How To Relax Playing Golf? [5 Pro Tips]

Whether you are a pro-level player or a novice golfer, you may fall victim to unstable nerves leading to stress, tension, and anxiety. While this is normal to surface as the game approaches, you should not let those eat up your performance. Just master some mental games and the anxiety in the golf course will be a gone matter.  How to relax playing golf like a master golfer is as natural as anxiety in the rounds. 

Here you go with 5 pro tips that will help you keep your nerves normal and unleash your enthusiasm to reach your performance to the next level.

5 Tips To Relax While Playing Golf

1.   Get Prepared

It is customary to be prepared before your match and each competition. But when the question is of challenging your unsettled nerve, you cannot afford to go loose in anything. So, you must be ready in your practice regimen as you must be meticulous to take the balls, new or clean clubs, tees, nutritious snacks, clothing, shoes, and other necessaries.

You should not miss anything that can cause a feeling of void and so go through your checklist mentally. When you find that you are equipped with everything as you have planned and prepared, it will keep you mentally up. Conversely, feeling unprepared resulted from missing or forgetting anything might result in mental stress, tension, and anxiety. 

Read: Secrets of Playing Golf In 100 Degree Weather

2.   Chew Gum

You may laugh at the idea of easing your nerves by chewing gum but it is a proven matter that chewing gum can significantly calm the anxiety down. You may suffer unsettled nerves when the game is too competitive to let go of the anxiety of losing.

Yes, you’ve heard it right that medical studies have found that chewing gum while performing critical tasks can keep your tension level down. It is because of the release of a special type of chemical in the brain that provides a signal that it is active. Thus, your unstable nerves start gaining stability faster.

Therefore, when you feel low at the golf course for any reason; resorting to chewing gum can give an immediate boost to your nervous system. Scientists are of the opinion that when you eat something, your brain gets a signal that you are not in danger. Thus, you can calm your tension, stress, and your unsettled mind down by biting edible gum and when it is of your favorite flavor, the result is incredibly faster and magical.

3.   Breathing Deep

It is normal that your heartbeat will go faster when you are nervous or not in a relaxed state of mind. Yes, taking deep breaths is an easy and efficient way to settle your unstable nerves. Therefore, when your breathing goes heavy and your heart rate goes high; you should take a long and deep breathe to have an immediate result.

This is the opinion of the American Institute of Stress and it goes to the extent of saying that the best alternative to combat stress and anxiety you are suffering from is inhaling for long and deep. When you take a deep breath, it makes your body respond to relax and calm. Thus, your heartbeat becomes slower, breathing in goes normal, blood pressures come down resulting in the relaxation of your muscle. 

Make it your second habit to breathe deeply before every swing and you will be amazed to encounter rapid improvement of your nerve response leading to an improved performance from now on.

Read: Ways of Keeping cool on the golf course

4.   Visualize Success

Whereas you cannot hope to shoot the best score, you can visualize your success before every round to play your best. This should start from the very beginning when you are heading for the golf course and dream of a great round you are going to play in a moment.

However, this will not change your natural approach for every shot or the positive result will not show up as immediately as the points discussed above. But the brain will start working in that direction and manifest the goals as you have dreamt and visualized them.

This can apply to anything you do and as for golf, it works better than all others. Peak performances coaches and veteran golfers tell stories of golfers improving their performance by visualizing higher goals. Therefore, fit into the habit of a daily imagination of your success both long-term and short-term. Thus, you can have a better chance of materializing the visualization.

5.   Stick to Your Routine

Every individual is different and so some of the tips and suggestions even from the veterans may not work with you and you can find your own way out. This is very much relevant to the routine you have gone accustomed to. Therefore, you should not change your routine before any competition. If you have a practice of eating snacks before every round, do it now. You should not avoid the intensive warm-up, you are used to, a couple of hours earlier you get to the course.

If it is a go you have maintained for long every pre-round warm-up will give you a feel of the same. Therefore, you should not alter your routine whether it is a friendly game or championship tournament ahead. Doing the reverse may affect your normal rhythm putting you into unease if not stress.

Takeaway…

Other than the mental games stated above, taming your emotions and turning to beautiful spaces can make you feel mentally lighter. Staying positive even after a bad swing can prove to be magical in easing your stress. So, stress and anxiety are normal to come between you and a good score but now you know well how to relax playing golf.