After a round of golf, what do you think back on? Do you talk about the score you could have had if only you had done this or that? Most people do. How about the good shots? Do you spend much time on them? I think we tend to take our best shots for granted, even the 45-foot putt that we had no business making, but in remembering the good shots lies the key to better golf.
The bad shots happen. Let ‘em go. Remember only the good shots. You have the ability to hit them or you wouldn’t have done it. Build on them. Remember what they looked like, and most importantly remember what it felt like, not just physically, but mentally, as you were hitting them. This feeling of mind is what will lead you to hitting more good shots just like them.
You might say “How can you remember a feeling,” but just as the image of the shot persists in your memory, so the does the memory of your mental state during the shot. That might not be something you’re used to remembering, but it’s there. You just have to look for it. Don’t worry, it’s not hiding. Just start thinking back and you’ll find it right away.
Why is this important? It’s because the mind leads the body. The state of the mind directly influences the state of the body, and thus its performance. The difference between a good shot and a bad one is a matter of mind, not of technique.
When you have a clear idea of the state of your mind when you hit good shots, you can then teach yourself to repeat that state of mind at will. How? Before you hit any shot, in practice or in play, retrieve that feeling of calm confidence, then hit the shot. Constant repetition is the key to developing your mind in this way–it’s not there for the asking.
By doing this, you will develop good shot-making skills much faster, and you will achieve the mental consistency you need on the golf course.
The second thing to review is the mental decisions you made. Affirm your decision-making process when it led to you to the right decision, and correct it in review when there was a flaw–not for the purpose of saying, What if, but to get it right the next time. This is teaching yourself to think like a golfer.
The last thing to do in your review is look for shots that keep your score up because you don’t know how to hit them–chipping out of the rough might be an example. Then fix them. If you had a headache, you’d take an aspirin right away, wouldn’t you? So if part of your golf game is giving you a headache, get a lesson. Right away.
The scorecard in your hand is a blueprint for how to play better if you look at properly. It’s not about “What I did,” but “What I’ll do.”