I found Tomasi's book The 90 Second (or is it 30?) Golf Swing helped me more than any of the psychobabble books. It tells you to assess your strengths and weaknesses and have an idea of a high risk, high reward; low risk, low reward and medium risk, medium reward option for every shot.
Mental books just orient around letting your computer work without distractions so as to not override the program its trying to perform.
The solution is not only just to amend mental thoughts but its to be able to preform the program with both none or full conscience thought levels so that when that putt for eagle comes along and you suddenly come out of the no thought mode, your conscience mode is pretty darn good too.
You always must be calm and yet have a very high level of mental concentration.
I agree with Mathew with the exception that the good books on the mental aspects of golf come to the conclusions Mathew alludes to. However there are a lot of books that are faulty in their concepts. I read somewhere that Jack Nicklaus said he played every shot whether in a tournament or in practice as if it were a key shot in a major tournament.. IMO Jack had the best mental approach ever and there is a lesson in what he advises . Developing sameness in mental attitude and habits regardless of the circumstances is what makes a mentally tough player IMO. I tend to stay away from books that deal with the mental aspects of golf because I have not been impressed with them. However some posts on this thread influenced me to purchase "Every shot must have a purpose" which I have to collect from the Post Office.
I ended up buying "Every Shot" after browsing in the store. Definitely has helped some of my mental outlook on the course. Can definitely sense more when I am no longer really in the moment over the shot.
I agree with Mathew with the exception that the good books on the mental aspects of golf come to the conclusions Mathew alludes to. However there are a lot of books that are faulty in their concepts. I read somewhere that Jack Nicklaus said he played every shot whether in a tournament or in practice as if it were a key shot in a major tournament.. IMO Jack had the best mental approach ever and there is a lesson in what he advises . Developing sameness in mental attitude and habits regardless of the circumstances is what makes a mentally tough player IMO. I tend to stay away from books that deal with the mental aspects of golf because I have not been impressed with them. However some posts on this thread influenced me to purchase "Every shot must have a purpose" which I have to collect from the Post Office.
John,
I recently got this book and it is one of the better mental approach offerings.
Some very sound stuff in it; which we already know deep down yet need constant reminding of.
Never considered mental game books and still don't?
Here's an idea of one of the concepts you can pick up.
One of my favourites from Zen Golf is the authors discussion on how to make use of the senses.
I had a really nice round going recently. It was so good I started getting a bit tense. Preparing for the teeshot on hole 13 I felt I was mentally leaving the zone.
What I did then was to simply start making use of all senses.
What does my eyes tell me about this place?
What are the smells around here?
What sounds can I hear?
What is the temperature?
Is it humid?
etc...
In seconds the tense feeling completely left me and the teeball was sent down the middle of the fairway.
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When James Durham recorded 94 at the Old Course at St Andrews in 1767, he set a course record that lasted 86 years. Golf: A curious sport whose object is to put a very small ball in a very small hole with implements ill desiged for the purpose - Sir Winston Churchill
It directs your thinking to something other than the anxiety and the problem and the shot at hand for a bit......and tunes you into your senses at the same time....which can be a good wake-up call.....more like a shot of cold water to the face than a shock I'd think.
Linear Mode
