Mental Game

Mind Power: The Golf Mental Game

Editor’s Note: This story has been updated to describe how the Masters, perhaps the world’s most demanding tournament in terms of the golf mental game, continues to take its toll on contenders — a fact that fits perfectly with PGA teacher Rick Sessinghaus’s instructional piece, which originally ran in 2011.

IF YOU DON’T THINK professional golfers play under considerable pressure, then you may not have seen two recent Masters Tournaments — or any major you can think of, for that matter.

In the 2016 Masters, Jordan Spieth looked like a lock to notch his second straight green jacket as he stood on the 10th tee. Then came two straight bogeys and the hard-to-watch meltdown at the dastardly par 3 12th, where he rinsed two balls en route to a quadruple bogey and eventual finish well behind Danny Willett.

In 2017 Spieth make another quad, this time on No. 15, though earlier in the tournament, which gave him time to recover and get in the hunt. Alas, both he and his final round playing partner, Rickie Fowler, faded down the stretch while the long-denied Sergio Garcia finally notched his first major — chiefly through managing his emotions.

Other recent major meltdowns abound.

Back in 2010, at the U.S. Open and the PGA Championship, the third-round leaders (Dustin Johnson and Nick Watney, respectively) fell victim to the incredible pressure and ballooned to final rounds in the 80s. With all eyes on them, these two young promising players struggled mightily under enormous pressure. It was tough to watch them collapse, and something all too familiar to the average golfer. Both players unraveled early, and unfortunately, once the dam started to crack, it burst apart under the weight of pressure. They both eventually regrouped, but the damage was irreparable.

Why does this happen? And, more to the point, exactly what happened and how can you avoid a similar fate when the pressure is on you?

First, it’s important to know that your thoughts and emotions directly impact how you perform, so you have to be aware of how your mind reacts to challenging circumstances. You have to be mentally tough, so you can bounce back after a bad hole, poor shot, bad bounce or disappointing round. Your mind is your most important piece of golf equipment, and, after watching how bravely Dustin Johnson fought his way back to contend at the 2010 PGA Championship, I was happy to see that he recovered so well from his disappointing U.S. Open finish.

To help you become a mentally tough golfer, I’ve devised what I call the Five Cs for Competitive Golf. By learning the Five Cs, any golfer, regardless of his or her skill level, will strengthen mind power. Read on, and get tough.

Silence The Golf ‘Chimp’ By Taking His Time

The golf mental game is a different animal, even for elite athletes. It often perplexes baseball players that they can hit an eye-wateringly fast-moving ball with such accuracy and yet they perpetually struggle to make contact with a stationary golf ball. There are a number of possible explanations for this, some scientific, some common sense and some outrageously inaccurate.

For the sake of this article, and in an attempt to bring the matter back to our internal buddy the Chimp, we’ll assume the common sense approach that suggests having less time to think actually enhances our reaction.

It’s impossible to make the exact same golf swing every time, therefore there must be reactionary elements contained in a golf shot. When we play our best golf, a contributing factor is we access optimal degrees of freedom in our movements, allowing us to react in a similar way to our Major League slugger. This sense of fluidity reduces the impedance in our swing motion that is often created, ironically enough, by us trying to perfect the mechanics off our movements.

The following challenge, known as ‘Drop, Set, Hit’ can help us create feelings and memories in training that we can then transition onto the golf course in the form of process goals.

HOW IT WORKS

Step 1: To warm up for this challenge play it with no target. First ask a friend or coach to drop a ball, shouting “Drop” as they do it (Photo 1). At this signal you must shout “Set” (as you set up to the ball, Photo 2) and “Hit” as you begin your takeaway and then carry out the shot to completion (Photo 3).

Step 2: After getting a feel for the challenge, the word “hit” should be changed with something more “feeling” based, creating a positive sensation related to the golf shot or images of the shot and/or target.

