Attitudes and beliefs

This week the Royal Golf Club's PGA Teaching Professional, Martin Robinson, gives you tips on how to remain positive and focused. Having spent years analysing and improving the way people think on the golf course there are a couple of recurring psychological mistakes I find people making during a round of golf.

These are very simple thought processes that are conducive to poor performance, particularly when the pressure gauge is turned up a little.

Have a look at my definitions of the following:

Positive - You have a clear intention of achieving the desired outcome;

Focused - Your thought process is clear and concise;

Negative - You are thinking about things that could go wrong;

Cluttered - You are thinking about achieving several things at once.

My findings have been that most people would describe themselves as being negative and cluttered before a shot, which is a very harmful place to be. No matter what the situation on the golf course is, you must endeavour to remain positive and focused over every single shot you hit, using all your mental powers to imagine what your shot would look like if it is a perfect result.

If you play a disaster movie in your mind such as the ball careering into the water, you will actually be making it more likely to happen, because of the very real link between mind and body. So, next time you head out to the course set yourself the goal of remaining positive and focused for every shot regardless of the circumstances.

The second common mistake I see happens to almost everyone all day long! How often do you hit anyway shots? An anyway shot plays out like this ... You are over the ball with 150 yards, the wind is swirling, do I have the right club? That wind feels stronger ... 7 iron might be ok if I hit it harder, I've been standing here too long, I'll just hit it anyway! That is an anyway shot, any time there is an element of doubt or clutter you should step away from the ball and start again, but what do we do ... worried that an extra 10 seconds will hold up play? We hit it anyway, normally with a poor result.

The thoughts you have should be pure and positive, if you begin to cloud with doubt start the process again, no more anyway shots.

The consistent application of these two new attitudes will save you shots, it sounds simple, but the simplest habits are hard to break, so there is no time to lose, start now and stick to the application of your new attitudes and beliefs until they become habitual.