Plan, Commit, Evaluate

• Posted on Grant
• in Golf Fundamentals, The Mental Game
• on October 5, 2013
• Comments Off on Plan, Commit, Evaluate

Last post, I discussed the importance of hitting your golf shots with a complete mental routine. Now for the good stuff! Here is how I do it:

1. Plan. When I am getting ready to hit a shot, I stand behind the ball looking at the target while I develop a plan. To plan effectively I determine: What the lie of the ball will allow me to do, where I want the ball to end up, the trajectory of the shot that I want, the shot shape of the ball flight, what club I want to hit, etc.

After I have gathered all of these factors I take a practice swing. In my mind, the last thing I do before I approach the ball is to cement the feel of the whole swing in my conscious mind – not any individual piece of the swing but the whole swing. I already want to feel like I’ve already hit the ball in my mind before I address the ball.

2. Commit. Once I have my plan in place, I commit to it and I hit the shot keeping in touch with the feeling that I cemented in my mind during the planning stage.

3. Evaluate. The second the ball leaves, I ask myself two questions: Did I have the right plan? Did stay committed to my plan through the whole swing?

I like to think of my body as a finely tuned golfing machine that plays best when I just do my simple routine and nothing more. I just need to turn the machine on and then let it run. Every time I start my mental routine, I turn on the machine and get out of the way.

GB