The Mental Side Of Golf: Part 3 Get Into the Zone (Video) - by Pete Styles
The Mental Side Of Golf: Part 3 Get Into the Zone (Video) - by Pete Styles

So, let’s talk about tips here. Basically it’s all about concentration and this is something I really struggled with myself as a junior playing college golf and university golf, I really struggle with the fact that I was trying to concentrate for something for four hours and sometimes on a rainy day and a long day on the golf course, even five hours of trying to concentrate on something and I couldn't do it properly. I thought it was just me.

And then I started chatting to my old coach and he mentioned, “How long are you playing golf for.” And I said, well, five hours some days and four hours on most rounds. And he said, just, “Well, you're not playing golf for four hours. You're on the golf course for four hours. You're not playing golf for that length of time.”

And that started to make a bit of a sense to me now because if I was writing a piece of course work or focusing on something at work, I could never concentrate for four hours either. Maybe an hour and I’d need a break or two hours at most and then I would change tasks and do something different and come back to that. So, to try and focus on playing golf for four hours, it's not something that we used to do and the brain just can't cope with it.

So, I started to come up with a little idea of how could I focus on golf when I'm playing golf and then relax and walk around the golf course for the rest of the time. And this is why this came in handy my glove. I started to use my gloves to trigger, to tell my brain that now I'm playing golf and now I'm just walking around the field, relaxing with my friends. So, when I put my glove on, that's my golf time and I probably wear my glove for around about half-an-hour within the four-hour period I've been on the golf course.

So, I put my glove on, I would focus on nothing else but golf. Everything else would leave my brain. I’d just come down to the golf ball, focus on the shot in hand, play the shot in hand. As soon as the ball has landed on the green, I would assess the shot. Did I have the right process to produce the right result? If not, take a practice swing. If I was happy with the results, the glove comes straight off, goes back in the pocket and then I'm relaxing. I'm just walking around the golf course chatting with my friends.

I'm not over thinking my next shot. I'm certainly not over thinking the previous shot. I’m definitely not going back over to that. As soon as the glove comes off, that's me relaxed. I walk up to the shot, assess it again, put the glove back on, forget everything else, stop talking to playing partners, focus on the process, produce the right result and the glove goes back in the pocket.

So your glove is off and on all the time and that's switching your brain off and on because it is impossible to think about golf for four hours. It's impossible to think about anything for four hours. So, focus on golf when your glove is on, take your glove off, put it back in your pocket and relax.

Now, it has a great if you choose to you use the glove idea, great. Maybe you choose to use something else but have a trigger. Maybe it's when the club comes out of the bag, now I'm playing golf. As soon as the club goes back in the bag, I'm just relaxing, walking around the golf course with my friends and hopefully, a little tip like that would help you concentrate on the right things for the right length of time and improve your focus over four hour round of golf.

 2012-06-11

So, let’s talk about tips here. Basically it’s all about concentration and this is something I really struggled with myself as a junior playing college golf and university golf, I really struggle with the fact that I was trying to concentrate for something for four hours and sometimes on a rainy day and a long day on the golf course, even five hours of trying to concentrate on something and I couldn't do it properly. I thought it was just me.

And then I started chatting to my old coach and he mentioned, “How long are you playing golf for.” And I said, well, five hours some days and four hours on most rounds. And he said, just, “Well, you're not playing golf for four hours. You're on the golf course for four hours. You're not playing golf for that length of time.”

And that started to make a bit of a sense to me now because if I was writing a piece of course work or focusing on something at work, I could never concentrate for four hours either. Maybe an hour and I’d need a break or two hours at most and then I would change tasks and do something different and come back to that. So, to try and focus on playing golf for four hours, it's not something that we used to do and the brain just can't cope with it.

So, I started to come up with a little idea of how could I focus on golf when I'm playing golf and then relax and walk around the golf course for the rest of the time. And this is why this came in handy my glove. I started to use my gloves to trigger, to tell my brain that now I'm playing golf and now I'm just walking around the field, relaxing with my friends. So, when I put my glove on, that's my golf time and I probably wear my glove for around about half-an-hour within the four-hour period I've been on the golf course.

So, I put my glove on, I would focus on nothing else but golf. Everything else would leave my brain. I’d just come down to the golf ball, focus on the shot in hand, play the shot in hand. As soon as the ball has landed on the green, I would assess the shot. Did I have the right process to produce the right result? If not, take a practice swing. If I was happy with the results, the glove comes straight off, goes back in the pocket and then I'm relaxing. I'm just walking around the golf course chatting with my friends.

I'm not over thinking my next shot. I'm certainly not over thinking the previous shot. I’m definitely not going back over to that. As soon as the glove comes off, that's me relaxed. I walk up to the shot, assess it again, put the glove back on, forget everything else, stop talking to playing partners, focus on the process, produce the right result and the glove goes back in the pocket.

So your glove is off and on all the time and that's switching your brain off and on because it is impossible to think about golf for four hours. It's impossible to think about anything for four hours. So, focus on golf when your glove is on, take your glove off, put it back in your pocket and relax.

Now, it has a great if you choose to you use the glove idea, great. Maybe you choose to use something else but have a trigger. Maybe it's when the club comes out of the bag, now I'm playing golf. As soon as the club goes back in the bag, I'm just relaxing, walking around the golf course with my friends and hopefully, a little tip like that would help you concentrate on the right things for the right length of time and improve your focus over four hour round of golf.