Phsycology

Of late I have been having problems getting over the weir on the 17th hole and a ditch on the 18th. This looses me points each time - how do I overcome this - they tell me it's " all in the head".:

Are these shots normally within you abilities? If not, then no it is not in your head. If these shots are within you abilities, then yes, it would be in your head.

There are lots of books about the psycology of golf and other sports that talk about your mind and how it takes over you body, but that is increadibly boring.

The real problem is that you are changing something in your swing to try to make the ball do something. You are trying to go over something, so I am guessing that you want to hit the ball higher by lifting up...its a common attempt that has the oposite affect.

In the swing, to make the ball go higher, you have to have a steeper angle DOWN on the ball. The picture from the side looks like a "V". If you want o hit the ball lower (like into the wind) you want to have a shallow angle like a "U". To do all this, you use your wrists more for the "V" and less for the "U". All the other components of the swing stay the same. You rotate, and transliate you weight to the front.

You can play a little with your ball position, but I reserve those of special shots and advanced players. Moving the ball forward will hit it higher and back will make it go lower. But try the V and U swings first. Then adjust the position after that you want.

The main idea here is that you know you have hit that shot before, and if having hazards in your way cause your head to tell you do something different because you are afraid that you are going into that hazard if you don't do something drastic, then you will hit it into that hazard. The solution is to not do anything drastic. Small adjustments can be made that will have the desired results and keep you still within your normal swing so you can execute that shot successfully.