Keeping Your Confidence High Whilst Learning to Play Golf - Part 2
Yes, there are easier and there are more difficult ways of creating a great shot. Yes, there is an optimal technique. BUT ONLY IF YOU HAVE CONFIDENCE IN IT. As Henry Ford said "If you think you can or you think you can't you are probably right". The moral of this story is that if you feel that you have over-dosed on technique to the degree that your confidence has gone, take a sabbatical from technique and concentrate on simply hitting the ball towards your target, whilst keeping the club face square.
It's amazing how frequently a golfer is not aware of ball flight and where the club face was at impact in order to have created a particular shot. And any golfer, just by becoming aware of how side spin is created, has the power to change what they are doing and truly take control of the club, and in this way they will RETAIN THEIR CONFIDENCE.
It is well known that children "have minds like sponges", that they find it easier to learn and that it gets increasingly more difficult to learn as you get older. This is because up until the age of 7, during the imprinting period of development, the subconscious mind is completely open to suggestion. And from then to the age of 12, the modeling period, the conscious mind is forming, and after that the conscious mind filters everything before it is assimilated into the subconscious.
Trainee golfers may have beliefs about whether they are good or not at sport, or golf, or good or not at learning - but these are just beliefs, nothing more. There is no need to be held back by limiting beliefs. Everyone has the power to choose to change beliefs no matter how deep rooted they are. All individuals have a body and a mind which has a similar physiology and neurology as the best golfers in the world. Athletic literature is full of examples of athletes who have excelled because of their internal desire, rather than the physical attributes such as size, strength, power or speed. There are tall golfers and short golfers, male and female golfers, young and old golfers. It is not age or body shape which prescribes ability. It is your mind which makes the difference. What the mind can perceive, the mind can believe and the mind can achieve.
Everyone has the ability to play golf well. The most important thing for a golfer is to set your own goals, and enjoy your golf - it's a game and golf should be fun.
Unfortunately many people overlook this fact, and allow worries and fears to get in their way. Fear is something which we learn through experience. Fear of embarrassment and fear of failure result in many adults not even attempting to learn a new task. Returning to the subject of children, we are not born with fear. Think about when a baby learns to walk. How many times does that baby teeter along and then fall, and then try again, and fall over again and try again, until eventually they can walk? If that child was worried about embarrassing him or herself, would they have learnt to walk? A baby will persevere time and time again, and has absolute trust that they will be able to learn that skill - otherwise they would not learn that skill.
The most important factor to grasp here is that what other people think doesn't matter...but what you think does. And having confidence in what you are doing as you play golf will dictate the outcome of your shots.
Roseanna Leaton, specialist in golf hypnosis cds and hypnosis mp3 downloads.
Keeping Your Confidence High Whilst Learning to Play Golf - Part 1
Learning a new skill in life can seem very daunting no matter what that skill is. Golf can seem very complicated, and any budding golfer can suffer from information overload. It is so easy to get tied up in knots thinking about grip, stance and alignment, setup and ball position, tempo and balance, and so on. The club can begin to feel like an octopus in your hands...and it's far too easy to not be able to see the wood for the trees; so let us just examine the basics of the game.
The object of the game of golf is to get the ball from the tee to the hole, in as few a number of shots as possible, using the golf clubs to control the direction and distance in which the ball travels. So, the golfer's aim with each shot is to progress the ball towards the hole, nothing more than that. It is far too easy to think that the goal is to have a perfect swing...each budding golfer will develop their own unique swing, with the help of guidance from their teacher AND through their OWN EXPERIENCE.
So the number one focus for every shot is to select a specific target and hit the ball towards it. For the golf ball to go in the right direction, the club head will need to hit the ball square, and the ball flight will tell you whether or not this has happened, and every golfer can learn from their awareness of the ball flight and can then adjust their swing so that they do hit the ball square. This is the second important focus.
These are the two most important things to do in golf - pick a target and aim at it, and be aware of the position of the club head when it connects with the ball. A baby doesn't try to walk exactly like the adults in the house - he plainly cannot do that, he learns to walk in his own unique way. A child learns through their own experience, and through guidance. Every would-be golfer is a unique individual - having their own unique body and mind, and they will learn to play golf within this framework.
So long as thoughts are kept simple and clear, an individual will find it easy and fun to learn to play golf, so that they can truly enjoy the experience, without fear, and without getting tied up in knots.
And this is true of golfers of every handicap. The majority of golfers will relate to having experienced, at some time or another, a complete lack of confidence and loss of trust in their game. They grip the club and it just doesn't look right, it doesn't feel right...and they have no idea why this is the case. In the main this is due to lack of awareness of the basics of the game, a misdirection of focus. They are focusing on how to get a perfect angle at the top of the back swing, or keeping their wrists firm, or making sure their back is at the optimal angle, and so on. They've forgotten to focus on the ball and hitting it forward towards a target with a square club face, and this is basic to any successful shot (unless you are intentionally creating side spin so as to shape the ball flight).
And so the inevitable happens, the golf shot is less than perfect, and confidence dips lower, the club is gripped harder and more focus is given once again to the other mechanical things…and a cycle of negative effect can easily occur. This is why I began this article by saying that golf can be a really tricky game to learn. It is like no other game, and learning to play golf well poses an interesting mental and physical challenge to those who care to do so.
Roseanna Leaton, specialist in golf hypnosis cds and hypnosis mp3 downloads.
Playing Golf In The Zone - Part 2
Just as people are scared of hypnosis, many are adept at avoiding mental issues in general. I mentioned earlier that I listen carefully to the words used by commentators. You might find it interesting to pay more attention to the particular words and phrases used as well. Nine times out of ten the commentary will focus on the mental side of the game. For example "What were you thinking there Tiger?" or "Can he keep this up?" and so on. There are far more comments made about the thought processes at play than the mechanics of the swing. We can relate to the comments made, we accept that they are generally accurate, and yet very few of us pay attention to this aspect of our own golf game.
We are far more likely to say, "I chunked that one" or "your head came up" than to get behind these actions and ask "why?" What was the thought process that caused that outcome? Were you committed to the golf shot or were you thinking "have I got the right club here?"? You will only be able to control your golf game when you learn to control your mind. You need to be aware of what you are thinking before you can change how you think. You also need to be aware of the optimal way in which to think and then you can choose to think in this way.
It's amazing how many people aren't even aware of what they are thinking. This may sound really silly. But to put what I'm saying into context, a Harvard University study found that the average person has 60,000 thoughts a day, and 59,500 are the same as the day before. Are you aware of the 60,000 thoughts you had yesterday? Or were some of them subconscious? And were a few of them repetitive?
Try a little exercise if you like. Go to the range, or the chipping area, or the putting green and plan to spend five minutes in which you only think about what you are doing. See if you succeed in this plan...I bet you don't! It's difficult to control your thoughts even for five minutes let alone the three and a half hours it takes to play a round of golf.
