golf tips blog

Date : 4/20/2018

Freund Friday 4/20/2018: The Mental Game - Post-Shot Routine

Many golf instructors talk at length about the importance of the pre-shot routine. And it is very important, but a subject rarely mentioned is the POST-SHOT ROUTINE. What is a post-shot routine? Exactly what it sounds like. It is your actions following your shot.

 Your emotional reaction to each shot is stored by your brain, and those memories are often replayed when you face a similar shot. Say, for example, you are facing a Par-3 with a long carry over the water. iF you hit that shot into the water and react in an angry and negative manner, the next time you face a shot over water your memories will be associated with a negative shot. Furthermore, how many times have you hit a bad shot and gotten angry or upset. How often does the resulting shot end up bad as well? Now you become a little hesitant and you start questioning different aspects to your swing. Before you know it, you lose control of your round.

 It has happened to all of us, but fortunately there is a way to encourage positive memories and shrug off the negative ones. To do this you must learn to associate and dissociate. You will want to associate yourself with the good shots, meanwhile dissociating yourself from the poor shots. Over time you will find you are visualizing the good shots, not the bad ones.

 One way to help associate with good shots is to have a happy or neutral reaction to every shot. Start by finding a hand gesture or some movement that you repeat after every good shot. Think of Tiger Woods’ signature club twirl. Mark every good shot is with this gesture and it will encourage more good shots.

 When you hit a shot and find yourself beginning a negative reaction, simply count seven slow breaths. Don’t worry about where the ball ends up or what that means to your score. Simply count seven breaths. After taking these breaths, you can judge what to do with your next shot. This allows you to dissociate from your bad shots and help you maintain emotional memories of only the good shots.

 Another way to help remove yourself from the negative feeling of a bad shot is to make a practice swing following a poor shot. When you make this practice swing, be sure to visualize the desired outcome. This helps to associate the swing to a good result rather than the undesirable one. This is a trick used by many Professional Golfers such as Jim Furyk.

 A post-shot routine is a simple and great way to build confidence with every club in the bag. Give it a try during your next round or practice session.

-Submitted By:
 Anthony Freund
 Assistant Professional
 Three Lakes Golf Club

Sources:

EVERY SHOT MUST HAVE A PURPOSE, by Lynn Marriott, Pia Nilsson, and Ron Sirak

 

“Don’t Neglect your Post-Shot Routine”

 

“OWN YOUR GAME AND EXECUTE BETTER WITH A POST-SHOT ROUTINE”

By Tim Mitchell



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