My early beliefs about concentration were strongly influenced by what I read about players like Ben Hogan having a laser-like intense stare.  The fact that the Scots nicknamed him the Wee Ice Mon on his only trip to the British Open enhanced this thinking.  I’ve tried having this type of focus, but it just makes me mentally tired.  From what I believed about concentration I thought that’s just the way it had to be.

I now realise that concentration is nothing more than having your attention on the task.

Focus can either be external (taking in information from your environment) or internal (processing information, decision making and thinking).  It can also be broad (casting your focus quite widely and attending to a lot of things at once) or narrow (attending to just one thing).  Combining the different ways of directing your attention produce four categories of concentration.  Here’s how they apply in the golf environment.

Broad external: attending to aspects of your environment you need information about in order to plan your shot – target, position of hazards, lie, wind direction and strength, distance to your target, target area (fairway or green), changes in elevation between you and your target and anything else you need to consider in order to plan your shot correctly.  This type of concentration has a reasonably low level of intensity and is usually the first step in the process of preparing a player shot.

Broad internal: this is your strategic decision-making mode.  Having taken in all the information from the surrounding environment you need to make a decision on the type of shot you are about to play and the club you are going to use.  If you are in a Match Play situation then you might also be assessing the state of the match and how your opponent is going.

Narrow internal: this is where you might focus on a specific part of your technique or something more general like swing rhythm or tempo.  Establish this thought as a feel when you have a practice swing.  You have already made the decision on the type of shot you want play and the club you are going to use.  You don’t want to be thinking about technique when playing the shot, so do it before you step up to hit the shot.  This is the creation of your mental blueprint.

Narrow external: now your attention is focused on something external and specific, like a target.  This is the type of concentration you employ just prior to playing a shot.  When your mind is engaged with the target it effectively removes any thought other than where you want the ball to go.  Just prior to walking in to address the ball, your attention will be given completely to the target.  This is the most intense focus you will have when you are playing the shot, but it only lasts for about 15 to 20 seconds.

The different types of concentration are in the order you will use them when planning and playing every golf shot.  This is a great way to improve your score without altering your swing.