GOLF IS NOT A MENTAL GAME!, What constitutes the mental from the physical aspects of the game of g Options

[croker]

To All on The Path to Better Golf,

This heading offers us all a chance to examine the true key aspects of the game of golf and what each one of us needs to confront if we are to approach mastering this game of a lifetime.

Please do some soul searching and give it a shot at what you believe to be true for you in this area of your golfing journey.

I look forward to explore your viewpoints and give you some of mine as we develop our own best swings and games.

I am sure Dr. Carey Mumford will offer us ways to effectively handle our mental baggage.

Kind regards,

Peter

[Ben Beard]

I know now that I have used "poor mental game" as a deluded excuse for a game of golf that went wrong. I have come to understand that realistically my technique was not good enough and couldn't be trusted to hit the shots under pressure.

One moment I remember watching on tv that snapped me back to reality was watching an interview with Ross Fisher's Golf coach - Kristian Baker, the head of instruction at Wentworth. To quote him loosely he described Ross's recent improvement due to their work on his technique and bringing him from about 55% to 65%. Superbly low for the 3 time European tour winner! I think the amateur golfer rated between 0 and 40% in his estimations.

There are things we can try to do better in our mental game to promote better scoring no doubt but I normally look for a technical improvement nowadays!

[croker]

Dear Ben,

Thank you very much for your astute contribution here.

It is amazing that I posted this Topic March 29th 2007 and now 4 years later I have a valued observation such as this.

I challenge all golfers to have an overhaul of their golf technique basics and once done under supervision of a quality Golf Coach, then assess how much improvement to your mental outlook has occured.

I look forward to many replies to this challenge.

Kind regards,

Peter

[geobee]

Hi Peter,
After a very enjoyable weekend on the May 8&9 at the Dunes, I have been considering aspects of the golf game. As you know I downloaded the step by step program about 3 or so years ago and then spent countless hours trying to learn the CGS techniques. Having a weekend of hands-on tuition has answered many questions, but also allowed me to continue to answer many more.
I am one to those golfers who believes that you cannot play great golf unless you have the absolute truth about how the golf swing works. This requires the opposite to avoidance, namely confrontation.
It has been my experience that after an average round, I can convince myself that the real problem was tension and that provided I was able to reduce this in the next round, all would be redeemed. Well, not surprisingly this approach does not lead to measurable improvement, but allows me to rationalise the bad shots and avoid the need to learn and unlearn my technique. The notion of tension has been introduced in my thinking by all those fellow golfers who are also experts in avoidance and like me have likely read some texts about the hidden secret to golf, a relaxed mind.
I have now adopted the alternative approach which is one associated with rigor and attentiveness to the basic principles. I find myself going back over the online program and working through the steps again and usually discover that some very basic aspect of the swing is lacking. I cannot tell you how many times that problem has been in my setup. It dawned on me last weekend when you pointed out my tendency for positioning the clubhead on heel side of centre, usually because I was not rigorous about the setup distance to the ball. All sorts of adjustments and anti-shank mechanism come into play on the downswing to avoid the terror of the shank. Off-course in meantime its impossible to hit the ball with a natural extension in the swing.
Eventually I will learn that I cannot skip the basic principles in the haste of just hitting the ball. That is I will be able to confront the real work required to play better golf.
Ill let you know how it goes.
Cheers
George