TIPS, HINTS & TRAINING Jenny Sevil Golf Professional
MIND TECHNIQUES
Jenny Sevil is one of Australia’s most successful lady professional golfers. A winner on both the Australian and Japanese golf circuits in the ‘90s, Jenny became a well-known personality in the sporting public. As well as competing on the Australian and Japanese golf tours, Jenny is now busy with corporate golf, motivational speaking and the media. Most recently, and her most passionate venture, is to help the up-and-coming players of Australia reach their potential.
In previous articles, Womens GOLF writer and professional golfer Jenny Sevil has discussed the importance of the MIND in helping to become a better golfer. Jenny has touched on such subjects as the effects of negative self-talk, having a good attitude, goal setting, preparing for the first tee and dealing with hitting a bad shot. The dominating theme in each of these articles has been the importance of controlling your mind and your thought processes in order to achieve the most out of your game.
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enny attributes many of these MIND Techniques as a major contributing factor in her own successful career on the international golf circuit and hopes they can help you to improve and enjoy your own golf more.
In every area of the game there are two key components: The physical side (swing) and the mental side (positive thinking and planning). 1. Having a golf lesson: To get ultimate results from your golf lesson you must combine the actual physical instructions with a good mental attitude and the correct thinking. Many golfers pay good money for a golf lesson and receive sound advice from their local professional, but complain that it doesn’t work or that they are not getting better results. Where do they go wrong? Well, any small changes to your swing or even just your grip will feel strange initially. So it will take some time and patience for these changes to feel as if they are a natural part of your technique. Most importantly, it takes perseverance in order to stick with these changes and achieve the desired results. Too many golfers take a lesson, listen to the advice and instruction of the professional, try it one or two times and then say “Oh, it’s not working” and revert to their old habits. They do this because it
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is easier and feels better, because mistakes that had been grooved into your swing feel more comfortable than the changes you have to make. We are creatures of habit at times. So here a few keys to getting the best results from your golf lesson: 1. Persevere with the new changes. 2. Don’t be tempted to fall back on what feels most comfortable. 3. Don’t be negative by allowing yourself to think “I can’t do this” or “It feels awkward so it must not be right”. 4. Write things down. It is very important to write down the few key points you are told in your lesson. It is surprising how easy it is to forget from one game to the next what you are supposed to be working on. Put the piece of paper with those points in your golf bag and refer to them each time you get to the golf course. It could be as simple as: 1. Take time to line up correctly or, 2. Check my grip or, 3. Finish my back swing before I start my down swing. If you don’t do this you will often find that you will forget what you have been told and only remember the next time you go for a lesson and are told exactly the same thing you were at your previous lesson. Save both time and money by writing down these key points, refer to them often, persevere with them and have faith that they will work! 2. Most golfers have that one hole on their course that they always play badly and dread getting to. Why does this happen? It usually is a result of having played that hole very badly the first time you played it, or it could have been when you were having a good round and that one hole ruined an otherwise great score. You have convinced yourself this is a hole you despise and one you always play badly. How to rectify this problem? First of all, you need to plan how you are going to play the hole. It’s a little like a game of chess. You have to have a strategy and you make one move (shot) at a time. Your first shot is your drive, so pick a spot where you want to hit your drive and focus on that. Do not focus on where you don’t want the drive to go, i.e. a water hazard or an out of bounds, but Womens GOLF December 2006