Lower Your Handicap From Your Favorite Chair
By Tom Nicoli, BCH, CI
We've all heard of the psychological edge players like Nicklaus and Palmer had and especially
Tiger Woods has over their opponents and the game itself.
" Was I nervous? Ya! But I just relaxed and hit it."
Tiger Woods
Imagine playing better, scoring lower and enjoying the time spent on the golf course. When is
the last time you had a day like that?
The advantage any player has, in any sport, begins in the mind. As you have probably heard
many times, golf is 90% mental and 10% physical. The necessity for a solid mental game in
golf is paramount for performing at or above your level. By utilizing simple imagery and
positive reinforcement techniques, you can improve your game with less effort than you have
ever applied.
"Golf is not a mechanical game. To perform your best, you need feel and imagination".
Patrick Cohn, PhD
Of course it is necessary to learn and apply the proper physical mechanics for sports
performance. However, the mental aspect of the game is directly related to learning the proper
physical mechanics. If you practice and fall short of your expectations, frustration sets in.
This negative mental response will sabotage any progress in your game. So before you hit
another hundred buckets of balls and watch that shelf full of instructional videos, let’s focus
on where the true foundation of your game is set, in your mind.
"Golf is a game of inches. The most important are the six inches between your ears."
Arnold Palmer
The Conscious Beast
We all know that “focus” is the key to better performance, however, it is as absurd for me to
say to you, “Now go out and focus on your game” as it is to say “Okay, now just relax.”
That’s because behavior such as relaxation, focus, concentration, etc. is not created
consciously. As a matter of fact, the more you consciously try to create such behavior, the
harder it becomes. This is because these are all subconscious programs. Whenever you involve
the conscious mind, the learned, stored subconscious programs are blocked. Remove
conscious thought and watch your performance rise.
Mind Tools
The two most important mind tools to implement immediately are positive thought and
imagery. If you focus on negative thought, it will transform into negative results. “ I could
never drive a ball that far.” If that’s what you tell yourself, then it will absolutely be true. The
limitations we set on ourselves are directly proportionate to the way we think.
Since the beginning of time, the four-minute mile had not been run. On May 6, 1954, Sir Roger
Bannister ran a 3:59.4 mile. That year, more runners broke the four-minute mile. Why? Once
they saw it could be done, they believed it was possible and went out and did it.
If you think you can, you might. If you think you can’t, you’re right!
Replace negative, non-result oriented words like hope, wish and maybe with affirmative
words like will, can and do. Turn I hope I make this next putt into I am going to make this next
putt. Even if you don’t drop the putt, you will get much closer to the hole than thinking the
other way and that’s your goal, to progress your game. I can’t stress enough the importance
of positive thinking
Imagery
We all know that practice makes perfect, repetition is the key to change. But you don’t have
to physically practice to improve your performance. Imagery works because the
subconscious mind does not know the difference between imagination and reality. We have
the same five senses subconsciously as we do consciously. The more senses you can apply to
an image, the more real your subconscious mind believes it is. There have been many tests
done with two groups, one physically doing something and the other group only imagining
doing it. The group asked to imagine doing something always performs equal to or better than
the group that physically practices.
Imagery Exercise
- Find a comfortable and quiet place where you won’t be disturbed for about twenty
minutes.
- Take three deep breaths and close your eyes. Imagine relaxation washing down over your
body. Begin either at your toes and work up or from the top of your head and work down.
- Now deepen that relaxation and imagine yourself on a stairway. Imagine ten steps and
you are at the top. Slowly go down each step, with each step down, deepen the relaxed
feeling.
- Once you reach the bottom, see yourself, as you want to be. Use all of your senses.
Smell the fresh air and the cut grass. Feel the putting green under your feet. Visualize the
surroundings, feel the club in your hand, etc. See yourself playing flawlessly, calm and
focused.
- When you are finished, tell yourself at the count of three, you will open your eyes
feeling better in every way, mentally, physically, emotionally and spiritually.
Repetition is still necessary. Do this daily, going over the prepared image and you will begin
to create new behavior(s). This imagery exercise will manifest itself in your reality. Be
committed and believe it will work and it will.
”Imagination is more important than knowledge” Albert Einstein
Thomas Nicoli, BCH, CI.
A Better You Hypnosis Center
400 West Cummings Park Suite 1350
Woburn, MA 01801
www.ProsperUSA.com