Aug. 15, 2025

Golf State of Mind - Mental Game Training with David MacKenzie

Show Notes
Transcript

GS#427 March 11, 2014 David MacKenzie is a mental game coach that will help you consistently play to your potential. His Golf State Of Mind method is designed to help eliminate mental mistakes. He says that small changes to your mental game can cut 5-7 shots per round. We go into depth on visualization, how to practice the Mental Game, course management, and his 9 shot drill for the practice range. *David comes to us from a suggestion by a GOLF SMARTER listener. http://GolfStateOfMind.com

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WEBVTT

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Golf Smarter number four hundred and twenty seven.

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Welcome to Golf Smarter Mulligans, your second chance to gain

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insight and advice from the best instructors featured on the

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Golf Smarter podcast. Great Golf Instruction Never gets Old. Our

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interview library features hundreds of hours of game improvement conversations

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like this that are no longer available in any podcast app.

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There's the external confidence and that internal confidence. External confidence

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isn't long lasting. External confidence is based on how long

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you're playing, and most people think that confidence is a

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result of how well you just played the lost shot,

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or played the lost hole, or played the lost round,

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when really we want to think about confidence being something

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that you can generate within, which then affects your play.

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If you're thinking about confidence as being you have to

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be playing well to build confidence, then you put more

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pressure on your game and you don't feel like you're

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as good a player after hitting a couple of bad shots.

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Whereas confidence can be built from the inside out if

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you can stop to imagining yourself as a good player

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and convincing yourself that you're a good player, and talking

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to yourself in the like way running out on the

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golf course, you can build confidence that is much more

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long lasting and enduring.

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Golf state of Mind Part two in our conversation with

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David Mackenzie. This is Golf Smarter. Thank you again for

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joining us, for sticking around for the rest of this

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conversation because I have so many more questions that I

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wanted to talk about with you on golf state of Mind. Right, yeah,

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thank you were And where are you based? If somebody

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wants to start taking lessons from you? How do you

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how does that work?

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I'm in Washington, BC, so I do give you face

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to face lessons in the in the DC metropolitan area

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Northern Virginia, Ireland. But I do a lot of lessons

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on Skype. It's become quite it's quite popular, and uh,

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you know it works. You know, we can fit lessons

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around people's schedules, and you know, we've got to just

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switch on your computer and I use a couple of programs.

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One of them is e Golf Plan and that players

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are able to record stats after their round. So I

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go in and I can check, you know, exactly how

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how someone's you know that how their performance was during rounds,

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and then we you know, a weekly on a weekly basis.

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We meet and we talked about the experience of the round,

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and we also refer to these these stats for areas

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of improvement.

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Okay, all right. One of the things you said towards

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the end of our last part of the conversation was

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you talked about practicing and going to the range, but

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you were referring to practicing the mental game, not just

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working on your swing mechanics. Is that right?

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Yeah, yes, I'm not. I'm not discounting swing coaches and

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the need for swing coaching, you know. I think that

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that's you know, that is an element of the game

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that you know, people that players need to work on.

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But for me, the more you can you can synchronize

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your body and your mind through visualization, through feel and

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ingraining ingraining those those feelings and is becoming aware of

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your body. So I wouldn't you know, for example, uh,

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an example of a bad session, bad practice session for

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me would be to stand on the driving range one target,

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a bucket of balls, you know, perhaps a couple of clubs,

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and just hitting hitting straight to that same target. That's

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not to me, that's not affective practice. Why effective? Because

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that's nothing like you would be there's nothing like it

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would be on the golf course. On the golf course,

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you're changing shots all the time, and you're you're having

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to play different kinds of shots. So my idea for

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a fulfilling, an effective practice session on the driving range

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would be to hit hit no more than three balls

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with the same club. I'd be picking different targets. I'd

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be trying to hit different trajectories, moving the ball around

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in my stan saying different trajectories I would do. I

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would try to hit as many different kinds of shots

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as I could. I would even try to hit you

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a slice, a hook, a draw. You know, I've got

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a practice drill on the website called the nine Shots

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where you know, you're playing a fade and a draw

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and a straight shot with three different trajectories, and so

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you end up with with nine shots. So it's that variety.

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Otherwise you just get into range with them. I think

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it's very very easy to think that you've mastered the

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game on the driving range, and that's why a lot

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of golfers say, you know, I wish I could take

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my diving range game to the golf course. And there's

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so many things that are wrong with what they're doing

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on the driving range that you know they wouldn't want

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to take that game to the golf course.