These words, spoken out loud, silence the inner Chimp from processing any surrounding negative elements. Meanwhile, by reducing the reaction time we also sweep away that outcome fear that athletes like our baseball player simply doesn’t have the time to recognize.

The ultimate goal of this challenge is for you to not only gain feelings of freedom and flow in your game, but to also actively discover feelings and images you can store in your brain, helping you maintain a focus that brings you ever closer to your intention.

We can build up the intensity of this challenge by working through the following levels:

Level 1 — A single target

Level 2 — Random targets

Level 3 — Random targets and shot shaping

Level 4 — Golf course approach shots, short game and putting

HOW DOES IT HELP

This challenge provides very little time for you to be subjected to elements that create technical paralysis or negative self-talk that can occur when you’re allowed to dwell on a shot and all its associated outcome baggage.

This challenge can help you create a powerful process goal that can be used in the Execution phase of the OSVEA 5 components of a golf shot.

For more information on Iain Highfield and his OSVEA system at Bishops Gate Golf Academy and the International Junior academy, e-mail him at iainh@bgga.com

Find Your Pre-Shot Routine

So it’s the beginning of the golf season — or will be soon — and you have done your due diligence in preparing to play your best. You have hit the range, maybe taken a lesson or two to work out some kinks in your swing, worked on your putting stroke and short game. But have you given any time to the mental side of your game … or more specifically, to your pre-shot routine?

For that matter, do you even have one?

In this time of trying to speed up play and concern over how long it takes to get through a round, many people I play with do not have an established routine and therefore, no clear idea in their mind of what they are trying to accomplish with any given shot.

But an established and consistent routine is an integral part of performing at your best on the course, and hitting the shots that will lower your scores.

PACE VS. PLAYING WELL

Teaching professionals today must balance the pace of play issue with teaching an effective pre-shot routine.

“The first thing I tell my students is that they don’t have to wait until it’s their turn to determine what club they are going to hit, the yardage, or what kind of shot they are going to hit,” says Bob Garza, the teaching professional at Lost Tracks Golf Club in Bend, Oregon. “If they get rid of all those factors before it is their turn to hit, they can go right into their routine when it is their turn.”

Garza finds many players that are simply inattentive on the course, and thus slow down play because they have not been preparing for their shot while others in their group are hitting.

“I believe that’s where pace of play really becomes a factor,” Garza says. “I’ve seen it with pro-am partners and guys I play with, whether they are not paying attention, sitting in their cart, or on the phone …”

The distractions take away from time that players should be preparing to go into their routine. Chris Meyer, the head PGA professional at Bend Golf and Country Club, also teaches his students to prepare while others in the group are hitting.

“You can calculate your yardage as you get to your shot,” Meyer says. “As you are walking up you can find your yardages and figure out where you are.” Being ready to play when it’s your turn is key to improving pace of play, he says. “Every second counts when you are out there for four hours,” Meyer says. “You need to know when you are up next and when your playing partners are about to hit.”

“You can be thinking through some quiet practice swings and calculating your yardage and the wind while someone else is hitting,” Meyer continues.

“I truly think the biggest loss in pace of play is not from hitting shots, it’s the time between. That is the biggest part where groups or foursomes lose time on the golf course.”

NECESSARY PREPARATION

While PGA Tour professionals take some flak for slow play, to a man they all have some sort of pre-shot routine.

I have also been criticized on the course for my routine, with players questioning what takes so long (in their mind) for me to hit the golf ball. But my routine is primarily an effort to do three things.

First and foremost, I am trying to quieten my mind. We all have anxiety over the golf ball, worried about the water left or the bunkers right, the trees, out of bounds, the effect of the wind on the ball, club selection … and the list goes on and on. Those who follow the PGA Tour will recall professional Kevin Na’s struggle with his anxiety, to the point where he sometimes could not hit the shot, even during his actual swing. It is very difficult to put the anxiety behind you and your mind in the desired state of relaxed concentration. But it is crucial to allowing the body to do what it knows how to do … swing the club freely and with purpose.

