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Every golfer striving to lower their handicap wants days when they hit the ball great and score well. But on those great days, how can you capitalize on the moment and shoot low scores?

There are a number of ways golfers can increase their chances of going low - most of them are psychological.

Staying Calm

If you manage to get on a par or birdie run its important to stay calm even though it will be very tempting to become over excited and start thinking about your score. Golf is full of contradictions and its surprising how many people become nervous once they start shooting a good score. In almost any other sport, once a player gets in the groove and begins to play well they carry on and have a great game or match. In golf, however, many people have a great start to their round only to falter once they become nervous about their low score. If this happens to you, make sure you take deep breathes around the course and only focus on the next shot. Try not to think about the score and just play a great game.

Staying In The Zone

People often talk about getting ‘into the zone to play great golf, but what does it mean. Getting in the zone requires golfers to only focus on the next shot, forgetting outside distractions and not letting anything interfere with a great round, including poor shots.

Using the mental image of a bubble when preparing for the shot is useful, this should be married with a great pre-shot routine. Players standing next to the ball should step into their bubble and block out the world, focusing only on the shot. Nothing can reach them in this bubble which is only popped once the ball lands on the green.

Stay Out Of Your Own Way

This is something every golfer of every level should try and accomplish. When hitting great shots rather than thinking about how you are doing it, switch off and think less. Many golfers play their best golf when they let go of technical thoughts and just react to the target. This is playing golf in its purest form, not thinking about the game and just playing it.

To produce better scores when playing well, switch off and just focus on the target.

As mentioned above, when playing well concentrate less and just focus on the target, get out of your own way and keep shooting low scores. Concentrating harder can only increase the amount you are thinking about the shot, not decrease it.

When playing their best, golfers dont speed up or slow down, they maintain the pace of their play. It should be relaxed but not slow. If you find you slow down when playing well you could be thinking about your game too much, just let it go and play.

If you find yourself in the zone and playing well, switch off your technical thoughts and just hit shots. This can be disconcerting for some who feel they need the mental crutch of a swing thought. But most players when hitting it well play even better if they just focus on the target.