Visualize Better Golf Shots

You can use visualization before you make a shot or after the shot. By using both approaches, you will greatly increase your ability to improve your golf and lower your score.

When you visualize before making a shot, don't limit yourself to just seeing where you want the ball to go. The key is your imagination. Use as many of your five senses as possible to vividly imagine the shot that you want to make. You not only want to see the path of the ball to your target, you want to feel the power or softness of the club face striking the ball according to the particular shot you're attempting as well as hear the sound it will make.

Visualization works because your mind does not distinguish between what you actually experience and what you vividly imagine. This occurs because your brain records every moment of your entire life. We will call the recording process of your brain - your tape, which is a conceptual representation of all your previous thoughts and actions. Your brain is programmed to make similar decisions according to what is on your tape. However, the most current portion of your tape has the biggest impact on its decision making process.

By visualizing a shot before you attempt it, you are putting on your tape very specific instructions for your brain to follow instead of allowing it to choose from the good and bad shots that were previously recorded there. If you make a shot that does not come off as well as you wanted or visualized, you can allow it to be recorded on your tape 'as is' to be replayed in the future. Or, you can take a couple of seconds to visualize the shot you wanted and put on your tape the shot you want the next time the situation calls for it.

You can do this immediately after the shot or at night before you go to sleep. Ideally, you will do both. The reason this improves your golf is that when you sleep, your brain is reviewing what went on your tape that day so it can decide what shot to select for you in the future. Would you prefer your brain to select the bad shot that you left 'as is' or the three good ones that you visualized?

It's your choice. If you take the time to visualize better golf shots, you will lower your score.

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