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I’ve been very fortunate to spend some quality time around both golf pros and sports psychologists who know a hell of a lot more than me.

This course details many of the strategies and techniques I learned from these guys. As well as some of my own findings I’ve gathered along the way.

Don’t take these techniques lightly! I can promise you, they are the kind of things the very best players practice and perfect..Let’s get to it

Points To Remember

If you’ve read Harvey Penicks “Little Red Book” you’ll know what I mean.

Just aiming for ‘The Green’ or ‘The Fairway’ generally doesn’t work.

Be more specific with your target acquisition. The smaller you can make a target, the more your brain has to zone in to execute the shot.

This then helps your mental skills, as you’ll be thinking about the results you want. Remember those few inches between our ears doesn’t recognize the word don’t.

Here’s proof – don’t think of a pink elephant!

Exactly – So on the course when you say things to yourself like

“Don’t hit it in the water”

that’s where you are putting your attention. This therefore, is where you’ll find your ball most of the time.

Focus on a specific part of the fairway or an area on the green to aim at. Take Dead Aim.

When you swing the club away from the target (back-swing) your tailbone should move toward the target.

If you want your shot to curve left (into the middle of the fairway), aim the club face right – and swing the club even more right.

If you want your shot to curve right (into the middle of the fairway), aim the club face left – and swing the club even more left.

The best way to remember this is to understand that the ‘Club Face’ is responsible for the initial starting direction of the shot.

And the ‘path’ is responsible for the curve of the shot.

There stands a chance you’re moving your eyes way too fast during the routine and process of hitting the ball.

By this I mean rapid eye movement from the target back to the ball over and over again.

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Tiger conducts himself in a quiet way around the ball

Watch Tiger Woods when he’s walking in and addressing the ball, It’s almost like his eyes are moving in slow motion.

Try and visualize a line from the ball to your target. Then make sure the club-face is aiming on this start line if you want to hit a straight shot.

Or right if you want to hit a draw.

Choose a tuft of grass, or a mark on the ground as an intermediate target 12 inches in front of the ball to aim the club-face at.

It’s generally too difficult to aim your club-face up with a target that’s hundreds of yards away.

If you load your weight predominantly into the back leg and foot during the back-swing, it may cause your body to ‘sway’ and move your body centers.

In my experience, this is one of the major factors of inconsistent ball striking – across the board. The downswing happens too fast to make up that ground with your body, and it leads to shots that bottom out before the club gets back to the ball.

Start with the weight on the front foot (55% to start), and allow the weight to gradually increase throughout the whole swing. At impact your weight should be 90% on your front foot.

You still want to feel pressure into the back leg and foot during the swing, but the feeling should never allow the ankle, knee or hip to sway to the right (my apologies for always using a right handed swing as an example).

As well as rooting your feet to the ground in the setup. Make sure you push downwards even more during the back swing. This will allow your body to pivot and you’ll be able to generate some speed with your arms and club.

Triggers

It’s always fascinated me how hitting the ball is such a small part of playing a round of golf.

90 percent of anyone’s round of golf is spent not hitting the ball at all.

I like to explain playing golf on the course as either being in one of two states.

‘Up Time’ is the time you spend around the ball. This is when you’re switched on, alert, making decisions about the shot, committing, and ultimately walking into the shot and executing. There’s a process.

‘Down Time’ is the time we spend in between shots, waiting for others to play, getting to your ball, etc. This is the majority of time we spend on the course. This is why we tend to have particular people we prefer to play the game with.

So how do we know when we are in concentrating mode (up time) and relaxing time (down time)?

The best way is to adopt some form of trigger to tell and remind yourself which mode you are in.

One of the best triggers I’ve found is simply putting your glove on and taking it off (although this is not set in stone, it can be something more personal to you and the way you play the game).

As soon as you put your glove on this can be your trigger to go into concentration mode (up time). My advice would be within a ten-yard radius of your ball.

