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Swing Coach Vs. Mental Coach

smgoldstein

smgoldstein

2022 Goat Cupper
Albatross 2024 Club
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Lou Stagner, who I think is a good follow, says that mental game training is the most impactful for most golfers.

I tend to agree. My best golf is when my head is on straight and I tune out all of the external and internal noises.

Or as Payne Stewart once said: "A bad attitude is worse than a bad swing."
 
I agree to an extent. If your swing is trash, it will still be trash even if your mental state is in a good place. I feel like working with a swing coach to get better can improve your mental state with the game, but you reach a point that you need to make a more concerted effort to continue improving mentally, and/or bring in help. At least for me, that feels like it is the case.
 
as a psychotherapist, i suppose i'm biased on this one...get the swing coach!

more seriously, sports psych is way under-utilized by serious non-professional players.
i watch guys just absolutely crumble when the pressure mounts during big matches like our Member-Guest playoffs.
 
I tend to think he's right for most. Not going to get the swing right if the thing that controls the body isn't.
 
OldandStiff said:
I tend to think he's right for most. Not going to get the swing right if the thing that controls the body isn't.
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Agreed. It’s a combo. How Champions Think and The Four Foundations of Golf have made me take a different approach to how I want a round to go or about when I hit a bad shot and just mentally working my way around the course, but one needs to understand their swing and set expectations realistically along with getting help when needed (swing coach).
 
I don't think it matters as much to us recreational golfers as it does to the professional.
 
If you've got confidence in your swing you'll have more confidence in your game. I think a mental coach can help but you'll get more benefit from a swing coach being an amateur.
 
Speaking from experience with my son.

The mental game definitely needs to be coached and worked on as much if not more than the swing. Our son has a swing coach and I am his mental game coach. I feel this is really important to have them be a different person. I do NOT do anything with his swing, or even comment unless he asks. I certainly won't tell him to make adjustments during a round either.

Together, we work on our mental game and keep each other in check during our rounds together. We have a "mental scorecard" we keep up with during our rounds together. It has made the game way more enjoyable for us both.

This need for a mental golf coach became apparent to me after he competed in Drive, Chip and Putt this year. Leading up to the event, he was nails. Even during practicing at the event he was near flawless. However, once it was his turn he fell apart. I recognized that we had not prepared him for that aspect of competing. That was on me. From then on, I helped him with the mental game. It has paid dividends. He's not striking the ball any better, but he is scoring A LOT better as a result of how he's managing himself on course.

Lou is 100% right on this.
 
I dunno. I'm an optimist's optimist, but my swing is straight trash. I'm working on improving that. It's hard to play decent golf with a trash swing. Really hard.
 
checkered said:
I agree to an extent. If your swing is trash, it will still be trash even if your mental state is in a good place. I feel like working with a swing coach to get better can improve your mental state with the game, but you reach a point that you need to make a more concerted effort to continue improving mentally, and/or bring in help. At least for me, that feels like it is the case.
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I agree with you. Get your swing set then work on the mind.
 
Based on how many people I know that hit a fade or slice on every single tee box but still aim to hit it strait on every tee box I think a mental coach would be good for a lot of people. Also tons of people that are 10-20 handicaps lose their mind after a double bogey. You’re a double digit cap, you’re going to double a hole almost every single time you play.
 
I think both are equally important. A sharp mental game is absolutely required, especially after a tough hole. Staying in the moment and letting the past go to focus on the next shot has made a big difference for my game. Before the swing coach, I really didn't have an idea of "how" to swing a club. Sure, I could take it back and through, but struggled mightly with a slice. Like Caddyshack 2 big banana slice. Fortunately, I've worked through that now.
 
true, if the swing is "straight trash" then you probably won't find yourself in many high-leverage situations where the mental game matters all that much. but if it matters enough to invest time, effort, and money into your swing, your mind needs to be prepared to rise up for the moment too. some people come by that naturally, others benefit from help.

adrenaline is real, and "don't miss" is not a good swing thought.
 
I actually think it is a triangle of mechanics, mind, and body. my pov is older golfers overlook the body and we either cant make the right mechanical move period OR we can't make it for a full round.
 
I'm gonna go ahead and disagree with old Lou there. There are tons of folks that don't let much bother them. Most of the golfers I've played with have a good handle on the mental aspect but not so much on the physical swing side. The golfers I've played with that would benefit the most from mental training or sports psychology are already above average strikers of the ball. But that group has much lower numbers. I'd guess it depends which group you interact more with.
 
I play on an old executive course and the mental aspect is a big challenge of playing. Plenty of too tall rough, big trees, and sloping ground.
As well as one of those sloping greens that if you miss the hole from the high side, it rolls all the way down to the fringe, no matter how slow the ball is going.
 
Lou wrote today about Tiger hitting the green from 150 yds and ending up inside 25 feet 52% of the time. Yet some 10 HC golfers are ready to snap clubs if they don't get inside 15 feet from that distance. I'm just happy to land on the green. Golf for me is an adventure.
 
hackitup said:
I'm gonna go ahead and disagree with old Lou there. There are tons of folks that don't let much bother them. Most of the golfers I've played with have a good handle on the mental aspect but not so much on the physical swing side. The golfers I've played with that would benefit the most from mental training or sports psychology are already above average strikers of the ball. But that group has much lower numbers. I'd guess it depends which group you interact more with.
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Agreed. Same old story… applying something that has some validity with some to “most”.
In my case, the work I put towards the mental game helped. Not in the way of better scores but with enjoying the crappy golf I play.
The best attitude in the world will only help so much if I have a crappy swing and can’t execute to a certain degree.
 
smgoldstein said:
Lou Stagner, who I think is a good follow, says that mental game training is the most impactful for most golfers.
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I cannot disagree with this more.
Sure at a certain level (and you are at that level) but "most golfers". No. Not even close to reality with the myriad of swing flaws that exist. Can't make clean contact repeatedly (regardless of path)? No mental coach is helping there.
 
for someone who's trying to break 90, which will save more strokes more quickly? lessons or course management?
because if course management is part of the help provided by a mental coach then it's a no-brainer.

also, see what i did there? :ROFLMAO:
 
Both are massively important, clearly, but in my line of work it’s the mental side which people lag behind the most on. Thinking on a golf course to see what you’re given and how best to navigate it doesn’t come naturally to most. That said, the people/kids I work with play a lot, and are all quite athletic naturally where swing is concerned.
 
I agree to an extent. Thinking back to running ultramarathons, I was amazed at the number of times I heard "I could never do that", which is sort of defeating yourself before you even get to training for one, or standing on the starting line. If you get on a driving range/golf course and don't believe you can get the ball in the hole, it's probably not going to go well. The mental/physical side has to be at least somewhat of a symbiotic relationship.
 
Can’t believe I posted the same thing twice. I need a mental coach just to function on a golf forum.
 
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Yes and no. Positive thinking is not going to transform your swing. If it's bad you're likely to slice, hook, chunk or top.

However, too often I see golfers (including myself) compound their problems with poor strategy, or letting their frustration lead them into not thinking - and thus, poor strategy. You can save strokes with good thinking, even with a poor swing. So in as much as the mental game relates to making good decisions, I agree.
 
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