Mental Game Training Program Oct 16

Table of Contents

MODULE 1: IN SEARCH OF PERFECTION............... 7

Why has it taken so long for mental coaching to be recognized as a key
part of game improvement? ....................................................................................... 12

MODULE 2: MENTAL GAME FUNDAMENTAL
CONCEPTS .................................................................. 14

Where do you want to go? .............................................................................14
The Simple Equation For Great Golf..........................................................15
Conscious Learning (Skills Acquisition)..................................................15
Subconsciously accessing your skills .......................................................15
The phases of thinking during a round of golf .....................................16
Process vs Outcome..........................................................................................17

The 3 “Time Zones” For Your Thoughts ................................................................ 17
Reducing uncertainty and increasing certainty ................................................. 18

MODULE 3: THE 7 STEP SHOT ROUTINE ............. 20

How to maximize your chances of hitting a great shot ....................20
How the brain works during a golf shot..................................................21

The Thinking Phase........................................................................................................ 21
The creative phase.......................................................................................................... 21
The Trust Phase ............................................................................................................... 21
Use of left-side of your brain during practice ..................................................... 22

The Steps of The Shot routine: ....................................................................23

Pre-shot Traffic Light: ................................................................................................... 23
The goal of the pre-shot routine ............................................................................... 24

Switching on your golf brain ........................................................................24

Examples of “Switch on” signal ................................................................................. 25

Course Strategy/Shot Selection (LEFT BRAIN) ...................................26

Know your distances ..................................................................................................... 26

Know your style of play................................................................................................ 26
Analyzing the shot and picking the correct target ............................................ 27
Asking good questions .................................................................................................. 27
Make Good Misses........................................................................................................... 27
How will the lie affect the shot? ................................................................................ 28
Verbalize the shot in your head ................................................................................ 28

Visualization (Mental imagery): RIGHT BRAIN ...................................29

Why visualize?.................................................................................................................. 29
“Where is my target?”.................................................................................................... 30
The science behind visualization.............................................................................. 32
Visualization can create a mood for success ....................................................... 33
2 ways to visualize a shot ............................................................................................ 33

FEEL (Physical Rehearsal).............................................................................35
Breathe!..................................................................................................................36
Set Up (Conscious, Left Brain) .....................................................................36

How to get aligned correctly ...................................................................................... 37

Mental and Physical Triggers.......................................................................39

NLP ........................................................................................................................................ 39
Types of Anchors and Triggers.................................................................................. 41
Verbal Triggers: ............................................................................................................... 41
Visual Triggers: ................................................................................................................ 42
Auditory (Sound cues) .................................................................................................. 43
Kinesthetic (touch/movement) ................................................................................ 43
Swing cues.......................................................................................................................... 43

The Shot .................................................................................................................44
Post Shot Routine ..............................................................................................46

Acceptance ......................................................................................................................... 46
Switching off...................................................................................................................... 46

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© 2016 Golf State of Mind

MODULE 4: CONTROLLING YOUR THOUGHTS
AND EMOTIONS......................................................... 47

Controlling Nerves and Stress .....................................................................47

Your optimal level of intensity .................................................................................. 47
What happens when you’re too nervous? ............................................................ 48
Breathing techniques for playing more relaxed golf........................................ 49
Table here for physical signs of tension and how to counter it................... 49

Managing “the 90%”.........................................................................................50

Where are your thoughts in between shots?....................................................... 50

Techniques For In between shots ..............................................................51

Staying Present................................................................................................................. 52
Meditation .......................................................................................................................... 52
Focus on you and your environment...................................................................... 53
Focus on your breathing .............................................................................................. 53
Engage with your playing partners ......................................................................... 54
Your personal highlight reel....................................................................................... 54
Use your imagination (thought substitution) ..................................................... 54

“Bounce-back” ..................................................................................................... 55

You can choose your responses ................................................................................ 56
Acceptance techniques ................................................................................................. 56
Power Breathing.............................................................................................................. 58
Honor the great game and don’t give up ............................................................... 59

Building Confidence and Mental Toughness.........................................59

