There are any number of excellent teachers out there who you can show how to hold the club, where to stand, what position to look for at the top of the backswing etc etc. However, there are two key things most golf instruction fails to address (which is why most golfers get to a certain level and then get stuck there). Attitude and Understanding.

Unless you know why you play golf, and how to enjoy the game as you improve, you will never have the best Mental Attitude to allow you play the game of golf to your full potential. You will either be fearful and unable to perform under pressure, or careless and inconsistent. You need to have a great Attitude.

This simple little question is perhaps the most important factor in determining whether or not you reach your full potential as a golfer.  Your answer is the foundation on which your whole mental approach to the game will be built.  Once you can hit the ball, the game is more of a mental challenge than a physical one.  If the way you think on the golf course is not organised,  and this starts with having a clear motive for being there in the first place, you will never be as good as you can be.

No one can tell you why you play.  Why does anyone choose to do anything?  It is a highly personal question and everyone will have a slightly different answer. Some people want to shoot the lowest score they can, others want to hit the ball as far as possible, others just enjoy the feeling of a sweetly struck golf shot.  Some people like the fellowship, fresh air and exercise.  Everyone has their own reasons for playing. But the clearer you are in your own mind about those reasons, the better your mental foundations will be.

If I can tell you my story, maybe that can help you answer the question for yourself.

In his book 'Understanding the Golf Swing', American teaching legend Manual De la Torre describes his superb approach to the mental side of golf. I'm tempted to reproduce his words verbatim, but I'll attempt to sum it up in the hope that you might want to get hold of a copy of the book yourself. I thoroughly recommend it.  De La Torre says 'Everything we do in life is done with some form of mental control. Without proper mental attitude, mental control and mental direction (conscious or subconscious) there can be no physical performance.'

'Muscles do not move on their own; they need to be stimulated in order to move. They have no brain, no mind, so they cannot have any memory. They simply do what they are told to do through our mental processes. To produce a certain specific movement, they must not only be stimulated for movement, but this stimulation must be directed so the muscles produce the movement desired. This direction and stimulation can only come from one source - our mind.'

If the weather at this time of year makes you reluctant to head out onto the course or onto the range, you might want to spend a bit of time looking at the mental side of your golf.  There are a number of things you can do to make your thinking more effective, both on and off the golf course.  Here is something you can do at home which will make a big difference to how you feel about your game.  This idea came from the well known Sports Psychologist Dr Karl Morris.

Golfing confidence is really just the aggregate of what we think about ourselves as golfers.  If we can remember ourselves hitting lots of great golf shots, naturally we would think of ourselves as 'good' golfers.  Conversely, if all we do when we think about our golf is go over and over the bad shots that we have hit, naturally we won't have such a positive outlook about ourselves.  Unfortunately the second scenario seems to be the most common amongst people who come to me for lessons, or at least it is when they start.