The Mental Golf Game: Mind Over Putter

The mind is the most formidable opponent a golfer confronts, so mastering the game of mental golf is essential.

The mind can be a golfer's best friend, helping to develop the mechanics of a smooth, reliable swing and devising clever strategies for moving the ball efficiently from the tee to the cup.

But the mind also produces anxiety and tension, which can tighten the muscles and destroy concentration. Suddenly the technically proficient golfer is slicing the ball deep into the woods and choking on a short putt. Trying harder only seems to make matters worse.

At that point, the mind is the enemy, and the only way to overcome its powers of self-sabotage is through applying the principles of mental golf - principles that yield benefits off the course as well as on.

"They say every golfer is just two shots away from crazy," said Joseph Parent, PhD, author of Zen Golf: Mastering the Mental Game. "One bad shot you can deal with. Two in a row and you go nuts. I try to stop that cycle after one."

How to Reap the Benefits of Mental Golf

The best way to break this cycle, Parent says, is to change the messages you send yourself as you assess your performance. Instead of focusing on the negative - the way a shot went wrong - he suggests emphasizing what went right.

"When golfers hit a poor shot, they're going to tell you all the bad things they did regarding their swing," says Parent. "The message they've given themselves is, 'I'm a poor performer.' I have golfers say something good first. They may have hit the ball in a direction that wasn't quite right, but maybe they hit it very solidly. So instead of the shot being 90 percent bad, they see that 90 percent of it was good, and 10 percent of it needs correcting."

Practicing deep breathing in times of stress can dissolve the excess tension that develops during the game, Parent says.

"The only tension you want is what is needed to maintain your posture and hold on to your club," he said. "Anything beyond that interferes with your performance. The most important part of the mental game is awareness, and you achieve that through mindful attention to your body, your breathing, and your thoughts."