Playing golf can be understood as a series of occasions to create a shot.

Whenever this is the approach, it requires imagining the shot one wants to create.

As a beginner, this isn’t easy. That is especially true if one believes that the image one creates needs to match the shot one will create.

But if one allows oneself to start with something one can imagine and compares the created shot with the image, things tend to become easier.

At first, it might simply be to imagine the exact place where the ball is supposed to land. Where the ball lands after creating the shot becomes an indication that helps to see if one had a good idea of the distance one can do, kept the direction, and ends up regularly more to the left or right.

It’s how one gets feedback on one’s performance. Not to criticize oneself. To know.

As one’s technique evolves other details can be drawn into the picture, the movement, the ball flight, the wind, and more.

It’s a practice to get feedback one can use. It’s feedback that can help know what to work on.

That’s what creating the shot in one’s mind does once the shot has been created.

But it does more.

Creating the shot in one’s mind gives us the exact indications we need to execute the shot. It provides us with an intention. It’s with this intention in mind that we create the shot, get a sense that we can do it, and stay focused on the task of creating our shot.

The same applies to creating plans as an implementation of a vision.