We all know that mental toughness is part of what makes a good golfer. When you look at any great athlete at an elite level, their mental toughness is awesome. Nobody personifies this better than Tiger Woods. All you need to do is look at how well he performs under pressure and how he is still able to finish in the top ten when he has a bad week. I could write a novel on mental toughness and many sports psychologists have. I want to focus on one small but crucial part, how to react after hitting a shot. Some sports psychologists call this a post shot routine.
We cannot escape the fact that we all hit bad shots. Ben Hogan, one of the best ball-strikers of all time, stated that he could count on one hand the number of shots he hit exactly the way he wanted during a round of golf. The rest of the shots were misses. Since most of us can’t hit it as well as Ben, we need to understand how to react when we hit a bad one. I am going to give you a formula for playing your best golf but before I do, you need to promise yourself that you will do it before you read on. Did you promise?!!!
Here is the formula:
1) Fall in love with the shot at hand (this will keep you in the present)
2) Emotionalize (celebrate) the shot if it is good
3) If the shot is bad, simply observe it and DO NOT SHOW ANY EMOTION
4) Replay the shot in your mind the way you wanted it to be and emotionalize that shot
The formula is simple but not easy to do. Most of us are accustomed to getting upset if we hit a bad shot. In other words, we are emotionalizing the bad shots. Emotions help us store memories in our brain so why would you ever want to store bad shots. If you only emotionalize good shots, you will be storing those shots in your brain which will fill you with confidence. Have you ever reached the tee of a hole that is your nemesis and you have no confidence? The reason is that you have stored those memories when you emotionalized a bad shot there in the past. Have you ever reached a tee where you remember hitting a great shot? You stored that the same way, through emotion.
So start celebrating your good shots. Pump your fist like Tiger or rattle your saber like Chi Chi Rodriguez! Find your own way to celebrate. Remember, you can’t always control the result of your shot but you can control your emotional reaction. If you follow this formula, you will play the best golf of your life.