Secondly, the pre-shot routine allows me to make sure I am aligned properly. From behind the golf ball, I pick a spot usually three to four inches in front of the ball that is on my line for the desired shot. I line up the clubface with that spot, and the feet accordingly parallel to the same line.

Finally, the routine gives me a moment to visualize the shot I am trying to hit. For full swings, it may be a fade or cut shot, or perhaps a straight shot or a draw. For chip shots around the green, I am visualizing the ball hitting the spot I want to land it to allow it to run to the hole. This step is instrumental, and I credit it for many of the perfect shots I have hit in my life, including two holes-in-one. Although they were many years ago, I recall both with absolute clarity. In both instances, I saw the ball go in the hole prior to hitting the shot … and the shot was an exact recreation of what I had visualized in my head, including the number of bounces into the hole.

I’m sure that you have hit perfect shots, too. Here’s hoping an effective pre-shot routine helps you hit many more this golf season.

Kevin Duke is a former golf and teaching professional, and a 25-year sports journalist who lives and works in Lincoln City, Oregon

Silence the ‘Chimp’ By Distracting Him

Editor’s Note: This is the third installment of Iain Highfield’s unique series on his OSVEA system (Options, Selection, Visualization, Execution and Acceptance), which includes taming what he calls “The Chimp,” that ancient part of the brain that instills fear and tension in human beings, including golfers.

This task can be as easy as 1,2,3.

For the inner Chimp to be effective, it’s evolved in such a way that it can only focus on one thing at a time. Therefore if we provide something for the Chimp to focus on, it can free up our brain and body and help us take a step toward our intention – namely, getting the ball in the hole.

One of the most effective ways I have witnessed for distracting the negative brain is for the player to simply count. In fact, in my experience, there are many performance variations and benefits that counting can become the catalyst for. There are also many ways that we can train this skill and I’d suggest attempting them all to find which one works best for you.

Ultimately, the focus of the challenge is to assess not only how effectively you can employ a distraction technique, but also gain a sense of how this simple process can help you achieve flow, gain rhythm and reduce tension.

HOW IT WORKS

Step 1

Count to 20 out loud, listen to how it sounds and feel how the numbers flow from your body.

Step 2

Then begin to count as you take practice swings with an imaginary club, walking towards an imaginary golf ball (still counting) and taking a swing. Again notice how the sound of the counting flows – was it any different to when you simply counted out loud? If so repeat the process, trying to make the two states feel the same.

Step 3

When you’ve successfully matched the feeling of the count, add a club and pay attention to the timing, flow, feelings and rhythm as you pass through your routine counting out loud.

Step 4

By now you may feel like you have achieved a state of flow and rhythm to what you are doing – for example your 1,2,3 may be your practice swing; 4,5,6 is when you stare at the target (Photo 1); 7,8,9,10 is when you walk to and address the ball; 11, 12 is your waggle (Photo 2); 13, 14 your backswing (Photo 3) and 15 is your down swing and follow-through (Photo 4). As soon as you have created a similar sequence, now you can add the ball.

Now the real challenge is to keep the flow of the numbers, feelings and how the number sounds the same as before you introduced the ball. However, I should probably remind you that lurking inside this innocuous looking ball is your old friend, the Chimp. The ball will trigger your negative and protectively anxious mind, and if you’re not careful your focus can easily shift from the process of building flow to the outcome of the shot.

Once rhythm and flow is established and ball striking feels solid, you can pass through the four levels detailed below to increase your retention of these skills and enable you to more effectively transfer them to the course.

Level 1 = Hit while counting out loud

Level 2 = Coach/friend and player count alternate numbers

Level 3 = Introduce target and random targets while counting

Level 4 = On-course counting throughout the swing

HOW DOES IT HELP

As you develop the ability to count your way throughout the shot it becomes impossible for your negative thoughts to occur, as your inner Chimp is only able to process one thing at a time (in this instance it would be the numbers). Silencing our Chimp will also significantly reduce the chance of technical impedance in the shot.