During this ‘Up time’ you go into a thinking zone. Here you make all the decisions about the shot in question, i.e. club, shape, target, distance, wind, trouble, etc. You will also have your practice swing or swings and start visualizing the shot. This should all be done approximately 4-5 yards behind the ball, down the line.

You then start walking towards the ball. At this point you are in the playing zone.

Here you should not be thinking too much about technique but more about rhythm or a simple feeling.

Now is not a good time to use your left-brain, analytical side. You’ve made all of your decisions, trust them and take a nice feeling into the shot and hit the ball toward the chosen target.

Sometimes I coach people who tend to get stuck over the ball, and can’t pull the trigger. Many times, it’s because they are custom to using their left brain more than the right.

The theory goes that, each side of the brain controls different types of thinking. Also, people are said to prefer one type of thinking to another.

Someone who is ‘left brained’ is said to be more analytical, objective and logical.

A person who is ‘right brained’ is said to be more intuitive, creative and imaginative.

If you tend to be stuck in the left-brain more than the right, you may find it difficult to pull the trigger as you walk into the playing zone. A good idea would be to start practicing on the range using your right brain more.

Start visualizing the shot, creating the shot in your mind’s eye. Then walk into the shot, and execute.

Stop spending so much time over the ball! Make all your decisions before walking into the ball, commit to a target and accept the outcome. Off comes the glove, rinse, repeat, rinse, repeat.

In one of his interviews after his final round, Rory spoke about having two trigger words all week. “Process” and “Spot“.

Now if you’ve ever spent any time with a sports psychologist, you’ll know a lot of what they teach you involves something called NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programming).

NLP in a nutshell, is having the ability to elicit a certain state. Either to yourself or someone else.

Process and Spot were simply TRIGGER words that reminded Rory to stay in the present and remind him of his task in hand. Talk about playing the game without many technical thoughts. Brilliant!

I’m sure his Process consisted of “seeing” the shot, “feeling” the shot and then walking up and “doing” the shot.

“See it, Feel it, Do it”

And Spot simply reminds him to roll his putt over a spot in front of his ball when putting. This a trademark technique taught by his putting coach Dave Stockton. Who strongly promotes a style of putting where conscious thought is kept to a minimum. Promoting a subconscious style of touch and feel to be a good putter.

Pretty interesting stuff, if you want to be a better player. And proving once again, that you’re never going to be able to let go or swing freely on the course until you understand and practice the process.

State

Have you ever wondered how some actors, performers or athletes suddenly come alive when it’s their time to perform?

“When Elvis Presley arrived at a new concert venue, he’d have his dressing room trailer placed exactly 1000 yards away from the stage at the arena. This way no matter what state of mind he was in when he left his dressing room, he would use the 1000-yard walk to guide himself into a state of confidence and charisma that was so tangible people would sense his presence and begin cheering even before he entered the building.”(Paul Mckenna)

Elvis’ famous 1000-yard walk is one example of how many great performers, athletes and actors transform their state to perform at their best.

I particularly like following and understanding the lives of famous actors such as the talented Christian Bale and Daniel Day Lewis.

Daniel Day Lewis, who’s a method actor, played the role of Abraham Lincoln on and off camera. This makes me chuckle a little. What if there was a crisis in his real life? What if his wife jumped up in the middle of the night, hearing noises downstairs – i.e. burglars!

Would she really want DDL to go downstairs in character as Lincoln and talk calmly to the guys stealing their stuff? Or would she want her hubbie to grab his gun and kick some ass!?

I love the idea of immersing yourself in the task, but I prefer the idea of being able to move in and out of these states, as it pertains to performing on the golf course.

If I told you to act like Tiger Woods on and off the golf course, you would soon find yourself a new golf coach. All of your golfing buddies would be falling over themselves laughing at you!

If you’re a 25 h’cap, there’s nothing wrong with mentally transforming yourself to a 18 handicap before you play every round of golf. It’s still you, but just a slightly better you! Plan how you’re going to make bogey every hole, and go and execute..

