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 golf mind and taking control of your destiny.
Roseanna Leaton, specialist in golf hypnosis cds and hypnosis mp3 downloads.
With a degree in psychology and qualifications in hypnotherapy, NLP and sports psychology, Roseanna Leaton is one of the leading golf psychologists. You can get a free hypnosis download from http://www.RoseannaLeaton.com and view the golf hypnosis cds and hypnosis downloads.