Myths about mental toughness:................................................................................ 59
Thinking /Self-talk/Body Language => Emotions => Muscle Response . 59
Separating you the person from you the player (Quit playing Ego Golf) 60
Act like a Champion........................................................................................................ 61
Improving Your Self-image ......................................................................................... 62

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Keep a success log........................................................................................................... 62
Smaller performance goals ......................................................................................... 62
Choose to be confident.................................................................................................. 63
Become totally absorbed in your routine ............................................................. 63
Positive self-talk .............................................................................................................. 63
Recall positive experiences......................................................................................... 64
Play your “go-to” shot.................................................................................................... 64
Adjust your risk appetite ............................................................................................. 64

Using NLP Triggers ...........................................................................................65
Focus and Concentration ...............................................................................66

Techniques to improve concentration:.................................................................. 67

Patience .................................................................................................................. 68
Be Prepared to Scramble................................................................................69
Don’t Get Technical (on the golf course).................................................70
Keep Going............................................................................................................71
Staying Neutral ...................................................................................................71

MODULE 5: PRE-ROUND PREPARATION.............. 73

Goals For Your Round......................................................................................73

Process Goals: ................................................................................................................... 73

Goals For Your Attitude ..................................................................................74

Having an “attitude of gratitude”.............................................................................. 75
Make having fun the goal ............................................................................................. 75
Preventing score-centric thinking ........................................................................... 75

Your 10 Minute Mental Game Workout ..................................................76

Step 1: Breathing (5 mins) .......................................................................................... 76
Step 2: Your personal highlight reel (2 mins)..................................................... 77
Step 3: Your inner vision or vision of success in your round (2 mins) .... 78

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© 2016 Golf State of Mind

Step 4: Process goals reminder (1 min) ................................................................ 78

Have a strategy ...................................................................................................78
Pre-round visualization ..................................................................................79
Pre-round Relaxation.......................................................................................80
Eat and drink well .............................................................................................80
Be prepared..........................................................................................................81
Putting Warm-up (15 mins) .........................................................................81
Short Game Warm-up (15 mins) ................................................................82
Driving Range Warm-up (15 mins)...........................................................82

MODULE 6: POST-ROUND EVALUATION ............ 84

Post-round review questions.......................................................................84

How good was my course strategy?........................................................................ 85
How good was my visualization? ............................................................................. 85
Was I rehearsing a particular shot during my practice swings or
tinkering with my swing? ............................................................................................ 85
How good was my green reading? Did I give it enough attention?............ 85
How good was my alignment?................................................................................... 85
How well did I accept bad shots and put them behind me?.......................... 85
Did you feel tired at any point in the round?....................................................... 85
How well did I talk to myself?.................................................................................... 85
How did I handle the pressure and challenges the round threw at me?. 85
Did I give up when I started to play poorly and a good score was out of
reach? ................................................................................................................................... 86
Did I stay in the present? ............................................................................................. 86
Did I start to analyze my swing when I hit off target shots?......................... 86
What was my attitude like at before the round? Was I full of optimism
about the possibilities or putting pressure on myself to shoot a good
score?.................................................................................................................................... 86

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© 2016 Golf State of Mind

How often did I think about my score during the round?.............................. 86
How good was my warm-up today?........................................................................ 86
How good was my food and drink consumption before and during my
round? .................................................................................................................................. 86
Did I think about how I was playing in relation to my playing partners
and what they thought of me? ................................................................................... 86
Was I a fun playing partner today?.......................................................................... 86
Did I sabotage my round?............................................................................................ 86

Your mental game scorecard........................................................................87
Post round visualization.................................................................................88

MODULE 7: PLANNING FOR SUCCESS ................. 90

What goal setting does ....................................................................................90

Incremental goals and marginal gains ................................................................... 91
Daily reminders of your goals.................................................................................... 93
The importance of imagery in setting goals ........................................................ 93
Spend some quiet time thinking about your goals ........................................... 94
Put together a vision board......................................................................................... 94

GOLF AND LIFE MIRROR .......................................... 94

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© 2016 Golf State of Mind

MODULE 1: IN SEARCH OF
PERFECTION

I’m David MacKenzie and I’m a scratch golfer.

