In golf there is always a time when you know you should play a certain shot and yet you really don't feel comfortable about it. What should you do?

How many times have you stood on the fairway, hand hovering over your bag, knowing that you probably should play that high shot that cuts slightly through the wind...but you don't feel quite comfortable with it for no clear reason? And somehow a low shot with a different club is more appealing at that particular moment? Or perhaps you know that you should be using a four iron for that distance, but it doesn't feel right?

There are many different variations to this dilemma and I'm sure we have all experienced them from time to time. And the club or shot which concerns you as a golfer can change from day to day, week to week, month to month or year to year.

I have experienced it myself in extreme forms - not feeling comfortable with woods off the fairway for an entire season (ALL my woods; unable to feel that I could get them off the ground, but happy with them off the Tee, for some inexplicable reason!); and the following season not feeling comfortable with my irons (ALL of them, knowing that I could shank every shot with an iron with uncanny consistency!); and then as a feeling of comfort returned with both woods and irons, whether off Tee of fairway, and enjoying a feeling of relief flooding over me at the thought of all those extra shots I knew I could play, only to find that short irons had become uncomfortable...WHAT NOW?!

As you can tell, I'm an "all or nothing" kind of person, and some of you will relate to these types of experiences. Thank goodness, as my golf has got better (both technically and mentally) I no longer have seasons of concern with particular types of shots; Instead, it's just a vague feeling now and again that I'm just not comfortable with the shot which would be the best TECHNICALLY SPEAKING, to play in a particular situation.

In fact, the troubles I used to experience had become such a vague memory that I had almost forgotten what it felt like. What jogged my mind was going out to play a few holes with a friend, a good player, and him saying that he felt that he was being a chicken...that he should be playing a particular shot but wasn't comfortable with it, and so was hitting a different one instead. He chose his club, made a great shot, the ball pitched in the middle of the fairway, in perfect position for his second onto the green. And yet, there he was, unhappy; In his mind he was a "chicken" for not having taken the shot he felt would have been better technically.

In my mind he was both clever and brave and had made a great decision. He took the club he felt confident with, and played the shot he KNEW would work for him on that day, in those circumstances. He has the ability to manipulate his shots, to create many different shots and went with what he felt most confident with.

Roseanna Leaton, specialist in golf hypnosis cds and hypnosis mp3 downloads.

http://www.GolferWithin.com

http://www.RoseannaLeaton.com