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No, we don't, you know. But like if you go

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to the driving range and you'll see, let's just say

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there's twenty five people out there, and you just kind

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of stand back and watch for a while, I can

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almost that ninety nine percent of those guys are hitting

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one club over and over and over again. Why is

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it that that just seems the way you're supposed to

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do it? And what's really interesting, especially if you're warming

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up for a round. I'm guilty of this myself, going Okay,

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that was a shot I wanted. I don't want to

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do that again. I mean, you just as soon as

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you get one that you like, it's like, okay, I

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can move on now.

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Yeah, if I'm under saying the question, I.

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Don't even know if I asked one? Did I long

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pause and like, did I ask him anything?

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Sorry? No, I think I know, I know. You know, yeah,

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they you hit one club, you know, one shot one club,

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and you know, because you're working on a swing drill,

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you know, you're trying to ingrain that that swing into

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your into your your muscle memory and that's that's how

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a lot of golfers spent a lot of the time.

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And it's just, you know, to me, it's not effective.

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And I've been there, and you know I used to

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throw eight dollars down for a bucket of balls, and

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bucket ball off the bucket of balls, and uh and

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and and make those same mistakes over and over again.

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Now I practice in a completely different way. It's it's

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about imagining, imagining holes. It's about trying to create pressure

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on myself playing games. I think that games should be

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a big part of practice, and I actually have a

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book on practice drills which is designed for that purpose,

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to to to create score even on the driving range.

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You can play games against yourself to try and create

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the same thin kind of pressure. Not get into that

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that habit of just you know, you hit one ball.

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Oh I didn't like that shot. Oh hit you know,

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I've got another one here, you know, to pull it

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out of the basket. It's about every shot you know

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should have, should have a purpose and a consequence.

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Give me an example of what you mean by these

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games that you play while you're on the range.

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So you would be I would be practicing, I would

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be visualizing holes in my mind, and so you could,

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you know, essentially play holes and you know imagine. I mean,

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I Ben Hogan used to talk about this, like playing

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holes in his mind. So you can actually play, you

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play against yourself on the driving range and imagine that

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you're in a certain situation, Imagine that you're on the

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of course, you know, try to you know, I heard

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heard about Gray and McDowell like running on the spot,

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like on the on the driving range to try and

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get his heart ate up. Not that I can imagine

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many listeners are gonna want to do that on a

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pack driving range. But the the point is that you

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know he's trying to he's trying to simulate that feeling

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on the golf course, being under pressure, feeling that, yeah, exactly.

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And so you know, it's it's that most of most

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authors just practice thinking that you know, there's just there's

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always that next ball, and that's not the mentality that

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we're trying to practice. Because I think, you know, practicing

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practicing an opportunity to practice your mental game just as

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just as it is your your your physical game. And

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I think that bank gets that gets missed. But yeah,

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so I've got you know, I've got a number of

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different games in my my practice for this book, where

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you know you're you're playing games and get and getting schools,

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so every shot has a meaning on you.

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On your website, I was noticing that you have in

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your mental Game section one of the lessons that you

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have here is how to play non conscious golf. And

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how is that different than unconscious golf. I just answered

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my own question in my head unconscious Golf.

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That I didn't write that article a I called calling Chromac,

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who's a contributor to Golf State of Mind, wrote that article.

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And I'm still conscious, but is subconscious? So I might

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not be able to be able to answer that as

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well as I would like it this at this time.

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But that's fair.

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Yeah, he's ahead, Yeah, he's uh yeah. I mean, for me,

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the subconscious your your swing is made with your subconscious mind.

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And so those are just those are just important things

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to think about, like the division, the division of what

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your mind, what what these different parts of your mind plays,

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or the roles of the different parts of your mind

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play in a game of golf. You know, the conscious mind,

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the logical analytical brain, is going to be at work

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only during the pre shot routine. So that's you know,

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that's deciding on which the right shot to play, that's

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calculating you know, the yardage. That's you know, making sure

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that you're going through that sequence of steps throughout your routine,

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keeping you you're focused on the on the right things

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throughout your routine. But when you're ready to go, and

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you you know, you might have some some some confidence

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triggers and some go triggers in your as a part

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of your routine, as soon as you're ready to go,

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that's in the conscious mind shuts off completely. And whether

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it's non conscious or subconscious, it's you know, there's there's

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there's absolutely nothing, but there's you know, a thoughtless swing,

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I thought free, I should say thought free swing. Yeah,

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being executed.

