All good golfers will tell you that golf is a mental game. Since the body reacts to what the mind tells it to do, it stands to reason that what we put in our mind will show in the actions of the body. Now with that scientific stuff out of the way, let’s see how it effects our golf score.improve golf swing
When we arrive at the golf course, our mind is made up to shoot par golf. Maybe even get a birdie or two. On the first tee we let it all hang out and hit it into the rough or worse into the woods. Our dream of a par on every hole is fading fast. The pressure is on right from the start.
Now, suppose you make up your mind on the first tee that you are going to try for a bogie on every hole. You don’t need to hit such a long drive to do that. All you need do is take a smooth stroke and keep the ball in the fairway. After all the only difference between a 200 yard drive and a 250 yard drive is that you will be using a longer club on your second shot.
When you come up to a par 5 hole, what do you do? You look at the distance and immediately it clicks in that you need a long drive and a long second shot. But, if you look at the hole as a par 6 you relax, because you can hit 3 average shots and 3 putts on the golf green. You’ve got your bogie.
This works even better with par 3 holes, because with a par 3 you feel that your first shot has to be on the green. That’s what gets you in trouble. If you look at a little par 3 as a par 4, doesn’t it seem a lot easier?
If you are playing a course that is a par 72 and you bogie every hole, that’s 18 over par or a 90. Most average golfers will call a score of 90 a pretty good round. It’s the double bogie and the triple bogie and more that will cause your golf score to soar. This is what you can avoid by going for a bogie on every hole.
Of course the good news is that by cutting down and improve golf swing and staying out of roughs, woods and sand traps, you will run into a par now and then. If you were to bogie 9 holes, double bogie 3 holes and par the rest, you card an 87. Your next task is to trim those double bogies down to a bogie and you shoot an 83. Now we are talking some decent golfing.
Just this simple adjustment in your thinking will cut down on frustration and allow you to do what you went to the golf course to do in the first place. Enjoy yourself. You can take off five strokes or more and improve your golf score by just remembering that golf is a mental game.
If you want to see strokes disappear like magic, stop the frustration and start enjoying golf again, learn to play golf for what it is – a mental game.