Also, track where you usually lose your shots. Do you play a reasonably consistent fade off the tee but are useless from 80 yards in? If so, start practicing your short game.

This is an area I work on more with my experienced players for some reason. The truth is it’s great information for all levels. It’s based on the idea of occupying your mind with what you want. Elvis occupied his mind during that 1000 yards with how he was going to perform. Daniel Day Lewis transformed his mind to that of Lincoln on and off screen. They both seem to perform pretty well to me!

If we relate this to golf, changing your state becomes a more obvious thing to do if you are genuinely looking for results (I wish someone had told me how important it was growing up as a teenager!). But try and understand your individual DNA first. Understand your makeup before you decide whose shoes you are going to step into.

Observing some of the best players in the world there are vast differences between the way they manage their game. If you compare Hunter Mahan’s swing to Jim Furyk’s there are some major differences. But both are excellent at the task at hand, which is getting the ball from one place to the next.

Ernie Els plays the game in a composed manner, where as Tiger Woods plays in an emotional manner. Sergio Garcia’s routine around the ball is calm, slow and deliberate, where as Keegan Bradley looks like he’s getting ready to jump in the ring with Mike Tyson.

You must understand your personal makeup to improve your game. What’s the best way to prepare the night before a big game? What’s the best environment to practice the week before? Best way to warm up before an important round? The best simple swing thoughts that work for you? Your physical and mental routine before you hit the ball? The list can go on forever.

I find it useful to make notes. The emergence of such great technology makes it easy to keep track of the things that are working for you. On my iPad I have hundreds of little notes, which range from my breathing habits around the ball, to swing notes, to drills and exercises I think of during the day to pass onto clients.

The best part of making a journal is being able to self teach. This understanding of what works for you and what doesn’t is important for your understanding and progression in the game.

Don’t try and be somebody you’re not on the course. If you walk fast, talk fast, write fast and drive fast, start following Keegan Bradley or Brandt Snedeker on the PGA Tour and learn a few things from the way they play the game.

If you have a calm outlook on life, rarely raise your voice, walk at a pace that suits you, you would be well served by watching how Sergio Garcia conducts himself around the ball or how Fred Couples walks around the course.

Understanding your DNA and then forming a clear image of how to conduct yourself on the course will help you become a better, confident player.

Imagery

When I talk to people about imagery, they normally think of some visual representation in their minds eye. They think of movies, images and pictures but there’s a little more involved than that.

Developing your Imagery skills is a prerequisite for playing good golf. It requires a form of imagination immediately before the swing and shot take place.

There are 5 different types of imagery, and my advice would be to try and experience as many as you can before choosing a type that is most closely associated with your best swing or stroke.

Each type corresponds to our senses, Sight, hear, feel, smell and taste, and the key to developing good imagery skills is to try and use as many as we can.

We can definitely imagine the taste of champagne during a celebration, or the great smell of newly cut grass when we get to the course early in the morning. But the types of imagery that are going to help us in striking the ball better are visual, auditory and kinesthetic.

Image from Stack and Tilt DVD 'Understanding The Numbers'

Image from Stack and Tilt DVD ‘Understanding The Numbers’

To develop your visual imagery, start practicing – Imagining the ball’s perfect flight toward the target.

It doesn’t matter if the image isn’t perfectly clear in your mind. Remember this is your mind not reality. The images you conjure up wont be as crisp and clear as reality and for good reason. If they were, how would we be able to tell the difference!

The idea is to walk into the shot as soon as you see just the faintest visual image. The more you train your brain to go through these exercises the easier it will happen for you in the future.

I’ve heard sports psychologists describe this process as ‘charging the battery’.

Meaning, if you want these mental skills to be readily available every time you play golf, you have to integrate them into your practice time. Your smartphone will not operate if it’s not charged fully and neither will your golf brain.

