WrightBalance.com - Golf Tips

Golf Tips and Articles

Golf Tips & Articles Archive

Call up your past success

Email this Article to a Friend

Most of you have a hole on your home course where you will hit a good tee shot no matter how well or poorly you are playing. You also have a where you will hit a poor shot no matter how well or poorly you are playing. Both of these conditions are directly related to your level of confidence as you approach the tee. Whether you realize it or not, you are calling up our past successes and failures. Walter Hagen said that his greatest mental skill was his ability to forget the bad shot.

I have a rating system i use for every shot I hit on the golf course and range. I use a 1 to 10 scale. A shot that is rated a 7 or lower is a shot i want to forget. I review my round with a focus on my eight's nines and tens. This focus will build your confidence. Early on I kept a scorecard of only my 8s, 9s and 10s. I review round with a focus only on my successful shots'

A diary of your success is an important structure to get you focused. It is interesting to see what happens as you begin to change the way you keep score. Use the card from the course you are playing. Instead of recording your score on a hole, record a score on every shot. You only record the scores on this card that are 8s, 9s and 10s. Next to the 8, 9 or 10, record the club you used to hit the shot. If you hit a shot that you would rate a 7 or lower, leave the space blank. When you finish your round, you will have a scorecard that has blank spaces and 8s, 9s and 10s.

Now, review your round with a focus on these 8s, 9s and 10s. This scorecard will help get you away from a score focus and onto one shot at a time, move you toward a success focus and begin to build your confidence in that are of your game that is going well. The blank spaces on the scorecard will show where you need to practice. You are practicing visualization of past success as you review your 8s. 9s and 10s. If score focus isn't a problem for you and you have good recall of each shot during your round, complete a shot scorecard after your round. You will be better off if you don't clutter your scorecard with other information and keep only your 8s, nines, and 10s.

Email this Article to a Friend