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Your Short Game Guide to the Golf Mental GameThe golf mental game is often overlooked, even though it has been said that the one thing that separates Tiger Woods from all other professional golfers is that he has the mental edge over everyone else. We all know that Tiger is in excellent shape and that he is a ball striking machine. Neither of these two attributes explain how Tiger has won EVERY major championship in which he has had a share of the 54-hole lead. Why does the field seem to crumble when Tiger is on the first page of the leader board? How was it possible for Tiger to win the 2008 U.S. Open while playing with a knee injury and a stress fracture (all for 91 holes, no less)? His mental game prowess is simply unmatched in all of professional sport. The Mental Aspects of the Short Game in GolfI am sure that you have heard the saying that “golf is 100% mental.” This saying is particularly true in the short game. Since the short game makes or breaks our score, there is added pressure on most short game shots. How many times have you stood over a delicate chip and thought “don’t chunk it” just as you took the club away? Or how about “all I need to do is sink this 5 footer and I’ll break 90 for the first time”? When we have these conscious thoughts, the result is predictable; the resulting shot is disastrous!I have spent several years studying Neuro-linguistic Programming (NLP), which focuses on thoughts ultimately control our behavior and actions. Both my wife and I are Master Practitioners of NLP, and my wife is also a clinical hypnotherapist. We therefore spend a good portion of our lives exploring the human psyche and, in my case, how it relates to performance in sport. When researching the Internet for the applications of NLP in golf, I was lucky enough to stumble upon Wade Pearse, a true mental game guru, and his golf mental game program. I have had the opportunity to meet Wade in person to discuss the mental game of golf, and was thoroughly impressed by his insights. He has graciously contributed a few short articles for my readers: Return from Golf Mental Game to Home
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The mental game factors into professional golf in a big way. Many tour pros have mental game coaches or sports psychologists in their circle of influence and credit these people with helping them to reach their goals. Interestingly enough, very few amateurs spend any time focusing on the mental side of the game of golf. This puzzles me to a certain degree. We all rush out to buy the latest equipment that our favorite pros endorse and spend endless hours beating balls at the range. A good percentage of regular golfers will also take lessons from a teaching professional. When was the last time you or any of your golfing buddies spent any money or serious time on the mental game in golf?
