Are Your Swing Thoughts Helping or Hurting Your Game?
With all the potential distractions during a competitive round, how can you stay focused when you stand over the ball?
Focusing is a crucial element when competing and many golfers fall prey to lapses in concentration under pressure. The following are scenarios that can battle for a golfer’s attention:
- Leading a tournament with a few holes remaining
- Putting for the win
- Playing with a group of highly ranked golfers
- Starting a round after scoring poorly in recent tournaments
- Competing during playoff holes
- Attempting to make a tournament cut
- Facing difficult recovery shots
Each of these scenarios presents a mental challenge that can cause a golfer to lose focus, doubt their mechanics, overanalyze their swing, and second-guess their shot strategy—leading to tension and problems with execution.
When this string of circumstances occurs, a golfer’s performance tends to spiral downward quickly. What helps distracted golfers keep their focus on track and perform better under pressure?
Many professional golfers use a swing thought to stay focused. A swing thought is a simple, positive mental cue a golfer uses to maintain focus and execute a shot effectively.
A simple, positive swing thought can help quiet the mind and maintain concentration.
Swing thoughts help to immerse you in the moment so you are not paying attention to other golfers, your score, the leaderboard, course conditions, or the pressure itself.
Whether it’s “smooth tempo,” “finish swing,” or “hit through the ball,” having a single thought minimizes distractions, prevents overanalyzing mechanics, and prepares you to execute the best shot possible.
Viktor Hovland birdied two of the last three holes to win the 2025 Valspar Championship. The victory was Hovland’s first PGA TOUR win since back-to-back titles at the BMW Championship and TOUR Championship in 2023.
Hovland has played his best golf when he utilizes the focusing benefits of swing thoughts.
HOVLAND: “I have data that can show that what I used to do was objectively better than what I’m doing now. So why shouldn’t I try to go back to what I used to do?”
Caddie Shay Knight, who has worked with Hovland since his first year as a pro, highlighted how swing thoughts help Hovland play his best golf.
KNIGHT: “[Swing thoughts are] something small that he used to do back in the day, but he’s kind of got away from it… He’s really hard on himself, but as soon as he finds some little swing cue, thought, he tends to take it on board, and it happens really fast. He had that swing thought, and it just seemed to click; I knew something special was going to happen this week with the swing thought.”
Focus in golf is not about eliminating distractions entirely but learning how to manage them effectively. By developing strong mental habits, you can perform at your best, even under the most intense pressure.
Keeping swing thoughts positive, concise, and repeatable is key to benefiting from them. Swing thoughts help keep distractions at bay and allow for a more fluid and confident swing under pressure.
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