Golf Focus = Clearing the Mental Interference
“We cannot see the color of the water in a lake if the lake is turbulent.” T.K.S. Deskichar (Commentary of Patañjali Yoga Sūtra III:34)
Accessing our best golf requires a quiet mind. The “zone” is not achieved with mental pollutants, but rather a freedom from interference. If we know this, thenwhy do we continue to add more distracting thoughts over a shot?
Some patterns of mental golf pollutants on the course are anger, doubt, fear, indecision, jealousy, and confusion, just to name a few. What are your damaging pollutants on the course?
Here’s how to work with mental distractions:
- The first layer is the practice of noticing the pollutants.
- Next, becoming aware of their influence on our actions. For instance, being angry and hitting the ball too hard, steering drives when the fairway is narrow, or perhaps misjudging green speed.
- Lastly, as we attenuate and clean the mind, we see more clearly over the shot. This builds confidence and trust allowing the technically sound golf motion to occur.
We are rewarded by not only hitting over the lake, but also experiencing a calm metaphorical lake in our mind. We know exactly what to do with each shot without thinking. This is playing golf in the zone.
Dodie Mazzuca is the author of “Seamless Golf,” “Golf Sūtras,” “Daily Golf Tap-Ins,” and is the founder of Golf PROformance. She teaches golf lessons, golf schools, and performance coaching for in Santa Cruz, CA and Reno, NV.