Trusting your swing can be very scary. if you want to play your best golf, that is what you have to learn to do. Learn how to trust in your golf swing to gain confidence on the golf course.

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A good friend and great coach “Jonathan Wallett”  runs the Golf Academy ELITE COACHING www.elitecoaching.com and he introduces me to the Training and Trusting Mind Sets. Here’s what Jonathan had to say:

Deciding to “trust” your swing is very scary. But if you want to play your best golf, that is what you have to learn to do.  “So what happens if I hit a bad shot in a tournament? Shouldn’t I try to work out what went wrong and try to correct it?”  ABSOLUTELY NOT! The training ground is the place to work on your swing, not the golf course.  If you hit a poor shot, the best reaction is to accept that it’s a poor shot, and realize that even Tiger Woods hits poor shots sometimes, even during his best rounds, and then to put the club straight back in the bag.

3 Causes of Bad Shots

Timothy Galway, in his excellent book “The Inner Game of Golf”, says that there are 3 mental causes of bad shots; 1.Self Criticism  2.Self Analysis 3.Self Judgment.

By trying to correct your swing after the shot, you are making not one but ALL three of these mental errors!  “So what happens if I hook my first 3 drives left?”  Well you should then think about taking a 3 wood on hole 4, or alternatively aim a little further right and accept that on this given day you are playing with a little more right to left flight than normal. That is the essence of functional golf, accepting your game as it is that day, and using a mindset that enables you to play golf – getting the ball in the hole in as few strokes as possible.

Now some players, and Tom Watson was one of them, play better using ‘swing keys’. Let’s be very clear on this – using one predetermined swing key/feeling/image is very different than dissecting your technique after each shot. It’s fine to use a swing key, but as Tom Watson says “a swing key is to help you focus your mind so that you can trust your swing”. The golden rule is that you should never change your swing key mid round – a swing key is not a ‘swing fix’ – it’s merely a concentration focus.

How can I learn to trust my swing more? 

1. Realistic attitude – First of all, you have to be realistic in your attitude. NO-ONE has a perfect swing, not even Tiger Woods. Golf is NOT a game of perfect shots.   It’s a game of imperfect shots mostly, and the essence of the game is learning to manage and handle these.  Once you absorb this attitude, and stop “trying” to swing perfectly and hit perfect shots, it will help you to trust your swing more.

2. Accept the swing that you have now.  On tournament day, remember that everybody else in the tournament has “imperfect” swings, too. That doesn’t mean that over a period of time you shouldn’t try to improve and develop your golf swing.  However, it does mean understanding that during a tournament round is NOT the place or the time to look to improve your swing.  The driving range is the place to do that.

3. The most important relationship in golf – you and your swing.   A good story is that of Lee Trevino, winner of 6 Major titles. When asked whether he prefers to play a fade or a draw, he once famously said, “I dance with the lady I came with.   I go on the practice ground before the round, and if I’m fading the ball, I’ll play with a fade that day. If I’m drawing the ball on the range, then I’ll play with a draw that day”. Nobody has a perfect swing during ANY tournament – but the player who accepts his or her swing and has the best relationship with their swing, will be the player who is picking up the prizes.