This Process goal can become an integral part of your Execution component of the Five-Step OSVEA process.

For more information on Iain Highfield and his OSVEA system at Bishops Gate Golf Academy and the International Junior Academy, e-mail him at iainh@bgga.com

Read Part 1

Read Part 2

Silence The ‘Chimp’ With Tension Awareness

Editor’s Note: This is the second installment of Iain Highfield’s unique series on his OSVEA system (Options, Selection, Visualization, Execution and Acceptance), which includes taming what he calls “The Chimp,” that ancient part of the brain that instills fear and tension in human beings, including golfers. You can get caught up with the series at www.golftipsmagazine.com

Visualization in golfing terms could be classed as feeling, seeing or hearing the shot you are about to hit. This simple exercise can help you build tension awareness and create an effective process goal, helping you to silence the unhelpful screeches of your inner Chimp. It can be a productive exercise, particularly for players with a propensity to “tense up” under a perceived pressure – ferociously squeezing the club over the last few holes every time victory is in sight.

Progressive Muscle Relaxation Technique has been used by elite athletes for years and is scientifically proven to enhance performance. Simply put, it’s the systematic tensing of particular muscle groups in your body, releasing the tension in order to recognize and appreciate how your muscles feel when relaxed.

This express version of the technique can be used as part of your practice routine, helping transform it into a more purposeful warm-up. By quantifying the feelings it provides, you can create a process goal that keeps you in the moment, silences the Chimp and leads to far more fluid swing motion.

HOW DOES IT HELP?

Step 1

Place your club on the floor at your feet and relax your jaw, neck, shoulders, hands and abs. We’ll refer to this state as “level zero tension.” (Photo 1)

Step 2

Now slowly dial up tension in each of these areas of your body from zero to level 2, 4 then 6 going all the way to maximum tension (your level 10) in each of these body parts. (Photos 2-7)

Step 3

Repeat this process 5-6 times and then pick up your golf club and immediately make some practice swings, with the tempo and speed you desire to have when you’re on the course. As you do this try to quantify the level of tension in your hands and in your jaw – assign a number from your scale for the tension you feel in these parts of your body. It may help to close your eyes to enhance the sensations of your practice swing. (Photos 8-10)

Step 4

After completing several practice swings, the ball is introduced only at the point when you feel your tension levels are properly under control.

Step 5

When the ball is introduced, you’re effectively going to sign a mental contract with yourself – committing to a swing that maintains a certain level of hand or jaw tension. Don’t be afraid to change the levels and find your optimum. (Also, a handy way to maintain low jaw tension is to balance a potato chip between your teeth.)

We can build up the intensity of this challenge by working through the following levels:

Level 1 = No target

Level 2 = One target

Level 3 = Random targets

Level 4 = Random targets and shot shapes

HOW DOES IT HELP?

By forcing you to recognize how the body acts and reacts under tension, you become able to manage it and gain fluid movement. Through this tension management technique you’re able to identify an optimum level that you are then able to take into competition, in the form of a process goal, and silence the Chimp. This Process goal can become an integral part of your Visualization and or Execution segments of the Five-Step OSVEA process.

For more information on Iain Highfield and his OSVEA system at Bishops Gate Golf Academy in Central Florida, e-mail him at iainh@bishopsgategolfacademy.com

The Six-Spoke System Spoke 2: The Golf Mind

Editor’s Note: Following is the second of six in-depth instruction pieces in digest form from Top 30 instructor Tom Patri’s 2005 book, “The Six-Spoke Approach to Golf.” Tom is one of the most respected teachers and coaches in the game, and we’re honored to add his deep passion and knowledge to the pages of Golf Tips.

Back in the late 1980s and early ’90s, when The Six Spoke Approach was a still being formed in my golf mind, sports psychology — and specifically golf sports psychology — were still in there formative years in comparison to the depth of qualified talents available to players of all skill levels today.