You just aren't going to control your thoughts for a full round of golf. But what you can do is control and consciously direct your thoughts for the few minutes which each golf shot takes, including your pre-shot and post-shot routines. And if you want to make this task easy for yourself you can employ a little bit of self-hypnosis. Remember the definition of hypnosis given before - "a state of relaxation, at one with a state of heightened awareness, induced by suggestion". You can learn to relax and focus at will with the use of hypnosis.
You have the ability to control and direct your thoughts. There's no point saying "but you know me, I always do that". If you think like that, you WILL always be like that. Everything in life begins with a thought; every action is preceded by a thought. There's no point in focusing on changing your actions and behaviors without first addressing your thoughts.
Why not spend a little bit of time in learning to how to control and direct your mind? You can learn how to relax and play golf in the zone with the help of hypnosis downloads. The professionals use golf hypnosis because it works; hypnosis downloads can be used to get you to focus clearly and to play in the zone.
Roseanna Leaton, specialist in golf hypnosis cds and hypnosis mp3 downloads.
Playing Golf In The Zone - Part 1
Everyone thinks of Tiger when playing golf "in the zone" comes up for discussion. But everyone has experienced a few holes, if not a round of golf, where they could relate to this feeling. It is as if you cannot put a foot wrong, everything just seems to come together perfectly.
If anyone wanted to know what it feels like to play golf "in the zone" on the last day of a tournament David Duval would be able to describe it. When he shot 59 in the last round of the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic a few years back, every commentator found themselves making comments about Duval's "mesmerizing performance" and his "absolute focus" and lack of emotion, throughout the day.
When you play golf in the zone, the background chatter of your mind quietens and complete focus is given to the task at hand, one shot at a time throughout the round, whilst at the same time believing that you can do it. This altered state of awareness was clear to see by anyone who watched Duval during that round at La Quinta. It was a truly mesmerizing performance.
I always listen to the commentary with great interest, paying attention to the actual words used. Take the description "mesmerizing performance". The verb "to mesmerize" derives from Anton Mesmer, whose ideas were the forerunner to the development of hypnosis. And this is what the zone state is - hypnosis.
Duval's iron play was so accurate that he was nearly always attempting a relatively short putt. He appeared to be expressionless as he played, always wearing wraparound sunglasses, totally focused on the ball and the pin. His focus and belief didn't waver all day, and he just kept on hitting one after another perfect shot. The key in this situation is to allow that to buoy you up as opposed to allowing other thoughts to creep in...like "it must stop soon", or "when's it going to end?" He didn't allow these thoughts to enter his mind. He was in a state of tunnel vision and focused awareness, and this state, whether you call it hypnosis or being in the zone, acts like a set of blinkers, shutting out any other thoughts.
It was only at the very end, after he'd sunk that eagle putt, that Duval's state changed and he showed some emotion. Until then he played like a robot. He really was golfing in the zone.
Other commentators on the Duval 59 made descriptions such as "locked in on the ball". This was a great description - he truly was locked in on the ball, his focus was clear and absolute. When you are playing golf in the zone you actually have a greater sense of awareness than otherwise, but this awareness is very selective. This heightened focus and awareness, this increased clarity, is directed upon the task in hand. Everything else just fades into the background.
A lot of people are scared of hypnosis, but this is because they do not understand what it actually is. Hypnosis could be described as a state of relaxation, at one with a state of heightened awareness, induced by suggestion. When you are playing golf in the zone you are superbly aware, you have a heightened sense of everything that is important, whilst at the same time remaining nicely calm and relaxed. And this was clearly what Duval experienced during that final, 13 under, round. He didn't show any emotion during the round, didn't pump his fist or do anything except move calmly on to his next shot, until after he had sunk his eagle putt to win on the 18th. He didn't allow anything to break his focus.
If you would like to have similar mental strength you will find that hypnosis downloads or golf hypnosis cds are of great assistance.
Roseanna Leaton, specialist in golf hypnosis cds and hypnosis mp3 downloads.
Is Your Golf Up To Scratch? - Part 2
Let's see how we can apply this technique throughout your game. OK, you're standing on the first tee, choosing your line and there's a persistent thought of "don't hook it into the trees". What usually happens when you're thinking this? Yes...golf balls always do what they are told; you are thinking about hooking into the trees and you do exactly that. Yes, I know, I can hear you saying "BUT I thought DON'T hook into the trees". Your inner mind does not pay any attention to the "don'ts" of this world.
Whatever you are thinking about you are giving energy to, and energy is transmitted out into the atmosphere and attracts exactly what you are thinking about into your life. This is the law of attraction. Put another way, as you are thinking "Don't hook it into the trees" you are at the same time inadvertently creating a picture in your mind of the ball going into the trees and also attaching a lot of energy to that picture because you feel a bit agitated about it; and so the ball goes into the trees. In fact, the ball went exactly where you inadvertently planned for it to go. This is how talented your mind is. If you ever doubted the fact that 90% of golf is played in the mind, this phenomenon is undeniable proof!
What can you do to stop this happening? You can recognize that you are thinking about hooking into the trees, create a picture of it intentionally, then move that picture to one side, shrink it, drain the color out, crumple it up and put it in the bin; and then, create a big, bright, clear picture in your mind's eye of the golf ball landing where you want it to, sitting up nicely on the fairway.
You can also use this technique of "binning the negatives" when you have played a less than perfect shot or missed a putt. Create a picture of it and bin it. Then re-run in your mind's eye the perfect shot, or the perfect putt. This is a great post-shot routine to adopt, and extremely effective, because your mind will only be recording good golf shots, thereby making the likelihood of great shots more compelling, whilst at the same time literally erasing poor shots from your mind. Thus your golfing confidence builds more quickly and easily than ever, and as the title of Dr Bob Rotella's book states "Golf is a game of confidence".
Getting back to your New Golf Season's resolutions and making them probable instead of possible, you should now have a clear, in-focus, bright and compelling picture of you achieving your golfing goals. This is vitally important because whatever you imagine you can create. The next question to ask is what do you need to do to get to that point? What do you need to do physically and also mentally? From a mental perspective, the consistent application of the "binning the negatives" technique will transform your game, not to mention your life in general. You will be focusing on what you want to happen, rather than what you don't. You will be aware of choosing where you want the golf ball to go and intentionally sending it there. You will now be in control of your thoughts and their resultant effect on the golf ball.
It's also worth examining your thought processes whenever a shot doesn't quite work out. Ask yourself were you thinking clearly and precisely? Did you picture what you wanted? Or was your focus drifting off at a tangent? Or did you simply stand up to the ball and hit it without planning? Or did you stand over the ball for ages with a myriad of thought competing for your attention? I'll wager a bet that 90% of your "bad" shots are caused by "bad" thoughts. Check this out for yourself. If your own statistics reflect this percentage, then it follows that you have the ability, you have the talent, to hit this percentage of your "bad" shots perfectly simply by being aware of your thoughts and choosing to think clearly. That's got to be an easier way to get your handicap down than changing your swing, don't you agree?
