Tips on How to Become the Best Golf Player

If you want to excel in anything in life, you probably know the way to success. Hard work, grit, not giving up when the waters get muddy. But do you do that in practice as well? The theory is easy; it’s what you know and thinks of various aspects of life. In some areas, you will never go beyond theory, and if you don’t want to, that’s fine. But practice is where the magic happens. You can think it’s easy to do this or that, but you won’t actually know it until you try. And whatever that be, a professional field, a sport, a hobby, you can either like it or not. Want to get on with it or not. Sometimes, you will want to excel, and achieving it can be a true test in itself. That is when you will realize that the question is not whether you have what it takes – but whether you do what it takes.

What are you ready to do to be the best you can be?

As a golfer, you know that the game is unfolding in two plains: the course, and your mind. And while practising your technique is necessary to improve, sharpening your mind and your thinking when it comes to the game can bring immense benefits. Here are the tricks, both mental and physical, that will help you be the best golfer you can be.

Never Stop Practicing

Sometimes there will be a period during which all you will want to think about is Netflix and comfort food. The job will be stressful, relationships will be hard, and on top of everything, the weather will be gloomy. That’s okay – it happens to everybody. What is under our control, though, is how we react to these periods and whether we succumb to our yearnings, or get up and get to work. If you want to be a better golfer, the best possible golfer you need to be, go practice when you don’t feel like it. Especially when you don’t feel like it! Discipline is the first mental step to excelling. Don’t dwell whether it’s worth practising today – act as if it’s about brushing your teeth, and you never think about whether you want to do it or not. But practice alone is not enough. It should be focused and tailored to you only. Spend more time practising shots and moves you don’t like doing and are not very good at it. Spend a lot of time practising those, and definitely a lot more than those you do great.

Stay in the Present

This is extremely important, and sometimes it makes all the difference between you and the best players in the world. What do you, and many golfers, do while playing? They think well in advance. They think about the difficult holes around the turn, and plan their scores and think about where the wind will be blowing half an hour from now on. Stop! As with every game, you need to focus on what you are doing right now. If your mind is racing, you cannot focus on the task right in front of you – the shot happening at the moment. It’s easy to fall prey to the immediate future, but what you need to do is try really hard not to. Focus on the next shot, putt or chip, and it is bound to be better than it would have been had you been considering near future or what just happened a minute ago. Always remind yourself of it if need be. Focus, stay in the present. Train yourself to only be in the present moment, and after a while, you will notice how much better you are becoming.

Always Look for Feedback

You can never improve if you don’t know what needs improvement. That is why the best athletes have their coaches. Not anybody can be your coach or accountability buddy – find someone who, apart from being a good golfer, you trust, someone who is a good tutor and someone who understands you, but ultimately does not shy away from telling you what your mistakes are and offering solutions. If there’s nobody who checks all the marks, don’t fret – it doesn’t mean you will stay stuck in the phase you are in now. Film yourself, film your movements, from multiple angles if possible. Watch the clips carefully. It might appear that you are not actually doing what you think you are doing when playing. Analyse your movements and correct your form. Devote some time every week to corrections and self-corrections. That is the only way to go forward, and you’ll notice how much it means for the overall performance and scores.

Use Helpful Tools

Practice absolutely does make perfect. But what if you’re not too sure about your practice, don’t have a coach and are not 100% sure that you are correcting faulty moves? Use a tool that can help you master them. For example, swing machine for beginners and intermediate golf players will guide your hit, as there is no space for errors. The machine promotes muscle memory, and after having used it for a while, you will spontaneously acquire the perfect swing. Developing your swing is a process, and it doesn’t have to be frustrating. Moreover, the swing promotes correct hip turn by discouraging hip slide. Using help in order to improve is not cheating; think of it as a bonus.

Don’t Cry Over Spilled Milk

Or a bad shot, that is. You’ve probably beaten yourself over mistakes and poor shots you’ve had. But what can you do about it once it’s been done? That’s correct: nothing. You can only choose to stay in the present and focus on the next thing that you actually can control. Just like you shouldn’t think about what happens around the hill later, you shouldn’t dwell on the past, even if it just literally happened now. Move on, and take a new chance. Tiger Woods has a strategy about this: it’s allowed to vent your frustration until you are 10 yards away from where the mistake happened. When you’re there when you cross the imaginary line, the past stays in the past , and you focus on the next stroke.

Being disciplined and focused, you can achieve anything you want. Want it, and then go for it. And equally important: when it doesn’t go well, don’t quit. You’re not a quitter and someone who gives up easily; you’re on your way to becoming the best golf player. And it will be better tomorrow.