One of the biggest bits of feedback that I see golfers give me when they’re hitting shots in the driving range, particularly when they’ve hit a bad shot, is they say to themselves, “I knew I was going to do that, I knew I was going to hit a bad shot.” How do you know you are going to hit a bad shot?
It’s all about a pre-shot routine and that mental commitment you have to the shot and if you are not feeling comfortable over the golf ball here, it’s probably not a good time to go ahead and hit the shot because I knew I was going to hit a bad shot. So here is a couple of tips you can work on that would help you get over those mental issues, and get a bit more committed before you hit the shot.
The first thing is make sure you do your thinking in your pre shot routine. So your club selection, where’s the wind coming from, where’s the dangerous places, where am I aiming? Do all of that but don’t do it stood over the golf ball here, do it before hand. When you walk up to the golf ball, you should have a clear map in your head of everything this golf ball is going to do, the club you’re using, way you’re aiming, where the danger is.
Then if you set up to the golf ball, you’ve got your pre shot routine, nice and committed, one simple swing foot pre shot routine, visualize the shot you’re going to have. Straight up to the goal ball go ahead and commit and hit it. And if when you get to the golf ball, something’s not right, you feel something is not comfortable, either your set up is wrong or you are standing on something you shouldn’t be standing on in a divot or something like that, then back away from the golf ball, so many people get to this position not quite comfortable, they pull the trigger anyway and they know they should have backed away after the shot but they don’t do it.
Then, once you hit the golf shot, have a look at how it finished, was it good, was it bad or was there something that you got wrong in your pre shot routine that you should have been able to improve on, so the next time you get one of those issues, you can think better, you can rehearse the practice swing better, you can commit to the golf ball better and then hopefully those commitment issues will disappear.