How do you practice focusing?

First, you have to concentrate on something. It can be anything. Choose something around your home and focus on it. When you notice your mind starting to wander, bring your attention back to whatever it is you are focusing on. This can be very hard to do at first!

Try to work up to focusing on something for one minute, then two, then three, and so on. This exercise will greatly enhance your mind’s ability to focus and wall out distractions. 

Another part of the mental game of golf is learning how to recognize when you are becoming frustrated and angry. To be a successful golfer you will need to refuse to ride the emotional roller coaster.

You should only think of the shot at hand. Don’t think of the whole game in its entirety, or the shot you may have to make three holes away, or how a shot is similar to one you fumbled weeks ago. All of that is just a distraction and if you ride this emotional roller coaster, golf won’t be enjoyable.

Focus on the shot at hand and give your mind a rest before you move on to the next shot.

When you begin to feel yourself becoming upset, stop. Take a deep breath and think about what it is that is upsetting you. Then, look at the big picture. Golf is just a game. Is it really worth becoming upset over? Doesn’t becoming upset only make you tense, which impairs your swing?

By recognizing when you are frustrated or angry, and pinpointing why, it can help minimize those feelings and put them in their rightful place—instead of letting them control you.

Another side of the mental game that you really need to understand is that most professional golfers report that when they become obsessed with shooting a low score—their scores often end up higher.

Don’t misunderstand, of course shooting a low score on a round of golf is the goal, but becoming obsessed with it can greatly hinder your game and make you play worse. Why? You are defining your success by your score, which is something you can’t control.

Think about it, if you could control how you shoot and you could always shoot a low score, then what would the challenge be?

When you set yourself up and become focused on getting a low score, all you really are doing is creating anxiety within yourself. As you’ve learned, being calm, relaxed, and at peace is what enhances your swing.

Take the approach that you will conquer the things you can control—such as your swing techniques, learning how to read the greens properly, and so on. This is what will eventually lower your golf score.

Work hard to develop the mentality that your success as a golfer isn’t determined by your score. Rather, it’s determined by how calm you can remain and how you are working toward the small things that will affect your score.

Mental Routines

Many successful golfers have mental routines they go through before they take a shot. Having mental routines improves the golfer’s focus and keeps him grounded.

If you watch golf professionals close enough you may be able to recognize each one’s pre-shot routines. A particular golfer may do things such as touching his face, walking a certain way toward the teeing area when he is going to address the ball, rituals he takes before a putt, and so on. While we can’t know what’s in their minds, picking up on a professional’s routines can be fairly easy—if you watch them long enough.

You should seriously consider coming up with a mental routine of your own. A pre-shot routine can be whatever you want it to be. It may be a set of thoughts, movements, checkpoints, etc. Mental routines are as personal as the individual who makes them, and one person’s mental routines won’t work for another because each person’s psyche is different.

Having a pre-shot routine can keep you from wasting time psychoanalyzing what you should do and it can keep your mind from chasing rabbits—which can produce stress in the mind and body. And, as you know by now, stress in the body can hinder the golf swing.

If you start working on and developing your pre-shot routine you’ll no doubt find that your scores will improve and you’ll become a more consistent golfer. With that said, don’t look at your mental routine as a magic wand. Just look at it as something that can better your game once it becomes second nature to you on the course.

It’s no fun being a beginning golfer and not understanding the terminology that other golfers use. Here is a long list of golf terminology you may hear, and their meanings:

Aboard: Getting safely on the green from an approach shot.

Ace: A hole in one.

Across the Line: When your golf club gets out of line, generally at the top of your backswing.

Address: Taking your stance and placing your club head behind the ball.

Aim: The direction you want your ball to go.

Air Mail: When a shot is airborne and goes completely over something—such as the putting green. 

Air Shot: Missing the ball when you swing at it.

Albatross: Three strokes under par.

Alignment: Your body’s position in relation to the target line.

All Square: When all the scores are even in match play.

Approach Putt: A long putt shot that is not intended to go into the hole.

Approach Shot: A shot that is intended to land the ball on the putting green.

Apron: The area surrounding the putting green that separates the green from the fairway.

Army Golf: When a golfer plays a hole that makes him cover a lot of ground, generally he goes from one side of the hole to the other

Attend: This refers to one player holding and removing the flag for another player.

Away: This term refers to the ball, or player, that is farthest away from the putting green or cup.

