Are you preparing for a big golf game? Okay, it may not be quite the equivalent of Tiger Woods preparing for a PGA tour, but if you’re looking and feeling professional could psychologically impact your overall performance. After all, golf is just as much a mental game as it is physical. Here are a few helpful tips in Your Big Golf Game: 6 Ways to Look & Feel Like a Pro!
1. Eat Well & Hydrate
Eat well and hydrate on the day leading up to your big game. Professional golfers pay attention to their diet. Paying attention to yours could help you feel like one of them. Eating the right foods will boost your energy levels, improve your concentration, and promote better performance.
2. Dress Like a Professional
Dress like a golf pro and you will feel like one. Even though you may be used to visiting your local course in a pair of jeans and a t-shirt, you want to dress up for important golfing events. Invest in a good pair of golf shoes, belts, shirts, and other apparel. According to the Pacific Golf Warehouse staff, other golfers will take you seriously if you appear to take yourself seriously as well. If you want something a little extra, invest in golfing headwear, luggage bags, and other accessories.
Your subconscious mind determines most of your actions and behaviours. If you visualize success and think of yourself as a pro, you are likely to do well. Spend about ten minutes before your game imagining yourself hitting shots like a pro and winning. Seeing your success before you start playing gives you something to look forward to. It can dramatically increase your likelihood of doing well.
4. Acknowledge Your Tension
Being a pro golfer doesn’t mean you cannot be nervous about your big events. Be aware of your tension and use breathing techniques to deal with it. Tension awareness before and during your rounds is critical. Tension can change your golf swing. It affects your grip pressure as well.
5. Don’t Be Technical in Your Warm Up
When trying to play like a pro in a big game, the pressure may get to you. You can play your best game without getting too technical. Do not use your warm-up as a practice session. If you spend too much time critiquing your swings and trying to fix them, you are likely to lose confidence. The main purpose of a warm-up session is to find your rhythm and get yourself into playing mode. Use it as an opportunity for a relaxed trace-through of your ideal match.
6. Establish a Routine
Creating a routine makes you appear as someone who knows what they are doing. It also improves your confidence. Have a routine and stick to it even when you don’t seem to be doing very well. Routines are much easier without factors like the weather to hinder them. In such cases, an indoor golf simulator like the Mevo Plus will serve as a perfect backup plan so that you can continue your daily practice amidst the weather conditions. You can modify it from time to time to meet your changing needs. A good routine includes:
- Deep breaths for relaxation
- Simple but effective cues to focus
- Visualization of your desired outcome
- Practice swings before a shot
- Finding intermediate targets
When preparing for a big golf game, there’s a lot you can do to improve your success. Feeling and looking like a professional can help you perform like one. After all, golf is just as mentally rigorous as most other sports. Important tips to keep in mind include dressing like a professional, establishing an effective routine, and visualizing success.
Eat well and hydrate on the night before the big game, acknowledge your tension, and use breathing techniques to alchemize negative stress and you’ll do fabulously well and have fun with it too! How do you prepare for your rounds of golf? Let us know in the comments below, and join in the conversation on Facebook, Twitter & Instagram!