My journey to reach this level of play was far from easy. I spent
thousands of dollars and hours on game improvement to try and
consistently play the golf I knew that I was capable of.

I fell into the trap that so many golfers find themselves in today,
continually working on their swings and putting in the hours
practicing, but not seeing much in the way of consistent improvement
in their scores.

This book is about how I found a way to learn (and now teach) golf in
the most effective way possible. I’m excited to be sharing this with
you. This guide has been refined over the past ten years and has been
proven by thousands of golfers, to be a structured path to better golf
(and a lot more fun along the way).

Whatever level you play at - beginner or Tour player, this book is
designed to provide you with a “blueprint” for accessing your true
potential.

Here’s how this training program was conceived…

When I started playing golf, it was a fun and exciting game - full of
challenges, adventure and the thrill of hitting a few shots just like the
pros. I fell in love with it, in a big way.

Being a fellow golfer, I know you’ve felt that. In the beginning, there
were no expectations, just possibilities. I had a “beginner’s mind-set”.

But less than a year later, things were quite different. 7

David MacKenzie

© 2016 Golf State of Mind

I soon became caught up in what I now call a golfer’s “search for
perfection”, which is a quest I know most golfers find themselves on.

Until this time, I was able to enjoy the experience of playing golf, no
matter how I played. I loved the game for what it was, a game. Being a
fairly decent athlete, I certainly wanted to improve, but my focus had
begun to shift from the experience itself, to my score, my handicap
and how others perceived me.

I started to put pressure on myself to perform. I had officially become
what I now know is an “Ego Golfer”. My mood was being affected by
how well I hit a little white ball around a field.

Instead of looking at the game with a beginner’s mind-set and being
open to the possibilities, I judged everything about my performance. My
emotions and self-worth were intertwined with every shot. I went
from being on cloud nine if I put a few good holes together, to beating
myself up if I hit a poor shot. If I played the first few holes poorly, and
I felt a good score was no longer possible, I wanted to walk off the
course.

At the time, I was playing to about a 15 handicap but I had scored
rounds in the 70s. On the driving range I could hit the ball great, one
ball after another straight at the target, even shaping it both ways. I
knew I was improving, but for some reason, I couldn’t transition that
into good scores on the course. It became extremely frustrating. The
only explanation I could find was that my technique just wasn’t good
enough…

I had taken a series of lessons as a beginner, and had fairly solid
fundamentals, but I started to think about technique as being the only
thing that determined where the ball went.

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© 2016 Golf State of Mind

So…I started filming my swing, reading every golf instruction book I
could find, and watching countless teaching videos. I was completely
fixated on how my body moved during my swing. Trust and feel for a
shot was replaced with fragmented, internal technical instruction.

I moved from one swing change to the next, convinced that “The
Secret” was just one magical tip away. But it wasn’t. Sure, my swing
might have been getting better but my scores definitely weren’t. The
time that I was investing in game improvement, was not producing the
results that I wanted. And the more time I put in, the more pressure I
felt to succeed and frustration when it didn’t happen.

Golf had become a very complicated game, full of lots of moving parts
and an emotional roller coaster to boot. I couldn’t play a shot without
first telling myself what I needed to do. It was no longer the game I fell
in love with, it had become something to satisfy my ego and scores
were everything.

An enlightening time in my development as a player, was when I
started a degree course at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland,
where I was to study for 4 years. It was there that I discovered some
major keys to game improvement and real meaning of what it is to be
a golfer.

A Change of Perspective: The Skills You Learn From Links
Golf

Links golf (which if you’re not familiar with, is golf played on sand
dunes, by the ocean) is very different to golf played in most parts of
the world. You could play the Old Course at St. Andrews with a
putter, and you might score better than with a full set of clubs.

It's not about hitting 300 yard drives - it's about playing smart and
being creative. It's more cerebral than it is about power. It’s golf in its
purest form.

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© 2016 Golf State of Mind

In links golf, the smarter player will usually beat the long hitter (think
about Tom Watson at the age of 59 leading the 2009 Open
Championship until the very last hole). There might be 10 different
ways to play a shot, all with the same chance of success.

It’s not about who has the best golf swing. Success is down to how
well the player has analyzed and visualized what's going to happen, and
how much they can trust themselves to hit the shot.

