What makes the difference is that those consistently successful players combine those skills and knowledge with a controlled and measured level of concentration; while sticking to their routines.

What do I mean by Concentration?

Although a high level of concentration seems to be key to consistent success at the highest levels, there’s more than one way to concentrate. Some players, like Nick Faldo, felt the need to hold their concentration for complete rounds or even tournaments. That’s very hard on the nerves and probably one of the reasons that Nick now prefers to commentate rather than play top-level golf.

By way of contrast, Luke Donald is just as focussed when he’s planning and executing his shots, but between shots he looks much more relaxed and nonchalant between shots. Maybe that’s why he had the capacity to head the money lists on the PGA and European Tours in 2011.

Then there’s the story of European Tour player Phil Archer I wrote about in my book, The Secrets of Hypnotic Golf. Phil had a reputation for winning the pro-am events on the Wednesdays before the main tournaments and then missing the cut on the Fridays. In the tournament he tried to concentrate like a Nick Faldo, while in the pro-am he’d focus, between concentrating briefly on his own shots, on helping his amateur partners enjoy their day. I bet they thought he was acting cool when they were playing with him! When he started to be nonchalant between shots in the main tournament, he started to win.

How do I become Nonchalant?

The best advice is to focus most of your efforts on consistently following your routines and only really concentrate on the shot in hand. Between shots, you can enjoy yourself and be as nonchalant as you possibly can. There’s really nothing you can do constructively between shots, other than simply relax and enjoy the experience. You can use the “Concentration on the Zone” and “The Playing Zone” hypnosis sessions from my Golf in the Playing Zone programme to help with that.

You can also use “Finger Breathing” to help you relax between shots. You can read about the technique and download a recording of it at http://ezine.golf-hypnotist.com/finger-breathing/.

Remember to keep an eye out for nonchalance on the golf course, especially from the top players. If you were watching Robert Rock winning the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship, you’ll know exactly what I mean. Robert may have been nervous, but he still looked nonchalant as he enjoyed the experience of playing in the final group on Sunday with Tiger Woods.

Even with their well polished mechanics and a good understanding of ball flight physics, the top players still hit a less than perfect shot every now and then. Even if they don’t actually hit a bad shot, the course and conditions and outside agencies can turn a good shot into a bad one. We even have a term for that in golf – “Rub of the Green”.

So what else do the top players do when they experience one or more bad or unlucky shots? Well, I was listening to Rory McIlroy giving a clinic to a large group of young players at the Grand Final of the Faldo Series. Someone asked, to a ripple of laughter, “If you can’t stop making bogeys, how do you bounce back on the next hole?”

The gist of Rory’s reply was, “If you’ve just made a bogey on the 5^th green, you can’t walk on to the 6^th tee going ‘I have to make a birdie because I bogeyed the last’, you have to stick to the process”. He went on to say, “You’re not thinking about bogeys or birdies, all you’re thinking about is the shot at hand and just going through your processes, if you do all these things right, your score at the end of it will take care of itself”.

Focus on the shot in hand

So, in striving for perfection, you need to focus on the shot in hand, and make use of your routines or processes, especially your post shot routine, regardless of what went before. Remember that each shot you play just counts for one shot on the scorecard. And it’s equally important, regardless of whether it’s for a birdie or a bogey. That’s the secret of Winning Golf.

One of the best exponents of this approach is Luke Donald. Yes, I know I’m biased, because he’s a member of my club and I can remember giving him shots in matchplay!

Well what better way to finish my last blog of 2011 than with a reference to Luke Donald. His approach to perfect golf has driven him to be number one in the world and to top the money lists on the European and PGA Tours. What more can I say?

I was listening to his interview after finishing the round and I was intrigued to notice how much golf psychology he’s learned. I know he used to work with Jim Fannin up until a couple of years ago, but I’m not sure who he’s working with now. Jim still works with a number of golfers on the PGA Tour, including Charles Howell and uses a fairly rigid coaching system focusing on Self-Discipline, Concentration, Optimism, Relaxation, and Enjoyment. Now I won’t deny that these elements are included in my own approach to golf psychology, but I prefer a more flexible approach based on the needs of the individual.

