It is interesting to see what questions are most frequently asked about the game of golf. The question at the top of the list must be about "how to hit the longest tee shot" or "how to hit a straight drive". Is there really such a secret about how to hit your driver straight? Seemingly there is a hidden secret about how to hit an accurate tee shot which every golfer would dearly love to discover.

A "Google" search of this topic will provide you with thousands of answers as to what the secret is. I think however, that the secret to you hitting your driver straight is not to be found on Google; rather, I think that the secret to hitting your longest tee shot is within yourself. When I say "within yourself" I mean this to encompass more than one sense:

1. You will only hit a perfect tee shot if you swing within the limits of your mechanical control of the club. As you hit the ball within your control your tee shot will go farther than it will by trying to hit it harder. A golf ball, when pointed in the right direction will make its way there. You don't have to beat it into submission!

2. You will also only hit a long straight drive if you do so within your mind as well as your body. You have to see it to believe it. By visualizing the perfect tee shot first in your mind, you are allowing your mind to direct your body, and the club, and finally the ball to the exact point where you want it to go. If you do not first clearly see where you want the ball to go, your body will swing the club mindlessly and the ball will respond accordingly.

3. This leads me to the next way in which one should interpret the term "within yourself". You have to see it to believe it. The act of visualizing yourself hitting the longest tee shot does more than just creating a clear plan in your mind which then directs your body to act accordingly. As you visualize the perfect tee shot your mind begins to believe it. Research has shown that the human mind does not know the difference between something real and something vividly imagined. Thus your visualization builds belief about where the ball will go. As you no doubt know, good golf happens when you feel confident. As you believe that you are going to hit an accurate tee shot, there is a far greater chance that you will do just that.

4. There is one more interpretation of "within yourself". Your idea of hitting a perfect tee shot will be unique to you and to the actual hole you are playing. You may want to draw the ball or to create a gentle fade. To create that shape of shot, and thereby hit the perfect tee shot that you desire, you also need to understand how the clubface impacts upon the ball, and how spin is created. You can only intentionally shape your shot from within this knowledge, and also from practicing to gain proficiency at such shots within a basis of this understanding.

This to me is the secret to hitting an accurate tee shot. The secret lies within yourself; within your mind as well as the physical and mechanical abilities of your body. A lot of golfers overlook the input of their mental processes when they play golf. This is a great shame as good golf is 90% in the mind.

If you would like to hit long straight drives down the middle of the fairway, you can get a head start in doing this with the help of a little golf mind training.

Roseanna Leaton, specialist in golf hypnosis mp3s to get you hitting the longest tee shots.