When I begin my journey to learn as much as is possible about what I then called the “twisted coconut” (a head that doesn’t function properly under pressure), names like Dr. Bob Rotella, Dick Coop, Debra Graham, Dr. David Cook, and Dr. Rick Jensen were not exactly household names. That said, their world was about to explode.

My first exposure was a very personal one. I was a young competitive mini-tour player struggling on the now defunct Space Coast Golf Tour in Orlando, Florida. I had just won the NCAA Division ll National Championship. I had started out as a professional making seven checks in my first 11 or so events. Not bad. Then things began to unravel on me. I questioned my ballstriking, I questioned my putting stroke, the way I pitched the ball, and the way I prepared for events. Surely everything I had done while winning several amateur events, college events, and a National Championship couldn’t have all been wrong, could it?

A fellow competitor suggested I visit a sports psychologist. My first thought was, why? I’m not crazy, am I? I had this picture of the good doctor putting me on a couch and asking me personal questions about my childhood while he scribbled notes on a steno pad. My picture was a bit off.

As I investigated the possibilities, two names kept appearing: Dr Richard “Dick” Coop at the University of North Carolina and Dr. Bob Rotella at the University of Virginioa. I contacted Dr. Coop and we set a date. He asked me to meet him at Finley Golf Course, the UNC home course in Chapel Hill. Upon arrival in the parking lot that day I was approached by a middle-aged, ordinary looking gentlemen with a slight limp. He announced, “are you Tom?” I replied yes . He said, “I’m Dick Coop, let’s get started. I’ll grab your bag.” Before I could say a word he grabbed my bag, slung it over his shoulder and was off in a flash for the 10th tee. I quickly threw on my spikes and headed after him. When I caught up with him he said, “you’re gonna play, I’m gonna caddie, and we are gonna chat.”

What evolved over the next two hours was the most pleasant and relaxing nine holes of golf I had experienced in some time, and that — combined with my 3-under-par 33, which seemed effortless — had me loving golf again. Dick had a wonderful ability to both make things that hadn’t made sense make sense, and a unique way of prioritizing things in life, not just my golf. I had it totally backwards.

Years later, as my teaching and coaching career began to grow, I knew I needed a deeper and more more complete understanding of how elite athletes functioned on the mental side. This sent me on another tangent in my overall journey — seminars, some one-on-one sessions, mounds of reading and various videos. Meeting people along the way like Dick Coop, Bob Rotella, David Cook, Debra Graham, Shannon Reece, and Rick Jensen all greatly enhanced my knowledge and my ability to both understand my students and coach them to their own personal level of excellence.

Let me state here, before I continue without mentioning any specific name, one of these great mind coaches once said to me, “TP, if the individual is delusional about who they are athletically or they don’t understand the required effort needed to improve, the greatest swing coach or mind coach in the world can’t help them.” I have had more students then I care to admit who fit this profile. I’m sad to report that my frankness and candor have both driven a few of these folks away from my teaching and coaching and in some cases have caused a few folks to state that, “TP is not a nice guy!” I have always felt a strong responsibility, an obligation to be nothing less than 100 percent up front and honest with every person that comes to my lesson tee as to what is needed on all fronts. Guess what? Some people don’t want to hear the truth. It hurts. As Jack Nicholson once told Tom Cruise, “YOU CAN’T HANDLE THE TRUTH!”

As The Six Spoke Approach was beginning to evolve and it became clear it would in fact become a book, I approached Dr. Rick Jensen. Rick and I shared several students on The LPGA Tour and we had spent time together on several occasions. I came to enjoy his approach to the mental side and its place within the framework of game improvement. Several sports psychologists I had encountered believed and preached they had the answers to all things golf. Rick, I felt, understood teaching technique — and how to tie it into coaching the student in a manner that allowed the student to find a comfort level during a change in technique. Both Rick and I understood that no single entity had the magic answer to complete game development, that in fact the student needed to understand COMPLETE GAME DEVELOPMENT to reach his or her potential. That was exactly my intent in writing The Six Spoke Approach, to provide the student not with classic golf instruction (yes, I do believe in golf’s fundamentals!) but to have the student step outside golf’s standard box and develop a personal blueprint for success.