Your subconscious mind will always work towards a goal that has been visualized in your mind’s eye. Your energy is being directed towards it, whether that goal is long term (as in your New Golf Season's Resolution) or short term (your next shot). You have the ability to use your mind to achieve your golfing goals easily and effortlessly. You also have to plan in a physical sense towards your goal; you're not going to improve without playing, so you have to put the time in as well. You'll not put time in unless you find that its fun, so make sure that it is fun.
Golf is a game, it's meant to be enjoyed. You, and nobody else, are the creator of your destiny and the master of your golf game, so long as you choose to be. You will find that hypnosis downloads or golf hypnosis cds will help you immensely in mastering your golfing mind and taking control of your destiny.
Roseanna Leaton, specialist in golf hypnosis cds and hypnosis mp3 downloads.
Is Your Golf Up To Scratch? - Part 1
Once you get mid way through the golfing season it can be interesting to look back and see if your golf is meeting the expectations or hopes which you began your golf year with.
We all have our targets for the year, be it simply enjoying the game more, or playing more, or practicing as well as playing, or getting our handicaps as close to scratch as possible. It's a bit like making your New Year's Resolutions, only in this case it's your New Golf Season's Resolutions. And rather like New Year's Resolutions, they can so easily fall by the way side after a couple of weeks, and for some of us, we don't even get started, we don't get past "go".
Most people are really good at planning things at work, organizing work into bite sized chunks and planning when each chunk will be achieved by. Most of us are more comfortable knowing what we need to do and then just getting on with it. As you plan to achieve your goals, they become not only possible to achieve, but highly probable. We don't, however, tend to take this mindset and apply it to our hobbies. A hobby is a game, isn't it? You shouldn't have to work at it, should you?
How much do you want to make your golfing goal probable as opposed to possible? The thing is that if you really want to achieve your golfing dream, you do have to plan for it. Whatever you imagine you can create, and so it's vital that you can see yourself achieving your golfing goal. Can you see this happening for you; can you really see what you want to see?
Here's a quick way of double checking that you can REALLY see yourself getting to that elusive goal. This is very quick and easy, so you can do it now.
Sit down somewhere comfortable, close your eyes and create a picture of yourself in your mind's eye of yourself achieving your goal, really see what you want to see, create this picture in your mind's eye and notice how you feel as well. I'd like you to look at that picture and become aware of a few things. Firstly, can you see what you want to see? This is the first step; unless you can see what you want, it's highly unlikely to happen.
As you look at your picture, is this picture right in front of you or is it to one side? If it's to one side, move it across until it is right in front of you. Make sure that your picture is right in front of you. As you move the picture until it is directly in front of you, make sure that you are seeing what you want to see in every way. As you see yourself in this picture, you should feel a sense of achievement, a feeling of satisfaction, fun and enjoyment. Now, imagine that you are stepping right into the picture, see what you'll see, feel what you'll feel, hear what you'll hear. Really animate your picture and make it big and bright and clear in your mind's eye.
For those of you who didn't see what you wanted to see, I recommend the following quick mental exercise, which everyone can do, young or old, positive or negative in outlook.
Close your eyes again and create that picture in your mind's eye. If you find that you are seeing what you want to see, that's great, savor it and enjoy it, make it really bright and clear, make sure it's right in front of you and then step right into your picture and enjoy the feelings associated with it. If, on the other hand, the picture has elements of what you don't want, what I'd like you to do is to move this picture off to one side, left or right, send it as far to the side that it can go, and then drain the color out of it, and make it go fuzzy and shrink it, and imagine that you can crumple that picture up and literally put it in the bin. Just bin the negatives and create a picture right in front of you of what you do want to experience and achieve in your golf game.
This technique, of "binning the negatives", is really effective in all areas of your golf game, as well as in all areas of your life. If a thought or picture in your mind's eye is powerful and productive, keep it there. If it is negative or unproductive, just send it to one side, drain the color out, shrink it, crumple it up and put it in the bin. You will also find that hypnosis downloads can be used to make this exercise both easier and more compelling.
Roseanna Leaton, specialist in golf hypnosis cds and hypnosis mp3 downloads.
Do You Do "Basil Fawlty" Impressions On The Golf Course? - Part 2
Believe it or not, everyone can learn to control their own internal response to things that previously triggered anger; to learn to control their body rather than letting it control them. To learn to slow their body down rather than letting it speed up. The purpose of anger management is to learn how to change the way you react to your "anger triggers". You can't change external events, but you can change your emotional and physiological reactions to them.
You can use hypnotic suggestion, NLP techniques and positive visualization to assist in controlling your anger. Firstly, it is important to learn to relax. This is easy if you know how, but difficult if you don't. You can be taught simple relaxation which you can practice regularly, thereby "bringing you down" a level or two, and so less likely to respond to anger triggers. You can learn to relax quickly and easily whilst on the golf course; you have the ability to relax just as quickly as you have the ability to get yourself wound up.
Secondly, it is necessary to explore the way in which you think and learn how to change that. Angry people tend to speak in raised voices, swear, move jerkily, etc. They see big pictures in their minds eye (usually in dramatic Technicolor) of what they don't want to happen ("I know it's going into those trees") and respond to this self-created image. Angry people tend to talk to themselves with nasty, aggressive voices and chunter away to themselves about the unfairness of things ("why is it my ball that's always lost?"), or how life is against them, or how unlucky they are. You can learn techniques that will enable you to turn the volume down on these internal voices, speak in a nicer tone and to see nicer pictures in your mind's eye; i.e. to change your instinctive response to these triggers.
It's also worth exploring whether your overall belief system in flawed. For example if you believe that you "always" have bad luck or that such and such "never" comes your way, you will not notice when things are going well, on or off the golf course; You've programmed yourself to only see the bad. And when bad things happen, you've visualized your own angry response, etc. Thus, it is important to explore and alter wider belief structures about yourself and your world.
Anger is often induced by very real problems and frustrations. If you have a belief structure that says you can handle anything no matter how bad it is, you will respond positively to the situation, and get on with the task of taking your next shot, without becoming angry. You will therefore stop the tendency to jump to negative and inaccurate conclusions. If, on the other hand, the belief structure of "nothing ever works for me" comes into play, angry feelings are triggered and the result is negative in every way - you feel angry, stopping yourself from thinking straight, and then make poor strategy choices and then who knows where the golf ball will end up? The problem simply becomes compounded.
One's expectations must be examined. Are they realistic? Many angry people simply expect too much or want something "right now" and then get angry when the impossible doesn't materialize. It is important to restructure such expectations and give them a "reality check". Do you expect every shot to be perfect? The pros don't expect that. Do you expect to play golf on a Saturday morning, after a few beers on Friday night, no practice in the week and hit every ball perfectly? If so, it's time to run that reality check for yourself!
