Golf Psychology For Weekend Warriors

"Golf Psychology for Weekend Warriors" is designed to help you develop your mental game

Developed from 25 years of coaching experience, this program tackles the mental challenges that hold golfers back.

Learn to manage pressure, boost confidence, and bring your range game to the course.

Transform your mindset, lower your scores, and rediscover your love for the game.

Your Golf Brain is your personal golf supercomputer.

It's a vast library of golf experience just waiting to help you.

Think of your Pre-Shot Routine as your Golf Brain's input system.

When you show it exactly what you want - the target, the shot shape, the trajectory - your Golf Brain knows precisely what to find in its database.

It matches your current shot with all those stored experiences and helps you execute with clarity and commitment..

The Pre-Shot Routine is one of the core fundamentals of your mental game.

It's gives you consistency. Control. And understanding of what you are trying to do, shot by shot.

Develop a well grooved Pre-Shot Routine and you will develop much more certainty about where your ball is going to go.

The Post-Shot Routine is the compliment to your Pre-Shot Routine.

It gives you the ability to solve problems out on the golf course, and limit the amount of emotion you spend after.a bad shot.

Becoming efficient at imagining ball flight can make a big difference to your game.

Ball flight gives your Golf Brain high levels of clarity about the shot you want to play.

Learn to study your ball flight, especially off the tee.

For the more ball flight pictures you store, the easier it becomes to create ball flight pictures, especially under pressure.

Breathing is one of the simplest and easiest ways to gain control of your nerves and anxiety. This basic exercise should help.

The first tee shot can create a lot of over-bearing anxiety, pressure and stress.

Especially if you worry about what others will think.

But is there another way to think about the opening shot of your round?

Be careful of letting nerves and anxiety causing you to speed up your routines, simply to get your tee shot over with so you can move away from the first tee.

So learn to slow down and take control of your process and routines.

You may worry that other players are mentally judging and criticising your game on the first tee.

Which bothers and worries you.

But are they really paying that much attention?

Visualisation is one of the most important free skills in golf. Anyone can do it!

The more you spend time visualising your game, the easier it will be to imagine your shots on the course,

Especially when your under scorecard pressure,

Negative fear based messaging can cause you to lose both clarity and commitment over the shot, as your Golf Brain becomes uncertain as to what shot you want to play.

Why might you want you to impress other players?

Wanting to impress others can overload the nerves with unnecessary stress and pressure.

Instead what about wanting to impress yourself?

Small talk and banter can be a distraction and leave you unfocused for your first tee shot.

So you have permission to distance yourself from the playing group, so you can be more focused on your disciplines and routines.

Think of it this way: You never hit a great shot by focusing on where you don't want the ball to go.

Yet standing on the tee, how often do you catch yourself thinking, "Don't go in the water

The Course Designer wants to cloud your mind with indecision.

Your task is to create a laser focus that allows you to fully commit to ball to target.

There's water on the hole, and our eyes keep getting pulled back to it.

The course designer knows this!

They want you to stare at that water until it's all you can think about.

So it’s good to be aware of your scan when water is in play.

The course designer wants to get in your head.

Each hazard, each tough carry, each tricky hole - they're all designed to make you doubt yourself.

But once you know what they're trying to do, you can beat their mind games.

The course designer wants your mind focused on the water.

They know the more you think about it, the less you think about your target.

So learn to minimalise the image of the water in your mind.

Your golf scorecard isn't just about your shots - it’s an exact reflection of your inner game.

Every number on your card shows how well you stayed focused, committed to decisions, handled challenges and a range of other qualities.

Take care of your Inner Scorecard and your golf scorecard will follow.

Stress isn't just in your head - it affects every shot you play.

When your emotions run high, it eats into your focus.

But here's the good news: stress management is a skill you can learn, just like any golf shot.

Every round tests your character with bad shots and tough breaks.

Resilience is what stops one bad hole from ruining your round.

It's about developing the ability to bounce back, staying mentally strong, and preventing negative thoughts from spiralling.

Golf tries to pull your mind in two directions - back to past mistakes or forward to outcome thinking.

But the only place where good golf happens is right now.

Being present is a great aide to clam, composed golf.

Discipline is about doing the right things at the right time. Repeatedly.

Each time you apply your routine and trust your process, you build a more consistent game.

Good habits become good golf through the application of your discipline.

Every good shot begins with a clear decision.

But many golfers don't know what helps them make their best decisions on the course.

discovering your personal formula for good decisions is key to consistent golf.

Your concentration is the glue that holds your game together together - from your decisions to your swing.

The quality of your golf is founded on the quality of your concentration.

The deeper your concentration, the more composed, calm and clear-headed you are.

When things go wrong, most golfers get angry with themselves.

But being hard on yourself rarely helps your game.

Compassion keeps you calm, helps you think clearly, and lets you bounce back faster.

