Written by Coach Payton
What do you think is the most important aspect of golf? Is it how far you can hit a ball? Is it using the right clubs on different parts of the course? Perhaps for you it may be playing with your special glove or favorite type of golf ball. These are all important parts of the game of golf. However, none of these aspects are the most crucial. The MOST CRUCIAL aspect of the game of golf is the mental aspect. I’m sure you’ve heard it before around the golf course, during a lesson or even from a player you admire that the most crucial aspect of golf is the mental aspect. Here’s why.
Our brains are the control centers of our bodies and without them we can’t play golf. Now I know you may think, ‘Well of course not! We can’t do anything without our brains.’ You are correct! During a round of golf your brain helps your muscles to work when they get impulses or electrical messages, and it remembers all the things you would have learned about golf. For instance, the brain remembers how to play different shots and how to use various clubs. With the brain performing these functions throughout the golf round, it is important for golfers to focus on the goal of the game which is to finish the round with the lowest amount of strokes. As a golfer, I’m sure you have had an experience where you would have executed a shot in your head before you played it, but your body didn’t execute the shot in the way you wanted it to. This is where mental fortitude comes into play and helps golfers.
Mental fortitude is an essential part of the golf game. It is the individual ability of a golfer to persevere throughout the golf round even after a playing a bad shot, missing a birdie putt, ending up in a bunker, or three putting. It helps golfers to mentally get through a round, allowing them to focus on finishing a round by resisting the negative thoughts. In the game of golf, it is important what you allow yourself to think while you’re playing the course. Positive thoughts are always a golfer’s best bud out there on the course. As golfer, I have learned that there is no room for negativity on the course because what you put in is what you get out of it. If golfers were to let each of their faults dictate their game, then their performance on the course would not be the best it can possibly be. So as golfers, positive thoughts about execution and performance are a must in the game and mental fortitude is crucial. Golfers must push past mistakes when they are made and persevere to the end.
