The 9 Golf Mental Tips that Give You the Psychological Edge On the Course

Golf mental tips are essential for maintaining focus and reducing anxiety on the golf course. In this post, I share 9 mental tips for golf that I’ve used in the 29 years of playing the game.

These tips are built to help you eradicate the memories of past shots, keep calm, happy, and fighting until the 18th green.

After reading these golf mental tips, you’ll learn why it is vital to stay in the present and take one shot at a time.

Plus, you’ll understand how a pre-shot routine helps you reset before each shot and focus only on the task at hand.

Summary of Mental Golf Tips to Keep Calm

• Prepare Your Bag in Advance to avoid rushing and stressing before your round.
• Stay in the Present to avoid external distractions.
• One Shot at a Time is easier to focus on than an entire round.
• Pre Shot Routine removes the memory of the last shot and promotes focus on the next one.
• Plan Your Hole From the Tee for optimal positioning and reduced stress.
• Embrace Noise to avoid letting it impact your shot.
• Never Give Up because a round is played over 18 holes, and anything can happen.
• When in Doubt Hit More Club to remove worry and promote a smooth swing.
• Enter Your Happy Place to calm the nerves when frustrated.

The 9 Best Mental Golf Tips for a Calm & Focused Game

1. Prepare Your Bag in Advance

Preparing my golf bag pre-round is vital to keeping me relaxed and giving me ample time to warm up once I arrive at the golf course.

If your bag is unorganized and you don’t have sufficient balls, tees, markers, and refreshments, you rush to get what you need. Instead, you can stretch, focus on breathing, and mentally prepare for the round ahead.

Nothing causes panic faster than realizing you’re running out of golf balls with multiple holes still to play. Immediately, you stop focusing on your round and start worrying about your ball count. That’s why preparing in advance keeps you focused to avoid unnecessary stress.

Before you travel to the course, inspect your bag and ensure you have sufficient stock of balls, tees, and markers. Moreover, check the weather and pack the relevant apparel to keep cool or warm, dry, and comfortable in all conditions.

Read More: How to Prepare For a Golf Tournament.

2. Stay in the Present

When on the golf course, you only have one job. Get around the golf course in as few shots as possible.

We need maximum focus for 18 holes to optimize our swing mechanics, alignment, and short-game control to deliver the lowest round possible.

You’ve got to stay in the present and forget about external factors like your career or family challenges. When you start thinking about those challenges, your concentration lapses, and your round starts to fall apart.

I suggest switching off your mobile phone to prevent emails or text messages from distracting you during your round. Staying in the present also helps you forget the last shot and focus on the task ahead.

The best approach to staying in the present is to conduct breathing exercises whenever you think about past events or external factors. I tend to breathe in deeply for 5 seconds, hold it for 2, and breathe out for another 5 seconds. I repeat the process until my head is clear and I am present in the current moment.

3. One Shot at a Time

My one-shot-at-a-time approach complements the staying-in-the-present mentality.

Many amateurs start estimating scores and thinking about where they will pick up birdies or avoid bogeys on the first tee. This obliterates your focus on the current shot and leaves you susceptible to a mishit.

Instead, focus only on the shot ahead of you, giving it the attention it deserves.

You know how far you have to hit the ball, and you’ve picked out an intended target. Your sole job at this point is to get the ball from its current position to near your target. There should be nothing else on your mind.

Obviously, your end goal is to shoot a specific score, but you cannot achieve that if you don’t score adequately on each hole. Finally, you can’t card desirable scores on each hole when you hit a few poor shots because you lose concentration.

I focus on one shot at a time by implementing breathing exercises when distracted, using my pre-shot routine every time. I’ll take you through the pre-shot routine in the next section.

4. Pre Shot Routine

A pre-shot routine is integral to each shot because it helps golfers forget about the last strike and envision the one ahead. Operating without a pre-shot routine sees you transition from one play to another without any break, resulting in limited focus and the outcome of your last hit fresh in your mind.

I often see amateurs lose their cool around the green after a duffed chip shot or easily missed putt.

Instead of taking a few seconds to regather their composure, they walk up to the ball and hit it aimlessly, leading to further disaster. Although a duffed chip shot can irk the coolest of heads, try avoid making a bad situation worse.

Every golfer has a different pre-shot routine. I urge you to find one that is easy to replicate on every shot for improved consistency. For example, I approach the ball, place my left hand behind my back and look over my shoulder, parallel to my target.

Next, I check if my clubface is square to the desired target, and back away and stand behind my ball. I do this to picture my ball flying on the intended line and landing next to my target.

Finally, I address the ball again, generate two practice swings, look at the target once more, and swing.

Overall, this process takes me 20 to 30 seconds from start to finish to avoid slowing play down. I find it’s sufficient time to clear my mind and prepare for my next shot.