Basic Mental Tips

Basic Mental Tips is a short golf blog post explaining a few ideas to help keep your mind off your total score.

Let’s be honest, How many of you have been so nervous before a round of golf that your first 4 or 5 holes have been terrible. But then, from around the 6th hole you have been OK and have been able to put a decent score together.
There are others that may start well and by the 14th hole they start to struggle with a lack of concentration or fatigue.
Some golfers start well, then struggle in the middle but are able to pick up their performance towards the end of the round.
Golfers will also look at their score card after 9 holes. They will say something like, “39 on the front nine is a great score, now I just need to do something similar on the back 9 to score below 80.” In my experience, this never works!

I have heard all of the above and many more stories of why things didn’t quite go as you planned them.
Most of these stories start with the usual thoughts. “I need to play gross 75 today to improve my handicap.”, I must play better than the 82 that I had the last time I played here. “Shooting a nett 65 at this course should be easy.”

All of these thoughts are looking at the round as a whole. These targets or goals are to be big!
Try some of the following Basic Mental Tips.

Break Up The Course

Take the 18 hole course and break it up into 6 x 3 holes.
Start your first 3 holes on the first tee. Play and score the first 3 holes. Add up the scores and then start again on the 4th tee.
After the 6th hole, add up your last 3 holes and do the same again after the 9th, 12th, 15th & 18th holes.
Before you start this game, give yourself realistic, achievable targets to hit within those 3 hole games. Like being even or one under your handicap for the 3 holes. You should try and create goals, over the 6 ‘mini’ rounds, that at the end will add up to approximately 2 – 4 shots under your handicap. That should be a realistic goal to aim at.
By playing this way, it will help to keep your concentration levels much higher during the whole round.

Statistics Game

Another idea is not to keep score but to play a new game instead. Let’s play the statistics game. On every hole score 1 point for hitting the fairway off the tee on a Par 4 & 5. Score 1 point for every green hit in regulation. 1 point for every up & down from off the green. Score 1 point for every green that you need 2 putts or less.
This game will give you something different to think about.

Eclectic Score

Have you ever tried collecting your eclectic score? That’s marking down your best score per hole. This will eventually give you your true potential over 18 holes. Vision 54 is a great company that founded it’s ideas on the question, If you have birdied every hole on the course during your career, then surely it’s possible to score that in one round of golf. imagine shooting 54 on a Par 72 course. Collect your eclectic score this season and find out what your potential score would be.

It really doesn’t matter what kind of game you play as long as it is something different. Keep your mind of your total scores.

What do you think of my Basic Mental Tips?

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The easiest way of reducing the stress of 18 holes is by cutting up the round into smaller quantities.