Because there are a lot of variables in links golf: wind, undulations,
hard fairways and greens etc., it requires that you think about each
shot carefully. To be successful, you need to have a very clear image of
exactly what you want the ball to do, and how the conditions will
affect the shot. And then there’s always the bad bounces that you
have no control over. You have to be able detach yourself from the
outcome of shots immediately and reframe for the next one.

Despite the difficultly of playing golf at St. Andrews, my scores started
dropping. The more I became focused on what was in front of me (the
intention for the shot), the less I was focused on what my body was
doing, I started to swing a lot more freely and the quality of my shots
got better.

Links golf is about creativity – I felt like I was painting each shot
against the gently rolling contours and fast moving clouds over The
Old Course. When I did hit a shot that didn’t turn out how I
intended, it was easy to forget. After all, I was playing at The Home of
Golf, what was there to get upset about?

I found a fresh optimism and became excited about the prospect for
every round. I began to free myself from swing mechanics and other
negative mental interferences, and my confidence grew quickly. I saw
my target, and put all my focus on hitting it there. My swing was now
a feeling, not the machine I had previously wanted it to be.

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© 2016 Golf State of Mind

I began to notice a pattern in my performance and it became obvious I
was on to something. I had re-discovered why I loved this great game
and started to play rounds of golf I didn’t think possible.

I had always known I had the potential to play at a good level, but
were my inconsistencies and failure to reach that level in my head all
along? To get a definitive answer, I had to find out more about the
role of the mind in sports.

Throughout the year that followed, I took a deep delve into sports
psychology and interviewed hundreds of golfers. I soon discovered
that my assumption was right – I already owned a swing that was good
enough to become a good player - it was my mind that was interfering
and causing my under-performance.

I took a hard look at everything I had done in the past to try and
improve and realized that very little of it was helpful. Instead, I devised
a way to apply my mind during my rounds, which freed me from
technical and score based thoughts. What followed was the best
golfing year I’d ever had - I went from a 15 handicap player to scratch,
without taking a single swing lesson.

My achievement compelled me to share my new approach with other
golfers and prevent them from wasting time in the way I did, so I
began blogging about my experience under the fitting name of “Golf
State of Mind”.

To my surprise, it resonated with my fellow golfers in a big way. I was
even more surprised when I started to receive coaching requests, but
at that time I had only my experiences to share, and no structured
training program.

And so the Golf State of Mind Mental Game Training System
was conceived and its been evolving ever since into the program you

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are about to start. I now coach this way to play to thousands of
golfers worldwide of all ability levels, including Tour professionals.

I’m going to save you all the time and money I wasted, and get you
playing golf the way you are capable of, quickly. This eBook contains
the most valuable findings from that year (and every year since). I
should say here, that some of the things I cover in this guide are
fundamentals (things we should all do) and some are suggestions. We
are all slightly different it what can help trigger a great performance,
so some experimentation is needed. This is why individual mental
coaching is very effective.

Why has it taken so long for mental coaching to be
recognized as a key part of game improvement?

Deep down most golfers know their lack of ability on the mental side
is why they don’t improve - the hundreds of golfers I interviewed and
99% of my students have confirmed that. But do any of them know
how to change it? Not really.

I think the common perception is that you are either born mentally
toughness and confidence. But what most of us don’t know is that all
the players on the PGA Tour have at some point worked with a
sports psychologist or mind coach, who have taught them how to
condition their minds to access their best golf.

The golf industry only makes the issue worse. Pick up any golf
magazine, turn on The Golf Channel or search for game improvement
advice on-line and you’ll find an abundance of help in the form of
swing tips and technical instruction, but very little about what really
explains why, with the same swing, you are so inconsistent - because
that wouldn’t sell golf clubs, lessons or the latest training aids.

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© 2016 Golf State of Mind

The issue with “The Mental Game” is that it’s more abstract, more
intangible. You can see almost immediately if a new “swing tip” works,
but working on the mental side is a longer-term investment.

The aim of this book is to change this and give you actionable steps
and a way to make progress with your mental game, something
tangible. You’ll get actionable steps to free yourself from the traps
that most of your fellow golfers find themselves in and see almost
immediate improvement.

