Winter is coming and that means less time on the golf course and shooting range. It could even mean that there is no golf in your part of the world. That means a long break without even playing a club until the good weather returns. As a result, our golf game gets rusty or worse. We have to put a lot of time and effort into removing that rust and honing our game so that it lives up to our expectations.

Wouldn’t it be great if we could take advantage of the off-season to improve our golf game? How much better could you become if your skills improved over the winter instead of eroding? This is the second in a series of articles on off-season practice tips. Here’s a winter tip to help you maintain or improve your golf game.

the mind game

Don’t ignore the mind game. It is more important to our success on the field than most of us realize. The mental game is one of the most challenging, if not the only, aspects of the game of golf for most of us. Too often we get in our own way. We think more, we think less and we forget to think. We remember what we shouldn’t and forget what we should. We make the game harder than it needs to be.

Take advantage of the winter to learn and practice mental techniques and exercises designed to improve your mental performance on the golf course. We can drift mentally after a bad swing; a gaming partner can get into our heads or even when we are playing better than usual. The pressure to perform well, the fear of failure, and the fear of success cause mental errors to appear in all aspects of the game. Your full swing, short game and putting will suffer if you can’t handle the pressure to perform.

Several mind game trainers offer books, videos, and audio products to give you what you need to be a better and more effective gamer. Look for recommendations and reviews to help you in the decision-making process. But take action and find the right mental training techniques this offseason to help you overcome the effects of pressure.

One method I use to work on my course management skills over the winter is a video game. I play Tiger Woods Golf on my Wii system. The video game forces me to plan my course round, choose target landing areas, study the greens before the approach shot and, of course, for the putt as well. For me, all that strategic planning translates into better real-world course management. I would probably do it for you too.

Once he returns to competitive golf next spring, he’ll have the brain game to take it to the next level. Winter and its long break can cause all sorts of problems for our game of golf come spring. Use this tip to keep your brain game sharp during the winter. You love what it does for your game come spring.