Rick has always had a strong handle on what I call “The Chicken or The Egg” syndrome. For example, a student would come to Rick looking for the magic answer, claiming stress, lack of confidence and choking was the ill effecting their game. After examination, Rick would in some cases conclude that, yes, the student may in fact be suffering from a confidence loss, for example, BUT that the root cause was poor technique. He would suggest getting the technique under control then, if need be, coming back to visit him. In other words, Rick didn’t mince words when a player was in search of a magic cure when in fact what was needed was hard work on a difficult fundamental issue.

We both agreed that there are of course players who truly need a sports psychologist to help them with things such as anger management, focus and concentration, visualization, stress management, or any other affliction of the player’s mental side. However, often he found that the player has physical issues, poorly fitted equipment, lack of structured practice, or simply a poor technique. In those cases Rick would strongly suggest that the student needed to get his or her house in order first, then come see him.

Spoke 2, when finished for the book, became a dialogue between Rick and yours truly. It was perhaps the most fun Spoke I did for the book, because it allowed me to spend additional time with one of golf’s brightest minds. Rick Jensen is still a dear friend today. He is still a person I reach out to for advice and an expert I send students to for help.

If you’d like to dig into this and the other five spokes in The Six Spoke Approach, the book is available on both Amazon and Kindle.

If you would like advice on with whom or how to start your journey into Spoke 2 — The Mind, feel free to contact me. I would be happy to help steer you in the right direction.

See you all next in the next issue of Golf Tips with Spoke 3 — Game Analysis.

Spoke 1: The Body

Spoke 2: The Mind

Spoke 4: Time Management

Spoke 5: Club Fitting

Spoke 6: Simple Technique

Tom Patri teaches at The Esplanade in Naples, Florida. He also spends limited time both on Long Island, New York and in Maryland from June through October. View his teaching and coaching bio at www.tompatri.com, and reach Tom directly at tpatri@mindspring.com or (239) 404-7790

A Caveman, A Chimp And A Golfer

Editor’s Note: The following column starts a multi-part series on the mental game and techniques to tame what Bishop’s Gate Junior Golf Academy Director of Mental Training Iain Highfield calls “The Chimp.” Enjoy.

Once upon a (long, long) time ago there were two cavemen. Let’s call them Tiger and Phil.

One day, these two Neolithic rascals were out hunting for food when they walked past a big, ominous cave.

As Phil strolled jauntily past the mouth of the cave, a huge lion leapt out and gobbled him up like a Jolly Rancher. Witnessing this, our friend Tiger turned around and ran squealing back to the camp.

The next day Tiger had to go hunting again — cave folk are notoriously hungry characters. Just like the day before he walked the same route, in exactly the same manner, with one significant difference.

This time, as he approached the mouth of the cave, he experienced a strange sensation. His prehistoric man sense was tingling, he felt tense, his heart thumped. Confused by this sudden rush of apprehension he tripped over a nearby dinosaur egg, an act which focused his mind ever more intently on the strange reactions in his body.

Then he remembered. Hold on. This is where caveman Phil got gobbled down like a Jolly Rancher. I should probably be careful.

Of course, this tale is not merely applicable to our caveman friends, it’s applicable to some pretty fundamental aspects of modern day life. Every day, innate human survival mechanisms that have evolved in our brain fire off feelings in our body like an alarm system designed to keep us alive. We stop at red lights for fear of getting slammed by a truck. If we climb a ladder we get a trusty companion to secure the base. We don’t accept candy from sinister looking men.

This innate human survival mechanism (that I often refer to as the Chimp) is a vital component of human ascendency, a key factor in our rise to become the planet’s most dominant, if not always most responsible, species.