A feeling of inadequacy or insecurity is frequently the heart of the problem. (A fear that you're not good enough, for example). This feeling is then redirected (either consciously or subconsciously) into the emotion of anger, as this angry feeling prevents you from feeling hurt. Thus it is important to change this belief structure as well; to feel that you are good enough in every way. Anger may also really be directed at oneself, but projected outwards onto another person or object.
Balance is of course the goal state to be achieved. Positive strategies towards real problems need to be learned, as do positive beliefs about yourself. The good news is that you are not born angry. This is a learnt response and so it can be unlearned and replaced with a different strategy which works for you, instead of against you.
It's up to you to decide. Do you want to stop "Basiling", to learn to stop being angry on the golf course and to enjoy your golf from now on?
Roseanna Leaton, specialist in golf hypnosis cds and hypnosis mp3 downloads.
Do You Do "Basil Fawlty" Impressions On The Golf Course? - Part 1
Golf is a game and should be fun. Fun is what it’s all about; playing a great game with a few pals. No matter how good a golfer you are and no matter how important your golf may have become to you, it’s still a game and should be enjoyed in the spirit of the game. It’s a recreational activity, which you should find relaxing.
Do you find it relaxing? Or do you find your emotions being affected in a rather different way as you play this great game? Do you find yourself hacking your golf clubs into the ground, or slinging them across the fairway? Do you find yourself muttering four letter words under your breath (or out loud)?
We all have caricatures in our minds of the true "Mr. Angry". Are you a "Mr. Angry golfer?" If so, would it be handy to be able to change?
Anger is a normal and usually healthy human emotion. When anger is controlled, or managed, it will not cause you, or anyone around you, any harm. But when it is out of control it will become destructive. Uncontrolled anger is a major cause of conflict in both personal and professional relationships, on an off the golf course.
Anger is an emotional state which may vary in intensity and which is accompanied by physiological and biological changes - your heart rate increases, blood pressure rises, adrenaline is secreted at a greater level. Not very helpful when you're trying to play a game that requires a state of relaxed concentration in order to be able to put your best swing on the golf ball.
Anger is caused by your own perception of events, whether that event is happening now, or in the past, or you are anticipating a future event. It is important that you understand this fact. You create your own anger. Your golf ball may have found its way into the trees, or a plugged lie; there may be a lack of baskets at the range or the tee box may not be level…but "it" did not make you angry...You did.
You will no doubt have wondered how some golfers remain calm, or even laugh, no matter what happens to their ball whilst others "blow" or "flip" at the slightest thing. The difference is that some people have learnt to manage their anger, whilst others have given in to it.
You have probably watched "Fawlty Towers" and laughed at Basil's antics. But isn't the entire series based on taking off mismanaged anger and frustration? And the exaggerated body language demonstrates beautifully the actual effect of anger - raised voice, jerky movements, clenched fists, and...a direction for the anger - usually Manuel or Mrs. Fawlty...and the disastrous results that are achieved reflect the destructive effect of uncontrolled anger.
And the equivalent of Basil in golf can be equally amusing some of the time...or perhaps embarrassing, depending on how you see it. The direction for the anger is usually the ball, the clubs, the nearest gorse bush, and so on. In extreme cases the entire trolley and clubs have been known to be launched into water and never retrieved!
The question is how have those non-angry people learnt to manage their anger? How can "Basil" learn to manage his anger? And, more importantly, do you want to control your anger? Because if you don't want to, you won't even try. Everyone can change so long as they want to. You're not born angry, you just haven't learnt how to manage your anger.
Roseanna Leaton, specialist in golf hypnosis cds and hypnosis mp3 downloads.
Visualizing Whilst on the Golf Course - Part 2
You need to take your mental golf skills out with you onto the course and use them "on the spot", so to speak. A frequently cited problem with this is that many golfers find that they can visualize their perfect shot from the armchair, but cannot seem to "see it" when standing over the ball. If this happens to you, ask yourself the question "what's stopping you from seeing it now?" Because if you can see the shot when at home but not on the course, there is nothing wrong with your visualization skills. Something else is getting in the way.
Maybe it's the fact you're not relaxed, you're feeling a bit tense and so can't seem to access the more creative part of your mind. If so, ask yourself "Why am I tense?" Maybe the answer is because you don't want to make a fool of yourself, or because you don't think you can hit that shot, and so on. Keep asking yourself "Why?" until you get to the root of the problem. Why are you scared of making a fool of yourself? And so on.
Awareness precedes choice which precedes change. You have to know the cause to change the effect. Once again, this is true of everything in life, not just golf. Why do you worry about what people think? Why don't you think you can hit that shot? Why don't you see golf as a game and have some fun playing it? Why can't you laugh at yourself? "Why?" is a wonderful question, which will encourage mental exploration and subsequent discovery, so long as you are honest with yourself and so long as you follow the thread right back to its beginnings.
Think of the phrase "a train of thought" and imagine that you are in the rear carriage, right at the back of the train, and as you ask yourself "Why is that?" and find your own answer you'll move forwards to the next carriage. Keep working through the carriages of your thought train and eventually you cannot help but reach the engine. And once you reach that engine and become the driver of your train, you can choose your driving direction.
Once you have taken control in this way, you will find that your imagination is truly limitless. You will be able to imagine exquisite golf shots, not only in your armchair, but when you are standing over the ball in a tight spot when you're in the lead on the 18th.
Having a vivid imagination is a priceless skill. Most of us have a vivid imagination that comes to us naturally when we're afraid of the outcome - then we can create internal movies that run like a horror story. All you need to do is to tap into this natural ability to visualize and choose to imagine what you want to happen instead of what you don't. And remember whatever you imagine you're likely to create, so make sure you choose to imagine great shots with great outcomes. In this way you'll walk down the fairway with your head held high and a spring in your step.
Roseanna Leaton, specialist in golf hypnosis cds and hypnosis mp3 downloads.
Visualizing Whilst on the Golf Course - Part 1
How can you build visualization into your playing routine? Most golfers have a pre shot routine in terms of waggling the club or practice swings, yet fewer have a mental routine to match. This is a great shame, because the mental routine is the most important. Everything in life starts with a thought. You have to think straight if you want the golf ball to go straight, so to speak. You have to plan the golf shot mentally before you can transmit this information to the clubface. Or put another way, how can you impart the right information from the clubface to the golf ball if you are unclear about your shot?
You may think that you are clear about the shot - that you want to hit the golf ball down the fairway. But let us draw a comparison here. Golf balls know nothing, they don't have minds and they don't have prior knowledge. If a stranger to your town asked for directions how would you reply? Presumably the answer would be detailed, and you might even use gestures to help make the directions easier to follow. You may even get pen and paper out and draw a map. Unless you took the time to explain the directions fully and precisely that stranger is likely to get lost. The same thing happens to golf balls.
