HOW AND WHY TO VISUALIZE EVERY GOLF SHOT

Have you ever had the feeling, just before you hit a golf shot, that it is going to be absolutely perfect? Whether it be a drive, an iron shot or a putt. Every now and then you get this absolute clarity of mind and belief. Then with out regard to anything you step up to take the shot.......It is picture perfect. The golf ball comes off the face of the golf club exactly how you want it to. The ball flight or roll is consummately exactly what you wanted or needed. This pre-shot feeling is how those golfers feel every time they are in the "zone". When you see an amateur going seven or eight shots below his handicap or a professional golfer shooting 62, this is how they feel almost every single time before they make those many perfect golf shots in that sublime round.

This is what every professional and amateur golfer wants to have when they play golf. This feeling and belief can in-fact be worked on and achieved more and more over time. It is possible to train the mind to attain a detailed visual picture of what you want to happen on the golf course. If you can get this right through practice, you will find that the game of golf gets a great deal easier. Not only will it help you to stay in the present but also to forget that bad shot and embrace the next one. You will find that when you look back on the round it will be like a dream. As if you have just come off a cloud.

In order to practice visualization one needs to find a nice quite place, close their eyes and focus completely on one thing. In order to make the mind focus on just one thing at a time you need to focus entirely on every separate and self-contained entity of this thing. A great object for this is your breathing. To focus on your breathing you need to get comfortable, close your eyes and feel and hear every little thing that is happening while you are breathing. For ten to fifteen breaths you need to feel your chest rise with every inhale and feel it sink and your shoulders drop with every inhale. As you move from breath to breath so the falling of the chest and shoulders becomes more and more heavy. Once this starts to happen try and picture your breath like steam or smoke. With every inhale you feel your chest and stomach expanding, a little cloud being sucked in past your lips and down into your lungs. Then when you exhale you feel your lungs closing, your shoulders getting heavy and this little cloud coming up from your lungs and out past your lips for about one or two feet. By now you should feel completely relaxed and free from any distracting thoughts. If however it is your first time doing this then you might not be completely clear and should just try again tomorrow and the next day and repeat this until you can get these three key elements right.

Once you can get this right you need to picture yourself walking down some steps. It could be five, twelve or even fifty steps. The number is yours. These steps take you to your favorite place on the golf course. It might be the putting green, it might be a particular tee shot, or it could just be a pitch shot. Which ever it is it is perfect for you. Now notice everything around you. Are there other people? What color is the grass? How is the weather? What does the current shot present with regard to the layout of the course? You need to try and notice as much as possible as a superficial and casual visual will not help you. Now picture yourself executing the golf shot. Notice if the shot is in real time or slow motion. Notice the movement of your body as you take the club away from the ball. On the return to the ball notice how your body is rotating and where the ball hits the club face at impact. Notice your follow through and the ball doing exactly what you want....... This is the " MENTAL ZONE".

When u can achieve this extremely vivid imagination of a golf shot you can place yourself in position on the golf course far more often to execute great golf shots. Yes i am sure you think that it is hard at the beginning to let go of all the things in your mind and focus, but with more practice it will get better over time. It is this visualization that needs to be performed before you make every stroke on the golf course. Remember that the breathing calms and relaxes you. Being calm and relaxed helps for better visualization. So before each shot on the golf course, take two deep breaths and visualize the up coming shot. Make it a slow, graphic visualization and once you have seen it in your minds eye, execute it. I understand that not every golf shot is going to come out perfect. However with practice over time you are going to execute more great golf shots per round and your misses will be much better.

Aim small, Miss small.