The mindful art of focus in golf

An absence of concentration is responsible for most golfing mistakes.  Arnold Palmer once said, “The toughest six inches in the game of golf is between a player’s ears” so the fastest way to lower your score could well be to master the mental ability to focus. 

Many golfers tend to think that to improve their game they must centre on the physical aspects: train more, find a new instructor, watch more golf videos, play different resorts and country clubs, change those clubs.  But one of the often overlooked and most important psychological aspects of the game is mental focus or the concentration you apply to eaach task at hand. 

What is focus in golf?
Focus means being fully in the present moment, concentrating our mind on a single point or object, or a particular circumstance.  To begin to understand what the impact of focusing your mind will have on your game, think about how you currently approach your golf.  Do you hurry up to the ball, confront it rather than address it, prepare almost on auto-pilot, and then rush the shot?

Being focused here means you’re already building awareness before you even walk onto the green.  You are fully aware of approaching the ball.  You are totally ‘in your body’ as you prepare the shot.  You maintain this focus, this awareness, fully on making the shot, and then while you are doing it.  You then maintain this focus right to the end of the shot - even while yo lower the club.  Only then do you begin to think about the next shot (and the next shot only!).

This all sounds quite rigid, but like everything else to do with improving your game, you need to think about it step-by-step and then practise to build familiarity.  It is often very difficult to abandon old ways – especially mental habits - and suspend the temptation to think about the whole shot, indeed the whole game from the outset.  But I recommend you discipline yourself to try this approach as you may be amazed at the immediate result it can have on all aspects of your golf game, including the distance you can manage to hit the ball.  It also helps to deal with the nervous and ungrounded feelings you may experience as you select a club, and set up and take a shot. 

I have had players increase the distance of their tee-off by up to 100% in a matter of minutes by learning what it feels like to only focus on one part of the game at a time.  And feeling the focus is an important and powerful way of helping your mind to adapt and discipline itself to maintaining focus to sustain the results. Once you have experienced the sensation it can bring a level of freedom you’ve never enjoyed before in your golf.

This freedom comes from something tangible.  If you have practised and refined your swing then you can trust your body will remember how to hit the ball well, and if you get out of its way by focusing elsewhere, it will do so in a more natural flowing way.  Likewise, if you can put aside preoccupation with your physical game in this way you can free up your mind to enjoy golf in a way perhaps you never thought you would.

How to develop focus
It’s better to make ten truly focused swings than 100 quick, thoughtless ones, so begin your skill-building before you even get to the course. It’s very important that you begin to develop mental focus away from the course as well as on it, as it’s much harder to apply mindfulness discipline to only one area of your life, that is, your golf. 

 The inner game is played out on a daily basis, and you bring that to golf.  Besides, focus and self awareness are skills of grreat value to your work and family life as well as your sport. 

So, to the exercise: set aside some time to relax; maybe find a quiet spot to sit by yourself. Now find an object that will become your object of concentration – choose something plain and mundane, and one that will not move around – for example an apple or piece of the wall in front of you.  Make sure what you choose as your object is easy to rest your eyes on for a while and doesn’t have emotional affiliations as these will just make it harder to clear your mind and focus on just the object. 

Now take a calming breath and just rest your eyes on the object - keeping your attention focused on that thing.  All kinds of thoughts and distractions will naturally flow into your mind, but try to maintain your eye and mental focus on the object – this is where the benefit is.  The objective of the exercise is to continually bring the mental focus back to the item you are focusing on and, each time your mind wanders off, simply bring it back to the object.

Try to maintain the focus as long as you can, keeping it in the present moment, on the object … each time bringing back your attention when your mind wanders (as it will!).  The skill and the benefit comes from being able to remain in the present moment, in focus, as long as possible. 

To help out, I’ve provided a static object that might work for your exercise here - click on this link or the image and open it in your browser’s full screen for the best effect. 
It’s an image of a lit candle (left), but the more you focus on the flame it begins to appear to be flickering.  This picture might be a good place to start as your object of concentration, and then you can choose your own object to focus on depending on where you are.  Remember it’s not the object you focus on, but the exercise of maintaining your attention on it, regardless of any distraction, that delivers the outcome you’re seeking.

I suggest you try to focus on this, or the object you’ve selected, for about five minutes at first, increasing the length of attention and concentration over time to a period that you feel is the most beneficial, which may be up to 20 or 30 minutes.  Just remember to keep your breath free and your body relaxed while you’re doing it.  Oh, and turn off the phone!

Yes, it will require persistence and a bit of work, but once you’ve experienced the results in your golf, you’ll be inspired to continually enhance your ability to focus – not only for the sake of your game but many other aspects of your life. 

Using focus in the game
I suggest to pro golfers that they always do their concentration exercise before they leave their rooms to go play their round.  This helps to clear their mind and reminds them to carry on the level of focus they need during the game – shot by shot.  It’s also a good idea to do it at night before bed to shift the imprint of the day’s play from your head, ready for a better night’s sleep.   

Having focus in and on your game doesn’t mean, by the way, that you keep your head down and not talk to anyone!  Once you develop a focused mind in play, you can interact with others in ways you normally would, but all the time maintaining a part of you that is focused, calm and ‘in the zone’, whether you’re in a PGA event or playing a game of social golf on the weekend.   

When you’re playing, just think about the next shot.  During down time, allow your mind to relax by releasing it from focus and let it wander for a few minutes.  Don’t try to concentrate like this on the entire game or you’ll get fatigued very quickly.  Save the mental workout for thoughtful shot decisions and center on the shot you’re going to play next.

Good mental focus is also very useful for maintaining your cool throughout the game.  In the great game of golf, emotions soar and fall quickly, and you’ll perform more effectively with balanced reactions and responses to the things that happen.  If you can remember to focus your mind on something other than the emotion – moving your mental focus even for a moment – it will give you the precious time you need to take a breath and think through the real cost of your anger, frustration, or whatever it is you are feeling. Emotions seem very real at the time, but when examined rationally are ‘only’ fleeting internal reactions to external stimuli – possibly your own ability to play golf.  In hindsight they are rarely worth what they cost us.

So, by introducing some refined focusing skills into your game will influence and improve every single aspect of it.  Not only that, your life will be more like your game - useful, pleasurable and satisfying – regardless of your score! 

For more on mindfulness meditation and its techniques take a look at my dedicated site on that subject.

Also see our ZEN OF GOLF page, which has more on this theme.