Sport Psychology in Golf

Let's investigate this further

Sport Psychology has been around for many years but in the last few years it is creeping more and more into golf. I heard on the golf channel that it is becoming vast on both the LPGA and PGA Tour.

...Clear Mirror, ...Quiet Water

As psychology in golf is one of the main themes of this website then I imagine that this page has got its work cut out. I am very interested in the pschology of teaching and the more I delve into this subject the clearer my own mirror becomes.

The Samurai Warrior entered a state that he called, "Clear mirror, quiet water". This was a meditative state that he would enter into during training and would also enter in the heat of battle.

His concentration and awareness would be maximised enabling him to perform at his best at this crucial time.

The equivalent state can be very beneficial for sport although it isn't quite the same life or death situation, although sometimes it feels like that.

Sport Psychology in golf involves learning important skills such as:
goal setting, relaxation, visualization, self-talk, awareness, concentration, using rituals (pre-shot routine), and periodization (staying in the present).

I have covered some of these on other pages but I am going to disect them even further in this section. This is another of my passions, so fasten your seat belts, here goes.

It is however very important to have realistic goals in golf and I personally break them down to each individual golf hole, if not golf shot. Click here to read more on this.

Visualisation

We're good at drawing pictures in our minds and the more we practice the better we will get at it. Read more on this.

Self talk

Give 'self 1' something to do during the swing in order to achieve a level of no self talk. More on Sport Psychology.

Awareness and concentration

We must learn from the angler who remains in a high state of awareness for hours on end without apparent interference.

He heightens his concentration by switching off and thus has relaxed fun. This is evident when a baby is playing with a big pile of plastic blocks. More on this.

Rituals: The preshot-routine, waggling and stuff.

Present time: Staying in the present is in itself not so difficult or is it?

This is where psychology of golf borrows from and gives to life itself. More on this.

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