Everyone you ask will tell you that golf is a mind game. A good shot and a nice putt is important, but as long as you have learned the basic techniques, it is very important that you are able to block out everything else and only focus on the task of hitting the ball.

I am sure you have experienced balls flying off to the side or missing the cup by distances that it seems it would take at least two more putts to cross. And just as you hit the ball you realise that you were standing around thinking about something else; on what you will tell your flight partner, on the score that is not going to be good enough to lower your handicap, on a piece of grass that is disturbing you. It was the lack of concentration that ruined your shot.

Sometimes I play with a fellow golfer who starts up with a very positive "now I am going to make it" attitude. But after a few bad shots, he says to me and to himself: "That was it. I am not going to make it." And of course he is not. If you decide that it is hopeless, then it is. Just as if you stand in front of a bunker and keep thinking: "I am not going to hit the bunker." The next thing you know, the ball is lying in the bunker - just as you thought.

So what to do? First you have to block out any bad thoughts, and the best way is to not remember them. Do not count the scores before the round is over. If they are low you will be focusing on not reaching your goal. If they are high you keep thinking that "I will probably not be able to make as many points on the remaining holes." I have heard of many that played a wonderful game of golf until hole 15, and then figured out that if they made 2 points on each of the following holes they would get more than 40 Stableford points. From that point on they got no more points.