I need some new props for my next class

To develop your auditory imagery,start practicing – Imagining the sound of a great struck shot.

Or, Imagine listening to the ball drop in the hole.

Or, Imagine swinging the club as if it were a star wars ‘light saber’ listening to the sound it makes!

Trust me, this is a great one for rhythm and tempo!

Kinesthetic imagery can be categorized by sensing feelings, movement and touch.

To develop your kinesthetic imagery –

Improve your feelings by imagining what it feels like in your body to be relaxed and calm. Perhaps concentrating on your forearms, hands and wrists being relaxed.

Improve your movement by imagining what your swing feels like with a glove under your right arm pit (If that’s what you’re working on in your swing).

Improve your touch by imagining the back of your left hand tapping the ball into the hole.

Or imagine using a training aid such as the Putting wand.

Try first by choosing a particular type of imagery, and gradually adding others later.

By this I mean experiment on the range and on the green with some imagery practice just before you hit a shot. Choose a type of imagery that you pick up easily and make sure you start to incorporate that into your routine.

For example, you may find that you can easily see the line of the putt in your minds eye.

After engraining this into your routine through repetition, start to then add the sound of the ball dropping into the hole. Then, later add imagining the back of your left hand tapping the ball into the hole.

Obviously, the same goes for hitting a full shot. If the first thing you become competent in is visualizing the shot. Gradually practice including the sound of a good strike, and your personal swing feeling involved in making a good swing.

When you see a Pro on TV going through his or her routine they are engaging as many of these senses as possible. This helps them stay in the moment or the ‘present’.

Try conducting a brief series of trials to establish a dominant imagery technique, and evaluate how it helped to control rhythm and tempo and the overall quality of the golf swing that follows.

This way you can identify which type of imagery felt most comfortable and that was associated with the best quality golf shots.

Go with this style first, then make it a habit in your routine through repetition (charge that battery). Then go through the same process for other types of imagery.

Concentration

When I talk about concentration to people, I’m usually talking about the thoughts that occupy the mind when around the ball, during the pre-shot routine and the swing itself.

This is our ‘Up-Time’ out on the course.

‘Down-Time’ is the 90% of the time between the shots you play.

Obviously thinking positively during this up-time is important. And although, this can mean different things to different people, it should improve performance across the board.

Positive thinking in golf to me basically means – any thoughts that can increase the probability of a good swing.

Negative thinking generally has the opposite effect. It’s usually the cause of poor rhythm, co-ordination and commitment in the swing.

Building an effective pre-shot routine (Inc. thought content) in golf, takes some experimentation, before the right blend of thoughts can be established.

Thoughts that focus on rhythm and timing I’d consider good thoughts.

Negative thoughts would include fear of hazards, worrying about consequences of poor shots or focusing on technical elements in the swing.

Try experimenting on the range with a variety of thoughts in your pre-shot routine to help control rhythm. Make sure you identify which thoughts, feelings and results worked effectively together. This will then help you build your own effective and individual pre-shot routine.

The next stage is to transfer these skills into the competitive arena. Skills that are well learned in practice transfer to a higher level of competition easier.

Don’t forget higher levels of competition increase our stress and anxiety levels, which encourages us to adopt our customary thinking habits. This makes it even more difficult to apply a new style of thinking unless it has been practiced to a refined level.

The more you practice your mental skills on the range, the more you will see them show up in a competitive arena.

Try using drills, practice matches and low-level competitions to gradually allow your skills to show up on the course.

Theoretically at least, a golfer who has well-developed mental skills, should be able to thrive in pressure situations. This pressure will encourage the correct type of thinking to emerge naturally and to best effect.

This is variable style practice 101. Not only working on different shots, clubs and situations but also training your brain at the same time.

Emotions

Having the ability to control your emotions effectively on the course is an important mental skill for golf performance.

Emotional control is a skill that, like many other facets of the game, can be learned in the practice arena.

