Golf Swing Thoughts

I get a lot of questions about what is the proper swing thought to have during a round of golf. Ideally, the best swing thought is no thought at all. When you are playing at your best, you are playing on instinct. When you are in the zone,
the fastest way to lose it is to start thinking.
When you make that occasional great shot, it more than likely came out of the blue with very little if any thinking about what you were doing. Then, you end up confusing yourself by trying to think what you just did that allowed you to make such a great shot.

The time to think about your mechanics is when you are practicing. When you play, it is time to perform on instinct without thinking about your swing. As a matter of fact, part of your practice time should be spent hitting balls without any swing thoughts to get use to playing on instinct.

So how do you train or condition your mind not to think when you set up to putt, chip or hit the ball? Believe it or not, it is just as easy as training or conditioning your body to do 100 push-ups. If I would give you $100,000,000
(that's right one hundred million dollars) as soon as you could do 100 push-ups, how long would it take you to train your body to do 100 push-ups? If you were in good physical shape, it wouldn't take you too long. If you are out of shape, you could probably do it within a year. But, you could do it, if your desire was strong enough and you are physically able.

What amazes me is to hear a golfer tell me that it is hard to still the mind and not think. It is only hard if your mind is not properly trained. You can't read a book and expect to be able to do 100 push-ups without exercising. So why does a
golfer expect to be able to stop his thoughts without the proper mental training? Just like it takes time and effort to build a strong body, it takes time and effort to build a strong mind that can clear itself of all superfluous thoughts when
you demand peak performance from your body.

To show you that it can be done, here is an email that I just received from a very good golfer who has been using "The Mental Keys" for about a year.

>michael,

> thought you would like to hear another just
when i have heard it all story.

> this weekend was playing in our club
championship and was leading by three shots with
nine holes to play. on #10 had to hit from under
the trees on my approach shot and appeared to be
slightly long but ok.

> as i got up to the green, i witnessed the ball
inching along our new concrete curbed cart path.
slowly but surely the ball rolled and rolled and
rolled and then got some momentum and rolled 200
yards down the cartpath down an adjoining hole.
from there i had no shot to the green or back to
the 10th fairway. had to play out into the other
fairway and hit a 180 yard shot back to the
green. 2 putted from 60 feet for a hard earned,
yet bizzare double bogey.

> parred the next 2 holes and then hit my
approach shot barely over the green on 13 and it
ricocheted off a tree root and went out of
bounds. another double bogey. at that moment, i
was tied with 5 holes to go.

> although there were many things going through
my mind, i told myself to just concentrate on the
next shot. to make a long story short, got up and
in on 17 from a trap and birdied 18 to win by one
shot.

I shared this email with you to illustrate two important points. One is that Old Man Golf picks on everybody, not just you. The other is that you can control your thoughts even when your world seems to be falling apart.

To keep this tip at a reasonable length and help you to train your mind to perform on instinct, reread "The Mental Keys" and start using the four-step routine to eliminate all negative thoughts. Next, go to my tip archive and read my previous mental tip called "Focus on Success".
Then, before every shot you attempt train your mind to focus on your target with total positive expectations of being able to make the shot. The only thing left to do is to step up to the ball, go through your pre-shot routine without any
thoughts except focusing on your target and hit the ball.

With practice you will be pleased at how well you will be able to still your mind and how many more shots you will be able to make. Focusing on your target and not thinking is just as easy as doing 100 push-ups. All it takes is the time and effort
to train your mind once you know how.

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If you have not read "The Mental Keys To Improve Your Golf",
you will benefit greatly from this book by seeing the whole
picture instead of just pieces contained in these mental tips.
Learn how to lower your Score:
Mental Keys
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