Over the winter our golf games and bodies get rusty. To be ready for the upcoming season you can knock the rust off by following these five tips; perfect your grip, sharpen your posture, swing something heavy, improve your putting mechanics, and increase your flexibility and strength. All of these can be done at home and all will make you a better player.

Perfect Your Grip: Learning a correct grip is one of the easiest things in golf. All you have to do is put your hands on the club correctly. No big deal! However, people resist change in their grip because it feels funny. Overcome that feeling before you start to play this season by gripping the club correctly at home, without swinging the club, over and over until it feels comfortable. You can do this while you watch television. The more times you put your hands on the club correctly, the faster it will feel normal. If your grip is correct you should hit better quality shots.

Sharpen Your Posture and Setup: This is another task you can perform at home without hitting any golf balls. Get yourself in front of a mirror and make your setup picture perfect. Make sure bend at the waist correctly, with your rear end sticking out, and your back flat. Tilt your spine away from the target by setting your front hip higher than your back hip. Having great posture will let your body turn correctly, again making it easier to hit quality golf shots.

Swing Something Heavy: This is a great way to develop a good rhythmic golf swing. Try swinging a broom, the Orange Whip, or the PowerChute. These three things will help you loosen your up your golf muscles and actually improve the sequence of your golf swing. Focus on swinging with rhythm and not speed. Make twenty five to forty swings a day.

Improve Your Putting Stroke: If you own a putting mirror, great. If you don’t, get one. Using a putting mirror is one of the best ways to improve your putting stroke. You can use it on the carpet or one of those little putting mats. The first thing you should do is make sure your setup is correct. Your eyes should be over the back of the ball, and your shoulders hips and feet should be parallel to the target line. Next use it to learn the correct path to the stroke. The mirror should have lines on it to use as a stroke guide. Practice several times a week.

Improve Your Strength and Flexibility: Start a simple stretching and strength program. If you make slight improvements in this area you will see good results in your game. A couple of products that I use are the GolfGym Power Swing Trainer and the BodyLastics Home Gym. These are two of the best products and easiest to use. They are great for your home training. Work on your shoulders and core rotation. This is a good place to start.

If you follow these tips you will be ready at the beginning of the season and see great improvement in your game.

For many years, one of the things I loved doing was watching the final day of golf tournaments on TV. As the day begins perhaps 8 or 9 players have a chance to win, but by the time they are playing the final holes this number has shrunk to 2 or 3.

The fascinating thing for me was that on this day the level of individual skill was not the most important factor – these golfers are already highly skilled – but the event would be won by the player who could combine this with mental strength, and who could maintain their focus, remain calm and allow themselves to play their natural game.

I would watch the faces of these players and at some point it would be possible to predict who would fall by the way, and who would have the inner qualities to win.

When I learned to meditate I began to experience the “zone” that top sportspeople operate from for myself. I found sporting activities much more enjoyable and I became more effective as I used my meditation techniques.

A few years ago I felt attracted to play golf, something I hadn’t done since I was a teenager (a long time ago!), and found that it was a great opportunity to practice meditation with my eyes open.

When playing golf I found that what was going on in my head would have a huge impact on how well or badly I played. For example, I may play a bad shot (and I’ve had plenty of those!) and put more pressure on myself to play the next one well – my body would become tense and my mind would be telling me all the things I had to do to avoid screwing up again! The result? You’ve guessed it – another bad shot. And so the cycle continues. (An interesting thing to note is that the lakes in most golf courses contain not only stray golf balls but the occasional club thrown in by frustrated golfers!)

So, to have an easy and effective meditation technique was a lifesaver and has helped me improve and, very importantly, enjoy my game, exactly as it is.