How not to let one bad shot snowball into two or three or …
How many times Have you hit a bad shot, stormed up to your ball determined to redeem yourself with your next swing-only to hit another lousy shot?
Golf is not a game of perfection. Even during your best round you are likely to [...]

How to master the most mentally challenging part of golf.
Watching Tiger Woods prepare to drain that 15-foot birdie putt to force an 18-hole playoff with Rocco Mediate in the 2008 U.S. Open, you had to wonder what was going through his mind. Can you imagine putting yourself in his shoes? Or inside his head?
To paraphrase [...]

What’s the trick to avoiding mental lapses during a round?
Do you find that you hit a point during the round where you get mentally fatigued and give away strokes because you can’t focus well or make poor decisions? Given that the average adult has about a seven-minute attention span and a typical round of golf [...]

How to zero in and get in the zone.
Like many highly successful athletes, three-time major winner Nick Price owes his success to a preternatural ability to focus. “The more I focus, the less I worry about pressure and everything else,” he once said. “My mind is totally and completely into the target. Some people [...]

Learn to turn performance pressure into a positive experience.
Whether you’re competing in the Colorado Open or the E Flight of the club championship, playing in a tournament is very different from playing with your friends. For most players, the biggest variance comes from the pressure of competing in a tournament environment. But where does [...]

Correct practice habits on the range lead to better rounds.
When I hear golfers say, “I can hit the ball really well on the range, but I can’t seem to take it to the course,” I usually ask questions about their practice habits: “How often do you practice?” and “What do you spend time doing?” [...]

In the wake of MIchelle Wie’s disappointing 2007 season, a great deal of speculation has focused on the degree to which her parents, sponsors and others may have pushed her too far and too fast. Even though her circumstances are unique, it’s worth looking at the challenges that face competitive junior golfers and their parents. I [...]

Whether you aim to break 80, 90 or the course record, you’d better know how to get there.
It’s that time again, a new year, full of possibilities for you and your golf game. Perhaps you’ve evaluated the quality of your game last year and decided you want to lower your handicap, get in better shape [...]

Does visualization really work?
Jack Nicklaus once said that he Never hit a shot, even in practice, without having a sharp picture of it in his head. “It’s like a color movie,” he explained. “First, I ‘see’ the ball where I want it to finish, nice and high and sitting up high on the bright green grass. Then [...]

Can’t play under pressure? Try a hemispheric Heimlich.
How many times Have you heard someone say they can perform well on the practice range or while playing with friends but fall apart when playing in a tournament or in a corporate outing? What allows some golfers to thrive under pressure while the rest of us cave?
Research [...]