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Actually, Colin Cromac was on the Golf Smarter podcast back

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in two thousand and eight, so and we all right, yeah, yeah,

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and we talked to him about target oriented golf, which

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which was an epiphany for me. I love talking about

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target golf.

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Yeah, I mean that's you know, that's one of one

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of the fundamentals of his program. But I mean, for me,

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the precise I mean, I tell the players that I

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work with you know, where is your target? Where's your target?

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Always comes down to where is your target? And you

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know a lot of the average players that I speak

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to just aiming center of fairway, center of green. They

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don't even have like a precise target. And it's amazing,

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how I mean, especially for the short game, you know,

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just having like spots that you're aiming at and just

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you become connected with the target, connected with the shot,

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and that takes away, you know, any focus on on

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your swing, which is a negative, which is negatively going

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to impact you your play. It's you know, it's always

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you're always thinking about the shot and the target, and

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you're seeing that in your mind's eye right up until

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you know you take you take the club back. And

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so you know, I can't emphasize enough how you know,

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target shot shape, visualizing becoming connected with that particular shot

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you know is going to help. And I know that

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a lot of players, you know, when they're making their

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practice swings, they're just you know, they're working on a

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drill or they're trying to correct, you know, what they

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thought that problem was in the swing on their on

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their last shot, instead of using that time to really

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become connected with that shot that they're about to play

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for seeing the target, seeing the shot shape, and really

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uh really becoming connected with it. You know.

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I would think that if people had a better sense,

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if golfers had a better sense of strategy or what

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they like to call course management, I think that everybody

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out out on the fairways and at the tea box

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would would be better golfers. They would cut down some strokes.

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But getting onto the putting green, to me, is where

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the mental game seems to have the most powerful impact.

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You recently wrote a piece, uh called you called the

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five most common putting mistakes. Can we talk about that?

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Yeah? I can, and have that article in front of me,

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but yeah.

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I'll try command I wrote it. You know what it is.

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You wrote it. You know what it is.

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Yeah, Well, the I mean the closer you get to

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the to the whole, you know, the closer you get

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to your score. So that's that's where we feel pressure.

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I mean, it's the you know, it's the easiest, the

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easiest shot to play. I mean that, you know, it's

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easier than than any other shot that you're facing on

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the golf course. But yeah, it's where it's where we

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make the most. It seems like it's where we make

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make the most mistakes and.

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Feel the most pressure. I would think, yeah, it's.

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Where we feel the most pressure, and it's where we

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need to have, you know, where we need to have

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a lot of discipline, where we need to make sure

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that the process is good, make sure that breathing is good,

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and you know, not not thinking, not thinking about the

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consequences of you know, of the part and the score

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and what it might do for you. And these are

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things that you know, with with the right techniques, the

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right you know, knowing how to switch off and not

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think about think about score and focusing on process because

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process is just one of those things that that you know,

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you can rely on in any situations that's always going

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to help you calm down. And you've got a good

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putting process, that's that's that's really going to help you,

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and that's that's what you know. Jack Nicholas said that

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he never missed a putt in his mind, and you know,

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and like the you know, I think that's a good

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a good way to think about it, because if you

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know that you've gone through your process, you've you know,

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you've visualized, you've you've felt the part, you've seen it,

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you've done everything you can you possibly can, you've read

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given the part a good read, and you've gone through

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your process. That's all you can do. The rest is

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out of your control. And something another. I think that

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another thing that's important in the mental gain is self

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talk and phrases that you can you can you can

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include in your game. So when you're standing over you

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know ten to fifteen foot part, say to ask yourself

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a question, is this possible? And by asking yourself that question,

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and you know your response should be yeah, it is possible,

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instead of you know, I've got to manke this. You

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know I'm going to make this. It's you know, you

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take pressure off yourself. You're not you're not expecting to

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make anything. You're expecting to go through your process as

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well as you can. And when you think that, you know,

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even on the PGA tour, them is in fifty percent

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of parts of about five feet you know it's there's

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there's there really shouldn't be be any pressure. The best

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thing you can do is just go through your pre

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your routine.

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Yeah, but you know I know that if I were

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to ask myself is this possible? The answer as always

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of course it's possible. Is it probable that I'm gonna

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make it? That's when doubt enters the conversation in my head.

