Myths of the mental game could hurt your golf

The late Bobby Jones, golf psychologist Dr. Bob Rotella, famed teacher Jim Flick and Jack Nicklaus have all perpetuated the myth that golf is mostly mental — often putting the figure at 90% — with Flick going as far as putting the number at 100%.

While highly skilled players and professional golfers may say the mental game is highly important for winning tournaments, golf isn’t played in the mind. It is played with solid fundamentals, technique, physical skill, proper equipment, understanding of course strategy and sometimes luck. The 90% is ludicrous.

Another myth of the mental game is that you should stay calm and remain emotionless. It is true that your emotions play a critical role in keeping you level-headed and balanced during a round of golf. Still, it is impossible to completely dampen your emotions while competing and trying to perform your best.

You will have some ups and downs, joys and disappointments, doubts and confidence. Being able to regulate those emotions, not letting them gallop away out of control, or explode in fits of tantrums, is the best way to handle them. Tension, frustration, nerves, slow play, fear of certain holes, worries about looking bad; these are all part of the game and won’t sink your performance providing you don’t overdo it.

Mental game coach Jared Tendler, author of a new book “Everyday Golf Psychology,” explains that psychology can’t turn a 20-handicap into a scratch player. 

“But in a pursuit like golf,” he says, “where technique is honed by the body, the mind is merely the conduit for, or implement to, showing off one’s ability.”

The saying “getting out of your own way” is a mental myth that is shorthand for a combination of several familiar ideas, like stop overthinking, don’t choke, let go of fear, don’t let your nerves rule, don’t be a loser.

“Get out of your own way” is more a self-scolding rather a useful strategy. It doesn’t tell you how to actually do any of it and certainly doesn’t account for anything below the threshold of your awareness. If you want to make “getting out of your own way” acquire any real meaning of value, try rewiring your deep beliefs (e.g. golf should always be fair), redefining personal golfing success (like trusting nearly every shot during the round), focusing on the process of your golf rather than just the results, and understanding your own fears and insecurities. Improvement in golf is not just from physical practice but from mental knowledge and growth.

There is a common mental game myth that goes, “My golf game should transfer from the practice range to the golf course.”

The reality is that practicing golf and playing a competitive game of golf are not close to being the same thing. Tiger Woods once called himself “Ranger Rick” because he had hit every shot pure on the practice range but missed a dozen shots out on the golf course.

The driving range is a place where it’s virtually impossible to miss or hit it out-of-bounds. It often provides a false sense of confidence that quickly becomes a tangle of nerves once the battle starts out on the course. An offshoot of the “transfer” myth is “the better I hit it the better I will play.”

Hitting the ball well isn’t a substitute for scoring well. Some good golfers go play the game of “golf swing” instead of actually playing the game of golf and focusing on a fine score, which often requires great putting.

Lastly, some golfers believe in the idea of “always be thinking.” The truth is you can do too much thinking and at the wrong times. Trying to load too many swing thoughts can just lead to confusion for both mind and body. When you approach a golf shot there is the “think zone” before taking our stance, and there is the “play zone” — no thinking — as you step into the shot.