I'm not joking. This is what actually happens. Unless you want your golf balls to take a different route to the one which you desire (and end up getting themselves lost), you need to have clear and precise intent when taking your shot. You need to mentally plan the golf shot, and picturing the desired outcome is all important. A picture is worth a thousand words. Picture the shot, the distance, direction, trajectory, spin; See the ball landing and coming to a stop. Then take the shot. By doing this, the golf ball, like the stranger in your town, stands a far better chance of reaching the desired destination.
It only takes a couple of seconds to visualize your shot and all you need to do is to build this into your pre shot routine. To make it into a habit, you need to do it consistently; Visualize EVERY shot before you take it, not just putts or tee shots, EVERY shot. It won't take long before this type of visualization is so habitual that it's impossible to hit a shot without doing it. It will become as automatic as brushing your teeth morning and night.
Mental skills are a part of the game of golf which you can practice easily from your armchair when conditions are inclement outside, and also when its sunny. Don't forget that every time you vividly imagine a perfect shot your brain doesn't know the difference between that and a real shot and so every time you visualize great shots you are strengthening the neural pathways in your brain which create an expectation of achieving the perfect outcome. There is no excuse for being "bored"; Even when you're in the check out queue in Safeway you can be visualizing great golf shots.
Roseanna Leaton, specialist in golf hypnosis cds and hypnosis mp3 downloads.
The Do's and Don'ts in Your Golf Mind - Part 2
You can also use this type of visualization to become more creative in your short game, visualizing different shots, both high and low. Remember, everything in life starts with a thought, including every shot you make in golf. You have to think about it, plan it, visualize it and then it has the best chance of doing what you what it to do. If you don't tell the golf ball clearly where you want it to go, it will go wherever it pleases...and probably won't please you!
Here's a challenge for habitual slicers, which covers, as you probably know, 70% of the golfing population. Be honest now and really think about what thoughts run through your mind when you're standing on the tee and there are trees all the way down the right of the fairway. Are you thinking "OK, there's a great spot in the middle of the fairway and I'm going to aim at that particular point"; or do you think "Oh no, trees on the right, I'd better aim further left"? And as you aim further left, do you pick an exact target to aim at, or do you simply think "further left"? And as you aim "further left" do you find that you come across the ball more and slice the ball even further to the right? Because if you did that your golf ball probably did exactly what you told it to do...Even as you were thinking "further left" were you not PICTURING those darned trees down the right?
So, the challenge to slicers is to go out there and decide on your exact target and picture the ball's flight path and trajectory as it flies to that target and then just hit the ball. And if you really want to go for it, set the ball out to the RIGHT and draw it in to the centre, firstly in your imagination, and then notice how your mind really does tell the golf ball where to go. Your mind is far more important than your technique...try it and see for yourself. (If you think about it, what I'm saying is also very logical - if by intentionally setting it out left, you unintentionally hit a slice, then is it possible that by intentionally setting it out right, you might unintentionally hit a draw?)
Once again, you can be visualizing your routine and your shots when you are relaxing at home. What can be simpler than this type of practice? Practice, of the right things, really does make perfect. The beauty of visualization practice is that EVERY shot is perfect and so your brain is recording these perfect shots all of the time whilst you visualize. If you were partaking of actual practice, some shots would be great whilst others might not be so accurate - and your brain is recording every shot. This explains why numerous studies have shown that visualization practice is MORE effective than actual practice.
So if you want to get a HEAD start to your golfing season, get visualizing. And you don't have to spend hours at it either. Research has shown that just spending 1-3 minutes visualizing at a time is optimal for this type of effective practice. To put it in perspective, that's less time than smokers spend on smoking a cigarette! You could be visualizing whilst smoking or even while brushing your teeth.
And if you really want to excel you could go to sleep listening to a golf hypnosis cd to embed such visualizations deep into your subconscious mind; Again, what could be easier? You just get into bed, put the golf hypnosis cd on and fall asleep. Easy!
You can learn how to really visualize your shots with the help of hypnosis downloads. Hypnosis downloads can be used to get you to focus, to stay in the now, to visualize a great shot and to see what you really want to see thereby making it happen. And that’s what you want; you want to make it happen when you are out there on the course.
Roseanna Leaton, specialist in golf hypnosis cds and hypnosis mp3 downloads.
The Do's and Don'ts in Your Golf Mind - Part 1
Have you ever wondered why sometimes the more you don't want something to happen the more likely it is that it does happen? That's kind of a strange co-incidence don't you think? Let's examine what happens when you try to not do something...
Try as hard as you can right now to NOT think about a giraffe.
What are you thinking about? It's almost certain to be a giraffe! Now ask yourself did you see the word "giraffe" or did you see it's rather long neck?
So what does this tell us about how our minds work? Firstly, in order to comprehend what it is we are trying not to think about we have to focus on what that thing is. Secondly, we tend to picture it rather than think about the letters of the word; an image of it comes into your mind's eye. And this makes sense if you think about how you learnt as a child; You would have a picture book with the words next to the picture, and that's how you would learn that that particular word represented that particular picture. The picture has more impact - the picture comes first.
What we can learn from this is that where there is a conflict between your will power and your imagination, your imagination wins. Hence in several previous article posts I focused upon the power of visualization in creating a great putting routine, and more particularly, the power of using visualization as a practice routine which you can execute at any time when you are unable to get out and play golf.
If you haven't quite appreciated as yet the extreme power of this mental skill, think of the times that you have stood on the tee thinking "don't go in the bunker" and hey, presto - amazingly that's exactly where the ball ended up. Your mind is EXQUISITELY TALENTED. Unless you are a pretty low handicap player, for most of us to aim the ball into a bunker that's 180 yards away and 2 yards in width, we would probably have to have a few attempts before succeeding; and yet, just by THINKING "don't go in there", it does. Wow! Isn't that amazing?
Once again, what can we learn from this? As you think "Don't" your mind has to comprehend "don't what?" and will PICTURE whatever the object it. And a "picture is worth a thousand words" to quote a well-known, and insightful, phrase. What we golfers need to do is simply to use this knowledge to our advantage. We can choose to PICTURE exactly where we want the golf ball to go. You can picture the exact line that you want the ball to travel along, picture the trajectory, picture the ball landing and rolling and coming to a stop. Your mind understands and responds to pictures automatically, instinctively and EASILY.
Sometime soon, why not get out to the chipping area with a friend? Take it in turns to ask your friend where they are going to land the ball, and put a tee there to mark the precise spot. Then ask them how high the ball will travel; hold your arm out to indicate the exact height. This is a quick way of assisting someone to visualize their shot. Then move away and allow them to execute the shot they have pictured. It's amazing how your visualization skills will improve as you do this, and in this way you are clearly telling the golf ball what to do - you are chipping with clear intent. The result, quite logically, is that the golf ball is far more likely to go where you want it to.