Golf changes every day - different conditions, different feelings, different challenges.

Being stuck in one way of thinking limits your game.

Adaptable players find ways to score even when things aren't perfect.

The more you practice visualization, the more natural it becomes when you need it.

Think of it as rehearsing success in your mind first.

Anger doesn't just affect your mood - it can hijack your whole game.

But being aware when anger starts creeping in is your first step to controlling it.

Don’t forget - You can't play your best golf when you're fighting with yourself.

Your post-shot routine is your first defense against anger taking over your game and your thinking.

By checking in on your reaction after each shot, you can catch anger before it spirals out of control.

Use your post-shot routine as your anger early warning system.

When anger starts rising, counting backwards gives your mind a different focus.

A simple trick that can stop emotions from taking over your game.

Like a reset button for your mind, counting turns angry energy into calmness.

Golf doesn't need much emotion to play well.

In fact, too much emotion usually hurts your game.

Finding your right emotional level will help you play your best golf.

Negative self-talk can drain your confidence and limit your game.

Instead of beating yourself up, find ways to guide yourself with constructive thoughts.

Good self-talk leads to better decisions and clearer thinking.

When anger pushes you toward chasing a score, Maximum Safety Positions give you a way back to smart golf.

These are spots on the course where you can reset, regroup, and return to good decisions.

Think of them as points of stability when emotions start to inveigle your game.

Golf was never meant to be perfect - even the best players miss shots.

Chasing perfection creates self-pressure.

Excellence is different - it's about making the best of each situation and learning from every shot.

When you're leading, don't doubt why you're there - understand why you deserve to be.

Your good score didn't happen by accident.

You earned your position through smart decisions, well-executed shots, and .excellent composure.

Your mind can be your biggest asset in the closing stages.

When you see things clearly, pressure becomes less over-bearing.

Understanding what's really happening - rather than what pressure makes you think is happening - helps you stay calm and make smart decisions.

The way you walk between shots is a simple way to keep grounded especially when you are winning and getting caught up in outcome thinking.

Wanting to win isn't the same as knowing how to win.

When you focus on the 'how' instead of just the 'want', pressure gets lighter.

Understanding the process of winning lets you focus on what actually works, not what you hope will work.

Being in front can feel strange when it's new.

Leading is a skill you can learn and practice, just like any golf shot.

The more you understand about handling the lead, the more comfortable it becomes.

Leading can make you start thinking about protecting your score instead of playing your game.

When defensive thinking creeps in, you start making safer choices instead of smart ones.

The lead shouldn't change the decisions that got you there.

Competition success doesn't just happen - it comes from solid mental preparation.

When you prepare your mind properly, you're ready for whatever the competition brings.

Think of mental prep as building your winning foundation.

Are you a bad putter?

Or do you have a bad/under-developed process?

It's easy to get frustrated if the putts don't drop early on in the round.

But that frustration could undermine potential birdie opportunities that could be awaiting you as the round progresses.

Becoming focused and concentrated on Ball Roll can help take the pressure off Outcome Thinking, as well as deepening your concentration.

When you lose putting confidence, you tend to Hope the ball goes in.

But Hope doesn't help you make many putts.

Every great putt starts with a clear picture.

When you can see the line, your Golf Brain transitions from uncertainty to clarity, from doubt to conviction.

Think of illuminating the line as turning on the lights in a dark room.

Suddenly, everything becomes clear.

Your Golf Brain isn't guessing anymore - it's knowing.

This mental clarity creates a direct pathway from your mind to the hole.

The irony of putting is clear: the more you fear missing, the more likely you are to miss.

Fear tightens your grip, quickens your stroke, and clouds your judgment.

It turns simple three-footers into mental mountains.

Your best putts happen when your mind is quiet and your stroke is free.

Think about practice putting - there's no fear, just pure stroke.

That's the feeling we need to capture on the course.

Tension can negate good putting.

It creeps into your grip, often unnoticed, carrying the weight of past misses and fears.

But the path to better putting often starts with something remarkably simple: lightening your grip.

The art of reading greens isn't about forcing your eyes to find something - it's about allowing them to see everything.

When your eyes soften, the path becomes clear.

In putting, TRUST is a key quality.

For TRUST allows you to relax and putt with feel.

But TRUST in what exactly?

The key lies in trusting your process, not obsessing over results.

Great putters aren't thinking about making or missing.

They're focused on their routine, their read, and their rhythm.

What you do after your putt is just as crucial as what you do before it.

The post-putt routine is your learning space, an emotional reset button, and your path to continuous improvement on the greens.

Rory McIlroy was in contention to win his first Major for ten years at The US Open at Pinehurst 2024.

But did Outcome Thinking seep into his process. Into his HOW to win?

The best golf course designers are trying to win a mental battle against you.

Nowhere more so, than at the Sawgrass Country Club and the infamous 17th island green hole, surrounded by water.