So what elements of golf psychology did I notice in Luke’s interview? Well, the first one that leapt out was his comment, "I guess all good rounds start with a bogey." That highlights his use of Optimism or, as I described it in my recent article about Justin Rose, Positive Reframing for Better Golf Performance. It also took me back to my early days as a competitive golfer with no golf psychology experience. I always felt that if I was one or two over par standing on the sixth hole and was playing well, I would struggle to have a good round. If I was one or two over and playing badly, I then knew that I could only get better and I’d have a good score. It was a shame I didn’t apply what I know as positive reframing to both situations, as I could have scored a lot more consistently.

I also noticed that Luke talked about just focusing on each shot as it comes and "staying in the present" when answering a question about how he handled the streak of six birdies from the 8th hole and playing the last 11 holes in 8 under par. Staying in the present or "In the Now", as we golf psychologists like to say, is one of the key’s to successful concentration in golf. Focusing "In the Now" helps you to avoid dwelling on the shots you’ve already hit and planning the shots you have yet to play. That’s consistent with Luke’s other comment about his run of birdies "It was just kind of a normal, everyday round until I got to the eighth and made a nice putt from the fringe. That kind of sparked off a run of six birdies. Just really got on a hot streak."

The final thing I picked up on was Luke’s comments about his putting – he only had 20 putts in the round. Now when Luke started playing on the PGA Tour, he settled into a rank of 144 in the putting statistics and didn’t see himself as a good putter. It would be fair to say that it was his only real weakness as a golfer. He’s now number 1 in putting on the PGA Tour and it’s clearly down to confidence as much as technique. He talked about confidence on the greens breeding confidence, "Once you feel like you’re a good putter, then it becomes easier," he said.

I thought that Luke must have done some serious work on his confidence using unconscious golf psychology and I wasn’t wrong. Going back to another interview from 2006, I found him using some serious golf psychology language when he said, "Look this confidence isn’t natural, definitely not. I’ve had to work on it." He went on to say "It’s just that I have to keep training my subconsciousness (sic) to believe that I can be the best."

So there’s some strong evidence of the impact of golf psychology on Luke’s recent successes and his magnificent first round 64 at Memorial. Here’s wishing him well for the rest of the tournament.

At the end, I was transported back in my mind to some of my own less elevated experiences of playing on tight courses and small greens. It brought to mind how much better I play in those conditions. One of the tightest courses I can remember playing on regularly was Blackmoor Golf Club in Hampshire. In my 20’s and early 30’s I used to just scrape into their open amateur tournament, the Selborne Salver. We used to play 36 holes there on the Saturday and a further 36 on the Sunday in the Hampshire Hog at North Hants Golf Club, home of Justin Rose, with a combined 72-hole competition, the Hampshire Salver. I notice that you now need a handicap of plus 2 just to enter – scratch players need not apply!

Anyway, Blackmoor is very tight with the fairways threaded through dense woodland to fairly small greens. I noticed that my golf improved when I played there and how I always took the increased accuracy and golfing confidence with me to the next few tournaments.

The small greens at Harbour Town also reminded me of playing to temporary winter greens at Brookmans Park Golf Club. That was where I started to play golf and like many beginners, I was a fanatic. I played in all weathers and conditions. Brookmans Park was a fairly damp course in the winters back then and we were often on temporary greens. I’m pleased to report that they’ve improved the drainage there over the last 40 years since I started there and it’s now a good venue all year round.

I remember two big improvements in my game playing to those temporary greens. Firstly with an 8-yard diameter green, my approach shot accuracy improved greatly and my chipping got better and better. When we got back on the main greens, my golf was much more confident and assured.

Now, I don’t suggest that you find a course where they use temporary greens a lot of the time. However, there’s no reason why you can’t imagine a narrower fairway within the confines of the real fairway and a smaller green, perhaps an 8-yard diameter circle around the flag, and imagine you are playing on a course like Harbour Town. The good news is that if you narrowly miss your imagined fairway or green, you may still be on the real one.