A Malaska Golf Member has a question about the mental side of the game and how not to be distracted, or as Mike says, how do you distract yourself not to be distracted?

Phil Blackmar, who won 4 times on the PGA Tour and was on the Senior Tour, was excellent at mental toughness. His mental toughness is up there with Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods. He really helped Mike with that side of his game.

Mike talks about putting and chipping, where many players struggle. Mike grabs his putter and gets lined up over the ball. When you start to take your putter back, you find yourself thinking about many negative things. What really helps is to pick a word or even a name. In this instance, Mike picks his daughter’s name, Jennifer.

Mike then sets up to make his putting stroke. As he takes his putter back, he says “Jennifer” and then makes the putt. The object of this is that Mike programmed everything into his putt. He got up to the putt and said, Jennifer. Mike’s conscious mind focuses on saying the word, while his subconscious mind takes over making the putt. As Mike says, “You get out of your own way.” This is a way to trick your brain and not focus on what’s going to happen.

Mike makes another putt and says it is important to say the word out loud. He also demonstrates how this works when chipping. You can do this on tee shots or any shots on the course.

Remember, when you start to putt or swing the club, your conscious mind begins to make corrections instead of letting your subconscious mind go. Try this mental technique to help your game.