Commit to the swing!

The Mental Side of Things
#1

This is one of those things that I struggle with… Max Homa was talking about a similar issue on his podcast. He was playing without his regular caddie, and didn’t have anyone to reassure him it was the right club, so he mishit some shots because he wasn’t confident standing over the ball.

The driver thread made me think about this more… if you are trying to steer your shot, you aren’t committed to hitting it… I was practicing some wedges on the course yesterday, and focused on technique more than anything else… once I got confident in the swing and committed, I started hitting the ball the way I wanted to.

I think that’s going to be one of my main focuses next season… making sure every time I step up to the ball I have a plan of how I want to hit it, and confidence I can hit the shot.

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#2

This is one of my biggest faults as well. I thought I had pretty much cured myself of this many years ago, but I joined a tight woodsy club 5 years ago and soon started steering it and now I’m at an even tighter one the last 3 years. This year I managed to force myself to just hit my driver freely and was successful, but I struggled even more with the irons. I think because I expect more from an iron shot, I made it worse. I also didn’t get to the range much this year and I need to hit balls regularly to have more trust in my swing.

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#3

This is something I’ve been working very hard on. I’ve seemed to zero in on this during my range practice and games, but still having a bit of trouble on the course with it. I’ll get there though.

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#4

Commitment to the swing/shot is huge. I feel like most of my misses come down to not committing to the shot. You see it, you feel it, but then you have these last thoughts of “what if…” or “don’t…” — these thoughts are pure poison! Pick a smart shot, make an aggressive swing to a conservative target, and commit fully to it and believe you will hit! The alternative is much worse!

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#5

Another here working on the COMMIT! to the shot - for me, it especially pertains to short game shots … wedges and putting.

Wedges I try to pick what is for me the safe, hi % play but sometimes may second guess myself … and the result is pretty consistently not what I’d wanted…

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#6

This is such a big part of golf when you can commit to a shot. How many times in a round are you not confident and you make one of your worse swing on the course.

Even if you make the wrong decision being confident over thinking you make the right decision you are more likely to make a better result.

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#7

That’s the big one for me… convincing myself it’s the right club even when I’m not sure.

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#8

This is working! Now the shots are going farther (Will have to go to the range to re-determine the range with different clubs now!) More confidence = Not having swing thoughts while swinging, a good thing.

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#9

Awesome! Fear is the mind killer.

Honestly, I think part of my length is from just swinging away as a kid… it built the confidence I have now and I can just swing…

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#10

@Craigers I’m finally getting there. It’s an amazing feeling when you just let go. It’s actually so much easier too.

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#11

What’s funny to me is when you spend part of a round all mechanical, thinking about everything and the for the whatever reason you get distracted and just stripe one down the middle… just pure zen followed by results… and you kindof laugh, realize that golf is fun and then somehow manage to go back to thinking about where your left toe should be 3/4 of the way in your backswing…

It’s a weird game, and I think we mostly get in our own way.

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#12

Yep.

My best round to date, at a short 9 hole course near me, was after I’d decided beforehand to focus more on my process … and much less on the what and how of each swing.

Now - admittedly - for us less experienced players who are still stuck thinking about their mechanics it just ain’t all that easy to let it go…

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