Golf Mind Focus is about totally focussing on your target

Your eyes may be playing tricks on your golf mind focus.

Your eyes can play tricks on you on any golf course. And therefore play tricks on your mind and what to focus on.

In fact your beliefs about your ability, your fears and the optical illusions deliberately designed into any golf course will distort what you think you see and more importantly what you focus on.

Play to your target not to the ball.

One of the greatest illusions of golf is that most golfers think it is all about hitting the ball. They put all their effort into learning to improve their swing and to hit the ball.

The reality is this.

It’s not about hitting or how hard you hit the ball it’s about where you are hitting the ball to that is the most important thing in golf. Golf mind focus is about the target.

Where do you want the golf ball to go? How will the ball behave when it lands? Will it stop where you want it to go?

Use your golf mind, focus on the target.

Golf mind focus covers what you are doing with your eyes, where are you looking, what you are focussed on, your decision of what to focus on and what you are thinking about.

Be clear about what you want.

What you think about is critical. Have you noticed when you think about what you don’t want, when you focus on it, you get it?

It could be simple as you saying to yourself in your mind “don’t hit it in the water, again!” or “don’t slice this one.”

This is a funny quirk of our golf mind. It doesn’t hear don’t.

It’s like parents yelling to their kids “don’t run”. What do they do? Better to yell what you want, in the positive. “Walk”.So focus on where you want the ball to go.

Be decisive.

A key to your golf mind. Focus, make a decision. He or she who hesitates, loses.

When you hesitate you are being indecisive and more than likely scattering your thinking. Usually onto thoughts that are not what you want.

An interesting thing happens when you are decisive. Your mind and body becomes quiet. This is golf mind focus.

What a great way to play any golf shot.

The most powerful strategy for any golfer.

The way you breathe, can determine whether you are relaxed, have rhythm, flexibility, and movement. As you execute the shot, breathing moves you out of your head into your body to simply execute your decision, here and now where it counts, in the present.

Now you are in the present playing your shot with full commitment to the outcome. Breathing supports your focus. As you move through your shot your body moving to where you want to go.

Golf mind focus is a mind, body and emotions focus.

Listen to yourself.

Notice if your internal chatter. Notice whether it is supportive or not. It’s a signal to either go for it, to stop, or do something else.

Bottom-line, listen to yourself.

If it’s not what you want, it doesn’t feel right, it’s not supporting your outcome, notice it in the moment, stop, have the discipline and patience to back away and start again.

Your mind, body and emotions are giving you clues of what's working, what's not, of what to do and not to do all the time.

Focus on the positive, not the negative.

An example is if the ball is on a line or lie that doesn’t look good, right, doesn’t feel good. Focus, on what you want, not what you don’t want or on your fear? Make a choice.

Just like you can focus on what is not working which is what most people do and punish themselves. Usually a golfer who does this throws the round away.

Instead, reward yourself for your wins. Build from the strong foundation of the 90-95% of things you do right.

What we believe is what you’ll focus on, and you will justify it, you’ll find evidence to support it. Therefore it will be true, your reality today. I stress YOUR reality. If it’s not what you want, then shift your focus to what you want. Believe that which supports what you want.

Use a positive golf mind focus.

The Golf Designers are playing with your mind too.

Now’s add another piece to the equation of focus, or what you see on a golf course. Or more importantly, what you think you see and how it affects your thinking, emotions and decisions.

Remember a golf course is designed to create optical illusions. Designers put your focus on the hazards, on the boundaries. Check it out. Walk the course you are playing backwards, walk ahead a bit, look over the rise. Realise there is always more room to play with than your first impression.

Focus on what you want. Go for it!

As you execute a shot keep your eyes on the ball. Notice the target in your peripheral vision. As you hit through the ball to your target also see the ball to the target. Use your breathing to literally exhale through the ball to your target.

Set yourself up for success with all of you moving in one direction, to one decision, to your desired target. Use your golf mind focus.