heartbeat.

This enemy is the toughest opponent you will ever face and can cause you all types of trouble on the golf course if you do not learn how to control them.

This enemy is responsible for a large number of mistakes you make while you play golf. It can exploit your weaknesses, spiral your emotions out of control, cause the yips, and put a giant stop sign in between you and your golfing potential.

They don’t sound too nice do they? Now get up if you are sitting down and walk over to a mirror. Take a good look.

If you haven’t guessed by now that enemy I am talking about is the person staring back at you.

Well, in fact the enemy is actually not what you are looking at but rather within you. The enemy is your fears, doubts, frustrations, negativity, and self imposed limitations.

But there is good news! You have both the enemy within you and you also have a winner who can help you succeed no matter what the cost. The winner within you is responsible for your dreams, certainty, belief, positivity, focus, determination, and unlimited potential.

The aim of this article is to help bring out that inner winner so that you can master the physical game of golf by getting control of that gray matter between your ears. So if you want to give yourself a serious edge next time you play, these three golf mental game tips can do that and much more.

Tip One – Keep A Success Journal

We all have moments on the golf course when we deliver an amazing performance, where it seems as though the golf gods have blessed us and we can do no wrong. These moments are something you need to capture, memorize, and analyze so that you can use them to bring out your best more consistently. If all you do is let your best performances slip away and become a distant memory, you can’t tap into their power.

Keep a success journal and write down all the times you have a successful game, an awesome practice session, or you are in the zone. Specifically you want to write down what happened, what it felt like, what was you body doing, what was going through your mind, and anything else unique about the situation.

Once you get specific about what occurred when you were playing at your best you will have a blueprint for success. The more you replay the events in your head as you go over your success journal, preferably a few times a week, the more you will be training your mind to create these magical moments physically, each time you play. This will also work wonders for your confidence!

Tip Two – Learn To Meditate

An article on golf mental game tips would not be complete if I left out this powerful technique. Meditation can dramatically boost your golfing performance. Many successful professional sports people use meditation practice so that they can easily enter “the zone” or a state of flow.

Regularly practicing meditation can help to enhance your awareness of your body and the present moment. Also being able to control your emotions is a key skill if you want to fulfill your potential, and meditation is a great way to be able to do this.

Awareness of your body is vital when it comes to your swing and the way you are distributing your weight to gain control. Being in the present moment is the only time when you are playing the actual game of golf. You are not playing in the past and you are not playing in the future.

Each time you place that ball on the tee, getting in position and swinging, you are playing in the present moment. Meditation can help keep your mind focused on the present moment so it stays sharp and focused on your shot and where you want it to go.

Meditation is actually very simple in theory but in practice it is very difficult. To mediate, find a quiet place and sit in a chair or on the floor with your legs crossed. Close your eyes, and become aware of your breath as it goes in and out. This is your only focus for your meditation session which could last between from 5 – 20 minutes for starters.

While you try to focus on your breath your mind will be very active and your thoughts will try and distract you. Your mind will keep drifting away from the focus on your breath. Once this happens, keep bringing your awareness back to your breath.

With practice you will be able to stay super focused, aware, centered, and in the moment. You will also be able to achieve this on the golf course as well.

Tip Three – Focus On The Positive

If you want the inner enemy to take control of your body and destroy your golf game, the surest way to do this is to let negative thinking get the better of you. But if you want your inner winner to rise to the occasion you are going to need to focus on the positive.

The key is to focus on what you want to happen, not on what you don’t want to happen. This is a super simple principle but it is rare to find someone who does this consistently.

Your ability to focus on the positive can be difficult at times, like when you are down on the scorecard, stuck in a bunker, or are faced with hazards. These situations can all be very testing but at times like these you really need to stay positive and focus on what you want to have happen and the end result. This could be focusing on delivering the perfect swing, getting out of the bunker with ease, staying under par, or winning a tournament.

So anytime you catch yourself thinking negatively on the golf course, do your best to think the complete opposite. If you do this enough times over a long enough period, focusing on the positive will become a habit and work on autopilot. This is one of the most powerful of the three golf mental game tips, which you can do no matter where you are. You will feel the benefits immediately!