Back Door: The area of the hole that is farthest away, or the rear of the hole

Back Nine: The last nine holes that are played.

Backspin: A reverse spin on the ball when it’s airborne.

Backswing: The backward part of the golf swing—the part of the swing from the ground and pulling the club behind the head.

Baffling Spoon: This term refers to a wood, or a lofted wood.

Bag Drop:  The area at a golf course where golfers can go to unload their golf bag prior to parking their vehicles.

Bail Out: To aim your ball away from an obstacle or hazard.

Balata: Rubber like material that is used to make soft golf balls. 

Ball Bound: This term is used to describe when a person is too focused on the ball—which results in him being unaware of the fundamentals and technicalities of the golf swing.

Ball Marker:  Something that is placed on the putting green to mark the position of your ball. This is usually something small, like a coin. 

Ball Washer: A mechanical device that can be found at some golf courses that will wash and scrub golf balls.

Balloon: When a shot goes higher than intended in the air, generally into the wind, which causes the ball to fall short.

Banana Ball: A ball that curves in the shape of a banana, basically an extreme right slice.

Birdie: One stroke under par.

Bite: A ball that has heavy backspin applied to it so that it will stop and not roll when it lands.

Blast: A shot from the bunker that sends the ball and sand onto the green.

Blind: A shot where the golfer can’t see where the ball will land.

Block: A shot where the ball goes to the left.

Bogey: One stroke over par.

Break: The tendency of the ball to either roll right or left on a putting green, instead of in a straight line.

Bunker: A depression in the course that is generally covered with sand.

Bunker Fairway: A bunker that is located right on the fairway.

Bunker Greenside: A bunker that is right next to a putting green.

Carry: How far the ball will go through the air.

Casual Water: Any water that is temporarily on the course and is not part of the course. This may include puddles, ice, and water that is overflowing from the course’s ponds or lakes.

Chip: A short shot that golfers generally take when they are close to the green. This shot is intended to go a short distance in the air, land on the green, and roll toward, or into, the cup.

Chunk: When a golfer takes a golf swing and it hits the ground a few inches before the ball and a large chunk of ground comes out as a result of the impact.

Clone: A generic term used to describe golf clubs that aren’t name brand.

Closed Face: This is when the clubface is angled toward the player’s body.

Come Backer: A putt that is taken after the previous putt went past the cup.

Condor: Four under par, or a hole in one on a hole that is a par 5.

Dead: The prediction that there is no favorable outcome possibility for a player’s shot.

Dimple: The indentions on a golf ball.

Divot: The chunk of grass that comes up when it’s been hit by a club.

Dog Balls: Scoring an eight on a single hole.

Dog Leg: A reference to the fairway bending right or left.

Double Bogey: Two strokes over par.

Double Eagle: Three strokes under par.

Downswing: The part of the golf swing that refers to the swing from the up position to impact.

Draw: A shot that curves a bit to the left.

Drive: The shot that is made at the beginning of each hole from the teeing ground.

Eagle: Two strokes under par.

Explosion: A shot from the bunker that sends the ball and sand onto the green.

Fade: A shot that curves a bit to the right. 

Fairway: The area of the golf course that leads from the teeing ground to the putting green.

Fat Shot: A poor golf swing that catches grass or dirt, which results in a slow ball, or a short ball.

Flop Shot: A shot that a golfer takes from an open stance with an open clubface so the ball will travel high up in the air and land on the green.

Fried Egg: When the ball is half buried in a bunker.

Front Holes: Holes 1-9 on a course.

Gimmie: A shot that all players agree that can count automatically without it actually being played out.

Goldie Bounce: This refers to a player’s ball hitting a tree in the rough and bouncing out onto the fairway.

Green: The area where the cup is located.

Green Under Repair: This refers to an area on the golf course that is currently being worked on or being repaired. If a player’s ball lands in this area, the player may drop his ball outside of the area with no penalty.

Handicap: A calculation that is given to players so that play is equal.

Handsy: A description of a player who has too much wrist movement when he is putting.

Hardpan: An area that has very hard turf.

Hazard: An area on the golf course such as a sand bunker or permanent water.

Hole in One: Getting the ball into the hole with one shot from the teeing ground.

Hook: A shot that curves sharply to the left.

Hosel: The crooked area on the club where the club head connects to the shaft.

Inward nine: The back nine holes.