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With many golfers around the world potentially facing periods away from the course due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the offseason, it is a difficult time for players to improve their golf game.
However, Bob Rotella, the sports psychologist who has contributed to 12 Open Championship triumphs from 10 players in the past 30 years, believes you can vastly improve your golf game without striking a single shot in anger.
Time spent in your home can still be spent productively in improving and sharpening your mind, Rotella suggests.
“What’s going on in golf and in every sport,” Rotella said, “is that players are spending more and more time just sitting in a chair, lying in bed and visualizing themselves playing great.
“It’s not only playing great, and seeing yourself hit shots, but it’s going over in your mind every situation you could ever face on a golf course, and going over in your mind how you would like to ideally respond to that situation.”
In addition to round visualisation, Rotella believes you can train your mind while enjoying competitive golf on television, or while watching official films from past Open Championships.
“The average golf fan needs to watch golf as a player instead of as a fan,” Rotella said, “and what I mean by that is I want you to be actively involved in the telecast.”
To read more advice from Rotella, visit https://www.theopen.com/latest/2020/11/bob-rotella-lockdown-advice.
The R&A