How To Deal With A Bad Golf Day - The Golf Sense Program

How To Deal With A Bad Golf Day - The Golf Sense Program


If you’re having one of those days when it’s just not happening, how do you change it there and then on the golf course? It doesn’t help when someone tells you to “chill out, it’s only a game”. Is it heck! Of course, getting frustrated or annoyed at yourself isn’t going to help, but it’s difficult not to react negatively when silly mistakes are spoiling your round. But a bad golf day is just that – a bad golf day. You’ll be better next time. Even if you’re in the middle of a competition, there are positive steps you can take to improve the situation.

Adding more stress to your game by being over-critical and trying harder to correct it will simply reinforce your current behaviour and worsen the situation.

Research by John Toner at University College, Dublin, found that when golfers feel under pressure and focus more on their technique, they actually make matters worse. He found those who place their attention away from their technique often get better results. This could include thinking about the hole or a part of the green, as long as they didn’t concentrate on their technique.

So, what can you do to change your current fortune? Here are a few tips. Some may sound like the last thing you should be thinking but, remember, if banging your head against a brick wall isn’t working, don’t bang it any harder!

· Stop caring about how the game is going.

· Don’t try to play correctly – you’ve been doing that already and it’s not working.

· Stop trying so hard – have a passing interest in where you’d like the ball to go and leave it at that.

· Be amused at your situation.

· Tell yourself you’re going to enjoy the next shot.

· Take in the scenery; would you really want to be anywhere else?

The objective is to break out of the loop you’re stuck in that’s preventing your natural game from flowing. If you can use the odd bad golf day to discard your pride and try something different, you’ll prevent the blip becoming a dip.

Do you want to take your golf to the next level? If yes, then I want to introduce you to this great golf training program which have been helping thousands of people round the world to improve their Golf Skills.
Click here ==> Golf Sense Program, to instantly download Roy Palmer Golf Training Guide.

Roy Palmer is a teacher of The Alexander Technique with over 26 years experience in competitive sport and has spent the last 15 years experimenting with new ways to enhance performance. His latest program for golfers has already been receiving international acclaim from coaches and players alike.

Click here: Roy Palmer Golf Sense Program, to check out the guide.

Related sports articles: Jump Manual, Vertical Jump Training

What Makes A Great Golfer? - Golf Sense Program

So what makes a great golfer? Obviously, one who knows what they’re doing. Not so obvious, do you know what you’re doing? It sounds too simple really but to be good or great at something you need to be able to apply yourself to the task in hand. However, from my experience of working with golfers, I’ve discovered a high percentage don’t really know what they’re doing.

I don’t mean this in the traditional sense as each knew the importance of a good stance, relaxed shoulders and keeping their eye on the ball. I’m referring to when it comes down to putting their coaching and understanding of good technique into practice. For example, Tom (name changed to save his embarrassment) when talking me through his preparation for a swing exclaimed he was relaxing his shoulders was actually doing nothing of the sort. His shoulders were quite tense and raised at least one inch higher than their natural resting position.

Jane (likewise as above) knew she had to get her stance right before attempting her swing and could easily describe the ideal position; but had no idea that her stance looking nothing like the ideal. She would tighten her lower back and hamstrings and pull down into an uncomfortable looking posture that was no way going to allow for a good swing. Unfortunately, she had done it like this for years so if felt right. I’ve already written about how habits can have a detrimental influence on your swing, see The Perfect Golf Swing, but habits go deep and effect just about everything we do.

Once you’ve developed a habit for any technique you actually start to lose control of many of the elements of that technique. For instance, Tom had somewhere in his golfing career started to raised his shoulders in preparation for the swing. He had no idea he was doing it now because it felt part of his normal procedure and gave no thought to it at all. If he didn’t know he was doing it he couldn’t control it.

There may be any number of unknown actions that have become a habit you’re bringing into your game. They’re usually totally unnecessary and will ruin a good shot. So when I ask ‘do you know what you’re doing?’ check and see if you’re clenching your jaw, holding your breath, lifting your shoulders or tightening your back. You may think you’re following the coaching manual when swinging, chipping and putting whereas in reality you could be doing something completely different.

Do you want to take your golf to the next level? If yes, then I want to introduce you to this great golf training program which have been helping thousands of people round the world to improve their Golf Skills.
Click here ==> Golf Sense Program, to instantly download Roy Palmer Golf Training Guide.

Roy Palmer is a teacher of The Alexander Technique with over 26 years experience in competitive sport and has spent the last 15 years experimenting with new ways to enhance performance. His latest program for golfers has already been receiving international acclaim from coaches and players alike.

