By practicing putting while looking at the cup, you begin to shift mental focus from the process of hitting the ball to the more important objective of concentrating on the target. (Dia Dipasupil/EclipseSportsWire.com)

Are you able to tame your monkey?

By Mark Shatz, Ph.D,
Contributor

Beginning practitioners of meditation often experience "monkey mind," the mind's tendency to jump from thought to thought. The mind's wandering tendencies combined with ugly golfing skills causes the Bad Golfer mind to leap from mechanical concerns to thoughts of gloom and doom to insignificant worries. The following is an example of what happens in the few seconds prior to a shot in the mental jungle known as the Bad Golfer's mind.

"OK, I've got to hit the ball over the water. Is my grip right?

"Don't hit it in the water.

"What's with my grip? Boy, that's a big bee. Don't hit it in the water like you did last time. Maybe I should have ordered the Golf Shrink's book. No water, no water!

"Please God, just this one time. I swear next Sunday I'll be at church."

So how do you tame the mind? Unconsciously, the Bad Golfer tries to prevent monkey mind by using medication, such as a beer. The problem with the Budweiser approach is that you end up with a golfer who only worries about how much beer is left in the cart and a drunk monkey. The Good Golfer, on the the other hand, controls the wandering mind by concentrating on thoughts that promote swing feel or target awareness.

Fortunately, concentration is a skill that the Bad Golfer can practice and refine. The following are suggestions for shifting mental focus from the process of hitting the ball to the more important objective of concentrating on the target.

1) One of the most effective drills for becoming target-oriented, and for developing feel, is to practice putting while looking at the cup. Your first few attempts may feel awkward (and you may look like a dork), but with practice you will probably discover that you are a better putter when you look at the target.

2) Another practice drill is to select a club, such as a 7-iron, and hit to targets of varying distances. The goal to leave mechanical concerns behind and focus solely on the objective of reaching the target.

3) The first step for enhancing target-awareness on the course is to select a specific target (e.g., a blade of grass on the putting surface). As you address and hit the ball, keep the target in your mind by visualizing the target. If at any point during the pre-shot routine other thoughts intrude, stop and restart the routine.

All golfers, even Bad Golfers, have the ability to concentrate on a target. If the Bad Golfer can apply the same single-mindedness that is used when searching for a lost ball to hitting a golf ball, then the monkey will finally be caged.

May 15, 2000

Dr. Mark Shatz is the author of "Kissing Golf: The Keep It Simple (Stupid) Instructional Method" and "Comedy Writing Secrets."