The desire of every golfer on the first tee is to shoot their best round of golf ever. This is not a profound statement, however I would suggest that most players are not ready to receive this wonderful gift. They are either ambivalent or they are waiting for that first poor shot in order to jump on the negative train! I am not suggesting that we need to play golf with rose coloured glasses on; we need to mentally prepare to accept playing great golf is always a possibility.
In the past, I have discussed taking a bit of time prior our first shot to mentally think about the upcoming round and express the results we wish to achieve. Of course, we cannot shoot our lowest score ever during all rounds of golf, but focusing on success helps us shoot consistently low scores. I truly believe that this is a large component of being a consistent golfer!
There are many videos on YouTube talking about mentally preparing for a round of golf. Some are in-depth and long; while others only brush on the main theme that brings the greatest success during every stroke. The primary or fundamental aspect of mentally preparing for success is visualization. This one mental skill, above all others, sets the stage for shooting your lowest score ever each time you step up to the first tee. If you doubt what I mean, watch this Jason Day video. It is spot on!
When I am playing my best golf, I follow Day’s process. I adapt each stage to meet my abilities, but I visualize each shot, aim small, and visualize success. It is amazing how our mind can control the outcome of each golf shot. Our mind controls a great deal of physical results when playing golf….especially if we continually engage it for each shot. The results are clear, in my mind, the more we engage our mental golf game, the greater opportunity to shoot our lowest scores.
Jack Nicklaus said that: “I never hit a shot, not even in practice, without having a very sharp, in-focus picture of it in my head. First I see the ball where I want it to finish, nice and white and sitting up high on the bright green grass. Then the scene quickly changes, and I see the ball going there; its path, trajectory, and shape, even its behavior on landing. Then there is a sort of fade-out, and the next scene shows me making the kind of swing that will turn the previous images into reality.”
If the greatest golfers of the past and present use the technique of visualization, then I do not see why we do not immediately incorporate this mental technique. As Jason Day stated, he went through a great deal of trial and error to develop this skill to ensure it fit his game. That is something that I do (most of the time 😉 ) with great success. I find that when I do shoot my best rounds of golf, I visualize every shot that leads to a very high success rate. Therefore, it is a skill that I need to continue to work on and implement during ever round.
I always expect to shoot low golf scores every time I play; of course that is not always the case. I know that if I visualize my shots, great things can happen. When I put a string of good shots together, I shoot lower golf scores. That is always my goal and every once in a while, I shoot my lowest golf score of the week, month, season or ever. And this is always a rewarding event.
I am a grateful golfer! See you on the links!
The Grateful Golfer 
Visualization for me is kind of shaky but well, I’ll explain by telling you some details of my routine. I look for my target before anything else as I’m walking to the ball. I generally play with no GPS or laser, so I’ve already guesstimated my yardage and know which club I’m going to want, but I verify that decision after getting to the ball and checking it’s lie to make sure my first choice is doable. If it is, I’ll grab my clubs and while beside, not behind the ball, I’ll take my stance for a couple practice swings. I’ll be far enough away that there is no danger of hitting the ball, but I’ll be situated with the ball about where I think it needs to be for the swing so that when I make the practice swings I can verify many things at once. First, swing path. I’m beside the ball so my target is parallel to me. So I’ll want to verify that the swing path I generate in the practice swing puts the ball down the right line. I’ll also check that I bottom out where the ball will be. And I’ll be getting a feel from the right swing speed all at the same time. At that point, I guess you could say I’m visualizing the shot. But it’s not something imaginary for me. It’s simply giving myself real visual clues as well as all the clues from my body during the swings to help me perform. From there I can just step directly forward, check the target, waggle, check the target and swing. No messing around. No time for second guessing, or trying to fine tune anything. Just step up and hit it.
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Kevin
Your process of hitting the ball is very mechanical and I like that. It allows you to replicate every movement in a solid pre-shot routine. Whether it is visualization or not, I think you have some aspects if this technique when you are getting ready to hit your ball. It might not be as overt as Jason Day’s, but it is there in some degree or another. Thanks for laying out your routine.
Cheers Jim
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