Click here: Roy Palmer Golf Sense Program, to check out the guide.

Related sports articles: Jump Manual, Vertical Jump Training

Five Good Reasons Why Golfers Should Learn The Alexander Technique

You may not have heard of The Alexander Technique, but this innovative system of movement re-education could work wonders for your golf. The benefits for the golfer are many, but how can a technique developed by an actor as long ago as the 1890s help your game? Learning The Alexander Technique will improve your posture, self-awareness, ability to focus, your coordination and therefore timing and how you move. Here are five reasons why you should seriously consider learning this remarkable, yet underrated technique.

1. Reduce The Risk Of Getting Injured
There’s nothing quite as frustrating as an injury that stops you playing the game you love; with the exception of a recurring injury! Most golfing injuries are due to overuse of certain muscles due to poor technique and movement. Lessons in The Alexander Technique will show you how to move with much less effort dramatically reducing the stresses and strains you unknowingly place on your muscles and joints.

2. Improve Your Technique
As you learn how to eliminate inappropriate muscle actions with the technique, your coordination and timing will improve. I see many golfers fail to reach their potential because of poor body control. For example, many players unknowingly use excessive effort to swing with the effect of contracting muscles that should be letting go to facilitate rotation and develop power. This is a bit like trying to drive your car with the brake on, that is, it does nothing for efficiency and increases the wear and tear on the mechanics. The golfers I see are amazed at just how much further they can hit the ball once they learn how to use less effort to generate more power.

3. Get A Better Posture
One of the most obvious outward benefits of learning The Alexander Technique is improvements in your posture. This is really a side-effect of better coordination and movement as your muscles will release and stop pulling your body out of shape. And don’t worry, it takes no effort at all to get a better posture and definitely no trying to sit or stand up straight. After a while you’ll find you’re carrying far less strain in your body away from the course as well as on it. You’ll feel lighter, taller and more confident as your new body shape get comments from your friends and colleagues.

4. Learn How To Focus And Get Into The Zone
I believe the main benefit for sports people is the unique way The Alexander Technique encourages you to think and focus. This will help you develop a vital skill for your golf, the ability to get into the moment. This, I believe, opens the gateway to The Zone, the subliminal state where everything seems to be both easy and a joy. Golfers who have experienced being in The Zone say that’s when they’ve played their best golf.

5. Simplify Your Golf
When something becomes too complicated it suddenly becomes much less enjoyable. When you’re standing at the tee struggling to remember twenty different things to do at the same time, let alone do it, and it still doesn’t work, that’s no fun. Learning how to focus and apply yourself using the easy-to-follow techniques of Alexander will help you to bring it all into a single focused thought. Suddenly there seems to be a lot less to think about and everything will appear to look after itself and fall into place. Your golf will become more enjoyable and you can free yourself of the frustrating parts and take your game to the next level.

Do you want to take your golf to the next level? If yes, then I want to introduce you to this great golf training program which have been helping thousands of people round the world to improve their Golf Skills.
Click here ==> Golf Sense Program, to instantly download Roy Palmer Golf Training Guide.

Roy Palmer is a teacher of The Alexander Technique with over 26 years experience in competitive sport and has spent the last 15 years experimenting with new ways to enhance performance. His latest program for golfers has already been receiving international acclaim from coaches and players alike.

Click here: Roy Palmer Golf Sense Program, to check out the guide.

Related sports articles: Jump Manual, Vertical Jump Training

The Perfect Golf Swing: Do You Have It In You?

The Perfect Golf Swing: Do You Have It In You?


The perfect golf swing is the pinnacle of sporting and human achievement. Science, art and skill combine to achieve what logically appears almost impossible. A thought creates a chemical reaction, translates into a billion electrical pulses, activates around 700 muscles and 206 bones to perform a miracle of coordination, organisation and implementation to achieve an expectation.

However, your swing is influenced heavily by habits that could be preventing your perfect swing seeing the light of day. Before you swing you'll prepare yourself in a way that feels right. Where you place your feet, how you hold your club and even how you breathe will be based on how you’ve done it many times before. But does practice make perfect? Is your swing anywhere near perfect?

To appreciate just how influential your habits are, try folding your arms and note which way you’ve folded them. Then try and fold them the opposite way. How does it feel? A little strange? There is nothing wrong with folding your arms the opposite way but it feels completely wrong simply because it’s not your habit.

