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How do you mentally prepare?

I really don’t. I just go play and whatever happens happens. Most I’ll do is hit a few putts on the practice green. I try to stay out of my own way on the course.
 
I have a very set routine which I only rarely deviate from. I generally roar into the carpark about 10 minutes before my tee time, haul my clubs onto the trolly scattering balls and tees all over the place and arrive puffing on the tee about 2 minutes before the off. Tie my shoelaces whilst my partner tees off, curse because I have once again forgotten my woolen hat, thrash a driver around 4 or five times to loosen up and then carve one into the trees on the right.

I should potentially rethink this.
 
I just show up at the course and play. I probably will listen to music in the car on the way to the course to keep things light but for me theres really not much to it. Show up at the course and play. Golf is a pretty simple game: hit it, find it and hit it again.
 
I arrive a bit early, stretch a little, practice putt, and hit about 6 balls with my 8 or 9 iron, into the course's lake (if I hit the first few flush, I won't hit all 6). The first tee is a par 5 double dogleg, requiring a 5 or 6 iron tee shot, and I want to have memories of the last flushed shot I hit into the lake, fresh on my mind. After that, its up to the golf gods!
 
It depends on if it’s a new course or one I’ve played several times. If it’s new, I spend a lot of time looking at their website and doing hole by hole views just to try and eliminate any surprises that might catch you off guard your first time out. If it’s a course I play a lot I don’t really do much to prepare. Just head to the course and play some golf.
 
I do some positive self talk before and during the round.

I do my best to stay in the moment. Every shot counts, and the only shot I have control over is the one I am about to hit.

This mindset has helped me drop my scores, by reducing the blow ups form a bad shot, leading to bad decisions and higher scores.
 
Generally just try and get a song in my head that's easy to sing along with or remember. Tends to clear everything up.
 
I used to think about the round a lot before the round on what I wanted to do, didnt want to do. Now it's more of some good music (any kind) and a cocktail to have the muscles loose.
 
By turning off my work email on my phone. The minute I look at it, I lose focus on golf. So for events and tournaments I make myself shut it down for the most part.

When I am focusing on golf, I generally just try to relax and treat events/tournaments as an ordinary round, although I will take a little bit longer reading putts.
 
On the car ride over I try to clear any lingering thoughts about work challenges, family challenges, etc, put on some tunes I like, and generally try to find my way to a positive mental attitude.

I'll remind myself things like hey, I'm fortunate, I get to play golf with my friends today - not everyone has that opportunity, I should relax, have fun, be present and just enjoy it.

As others have said - I'll turn off the work email. Lately I've been turning the phone off altogether and/or leaving it in the car.

Once I arrive, I'll stretch, maybe go hit a couple 7 irons on the range just to loosen up, chip/putt a little to get a feel for the speed of the greens, then... off we go.

If I hit good shots, hey, that's great. If I hit bad ones, oh well, I'm still fortunate.
 
A nice cold glass of milk helps me get mentally focused and I put on some of my jams and I'm good to go.
 
Everyone seems to have one little thing they do to help them prepare.
Do you think your mental game is strong enough or need improvement.
 
Snickerdog said:
Everyone seems to have one little thing they do to help them prepare.
Do you think your mental game is strong enough or need improvement.
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It's a different kind of focus for a regular round or scramble round and a tournament round. Focus should be on fun regardless.
 
Don't play at the level that a lot of people do, so my way is different than many. Always want to play as well as possible and enjoy the game. I find that if I start thinking too much things go sideways. Just check my yardage and try to use the correct club, anything past that and I usually mess up. Trying to correct things usually gives me a big number but thank goodness I have a short memory, can get a 10 then a par.
 
I don’t mentally prepare I just show up and play


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Snickerdog said:
Everyone seems to have one little thing they do to help them prepare.
Do you think your mental game is strong enough or need improvement.
Click to expand...

Hard to say. I think it depends on what I'm trying to accomplish. It's rare that I get all that competitive out there; it's just not really in my nature.

But there are times when get juuuuuuuuust a little pi$$ed off, not enough to be really angry or frustrated as that usually sends my game STRAIGHT down the tubes, but... just slightly annoyed, I guess. It's brought on by some slight, like someone else talking some trash, or something like that, and I focus in hard and start really playing some golf.

I haven't found a way to access that gear without having someone or something annoy me a bit, and I'm not really sure I want to play golf with that mindset all the time anyway. I'd like to find a way to access that without being annoyed.
 
I just try to think about each shot and what it's going to take to give me the best chance to get the ball in the hole. No pressing after a bad shot and not getting to excited with good results and expecting them to continue. Bad is going to happen, I just try to make sure it doesn't kill the entire round.
 
Being prepared. If it’s a course I’ve never played or even a course I haven’t played well on before, I try to research the course and know what to look for on each hole is important for me. When I decide what to do on a hole the days before, I take emotion out of it and play to my strengths instead of attempting hero shots.

Then the whole idea of relaxing and just freeing yourself to play well is easier cause I already know how each hole is going to play.

This is my goal for the grandaddy. The caveat is that I’ll have a caddy doing the research for me

;)
 
I tell myself one rule before I play, "Don't suck" and then I go play.
 
McLovin said:
the best thing for me is to have time. i like 45 mins to an hour. 20 mins for full swing, 20 mins for short game, and 10-20 mins for putting. take my time, no rush. i’ve had good rounds that are rushed, and bad rounds when i’ve had time. but i seem to have some success more often when i’ve been able to ease into it.
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I'm the same way. I can live without the short game warm up, but I really like to have enough time to feel like I'm loose and swinging well. It doesn't always work, but I hate showing up to the course feeling like I only have time to change my shoes and rush to the tee.
 
bigskyirish said:
I'm the same way. I can live without the short game warm up, but I really like to have enough time to feel like I'm loose and swinging well. It doesn't always work, but I hate showing up to the course feeling like I only have time to change my shoes and rush to the tee.
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but like me, i'm sure you've had good rounds where you've rushed to the first tee with no warmup.

it reminds me of talking to my buddy not long ago. he was excited about shooting a round in the low 70s. said he was super hungover, stumbled to the first tee with shoes untied, and proceeded to have a great round for him. thought he may unlocked the secret, so did it again. and couldn't hit the broad side of a barn lol.
 
McLovin said:
but like me, i'm sure you've had good rounds where you've rushed to the first tee with no warmup.

it reminds me of talking to my buddy not long ago. he was excited about shooting a round in the low 70s. said he was super hungover, stumbled to the first tee with shoes untied, and proceeded to have a great round for him. thought he may unlocked the secret, so did it again. and couldn't hit the broad side of a barn lol.
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Absolutely. I've probably had some of my best rounds where I show up, hit two putts and head out. But I'd say those are usually if I'm relaxed and not all that worried about it. More often, I tend to get annoyed and halfway stressed that I'm not there earlier and then I end up +5 after 3 or something like that.
 
depends on the round, but in my history baseball and golf I perform at my best (which is still not all that impressive) when slightly hung over. Keeps me from thinking and expecting too much, so 1-2 drinks too many the night before is the recipe for my best play.

Besides that, not being rushed/late helps me get into the groove so to speak.
 
mancest said:
depends on the round, but in my history baseball and golf I perform at my best (which is still not all that impressive) when slightly hung over. Keeps me from thinking and expecting too much, so 1-2 drinks too many the night before is the recipe for my best play.

Besides that, not being rushed/late helps me get into the groove so to speak.
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Its funny you say that, I noticed when I drank that I sometimes played better slightly hungover. But generally, just even being tired helps as I don't think I push myself or try to swing to hard.
 
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