Oddly, this very same mechanism, so fundamental to our evolution and endurance, can also be a significant weakness on the golf course. And if you don’t believe me, simply ask Doug Sanders about his experience in the 1970 Open, Jean Van de Velde about 1999 or Adam Scott about 2013 (and now, Jordan Spieth at this year’s Masters). The very instinct that has kept four men alive throughout all the hazards of modern life, became activated when they were on the edge history and torpedoed their chance of glory. Their brains sensed an imminent “danger,” failing to distinguish golf from that red light or wobbly ladder. And because these four experienced professionals did not have the processes to regulate this response, the only thing their minds had rescued them from was the sort of injuries you get from lifting trophies and receiving too many pats on the back.

For now, let’s focus on the example of the ladder. With someone we trust holding the base while we climb, our thoughts are of safety, stability and support. This creates a palpable sense of confidence and relaxation, helping us ascend to the top of the ladder and retrieve, I don’t know, let’s say a kitten from the roof. From a position of certainty and safety, we achieve our goal.

Golf is no different. The key to having a strong mental game is, quite simply, developing the ability to match our thoughts and feelings to our intentions.

The athletes I work with at Bishops Gate Golf Academy and the International Junior Golf Academy learn a simple five-step process to help them achieve this internal synchronicity on the golf course.

OSVEA — an acronym for Options, Selection, Visualization, Execution and Acceptance — acts as a framework, guiding players to create a process focused, totally malleable mind. Process focused thinking helps reduce the “noise” made by the innate human survival mechanism (or Chimp) and triggers a response in the body to create feelings of calm, control and relaxation. This physiological response enables a golfer to swing the club more efficiently and brings them closer to their intended outcome, whether that’s winning a Tour event, earning a national selection, holding the Sunday medal or reducing their handicap.

Examine any golfer not in possession of process focus and you quickly understand the adverse effect it can have on performance. Outcomes, like winning events and medals, are uncontrollable. We can’t expect to control a concept so fickle and intangible as winning. You can’t control the subjective thoughts and feelings of a national selector. And you certainly can’t control what your pal Bob shoots in the local medal to snatch the trophy.

The brain knows how little control we have over these outcomes.

So, when we allow our mind to be penetrated by thoughts of ‘what if’ or ‘if only’, we wake the Chimp. Threatened by these impending goals, the Chimp feels exposed, precisely as he would if we were about to cross a busy road. His only response to this is to cause a fuss – a fuss that our body responds to with a classic stress response. Now, gripped by the Chimp’s anxieties, our relaxed, fluid swings are a million miles away, our grips are clammy and strangled, our shoulders tighten and our heart pounds. Cumulatively, this adds up to one fundamental state: we are now a long way from achieving our intentions.

So, now that we know the impact the Chimp can have on a golfer, over the next few articles I’ll provide practical solutions for developing the skills that will use your mind and body to bring you closer to your intended goal, every time you play.

But, before we get into this, here’s a challenge to conduct before the next article. Take a red pen with you onto the golf course every time you play competitively. Each time you have an “outcome thought” pertaining to the past or the future (for example: “I can’t believe I made double,” “I’ve got to make par,” “Don’t three-putt!”) put a red dot on your hand and add up the dots at the end of the round. The reason I ask you to do this is not to shock you by the frequency of these debilitating thoughts, but rather because any positive psychological change begins with psychological awareness. In other words, an inky red hand is a great place to start our journey to silence the Chimp.

PART 2: Tension Awarness

PART 3: Distract The Chimp

PART 4: Take The Chimp’s Time

For more information on Iain Highfield and his OSVEA system at Bishops Gate Golf Academy and the International Junior Academy, e-mail him at iainh@bgga.com

Golf Doubt And How To Beat It

Beat Golf Doubt - The Mantra — “I, choose, feel, target, now” … “I, CHOOSE, feel, target, now” … “I, choose, FEEL, target, now” … “I, choose, feel, TARGET, now” … “I, choose, feel, target, NOW.”