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But if I walk up to a putt and you know,

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you know, and I'm looking at the putt as I'm

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walking towards the green, I'm going, I got this one.

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I know I got this one. This one, I walk

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in with total confidence instead of questioning myself. I feel

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more comfortable. But then then when I'm standing over the ball,

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that the doubt enters and I start questioning, do you

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really got this one? So, yeah, it's a very thin line.

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You're walking between asking yourself can I do this? Versus

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telling yourself I can do this? Do you agree?

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Yeah? I think that you know, the intention is to

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make every shot within I mean, I say within fifty odds.

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I think the intention should be to make every shot.

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The closer, the more positive, and the more precise your

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your visualization for the shot, the closer you're going to

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get to the target. So I would always say that

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the intention is to is to make the shot. But

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I think that there's no I don't think there's any

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harm in sort of pre accepting you know, a miss,

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you know, the worst thing you can do is to

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you know, say you know, I'm going to make this. Well,

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not the worst thing, but it doesn't help you to

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say I'm going to make this because you're you're you're

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setting that expectation that if you don't make that part,

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then you failed. And and so I think the intention

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through your routine, the intention is to is to make

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every part you're seeing it go in. I mean, you're

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even being as detailed as to see you know where

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on the whole that the ball is going to fall in.

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But I think that those you know, building in a

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bit of acceptance into your routine so that you don't

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disappoint yourself when you do this, you know, can can

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can help study the ship.

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Excellent advice in your putting mistakes article. I'm curious why

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you say it's a mistake to Are you saying it's

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a mistake to not find out whether you're a straight back,

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straight through putter or an arc putter, or are you saying

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it is a mistake to worry about that.

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I would say, I mean this is this is it's

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more of a technical thing actually, but but everyone has

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you know, some players take it straight back, straight through

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in some pots, you know, the putter going on a

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narc and you want to make sure you have the

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right equipment for that. You know, there's there's a you know,

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face balance putter and a you know heure or toe

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toe weighted putter. So if you're a you know, if

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you're a straight back straight through, you want to have

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a face balance putter and know and know what the

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difference is because that can that can extra stroke.

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Can you explain face balance for those who don't know.

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So, face balance potter is when there's equal weight across

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across the face of the potter, and you can you

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can test this out by holding the potter, you know,

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a few inches from the from the head of the

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potter on the shaft and you can see how the

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potter is is balanced, whether it's it's balanced in the

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toe or the heel, or it just lies it just

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lies flat.

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So if you are a straight back straight through, then

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you do want face.

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Balanced You want to face balanced potter.

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Yeah, okay. And if you are if your your stroke

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is on an arc around like and that arc is

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like around your body, not the arc of a full swing,

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that arc you want to you want to have a

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a heel weighted putter.

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Why is that that's that's a that's a technical question. Okay,

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It's just to do with the the you know, the

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movement that the the put is naturally going to take

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when it gets you know, when you when you would

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if you were to take it back on a pendulum.

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So I would have thought that if you're if you're

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taking it straight back and you've got to you know,

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a heel weighted putter, you're going to be kind of

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like fighting against against the potterst natural movement.

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Getting too technical is is what you think is also

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a very big issue for most people as they spend

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too much time forcing that. Is that what you mean

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by being too technical?

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Yeah? I do. I think that putting, you know, as

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we just discussed, putting is probably the most mental part

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of the game, and it should for me. It's it's

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an art, not a science. And I think that you know,

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even with you know, I don't I could use a

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you know, one of those old bull's eye putters and

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and plays as well as you know, using one of

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the the most recent uh super luper potters, because for me,

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it's all about you know, how while I've visualized the

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line how while I've felt it and and really got

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got into the putt itself instead of anything to do

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with with my stroke. I think that same with the

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with the longer, the long game. If you've got a

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good if you've got if you've got strong fundamentals and

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you know you're setting up consistently to every part and

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you know, I mean, alignment is absolutely key. And that's

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another another one of the mistakes is that you know,

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you could have a you know, a great visualization and

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great great feel and then great green reading, but if

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you don't actually put the potter face down in line

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with where you want the ball to start, then then

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you're not going to you know, you're going to miss

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the put. So good fundamentals and then really good alignment

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and making sure that you are making sure that your

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alignment is absolutely spot on.

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The place where I find the mental game, uh intersects

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so much with the physical elements the swing mechanics are

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