The Golf Student

When starting to play golf there are some pieces of advice that just jump out and really “click”. They make sense, are good for your playing style and when put into practice really help your game. Today’s post is on perspective and how limiting your view can help to reduce the tendency of getting overwhelmed. I find that as a new golfer I was constantly going over all of the steps and lessons in my head before swinging. Telling myself to remember not to do this, but remember to do this, to stay balanced, follow through, don’t grip too tight it went on and on. I found myself getting frustrated and adding stress to my swing. I decided not long ago to go back to the basics, wipe the “rules” out of my head and go over the pieces of advice that I really thought were great.

I have two tips for you today, both are related as they are about focusing and limiting the task at hand to

Tee Shot Perspective

smaller “chunks” for ease in execution. The first is from the tee as you are about to hit your first shot. Have you ever watched that before some players hit the ball they go and stand behind the ball? I have been told that there are a couple of reasons for this, they are visualizing the ball flight in their head and they are focusing on the path of the ball from the tee. The two are not the same, the ball flight is about how the ball is expected to travel in flight and the path of the golf ball is about where the ball needs to start from in order to make the ball flight perform as you visualized it. As you stand at the tee one of the worst things you can do in your swing is to move your head. A golf pro told me that you should not focus on the flag when you are aligning your shot, you should identify something (piece of grass, broken tee, etc) in front of the ball about 12”-20” in line with the ball and the flag. By doing this you do not spend much time moving your head back and forth from the ball and the flag and focus on hitting the ball over the target making the shot a bit more in perspective.

The second is something that has helped me tremendously in the recent past. It is well understood that you

Ball Perspective

should be keeping your eye on the ball but I find that it is almost too easy while getting ready to hit your shot.

I find that I was getting “lazy” and instead of focusing, was simply looking in the direction of the ball. What I found that helps is to actually focus on a small part of the ball like a letter of the manufacturer, or a symbol, or even a dark spot in the direction of the target. Again, it’s about perspective and maintaining your focus and I find that by focusing on the small mark it really helped me hit the ball more square and with the the proper motion.

Feel free to let me know of any other methods that you have come up with or have learned that has maybe helped you maintain your focus.