Find Your Purpose And Then Take It To The Course

By Andrea Kellar

Finding a purpose to why you play golf and also how you approach your game shot by shot can change the way you play. First off I believe we all play golf for enjoyment. It is a day we choose to be out with friends or away from the office or other obligations. We want to enjoy the day and of course have a good round while we are at it.

It is hard to control every shot but we can control how we react. Understand that bad shots happen! It is not eliminating those shots but controlling how we react to those shots. Find your purpose and stick to it! You’ll find yourself hitting more quality shots.

If we dwell on the bad it will just create more “bad” but if we stay committed to our purpose and our routine we can stay on task and hit those shots we know we can hit. When we hit a bad shot instead of thinking your game is unraveling just tell yourself that “I stuck to my routine on that shot” and move on.

How to figure out a good routine and to know when to stop thinking and hit:

I believe we over think the swing. It is hard to take the range swing to the course…it is easy to develop a tempo when hitting shot after shot on the range and then we don’t understand why we can’t reproduce that swing on the course.

Most often we are over the ball with swing thoughts swarming around our head. Do this…do that…don’t do that… don’t hit it right…..don’t hit it left …ok, swing! We all have those thoughts.

You have to figure out a way to clear your mind and find your purpose to that shot when you are ready to make your swing. I think a good way to do that is draw a “Commitment line”. Behind the line is the “Think Box” and things to consider would be yardage, wind direction and so on. This is where you decide your swing thought and make your practice swing. Once you cross the “Commitment Line” you enter the “Play Box” where you simply take your address, connect to your target and swing.

Find your purpose and stick to it. Accept the bad and remember the good.