I feel like I should pre-empt your questions about how much technical
instruction you need. I’m certainly not saying that playing good golf is
all in the mind. You will need to make sure you combine my coaching
with technical instruction from a teaching professional.

What I’m hoping that you take from this first module is to simply ask
yourself questions about the way you go about improving, and open
your mind to something new.

Are you becoming a technical ego maniac and chasing nothing but
score and technical perfection or do you recognize that your golfing
potential might be better accessed through a better, more organized
state of mind?

To start you thinking in the right way, I’d like you to think about these
3 questions. Give your answers in terms of thoughts and emotions,
like “focused”, “nervous”, “relaxed” and if you can be more specific:
“swing thoughts”, “thoughts about score”, “good visualization”.

A. What is your state of mind and how you feel when you’re
playing well?

B. What is your state of mind and how do you feel when you’re
playing badly?

C. Why you play the game of golf (think of 3 things you love about
it)

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© 2016 Golf State of Mind

MODULE 2: MENTAL GAME
FUNDAMENTAL CONCEPTS

In this module, we’re going to lay some foundations for your future
success.

Probably the most important question I can ask you at this point, is
what do you want to get out the game of golf? Why do you spend so
much time trying to improve and where do you want to go?

Where do you want to go?

When you have a destination in mind it’s easier to move forward.

What does success look like to you and how motivated are you to
achieve it?

The clearer the goal of what you’re towards, the more effective you’ll
be with your time. I’d like you think about what golf means to you and
what success in the game looks like, and represents. Let’s start with a
vision of this success.

This vision is your long-term dream as a golfer. This could be
achieving a certain handicap or winning a big tournament.

For an aspiring Tour player, this could be winning a major or playing
on a Ryder Cup team, or for a weekend player, winning the club
championship or getting to a scratch handicap. Now think about why
you want to dedicate so much time in this pursuit. What is it you love
about this endeavor and what will you learn? Why will you do this
instead of something else?

I’m going to work with you more on goal setting later in this program,
but your vision is an important factor in your success.

David MacKenzie 14

© 2016 Golf State of Mind

Return to the training program once you have a vision of your
success.

The Simple Equation For Great Golf

The concept I’m about to share with you is one that will change the
way you play the game, hopefully for the rest of your golfing “career”.

Conscious Learning + Subconscious Access To Skills = Success

Let’s look at what this means…

Conscious Learning (Skills Acquisition)

To improve any skill in sport, business or life, you need to work on
your skills consciously. What I mean by this, is in order to build a good
swing, short game and putting stroke, it requires work on your
technical skills, in practice. You develop these new patterns in your
movement by consciously thinking about the movement you desire,
until you’ve laid the new “neural pathways” which make it part of your
“muscle memory”. This is also called “block practice”, where you
repeat the same action over and over again, in blocks. However, in
play, you need to be able to make use of these skills “subconsciously”
i.e. without thinking. You need to learn gain access to these skills.

Subconsciously accessing your skills

In the studies that have been done to measure brain activity during
the golf swing the conclusion was that the better the golfer, the less
brain activity there is before and during the swing.

I’m sure it’s the same for you – when you’re more instinctive and
your swing is free and flowing – you’re not thinking about anything but
where you want the ball to go and then trusting yourself to hit it
there. You’re using your subconscious mind to control your movement.

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© 2016 Golf State of Mind

Your focus is on one thing (the image of the shape of the shot and the
target), not on all the erroneous distractions that your conscious
mind usually focuses on. When you have doubt and negative self-talk
in the build up to a shot and give yourself technical instruction during
your swing, you create an inhibitor to fluid movement.

In order to play your best more consistently, you need to learn how
to remove these inhibitors so you can access the skills you have
learned in practice (subconsciously), without any conscious
interference. How to do this is a lot of what this guide is about.

