You may think the title of this article is a bit crazy but let me explain why I believe you can play better golf without thinking too much.
Golf is an unusual game because of the pace the game is played at. It takes hours to complete a round and this may just give us too much time to think. Most of the time is spent walking between shots, watching others play and setting up for your own shot... The ball is in contact with the club anywhere between 68 (for the really good players) and over 100 (for the majority of golfers).
Each strike or contact is for the briefest period - say 1/100th of a second. Ok so maybe I have that wrong but you know what I mean.
The point is the ball is only being "played" for about 1 or 2 seconds over four and a half hours.
Take a look at some other sports that are played over a much shorter time and at a much higher speed. Football, ice hockey, hockey, baseball, basketball, polo, tennis etc. are all played at high speed where the participants have to act instinctively or it is too late.
There just isn't time to sit and ponder what to do next - you have to react to the situation with whatever means you have at hand.
In golf there is too much time to think and too many options:
- Which club to use (with 14 to choose from)
- Which shot to play (a fade or a draw, a bump and run or should I fly it to the stick?)
- What is the best angle of approach?
- Where is my partner?
- Where is my opponent?
- Do I have the ability to play this shot?
And then there are the other thoughts racing through your mind:
- Thoughts relating to your score for the day
- How this particular score will affect your handicap
- Will you lose the bet?
- Are you up or down in the match?
- Can you hang in there or claw your way back?
I have just finished reading a couple of books relating to the mental aspect of golf and they make for fascinating reading. They also make a lot of sense.
It has been said many times that golf is 90% mental or that the game of golf is played over 5 inches - the 5 inches between your ears.
How true this is.
Tiger Woods has often said that he is the strongest golfer - mentally - and we all know how his late father worked on this part of his game.
When you first learn to drive a motor vehicle there are so many things to think about but after a while you drive (hopefully well) without even thinking about it. You do it so often that eventually it becomes second nature and your subconscious mind takes over.
If you can train yourself to do the same on the golf course you will find you play much better.
There are several ways to do this:
- Play more often
- Practice regularly or
- Train your mind.
The nicest way would be to play and practice more often but do you have the time?
By far the easiest is to train your mind because you can do this anywhere and at any time. All the top players, including Tiger, have a mental coach - even though they play and practice all day long
If you want to make golf easier for yourself I will say it again: "Don't think." Or at least train yourself to play on auto pilot.