Once you have done this, you can go home, put your feet up, get nice and cozy and simply picture the process all over again. You can have a lovely relax on the sofa, simply visualizing all those fantastic chips, over and over and over again, thereby strengthening those neural pathways in your brain, creating an expectation that those great chips will come off as you want them to.
Why not spend some time focusing upon your mind instead of the mechanics of golf? You can learn how to really visualize your shots with the help of hypnosis downloads. Why do you think the professionals use golf hypnosis? They use golf hypnosis because it works; hypnosis downloads can be used to get you to focus, to stay in the now, to visualize a great shot and to see what you really want to see thereby making it happen. And that’s what you want; you want to make it happen when you are out there on the course.
Roseanna Leaton, specialist in golf hypnosis cds and hypnosis mp3 downloads.
Hypnosis in Golf - Part 2
NINETY percent of golf is in the mind. If you feel confident when you swing the club, the ball is much more likely to respond as desired. If you choose an EXACT target for your shot, the ball is much more likely to travel in that direction. If you visualize the trajectory of your shot, again the ball is much more likely to fly in a similar way, and so on.
On the flip side, if you don't choose an exact target, how can your mind direct your body to swing the golf club so the ball travels in the right direction? If you don't decide in your mind where the ball is going, how can you impart the correct information to the ball at impact with the clubface? If you are thinking "I don't like this club" how relaxed and confident is your golf swing going to be?
I know what you're going to say now. "But I don't feel confident with that club" or some variation of "this is how I am". And if that's how you're thinking, nothing will change. It's a bit of a chicken and egg situation. You have to feel confident in order to hit the ball well; and you have to hit the ball well in order to feel confident. Or do you?
What causes a lack of confidence? Is it a fear that the ball is not going where you want it to go, or a fear of making a fool of yourself, or a fear that your swing needs to be fixed? We're not born with fear. Fear is learned...and therefore can be unlearned. The question is "how?"
First, stop thinking that your golf swing needs to be fixed; it's just fine. Just look at all the professionals on TV and you won't see two same swings. If you topped the ball on the last shot, you topped it. If you hit it fat, you got under it too much. These are relevant facts which provide feedback to you which enable you to adjust your next swing accordingly. Your entire swing doesn't need fixing.
Secondly, having emptied your mind of irrelevant "swing needs to be fixed" thoughts, you can use your mind to create a feeling of confidence. Think confident thoughts and you'll feel confident. Everything in life starts with a thought. Thoughts create your emotions which direct your actions. Just by consciously choosing to direct your thoughts in this way you will reap great rewards. However, if you really want to appreciate the full power of your mind in golf, hypnosis is the way to go.
The use of golf hypnosis allows you to access your subconscious mind, the part that knows just what to do, just how to do it, the part that acts automatically and spontaneously. Your conscious mind thinks whilst your subconscious mind acts automatically. Golf hypnosis will allow you to access your automatic thought patterns and to change them. Many people don't even know the thought processes which are embedded in their subconscious mind; all they know is how they feel and how they act, without knowing why. And in golf, as with everything in life, awareness precedes choice which precedes change.
With the help of golf hypnosis cds or hypnosis downloads, you can become aware of and empty your conscious and subconscious mind of confidence destroying thoughts. You can also direct your automatic thought patterns in a way that you desire. You can make suggestions to instill yourself with hypnosis confidence; you can learn to visualize clearly the results you want to happen, so that when you go out on the golf course you have an instinctive feeling of confidence and an expectation that the ball is going to end up in the right place. And, seeing as hypnosis is in itself a state of relaxation at one with a state of heightened awareness, you can learn to relax and focus at will whilst on the golf course.
How can a golfer who cares about his or her golf afford to NOT use golf hypnosis? How can you not WANT to be hypnotized? How can the state of hypnosis mean you're not in control? Take one look at Tiger and ask does he seem in control or not?
Why not spend some time focusing upon your golf mind? You can learn how to change your habitual thoughts with the help of hypnosis downloads. Why do you think the professionals use golf hypnosis? They use golf hypnosis because it works; hypnosis downloads can be used to get you to focus, to stay in the now, to visualize a great swing and to have greater feel. You can use golf hypnosis downloads to help you to play the golf of your dreams.
Roseanna Leaton, specialist in golf hypnosis cds and hypnosis mp3 downloads.
Hypnosis in Golf - Part 1
"Look into my eyes..." Isn't that how the hypnotist begins? We're seeing an increasing number of articles which focus on the power of hypnosis in the game of golf.
Golfers of all standards are recognizing that hypnosis does work. There is more to it than the stereotypical stage hypnotist who wears flowing robes, has a goatee and makes usually sensible people cluck like chickens, or do rather more embarrassing deeds whilst under his "spell".
A lot of people are afraid of hypnosis, but this is usually due to lack of knowledge. They've seen a stage show and think "I'm not going there" or "you couldn't do that to me". There is a natural fear of losing control, and a secondary fear that maybe you can't be hypnotized - that it takes a certain type of person to be hypnotized. Everyone can be hypnotized, so long as you want to be. You pass through hypnosis every time you go to sleep and every time you wake up - it's the dreamlike state between wake and sleep. When you drive home in your car, and ask yourself when you get there "did I check the traffic lights?" you've been in a trance - a state of hypnosis. When you stare through the TV and don't hear your partner speaking, that again demonstrates trance; it is hypnosis.
Hypnosis is natural, normal, and powerful. Think how useful it could be to block out everything except what's in your spotlight of thought, AT WILL?... Not just when you're staring through the TV. Wouldn't that be helpful when you're teeing off on the 1st or putting for eagle on the 18th?
Hypnosis is a state of relaxation at one with a state of heightened awareness. You're not asleep, you're not knocked out and you cannot be made to do something you don't want to do. You can hear and you can think. Again, wouldn't it be helpful to be able to have a relaxed awareness on the golf course? To be able to remain calm inside, but totally aware of what is important at the same time, AND be able to block out unnecessary thoughts and distractions? Just one look at Tiger's facial expressions and you know how he's feeling and focusing when he is playing golf.
It seems to be that human nature is that if we're not achieving the results we desire we must be doing something wrong. We look for something that needs to be fixed. In golf this usually means a fine dissection of our grip, stance, alignment, swing path and so on; followed by a rework of the swing (which may take all year to groove). Very few people think that their swing is basically alright, but they need to focus more clearly, relax more, or begin to think straight.
Returning to the "my swing needs to be fixed" culture, ask yourself "why is this the case?" Because most golfers hit several beautiful shots and a few that weren't as beautiful - and each time it was the same person who swung the club. How can your golf swing need fixing when that swing hits both beautiful and less than beautiful shots? Ask yourself as well whether you can remember a day when you started on the 1st and hit some really nice shots and you felt yourself thinking "Oh, it's going well today"?...and your confidence grew, and somehow everything came together and you had a great round of golf? Did your swing need fixing then? Is it your swing or your mind that makes the difference in golf?