There are several factors which influence how well you are able to
access your best swing subconsciously:

 Your shot routine (before, during and after a shot)
 How well you manage your mental and emotional state in

between shots
 Your self-image (or self-belief)
 How you practice

The phases of thinking during a round of golf

In this program I’m going to show you that how you think, affects how
you play and you’ll end up with a blue-print, so you’ll know exactly
where to put your focus during a round. Here are the times you’ll
need to be aware of how you’re thinking:

 Pre-round
 Pre-shot
 The shot
 Post-shot
 In between shots
 Post-round

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© 2016 Golf State of Mind

I’m going to tackle these in order of importance in the next module,
but ALL OF THEM need to be worked on if you are going reach your
best.

Process vs Outcome

This concept is required to be successful in anything you do. Simply
put, it means is that your focus is on the things that are going to help
you achieve the success you desire, rather than the results
themselves.

Instead of trying to get results and control them, you stay patient and
in the present moment, focusing on executing the mental and physical
steps (“the process”) necessary to give you the best chance of a good
result.

A lot of this guide is about helping you build this “process”, which is
going to give you the structure to help you achieve your goals. Having
a plan and strategy for your rounds and practice, will give you a lot of
confidence off the bat.

When you choose to focus on process rather than outcome you are
developing a “growth” instead of a “fixed” mind-set. People who have a
growth mind-set believe that skills can be learned, and improvement is
an ongoing journey, that is somewhat independent of results. People
with a fixed mind-set believe that their ability is pre-determined,
either you have the skills or you don’t. Their all about the results, not
the work that needs to go into getting the results. Needless to say, as
you go through this book, I’d like you to have more of a growth mind-
set.

The 3 “Time Zones” For Your Thoughts

Before and during a round of golf, your focus can be in 3 places. The
past, present or future. When you’re in the past or future, you’re
what’s called “outcome focused”. That is, you’re focusing on the

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© 2016 Golf State of Mind

outcome of something that has already happened in the past, or the
possible outcome of something that may or may not happen in the
future.

As you will have experienced, when you focus on a negative outcome
that has already happened or you focus on something that has an
uncertain outcome, you tend to become anxious. Let’s say you’ve had
your best front nine ever. Where does your thought go from there? It
probably goes off into the future – thinking about the possible glory of
shooting your best ever score. And then, of course, you start to swing
tentatively, and the ball starts to go wayward.

Reducing uncertainty and increasing certainty

Whenever you focus on your score, you’re focusing on something
that is uncertain, or not completely within your control. The brain
doesn’t like uncertainty as it creates stress. You can’t say with any level
of certainty at the beginning of a round whether you are going to
shoot 75 or 85. You don’t know what lies you’ll get in the rough,
whether the ball will hit spike marks on the green or whether the ball
will take an unlucky bounce and go out of bounds.

When you try to make score a target, or goal for the round, you’ll be
judging every shot as to how it relates to this goal. Let’s say your goal
is even par or breaking 80. What happens if you start with a double
bogey? You’ve just suffered a major setback and you’ll feel deflated on
the second tee.

It’s time for a new approach…

If we shift our focus from outcome thinking to process thinking, the game
becomes a lot easier. You’re no longer focusing on things that are
uncertain. These are all things you are capable of controlling in a
round.

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© 2016 Golf State of Mind

Let’s put it this way - If I was to say that you had to shoot lower than
a certain score, or stick to your mental plan for 18 holes for a prize of
$1 million, which would you choose? I’m fairly sure you just said “stick
to a mental plan”. The reason – you have more control over it.

So let’s figure out the best process is for you. How well you stick to
this process, will become your primary measure of success going
forward.

David MacKenzie 19

© 2016 Golf State of Mind

MODULE 3: THE 7 STEP SHOT
ROUTINE

How to maximize your chances of hitting a
great shot

How you feel the moment before you’re about to swing determines
how well you play the shot. Are you feeling as confident as you can
be, or do you have doubt? How good is your alignment and vision for
the shot? These are the sorts of questions you need to find answers
for in advance of swinging, and it will have a profound effect on the
quality of your shots.

In order to feel as prepared and confident as possible, you’ll need a
Killer Shot Routine. I call this the “Shot Routine”, and not “Pre-
shot Routine”, because the routine continues until you’ve completely
“switched off” after playing a shot.