Firstly, understanding your DNA is important. People will always perform differently under various emotional settings.

My advice would be to identify the emotional condition you were in during your best performances, and try and recreate these conditions moving forward. Trying to elicit this optimal state should be your goal every time you play!

However, most people don’t try and elicit their optimum state, and instead wish to work on the detrimental emotions, such as anger and frustration.

Try simulating some strategies during practice to help cope with the feelings and frustration and anger. Deliberately hit some poor shots and practice a strategy to help combat the feeling.

Some examples would be..

Happy Gilmore – “Going to a happy place”

Tiger Woods – “Using an imaginary 10 yard line”

James Parker – “Using my glove as a trigger”

These are just a few that spring to mind! But basically happy Gilmore started directing his attention to the “happy place” in his mind.

Tiger Woods uses his imaginary 10-yard line in front of the ball to let go of his anger and frustrations. Once he steps over this imaginary line he lets his negative feeling go.

And I, use my glove to remind me of when to concentrate and not. If I want to let go of a feeling I take my glove off quicker than normal. However, if I’ve struck a particularly good shot, I may leave it on a little longer than normal. Trying my best to remember how good it all felt!

Also, by learning some mental skills, the frequency of extremely poor shots should disappear, avoiding these negative emotions even more.

The best way to learn these skills is on the range. Simulate some poor shots and then practice your thoughts and actions. This then starts to lessen the emotional impact when it happens again in the future.

Once you’ve learned and experienced these new behaviors on the range. It would be a good idea to set goals during play on the course. Start out by allowing perhaps, 3 inappropriate emotional outbursts on the course. Obviously the goal is 0 outbursts. Once you get to this level. Start testing yourself in tournaments and competitions.

Relaxation

Most golfers claim to perform at their highest level when they’re relaxed. Relaxation can take the form of mental or physical exercises, and both techniques can influence your state of anxiety and arousal levels, if performed correctly.

It would be very easy to teach these exercises in a dark room with no distractions but it wouldn’t really transfer effectively to a golf specific setting. I’ve never witnessed a tour player meditating next to the tee with their eyes closed because they felt a little stressed out that day!

The most effective mental and physical relaxation exercises should be applied in a golf specific way and are learned in the golfing environment.

It would be a lot more logical to take some time out to relax mentally between shots, or perhaps a break in play. This is your down-time so make sure you take time out to ‘smell the flowers along the way’ as Walter Hagen used to say.

When around the ball, use a physical relaxation exercise that is encompassed into your practice swing or pre-shot routine. For example, simply applying less pressure in the hands during the practice swing and shot. remember all those hours of practice are more likely to show up on the course with soft hands on the club. Also, taking a long deep breath before walking into the shot is incredibly beneficial.

Controlling your physiology is a huge part of staying appropriately relaxed. It’s very difficult to stay relaxed if you squeeze the club to tight.

Also, controlling your posture is effective in staying relaxed. If you have rapid eye movement, or assume a negative posture with your shoulders hunched over, and head and eyes looking downward. Its difficult to stay relaxed, as this type of behavior can be responsible for anxiety.

Staying ‘quiet’ both mentally and physically is important in staying relaxed and having access to those skills you have been honing on the range.

Both mental and physical relaxation can be learned effectively when practiced on the range in the art of hitting shots. Start to create pressure situations for yourself. It’s beneficial to practice trying to stay relaxed in a state of moderate stress. This way self-teaching can be experienced and observed first hand.

Start incorporating into your routine a quiet body and mind attitude. Slow everything down by firstly controlling your breathing. We want long slow breaths, which come from the stomach. Not short sharp breaths from the upper chest and shoulders.

Next start paying attention to your physiology. Try and keep your eyes looking upwards and forward, and always try and stand and walk with an upright posture, which naturally exerts a positive do mina.

Please let me know how you get on. I love to hear great stories of you controlling your mind out on the course, rather than it controlling you!