You’re standing on the tee of your nemesis hole. You’ve played perfect golf up until this point. All of a sudden the voice in your head sounds like Johnny Miller: “It would ruin this perfect round, Rosie, if he chunks this one in the water.” Up until now most likely you have let this voice, your nerves and negative feelings overwhelm you. You feel golf doubt creeping in. Inevitably you chunk the shot and splash! There goes your round.

It is important to understand that doubts and the feelings aroused by them do not occur to hinder you from playing your best golf. In fact, they show up as signals to heighten your focus — and if you reframe them, they can become a way to accelerate you into “The Zone,” allowing you to play the better golf.

Doubts are good! It is as simple as Newton’s Law: For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. Doubts can either result in a negative reaction or an equal, opposite, positive reaction that you can choose to believe that when a doubt arises. The exact opposite of what the doubt is saying to you is true. For example, negative doubt says, “It would ruin this perfect round, Rosie, if he chunks this one in the water.” Positive says, “He has been striking the ball perfectly all day, Johnny; it wouldn’t surprise me if he hits this shot next to the hole.” The most important idea is that when a negative doubt arises, you choose to understand it as a positive signal to reorganize your thoughts to a positive outcome, which transforms all that nervous energy into to positive adrenaline. Once you have convinced yourself that you truly are going to hit the best shot of your round, now and only now are you ready to hit this daunting shot.

Once you have the aligned to the positive, you transform the negative voice to a positive mantra that you begin to tell yourself as you go through your physical pre shot routine. So in the photo above I’m back there looking at this daunting tee shot (left, the 7th hole at Makai Princeville on the island of Kauai), and I’m saying, “Awesome.” You have to have a routine you can rely on, but instead of just working on the physical — alignment, grip, foot position — you rely on your mental game by coming up with a five-word mantra.

For me it’s, I … CHOOSE … FEEL … TARGET … NOW!

The word “I” is engaging myself. “Choose” is my decision that this what I’m going to do. It’s a statement. Three is “Feel,” which relates to the feel that I have achieved in previous memory of a perfect golf shot that I have hit with the club in my hand; I recall the sensations, the emotions and the memory of that perfect feel. “Target” is the exact spot where I want my ball to end up, and finally “Now” — the action word meaning, “I’m going to do it right now.” During your round, your emotions and nerves are not always at this heightened state of awareness where doubts arise — just as you’re not always in a “fight or flight” situation in life. However, using your mantra during your pre-shot routine will allow you to perform your best on every shot and accept the result. You’ll know that you didn’t allow focus, and committing to your swing and your target, to be interrupted. Be honest with yourself. After a brief analysis you will determine that you hit your best shots when committed fully to the golf shot because you are using this approach to the game of golf. You will enjoy the game more because you will know you didn’t hit a bad shot because you didn’t control your mental game.

Instead of being nervous about it, you’re enjoying it more — and you can hit your best shot without worrying about fatting it into the ocean.

Those nervous energies have now transformed into a deep zone like calming focus as I stand behind the ball and take dead aim (Photos 1 and 2). They’re all positive, I’m pumped, and I’m ready to hit this perfect shot to my exact target Now. (Photos 3-5)

Again, here’s the key: Understanding doubt and nervous feelings and reframing them to be good things.

No. 1, when you get a doubt, you choose a signal to be aware, heighten your focus — and you can do something great. When I start getting nervous, on the first tee of a tournament or a shot like this, the first thing is to realize that these energies are actually good for me, they’re heightening my focus and awareness. Doubt and nervousness are good things!
No. 2 is, how do you then take that nervous energy and turn it into something good for your golf swing?

So now that you’ve built up the pressure — that tingle, that weird feeling — you say, “yes, this is an opportunity to overcome this.” Then you can reframe those negative thoughts into positive mantras, and great shots, time after time.

Tom Freestone, PGA, is Head Golf Professional at Princeville Makai Golf Club, Kauai, Hawaii

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