Why not spend some time focusing upon your mind instead of the mechanics of golf? You can learn how to change your habitual thoughts with the help of hypnosis downloads. Why do you think the professionals use golf hypnosis? They use golf hypnosis because it works; hypnosis downloads can be used to get you to focus, to stay in the now, to visualize a great swing and to see what you really want to see. You can use golf hypnosis downloads to create a great swing which suits you as an individual.
Roseanna Leaton, specialist in golf hypnosis cds and hypnosis mp3 downloads.
How to Get a Head Start in Golf
What can golfers do when they cannot get out to play for whatever reason? Do you just put the clubs away and forget all about the game until the opportunity to play returns? Just because you are injured, or haven't got the time to play golf doesn't mean that you can't be doing something productive with your golf game.
What can you do? How can you brush up on your game of golf? The one most important, most vital thing all golfers can and should be doing is improving upon your mental skills. What do I mean by this?
You sit in your favorite chair, you feel nice and warm and peaceful, you close your eyes and relax; and as you relax you picture in your mind's eye a putting green, picturing the putting surface, its color, its contours, and the pin placement. You see the ball lying there, round and white, and you imagine yourself lining up the putt, assessing the distance, feeling the putter in your hands, taking your practice strokes and then stepping up to the ball, taking a final look at the hole and then you stroke the putt. You see the ball run smoothly along the line that you chose and at the perfect pace so that it just rolls over the lip and into the cup - fantastic! You just made a great putt and it feels great too.
Do you think you could carry out this very simple task? Do you think it would take much time or effort to visualize great putts in this way, just whenever you are cozy and comfortable at home? And would it make you feel good to see all those putts in?
There is an extra benefit. Not only does this type of visualization give you a great feeling, it's also creating MUSCLE MEMORY. Every time you VIVIDLY IMAGINE something your brain produces the SAME electrical activity as it does when you do that thing in practice, indicating that it is strengthening that neural pathway, thereby building your belief that your putts will roll in, creating an EXPECTATION that your putts will drop, making sure that you believe that you are a good putter.
You are also creating for yourself a great mental pre-putt routine, honing in your visualization skills, teaching yourself to "see the putt in"; And if there is one thing that is true in putting is that if you can't see the putt in, it won't go in, because golf balls do what YOU TELL THEM to do. Sixty seven percent of your brain is devoted to hand and eye skills - to hand-eye co-ordination - and your hands don't know what to do with the putter unless you can firstly see where you want the ball to go.
You can learn to visualize in this way easily and effortlessly, and you can practice putting in this way no matter where you are. I promise you that as you learn to see those putts in you'll be stroking closer to 29 or 30 putts a round instead of 36 and that's a seriously easy way of dropping your handicap.
"Your mind is a garden for your thoughts - if you plant flowers, you'll get flowers. If you plant potatoes, you'll get potatoes. If you plant nothing you'll get weeds" RICHARD WILKINS
There have been several well-documented studies worldwide, covering golfers of all abilities, which have shown that mental putting practice of this type is in actual fact MORE EFFECTIVE than actual practice. What can be simpler? You sit in your armchair, close your eyes and visualize putt after putt dropping into the hole. Practice, in this way, really does make perfect.
And this very simple mental skill can be used for every shot, not just putting. You can mentally rehearse the perfect tee shots, short shots, bunker shots, trouble shots...the list is endless. Three catch phrases to remember in your golfing game are:-
"Where there's a will there's a way"
"What the mind can perceive, the mind can believe and the mind can achieve"
"Whatever you imagine you create".
These three truths, which also relate to life in general, should become your golfing mantras.
"Whether you think you can or think you can't, you are probably right" HENRY FORD
I've only scratched the surface here with regards to the mental preparation you could be doing during an enforced lay off from the game of golf. You'll see from my web-site just how many mental skills there are relating to playing golf well and in mastering this great game. Visualization is just one skill amongst many that a good golfer needs in their golf-bag. Golf hypnosis makes the learning of these mental skills very easy and has the added benefit of taking little time.
If you find it difficult to direct your own visualizations effectively, then you'll find listening to a relevant golf hypnosis download is an easy way of setting the ball rolling in the right direction, so to speak. The key is that you must visualize what you want to happen, not what you don't want to happen - remember, whatever you imagine you will create!
Roseanna Leaton, specialist in golf hypnosis cds and hypnosis mp3 downloads.
Positive Thinking in Golf - Part 3
In golf, the slow pace of the game provides time to worry, to interfere with the smooth automatic processing of your swing, to think about what you don't want to happen, rather than what you are meant to be doing. And the most basic, most essential thing in this game is to keep your mind focused on what you want to happen, not on what you don’t. Whatever you focus on will happen. The most essential thing in golf is your mental game.
"The psychology of golf goes a step further than course management. It entails mental toughness, self confidence, intimidation, gamesmanship, conquering inner demons, instant recall of past successes and being able to quickly purge failures. It is the game within the game". TIGER WOODS
Golf is a game, and should be fun. No-one plays golf perfectly, not even Tiger Woods or Ernie Els or whoever else is, or has been, at the top of the game. It's a game where mistakes are made, frequently...and no wonder...when you think about the size of the ball, length of club, and the distance the ball travels...just a whisker of a change in club face application can create a massive difference in where and how the ball travels. So this game is also a game of accepting mistakes and errors. And a mistake is only a mistake if you see it that way. It could alternatively be seen as an opportunity to learn.
"Experience is not what happens to you, it is what you do with what happens to you" ALDOUS HUXLEY
All golfers may have beliefs about whether they are good or not at sport, or golf, or good or not at learning - but these are just beliefs, nothing more. There is no need to be held back by limiting beliefs. You can choose to change beliefs no matter how deep rooted they are. Everyone has a body and a mind that has a similar physiology and neurology to the best golfers in the world. Athletic literature is full of examples of athletes who have excelled because of their internal desire, rather than the physical attributes such as size, strength, power or speed. There are tall golfers and short golfers, male and female golfers, young and old golfers. It is not age or body shape that prescribes ability. It is your mind that makes the difference.
"Your thoughts create your actions. You create your thoughts" RICHARD WILKINS
Everybody has the ability to play golf well. How good they get will depend on their commitment. When one scrutinizes the training and preparation habits of great golfers, and all great athletes, it is clear that what is required is a combination of physical ability and a desire to be the very best. It all depends on personal choice - each person can be as good as they want to be.
"Our life is what our thoughts make it" MARCUS AURELIUS
How many times have you heard it said that good golf is 90% in the mind? How many times have you described a golfing problem as a "mental block"? If you yourself recognize it as a mental block then the first step is to learn how to think about your problem in a different way. Remember thoughts create emotions, which in turn direct your actions.
Everything in life depends on how you think about it, not just your golf. You can learn to choose your thoughts, and therefore control the outcome of them. It just takes a little time and practice - but the results will be truly AMAZING.
