How To Relieve Tension On The Golf Course

This has happened to me, and I’m sure it’s happened to pretty much every golfer. You have absolutely got your act together on the golf course, and what happens. The wheels come off and we end up just shooting a typical score when we had the opportunity to achieve a personal best. What has happened? We became victims of tension on the golf course.

What causes this tension.

The problem can be mental. When we’re playing well, we put pressure on ourselves to continue playing well.

If we’re having a rough time on the course, we put pressure on ourselves to turn things around.

Some degree of tension is inevitable, and we need to learn how to handle it.

The result of uncontrolled tension.

The muscles in our bodies tighten up, and we end up with a herky jerky swing motion. Consequently our game goes into the tank.

The fix for excess swing tension.

• Loosen your grip on the club. The tighter we grip the club, the tighter the muscles in our hands, arms, and even shoulders become. Try to relax your grip as much as possible. I read that on a scale of one to ten. Ten being the tightest grip. Our grip should be about a three or four.
• Keep the club head moving at address. I can personally testify that this helps. Waggle the club prior to starting the swing. And don’t spend a lot of time standing over the ball at address. Some golfers don’t even ground the club at address. I had a problem of hitting the ball horribly fat. I observed that my practise swings were good, but when swinging at the ball, the club head was hitting the ground behind the ball. I solved the problem by not grounding the club, and pulling the trigger on the swing as soon as the club head approached the ball.
• Finish the back swing. A full backswing helps us make a smooth approach and follow through.
• Control your breathing. Take a deep breath at address and breathe normally throughout the swing.
• Don’t try keep your head perfectly still. It’s impossible to make a good golf swing without moving our heads a little bit.
• Find your ideal level of tension. Since we all golf with some degree of tension, we must find the most desirable degree of tension. To do this hit some iron shots where you grip the club as tightly as you can. Then hit some shots where you are totally relaxed. Then tune in on the degree of tension that produces the best, and most consistent golf shots.

Conclusion

As you know golf is a sociable event, and a competitive activity. Therefore a certain amount of tension is part of the game. The important thing is to keep it fun.

I have come across players who bend the rules to make the game more enjoyable for them. I say what the heck. As long as the bending of rules don’t bother anyone in the group we are playing in, I say have at it. Keep the game fun at the amature level. The degree of tension decreases.

Bye the way I have a website. Please take a look at it.

Authored by Darrell Dickinson