[Purpose] The present study examined the effect of an external and internal attention focus according to task difficulty when performing a golf pitch shot. [Method] Participants were randomly assigned to an external or internal attention focus group and performed a pitch shot toward a target from 10m (low difficulty) and 20m (high difficulty). The experimenter scored a pitch shot accuracy with 0 to 5 point scale. [Result] Statistical analysis revealed the significant main effect of task difficulty in the acquisition phase, but both main effects of attention focus direction and task difficulty were statistically significant in the retention test. The results indicate task difficulty has effect on both acquisition and learning while attention focus direction influenced learning only. [Conclusion] The attention focus direction and task difficulty interaction effect was not significant and therefore, it is not clear whether task difficulty varied the effect of attention focus direction. However, the retention test result shows the external attention focus group scored higher than the internal attention focus group regardless of the task difficulty. Together, this finding suggests that external attention focus has greater effect on the performance in high difficulty condition.