Sharpening Your Mental Game

Do you hate it when you can’t play or practice due to weather or injury? Here’s an idea: Try practicing without practicing.

That’s right—most of your golf game takes place in the critical inches between your ears, so play your favorite course in your mind. You may have heard this tip, but how often have you really done this and played every shot? Have you visualized the ball going exactly where you want it to go? The brain doesn’t know the difference between imagination and reality. Just imagine biting into a lemon or an onion. See, your mouth just watered, right?

Mental practice is as important, if not more important, than real practice. It’s where you can also work on your slice or hitting it into the lumberyard. Imagine the bad shot and take the color, sound and smell out of your mental picture. Shrink the picture of that bad shot down to a tiny dot and replace it with a perfect shot. See yourself confident and successfully making your perfect shots.
If you keep doing this exercise, you’ll be able to get out of your own way mentally.