John Hamarik's Tips of The Trades - Advice from a PGA Pro.

Mental Tips To Help You

Many a golfer rather than aiming at a positive target, sees a hazard or OB stakes and immediately has a reaction that is preceded by the horrifying vision of the ball heading there. For example, you come to a tight fairway, water left, OB right. There is, however 40 yards of fairway. So, you think, "Don't hit it OB." Or the water comes into consciousness and you think, "ooooh, don't splash it." That starts another chain reaction of ideas leading to "hideous ruin." You think,

" I've been re-gripping at the top and falling to the outside of my right foot. I can't decide which side of the tee to hit from because I don't know which scares me more, the water or the OB. I've hit as many pulls as fades today."

And to make it worse, you continue rambling to yourself:

"I'm playing two strokes over my head already. I can afford to give away a stroke here if worse comes to worst. BUT, I could better my best score of the year with par. Last time, no the last three times, I played this hole I screwed the pooch and made doubles. Hmmmm, we are three-and-one in the Nassau...twenty five bucks unless we can tie this and press 18. Man, this reminds me of the time I was playing basketball in high school and missed a free throw that lost us the championship. I really felt awful.”

I could go on but those "fantastic shapes of hideous ruin" growl and swirl in our subconscious minds just waiting for us to open the door a crack and let them flood in like a sewer and stink up our game.

The most profound line is the last: "What it fears, creates."

Almost invariably, if there is a specific trouble lurking and you focus on the problem instead of a positive place, you will create the very horror you dreaded. One way to skirt these evils is to wash your brain of all negatives and dwell on ONE brazen goal you WILL reach. Conscious interference is like opening all the windows in your house in a windstorm. The wind whips and swirls through the rooms, blowing about all that isn't tied down. Same with the brain. You have to close those circuits and decide which single one you will open.

Here is a simple, but effective formula that must be learned and conditioned. First visualize your target and picture the ball reaching that target. Now, take a deep, slow breath, blow it all out and let yourself feel limp. Align and take another deep breath, focusing your mind only on the target. Blow it out and swing as slowly as you can control. Keep your grip light, your muscles relaxed and ALLOW your body parts to work smoothly and naturally.

When you have executed that great shot, slowly re-hearse it and lock it in your memory where it can be accessed next time.