Would you prepare to take your swing in a way that felt wrong? It would throw you completely off your stride if you suddenly felt something unusual or out of the ordinary when doing something you’ve done one hundred thousand times before.

Yet, while you continue to do things in the ‘right’ way, you’re severely limiting your potential to improve your game because you’re at the mercy of your habits. If you always do something in the same habitual way, you have nothing to compare your present technique against.

I don’t know if Einstein played golf but he sums it up with his famous saying, ‘insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.’

So maybe once in a while be prepared to try something different and don’t worry about the consequences. You never know, you might find a perfect swing that has been there along – it’s just never been given the chance to emerge!

Do you want to take your golf to the next level? If yes, then I want to introduce you to this great golf training program which have been helping thousands of people round the world to improve their Golf Skills.
Click here ==> Golf Sense Program, to instantly download Roy Palmer Golf Training Guide.

Roy Palmer is a teacher of The Alexander Technique with over 26 years experience in competitive sport and has spent the last 15 years experimenting with new ways to enhance performance. His latest program for golfers has already been receiving international acclaim from coaches and players alike.

Click here: Roy Palmer Golf Sense Program, to check out the guide.

Related sports articles: Jump Manual, Vertical Jump Training

Playing Golf In The Zone - Tips From The Golf Sense Program

Think back to the best shot you’ve ever played. It doesn’t matter if it was twenty minutes or twenty years ago, you can probably recall every minor detail with ease. Perhaps it was a hole in one, a miraculous shot out of the bunker or the mother of all putts to take the game at the last hole.

How did it feel? Did you put a lot of effort into that shot? No? It was one of the easiest shots you’ve ever played, wasn’t it? Ask all the golfers you know and they’ll describe a similar sensation: it’s as if the shot played itself. Everything just flowed as your wish became your command, and your body, club and ball did exactly what you asked them to do.

Was there indecision? Or a long debate on how you were to play the shot? No? Golfers recounting their perfect moment to me have said definitely not. Although they all could recall the situation, conditions and outcome, when they came to describe what it felt like, they used words such as ‘instinctive’, ‘flowing’, ‘light’ and ‘easy’. Note the absence of technical terms.

This experience is what athletes refer to as ‘The Zone’; artists and writers call it ‘The Flow’. You temporarily existed in a different state with a heightened sense of awareness. Everything seemed easier and simpler, and you instinctively knew exactly what you had to do – nothing more, nothing less. With little perceived effort you played a peach of a shot worthy of a story years later for your grandchildren.

The Zone is the holy grail of sport. Athletes who experience it describe it as the ultimate state, a sort of nirvana, a pinnacle of achievement to reach and enjoy. It is often portrayed as a mysterious, altered state where performance is effortless, trouble-free and near to perfection. Many feel they can anticipate events, permitting them to take action before their opponent. The stress and anxiety of performing vanishes leaving them free to function without fear of consequences.

So How Does A Golfer Get Into The Zone?

The short answer is don't try! I have found from experience that anything you do directly will actually stop it happening. I see getting into The Zone as a similar process to falling asleep. If you try to ‘do it’ it won’t happen. To fall asleep all you need are the right conditions – a dark room, a warm, comfortable bed, a clear mind and the rest takes care of itself. If at any stage you become conscious of the process of drifting off, you’ll come back to full consciousness and have to start all over again.

In sport the conditions that enable us to get into The Zone are all there. Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, a professor of psychology and authority on The Zone, believes that if the following are present in any activity, it’s possible to enter into it.

· The presence of a challenging activity.

· The perception that your skills match the challenge.

· Clear goals.

· The availability of instant feedback concerning your performance.

All of these are present on the course, you just need to focus and prevent any anxiety about the shot in hand preventing you from clearing your mind. It's a skill like any other that can be learnt once you know the process. Lose yourself in your game, don't get anxious or frustrated and before you know it you'll be getting into The Zone and playing your best golf.

Do you want to take your golf to the next level? If yes, then I want to introduce you to this great golf training program which have been helping thousands of people round the world to improve their Golf Skills.
Click here ==> Golf Sense Program, to instantly download Roy Palmer Golf Training Guide.

Roy Palmer is a teacher of The Alexander Technique with over 26 years experience in competitive sport and has spent the last 15 years experimenting with new ways to enhance performance. His latest program for golfers has already been receiving international acclaim from coaches and players alike.

Click here: Roy Palmer Golf Sense Program, to check out the guide.

