Golf Psychology Newsletter- More than a Golfer

By Dr. Karl Morris

www.golf-brain.com

Fascinating to hear Aaron Baddeley, winner of the Heritage Classic in the USA

remark that he felt as a result of his own personal faith that golf and the way he played the game, could in no way define him as a human being. Basically, what Baddely  is saying is he is not ALLOWING the illusion that if he plays great golf he is somehow a better person than if he played poor golf.

Tiger Woods, as a result of a unique upbringing

has always been conditioned to believe he is first and foremost a human being and a golfer somewhat further down the list.

Yet, how many of us have (or still do) fallen into the trap of OVERIDENTIFYING ourselves and our worth by the direction that a little white ball takes?

Fred Shoemaker has often said

that the ‘goal’ of golf is to shoot as low as possible but the PURPOSE of golf is for you to decide.

Just consider this one question before you next tee the ball up:

• Why do I PLAY golf?

Then, whatever your own personal and truthful answer is, notice if you can make a commitment to that purpose when you go out onto the course.

Emotional Control

Last month I introduced to you the concept of controlling emotion by RE-LABELLING it as energy as opposed to something that is BAD. I want to take that a step further this month by creating a mindset that will allow you to cope so much better with the chaos that inevitably happens out on the golf course.

We have all been told to ‘trust’ our golf swing, ‘train it and trust it’ is the mantra often handed out by the gurus.  As sound a concept as this is, I think we need to first develop a form of trust at a significantly deeper level than just the physical swing.

If I asked you the question ‘Can Tiger Woods CONTROL the golf ball’? Most of you would undoubtedly say a resounding ‘YES’! However can Woods really CONTROL the golf ball?  My definition of control is that if I tap the letter T on the keyboard I am currently using, then I am 99.99999% sure that T will in fact appear.  However, even the greatest as in Woods cannot stand on a tee and say with anything like the same degree of certainty that the golf ball will find the short grass.

Here is the million dollar KEY - Tiger Woods INFLUENCES the golf ball better than just about anyone on the planet but he cannot CONTROL the ball, no-one in the history of the game has ever got to that point.

So, to trust our swing we are inevitably trusting something that will always to a greater or lesser extent let us down at some point.

I have worked with a number of pro’s who have spent the best part of twenty years searching for the SECRET to controlling the golf ball (some carry on way past 20 years!!) and are still no nearer to finding the answer.

Emblazon this statement across your heart and mind :

• ‘NO TECHNIQUE HOWEVER SOUND WILL EVER TOTALLY PROTECT US FROM BAD SHOTS’

As tough as that is to take, when you do accept that there is a mental liberation just around the corner, when we begin to understand that there is something that we can trust totally and will actually ALLOW our technique to flourish to the best of its capability.

No matter what the golf ball does when it leaves the club, whether it goes to the target or it goes out of bounds at that point, we have a choice where we can either get really mad, angry and start to beat ourselves up or we can DEAL WITH it!!   We have the choice - this is the point at which we have the REAL CONTROL.  We may not be able to control totally where the ball goes but we can control our REACTION to it.

• What would it be like if you stood on the first tee and you made a TOTAL commitment to DEAL WITH whatever happened on the golf course? 
• What would it be like if you weren’t afraid of a poor shot because you were going to DEAL WITH it!

Those who are not afraid to LOSE are also not afraid to WIN.

This is the point when you go a little deeper and you put total trust in YOURSELF which then ALLOWS you to LET GO and free up the physical motion.  Not for one minute am I saying that you stop trying to improve your technique or get better at shot making, what I am saying though is that the search for the perfect swing is a bit like believing in Father Christmas. I t is a wonderful concept that fills us full of hope, but at some point ends in disappointment when we find out the truth.

Unfortunately, it takes some people a little bit longer than others to realise that Rudolph didn’t actually eat the carrot that you left out on Christmas Eve!

So much of the concept of DEAL WITH is about being able to release negative emotion after a dropped shot, a missed putt, or whatever the game throws at you.

When we make a mistake, the emotion that we generate as a result can, if left unchecked, get in our way for the rest of the day and massively affect the final outcome.

One technique that we have come to trust over the years because of its effectiveness is called releasing.

• Just think back to the last time that you got really angry playing your golf.
• Go back to that time see what you saw, hear what you heard and notice the FEELING of anger in your body.
• Where is the anger?
• Where is it located in your physical body?
• If the anger had a colour what would that colour be?

Now taking your attention of the ‘story’ of why you are angry just place all of your attention on that FEELING.

Now ask these SPECIFIC questions.

• Can you FEEL the FEELING?
• Are you prepared to LET GO of that feeling?
• When will you let go?
• Could you LET it GO now? 

Just notice how that feels different NOW.

More useful tips can be found in the book "Golf - The Mind Factor"

This is the massive difference between trying to change a feeling with thinking as opposed to changing the feeling by RELEASING the feeling.

We can end up going round and round in mental loops thinking about our thinking but feelings act quickly and come upon us quickly.

Just as quickly though we can LET GO of that feeling and get back on track.

In the world of professional golf, this is an essential technique to develop to rid us in an instant of negative emotion because in an instant we need to hit the next putt or the next shot.

In the heat of battle it is very tough to defeat thinking with even more thinking but we can defeat negative feelings by letting go of that feeling.

If this system seems simple it is because it IS simple but be very careful that you do not allow the simplicity to mask what is a fundamentally useful way of running your own body and brain.

Become a Mental Game Coach

Train with Dr. Karl Morris and become a qualified NLP Sports Practitioner.

5 day course runs in central Manchester 20^th to 24^th November 2006.

Call 01925 764053 for details

www.golf-brain.com

More tools and techniques for assisting memory are available in the Golf Brain series at www.golf-brain.com.

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