The CSGA Links Volume 5 Issue 2 June 2017

Balance Proper grip Ability to concentrate A “one shot at a time” attitude Patience Hand eye coordination Diligence Mental toughness Resilience Self-awareness Disciplined decision making Will to win Focus Creativity Trust Humility Emotional intelligence Goal directedness Tension control Imagination Ability to read a lie Club face awareness Knowledge of the rules Respect for the game Flexibility Core strength Proper posture and set up A good short game Sense of humor Proper alignment Tempo/rhythm Understanding of proper weight transfer Course management Strategic understanding of the game Playing within yourself and your abilities Willingness to learn from others Understanding of club design, function, and purpose Etiquette Distance control Ability to read a green Understanding the mechanics of the golf swing Target focus Determination Confidence As you read through the list, what did you think? What would your answer(s) be? What did you agree with? Do you think if you possessed all of these skills your game would improve? When I ask better players these types of questions, I am always struck by how often the mental game is referenced (The skills highlighted in green are those I would consider psychological skills, or aspects of the mental game). My personal experience, both as a golfer and that working with players at every level, from beginners to professionals, tells me the above list of skills, although not comprehensive, would be a great place to start if you wanted to become a better player. If you agree, how many of these skills do you regularly practice? If you’re not practicing these skills, or some variation of them, you’re doing yourself a disservice, and most likely, the skills you are practicing don’t correlate well with the actual playing of the game on the course. Very often, we don’t practice the skills necessary to be successful at the game. Instead, we practice skills that we believe will translate to on course play, but rarely stop to question whether or not they do. This disconnect between the skills we practice and those necessary to succeed at the game is probably the greatest impediment to our development as players. My sense is that we are wasting our time practicing in ways unquestioned by the status quo. www.csgalinks.org CSGA Links // June, 2017 | 15

The CSGA Links Volume 5 Issue 2 June 2017 | Page 15