Everybody gets stressed. Even the most blissed-out yen master has to deal with that feeling of anxiety – it’s part of being human. The golf course is – unsurprisingly – one place where stress makes a regular appearance. And not just for big-time PGA Tour players – performance anxiety can strike even the most casual player. The thing is, stress isn’t always a negative thing. In fact, it’s necessary to have a certain amount of stress to perform at a …
This is a short follow up post from my last article on selecting golf goals for the new year. I will highlight the golf goals I have chosen for the new year and why I selected them. WAIT, don’t stop reading yet. I know you are probably thinking, “I don’t care what some random blog writer is trying to achieve next year, I’m going to go back to looking at Christmas pictures of people I don’t even like on Facebook”. …
Regardless of what we desire in life, it is essential that we set goals to give us direction and keep us on track. There are several further benefits to setting goals. They help us make important decisions, prioritise what matters, and motivate us to move forward. A list of carefully planned and considered objectives can often be the difference between success and failure. We all know golf is an ongoing pursuit of continuous improvement. The satisfaction is not only in …
Unless you are fortunate enough to own a house on a golf course, your options for improving your golf at home are somewhat limited. You could do what I did when I was a kid and try to chip balls from the grass in your back garden through your bedroom window … trust me when I say risking a glass windowpane is a pretty good way to simulate tournament pressure! (before anyone feels too bad for my parents, I was …
They say golf is like life – only more complicated. That’s why, from the first tee all the way to the final putt, being mentally prepared is crucial. Perhaps more than any other sport, golf is a mental game. A golfer can have great technique and a mastery of a wide variety of shots. But without a strong inner game, it can all fall apart in an instant. But can you really prepare? Isn’t a strong mind something you’re born …
Ben Hogan’s 1957 book, “Five Lessons: The Modern Fundamentals of Golf” is considered by many professionals to be the ‘bible of golf instruction’. Unsurprisingly the book is divided into … you guessed it … five lessons! The first four lessons look at different fundamentals of the golf swing including the grip, stance and posture, the backswing, and the downswing. The final lesson is a review. Despite being published over sixty years ago many modern professionals and ‘golf gurus’ believe the …
There are some parts of golf you have no excuse for getting wrong. You can always grip the club correctly. You can always have the proper stance, good posture and accurate alignment. These are the parts of the game you have time to set up correctly because they occur before you even begin the backswing. The only thing standing between you and performing these actions perfectly every time is the amount of care you take. Good news, there is another …