Related sports articles: Jump Manual, Vertical Jump Training

Are You Trying To Fail At Golf? - Improve Your With The Golf Sense Program

Improvements in your golf can only come about from hard work. Really? Firstly, you have to know what you’re going to focus all that hard work on and, secondly, whether your effort is applied in a way that will bring about the best results. What do you do when you say to yourself that 'you're going to try harder' or 'focus your efforts on ....insert your weakness here'?

What do you then do differently? From my own experience and from working with many golfers, when we ‘try harder’ we invariably add a bit more of what we’re already doing to the task in hand. This usually involves furrowing our brows, fixing our eyes and jaw, holding our breath, and tightening up a little for good measure. Test it out next time, I bet you’ll do at least one of them!

Do they help or are they going to make things worse?

The stereotypical ‘trying harder’ face is not good for promoting the poise necessary for golf. Although these actions may convince us that we really are trying harder, we are in reality reducing our chances of a free, relaxed shot.

The more you try, the more your muscles will contract, reducing sensitivity and ultimately the control you have over your club. Take a few shots and see how little effort it takes, and let the club’s momentum do the work for you. Also, notice how much more you become aware of when you remove even a small amount of unnecessary tension.

The same can apply to concentration. At a critical part of a game you will obviously feel the need to concentrate on what you need to do. But how do you concentrate? Do you put on your 'trying harder' face? Check whether you feel the need to furrow your brow, tighten your jaw or hold your breath. All these will have an effect on your coordination and lead to excessive use of your muscles.

You don’t actually need to do anything physical to concentrate, but many of us do!

Do you want to take your golf to the next level? If yes, then I want to introduce you to this great golf training program which have been helping thousands of people round the world to improve their Golf Skills.
Click here ==> Golf Sense Program, to instantly download Roy Palmer Golf Training Guide.

Roy Palmer is a teacher of The Alexander Technique with over 26 years experience in competitive sport and has spent the last 15 years experimenting with new ways to enhance performance. His latest program for golfers has already been receiving international acclaim from coaches and players alike.

Click here: Roy Palmer Golf Sense Program, to check out the guide.

Related sports articles: Jump Manual, Vertical Jump Training

A Simple Golf Tip That Could Drastically Improve Your Swing - The Golf Sense Program

When your swing works, it can feel so simple and immensely satisfying. When it doesn’t, it feels like each part of your body is doing its own thing in conflict with every other part. You might begin to wonder if you’ll ever be capable of doing it again.

So why the difference? What works so well one moment and not the next?

It only takes a tiny amount of inappropriate activity in one seemingly insignificant muscle to upset your rhythm and fluff the shot. Unfortunately, the majority of us simply don’t have the degree of sensitivity or self-awareness to notice the small differences from one shot to the next.

Let’s look at one of the many variables that can affect the outcome of your swing.

Do you stiffen your neck just before you swing? Do you know? If you have the habit of tightening your grip on the club handle, this can also cause your neck and jaw muscles to tighten. It’s probably not on your list of things to do, but I see many golfers doing it in preparation. Does it matter?

If you unknowingly tighten your neck or clench your jaw just before you swing, it changes the dynamics of your swing. I say ‘unknowingly’ because you may be employing any number of unnecessary actions when you move and yet be completely unaware of them.

On Monday you may tighten slightly with no noticeable effect on the shot, whereas on Tuesday you may do it a fraction more and see the ball go wayward. If you’re not aware that you’re doing this in the first place, it becomes an unknown variable in your technique and leads to an inconsistency with no obvious cause. More importantly, if you don’t know you’re doing it, you can’t control it.

In fact, it's a very common habit in golfers to tighten their necks before attempting to swing. So why not add it the following simple technique to your check list before you start. It only takes a second and could make all the difference.

Be aware of your lips touching each other and soften your jaw.

Yep, that's it! I've seen this simple tip make a huge impact on many a players' game. It helps to prevent tension in your neck and allows for freer, relaxed movement and better coordination. Give it a go and see if it works for you!

Do you want to take your golf to the next level? If yes, then I want to introduce you to this great golf training program which have been helping thousands of people round the world to improve their Golf Skills.
Click here ==> Golf Sense Program, to instantly download Roy Palmer Golf Training Guide.

Roy Palmer is a teacher of The Alexander Technique with over 26 years experience in competitive sport and has spent the last 15 years experimenting with new ways to enhance performance. His latest program for golfers has already been receiving international acclaim from coaches and players alike.

Click here: Roy Palmer Golf Sense Program, to check out the guide.

Related sports articles: Jump Manual, Vertical Jump Training