Golf is often said to be 90% mental, and once you play your first full round, you feel why. On the range everything is easy. On the course your hands shake a little on the first tee, one bad shot follows you to the next hole, and your good swing seems to hide somewhere. Good news: the mental game is a skill, just like grip or posture. You can learn it. Let me show you the few things that really matter.
Why does golf feel harder in your head than on the range?
Because on the range there is no fear, no score, no one watching. On the course your brain adds all of that. Scientists who scanned golfers’ brains found something interesting: when amateurs face a hard shot, the anxiety parts of the brain light up, while expert players stay calm and steady no matter how tricky the shot. The experts are not braver by luck. They trained their focus, and you can too.
A Dutch coach I read describes the same pattern I see every week at Chi Chi Golf: players arrive technically fine but mentally tight. They fear the bad shot, they compare themselves to their playing partner, they replay a mistake three holes later. This costs more strokes than any swing fault. The mental game can be learned, deliberately, the same way you learn anything else.
What is a pre-shot routine and how do you build one?
A pre-shot routine is the small, repeatable ritual you do before every single shot. It is the central pillar of a calm game. When nerves come, the routine gives you something to trust instead of the empty feeling of “just hit it.”
Build yours in four simple phases:
- Stand behind the ball and read the shot.
- Picture the ball flight you want. Jack Nicklaus called this “going to the movies” — he saw a little colour film of the ball flying and landing before every competition shot.
- Pick a small target just in front of your ball, maybe 30 to 60 cm ahead on your line, and aim to that.
- Step in, commit, and swing.
Keep the whole thing under 30 seconds. Annika Sörenstam, one of the greatest ever, used a routine of exactly 24 seconds, the same in practice and in a major. And do not freeze over the ball. Tour players stand over the ball only about 8 seconds before they swing, and research shows less time over the ball gives lower scores. Thinking longer does not help. It only lets doubt in.
How do you stay in the present when your mind wanders?
You cannot focus hard for four or five hours. Nobody can. This is the biggest mistake I see: golfers try to concentrate every second and arrive at the back nine exhausted. The best players do the opposite. They switch on for the shot, then switch off completely while they walk. Short bursts of focus, then real rest.
A little trigger helps you switch on. Louis Oosthuizen put a red dot on his glove when he won The Open in 2010. Each time he looked at it, it told him: now concentrate, shut out the noise. Pair a calm word (“smooth,” “commit”) with one physical action, like tapping your club or taking one slow breath. Paired with a small movement, a focus word works much better than the word alone.
How do you handle a bad shot and move on?
You accept it fast, then you let it go. This is where rounds are saved. One amateur wrote honestly about four-putting the last hole to lose a tournament, and how she realised the problem was never her stroke. It was that she had no routine and no way to accept a bad shot and forget it. That day, she said, was when she really started to learn golf.
Tiger Woods gives himself only ten walking paces after a shot to feel it, good or bad. After ten steps, the shot is finished. Try this yourself. Feel your reaction, breathe once, and by the time you reach your ball, it is a fresh start. Focus on your process, not the score. Golfers who chase good tempo and a committed routine, instead of chasing the number, play better under pressure and worry less. This is true across many studies, and it is true on a Tuesday with your friends.
How do you manage first-tee nerves?
You accept them. First-tee nerves come from fear of failing, fear of being judged, or thinking about the whole round at once. Every golfer feels it, even me. Do not fight the adrenaline. Use it. Take a few slow, deep belly breaths before you tee off. This calms your heart rate and quiets your mind. Then think of one thing only: your target, and your routine. Not the score, not the eighteen holes ahead. Just this one shot.
For many Dutch golfers, the first time on a real course after baanpermissie is the biggest mental moment of all. If that is you, feel proud, not scared. You earned the tee.
How do you practise the mental game?
You practise it like your swing, on purpose. Most people never do, and then wonder why their range swing and course swing feel like two different games. A coach I read sees this constantly, and almost always the fix is not mechanical. It is a real pre-shot routine and clear commitment to the target.
So on the range, do not just rake ball after ball. Every few shots, go through your full routine as if it counts. Picture the shot, pick your target, commit, swing. On the putting green, practise the routine as much as the stroke. It feels a little slow at first. On the course it becomes the calm you were missing. If you want to build this together, my driving-range practice guide and my weekly practice routine to break 100 both make good homes for this work.
The quiet mind is not a gift some players are born with. It is trained, one routine at a time. If you would like a friendly pair of eyes on your game, come and play a few holes with me and we will build your calm together. You can find my lessons here . I would love to help you enjoy this game as much as I do.