"All the difference will not make the way you think; yet the way you think will make all the difference" RICHARD WILKINS
Why not spend a little bit of time in working upon the 90% instead of the 10%? You can learn how to relax in an instant and to overcome your mental blocks with the help of hypnosis downloads. Why do you think the professionals use golf hypnosis? They use golf hypnosis because it works; hypnosis downloads can be used to get you to focus clearly, to stay in the now, to overcome obstacles and play great golf. With hypnosis downloads you can learn to control your mind and that is the quickest and easiest way in which you will knock shots off your handicap..
Roseanna Leaton, specialist in golf hypnosis cds and hypnosis mp3 downloads.
Positive Thinking in Golf - Part 2
As I said in Part 1 of this article, your mind does not need to be your biggest handicap. There are many mental skills which are used by all professional golfers and you can learn them just as easily and use them equally effectively. Once you learn to control and direct your mind you will find that your golf improves dramatically. Here are some more ways in which you can work on your golfing mind.
"The one influence most likely to assure a satisfactory progression of the swing is the clear visualization in the players mind of movements. This can do more for a player than anything else he can possibly do" BOBBY JONES
You can learn ways to change patterns of negative self-talk, so that you not only overcome their limiting effect, but replace it with hugely positive and motivating inner dialogue. Additionally you can learn how to create connections between "trigger words" and a desired state of concentration and focus, so as to anchor that feeling and employ it whenever you want to. Even if someone has reached a feeling of “burn out” this too can be overcome.
"When you walk to your ball between shots keep your head up, look around and be observant. In the jungle animals who keep their heads down get eaten" JACKIE BURKE jnr.
Golf is an incredibly "mental" game. Thus any serious golfer must learn how the mind works, how to focus, how to overcome self-doubt, how to change destructive habits and patterns of behavior...in short, how to overcome mental obstacles and to succeed, to win; to put your knowledge and ability into practice with consistency and to push past internal barriers.
"Whether you think you can or think you can't, you are probably right" HENRY FORD
At the very least, every golfer should be aware of certain basic mental skills that they can learn so as to make the game easier - the skills of belief, trust and focus, the ability to access a state of relaxed concentration at will, to overcome worries and fears. I’m sure everyone would agree that golf becomes significantly easier when you believe in yourself and your ability, when you have confidence rather than just trying, when you’re able to narrow your focus and concentrate on the task in hand and avoid lapses of concentration and negative thoughts.
"Fears have no place in the now. They can only exist in the future, yet when we arrive in the future it simply becomes the now. Fears have no place in the now..." RICHARD WILKINS
Any golfer can learn to overcome the negative effects of tension, distraction, negative flashbacks which sometimes appear like mini horror movies, thinking too much and over-analyzing their swing. You hear far too many golfers trying to work out here their swing has gone or where their elbows were or their feet instead of focusing on the task in hand; that of hitting the ball towards the target.
"A golfer cannot score as well as possible if he is thinking about swing mechanics as he plays" BOB ROTELLA
Why not spend a little bit of time in learning to relax and focus properly upon the real task in hand? You can learn how to relax in an instant and to focus clearly with the help of hypnosis downloads. Why do you think the professionals use golf hypnosis? They use golf hypnosis because it works; hypnosis downloads can be used to get you to focus clearly, to stay in the now, to let go of worries, tensions and distractions, and to really visualize your shots. With hypnosis downloads you can learn to be calm, relaxed and focused whilst playing golf.
Roseanna Leaton, specialist in golf hypnosis cds and hypnosis mp3 downloads.
Positive Thinking in Golf - Part 1
Your mind doesn't need to be your biggest handicap! Once you work out how to control your thoughts, and overcome sometimes unconscious negative thought patterns, your golf will reach a far higher level. As well as removing negative thoughts, you can also choose to fill your mind with positive expectations, as demonstrated by this Jack Nicklaus quote:-
"I never hit a shot, not even in practice, without having a very sharp, in focus picture of it in my head. It's like a color movie. First I see the ball where I want it to finish, nice and white and sitting up high on bright green grass. Then the scene quickly changes and I see the ball going there: its path, trajectory and shape, even its behavior on landing. Then there is a sort of fade out and the next scene shows me making the kind of swing that will turn the previous images into reality."
This quote, from one of the greatest golfers, sums up the mental focus and consistent attitude necessary to play great golf. I would like to outline some of the basic mental golf skills which can be learned by EVERY golfer, so as to ensure that your mind is not your biggest handicap. It has been shown that the link between confidence and performance is a direct relationship - the greater the confidence, the greater the performance. It is all too easy to dwell on past failures. But this creates a negative performance next time. You can learn how to remember successes, to recall and relive them and to feel the confidence and drive from these times and to draw upon the components of success and transfer them to your future performance.
"The prime causes of error are within the mind - doubt, tension and a lack of concentration cause more errors than ignorance of mechanics" MICHAEL MURPHY 1975
Some golfer's problem may be that they perform well in practice, but get too nervous in competition. The difference between anxiety and excitement is very slight and you can be shown ways of channeling any anxiety into positive motivation and energy, so as to lift performance up to a higher level.
"To control the ball - a golfer must first learn to control himself" JOHN STUART MARTIN
Many people are distracted by some aspect of the environment in which they perform. You can be assisted in learning how to focus, really focus, to achieve a tunnel of concentration and mental fixation, so that any unnecessary element takes a back seat and no longer interferes with performance.
"The busier you keep yourself with the particulars of the shot at hand – the less room there is for negative thoughts" JACK NICKLAUS 1979
Some people don't achieve their maximum potential simply because they don't set goals for themselves. They just turn up and "see how it goes". With this type of approach the result is, needless to say, haphazard! It is hugely important in sport to set realistic goals for yourself and stage goals between now and the end goal. But just thinking about that goal is not enough. You can learn how to visualize your goal, to really feel it happening now and to program it into your future reality.
"Our belief at the beginning of a doubtful undertaking is the only thing that insures the outcome of our ventures - both successful and unsuccessful" WILLIAM JONES
Visualization is a hugely important part of successful sport. If someone is truly visualizing themselves in some physical activity, research has shown that the brain impulses to the muscles involved actually take place and some minute stimuli of the muscles occurs during visualization. Hence one is not only communicating mentally but establishing a physical "memory" too (Richardson "Psycho Neuromuscular Theory" 1967), a memory which is drawn upon when you are next on the golf course.
Why not spend a little bit of time in learning to visualize effectively? You can learn how to create more powerfully compelling visualizations with the help of hypnosis downloads. Why do you think the professionals use golf hypnosis? They use golf hypnosis because it works; hypnosis downloads can be used to get you to focus, to stay in the now, and to really visualize your shots. With hypnosis downloads you can learn to access the more creative part of your mind and this will enable you to visualize your shots better.
Roseanna Leaton, specialist in golf hypnosis cds and hypnosis mp3 downloads.
