Select The Shot That Feels Best

When playing a round of golf I’m sure you have noticed from time to time how you have a hard time keeping your mind on the game. Your mind wanders off to thoughts about tomorrow or you are remembering what you forgot to do the previous day.

Concentrating on your golf game can be a challenge in itself for golfers of every ability level. When you see golfers on TV they seem zeroed in, their face stern and steady with little emotion. Are they really that wrapped up in the golf game? Do you have to be the same way in order to better your game while on the course?

Well let’s hope not, after all we are supposed to “Lighten up…and enjoy the game” you know. So how do you accomplish this while on the course? Well, accomplish is the key word here….what are you trying to accomplish each time you swing and play a hole?

To find this you must determine what you want to create each time you step up on the tee of a hole you are going to play. Par, birdie, perhaps a bogey is all you wish. Next comes the shot in front of you, where do you want it to go? This is considered focusing intentionally on a specific shot or creation that you are trying to produce.

One of the keys here is for you to objectively look at yourself and ask “how do I feel about this shot?” Let’s say you are on the tee of a par four with three bunkers on the right of the fairway and a marsh land to the left of the fairway. The bunkers are about 220 yards out leaving 150 yards into the green.

You could hit the tee shot down the middle 250 yards leaving you about 120 yards out. Or you could play it safe, stay short of the bunkers if you were to hit it off line and hit a tee shot 200 yds leaving you with a shot of approx. 170 yds to the middle of the green.

Either play is a good one, but what is the one you “resonate” with or “feel” best about? Why do I mention these two words? You have to take a good look at yourself here and reflect on shots you had in the past. You will notice that the ones you felt best about or thought you could create easier than other shots are generally the ones you pulled off the best.

It is important for you to realize what you create is in response to the focus or belief you have with the shot in front of you. So standing on the tee do you believe and feel throughout your body that you can hit it down the middle with that driver? Or does pulling out the three wood resonate better with you, and you feel better about that shot?

You are trying to deliberately create the shot of your desire here, and in order to do that you have to feel possibilities of those shots and choose the ones that feel best to you at that time.

This is not so much about playing safe while on the course, because many of you see playing safe as a sign of weakness and thus will not play safe. You must understand that what you are thinking about many times will result in the actual outcome of the shot you are about to make. So if you feel doubt or fear about a certain situation or shot, you should re-direct your thoughts to find a shot that feels better to you.

It is not necessary for you to stay focused every moment you are out there on the course. Taking in the surroundings, talking to your friends and really enjoying your time on the course is very important.

Shortening your real focus times to the shot in front of you is important, while still leaving you all the rest of the time for conversation and the enjoyment of the nature around you.

The enjoyment of golf comes from the times when you are focusing intentionally on the shot in front of you, putting your intentions on the deliberate creations of the shots that you see and feel possible. The execution of those shots then occurs and your emotions soar with joy or fall with despair based on the outcome.

Your effectiveness on the course can be rewarded more to you when you realistically focus your intents of your shots with the shot that feels better to you before you make each swing. Feeling good about a possible shot before you step in to make it is very important and very powerful when creating your game.

It is these good feelings that you need to resonate with while on the course. These feelings are the ones that allow you to enjoy the game more and take your game to the next level. It is not a matter of how much you concentrate, but rather how you feel. So remember, make it feel good, lighten up…..and enjoy the game!

To learn more about the game and the Alcero Method of golf instruction that can assist your game, obtain the new book Manifesting Your Golf Desires, by Al Owens. It is a great resource and tool to use in taking your game to the next level you desire.