These 7 steps are like ingredients that are all needed for a dish we are
making (a great golf shot), and they need to be added in order. Think
about if you were to bake a cake that you’ve made before and it
turned out great. If you don’t add those same ingredients in the same
order, every time, you won’t get a consistently good cake. The same
applies to making a consistent execution of a good golf shot. Doing
things habitually creates a sense of security for the mind and will help
you make a fluid and aggressive movement during your swing.

Before we start discussing what the steps the “process” should
involve, let’s get a little brain science out the way.

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© 2016 Golf State of Mind

How the brain works during a golf shot

As you may know, you have 2 hemispheres to your brain, each with a
very important role in the successful execution of a golf shot. It’s
important that you know what part of your brain should be doing
what job.

The Thinking Phase

The left side/hemisphere is where your analytical and logical
thought is done. I like to call this the “Thinking Phase” of the shot
routine. It’s when you decide on what shot and club to play. E.g. How
far away is the hole? How will the wind effect this shot? Or, how will
the ball come out of this lie? The left brain, is not the best at athletic
movement, this is more of a job for the right brain.

The only time you need to be using your left brain, is in the thinking
phase of the shot routine. It’s slightly engaged during your set up and
swing, but it’s best to think of the left brain as the calculator of
distance, choosing the best target and type of shot given the situation.

The creative phase

The right side/hemisphere is where your visualization, touch and
feel for a shot comes from. E.g. Your perception of distance to hit the
ball exactly 25 yards from around the green, or, visualizing a high, 5
yard draw and hitting it perfectly. I refer to this as the “Creative
Phase” of the routine. During the creative phase, we need the left
brain to be quiet; your focus here is on how the shot will look and
feel (a right brain function).

The Trust Phase

The better you do at allowing the proper side of the brain to perform
these steps of the routine, the quieter your mind will be in the final
phase of the routine and the better the chance of a good shot. I.e. If

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you’re still trying to figure out the details of the shot while you’re in
the creative phase, you’re picture of the shot will not be as clear and
your commitment will not be as strong. You won’t be ready to move
into the last phase of the shot routine, which I call the “Trust
Phase” (from the time you start your walk into the ball until after the
shot).

The repetition of this cycle reinforces itself in a loop, strengthening
with every shot.

Use of left-side of your brain during practice

As you will know from the equation for great golf, the only time you
should be actively thinking about your swing while swinging is during
the “block practice” part of your practice time. You are consciously
learning and ingraining new movement patterns/skills and therefore
directing things with your left-brain. However, be sure to practice
NOT thinking about your swing and going through your process (the
way we want you to on the course), so guiding your movement with
your left-brain doesn’t become a habit.

This part of your practice is called “Random Practice” and
“Competitive Skills Practice” where you’re simulating and practicing
playing. More on this in the Golf State of Mind Practice System.

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The Steps of The Shot routine:

Pre-shot Traffic Light:

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The goal of the pre-shot routine

 To “switch on” your focus and get ready for the shot as best
you can.

 To ensure you pay attention to all the available information to
select the optimal shot

 Make sure you’re emotionally balanced (neither anxious or
excited)

 Make sure you’re thinking clearly and confidently. The pre-shot
routine gives your thinking structure, so you can stay calm,
knowing that by following it, you’ll do all you can do to play the
shot successfully.

 Make sure you’re focused and committed to the shot without
any negative distractions, so you can swing freely.

 Make sure you’re in the present, not thinking about the past or
future.

 Make every shot feel the same, whether it’s to win the club
championship or you’re playing a friendly game.

Switching on your golf brain

Your “golf brain” only needs to be fully engaged for the time from
when you walk up to your ball, to shortly after you’ve finished your
shot. The rest of the time, you need to be relaxing and staying “in the
present”.

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The better your relaxation period the better your concentration.
We’ll discuss techniques for staying present or distracting yourself
from thoughts that will harm your performance later.

But if you don’t know when you should be relaxing and when you
should be concentrating, your focus will be in the wrong place.

For this reason, every shot should have a beginning and an end.

When it begins, you switch on your “golf brain” and when it’s over,
you switch off your golf brain. One way to do this is using a “signal” to
get you into the focused state at the beginning of your routine.

The idea of the signal is to remind you of what needs to be done. For
this reason, the signal needs to be something you don’t normally to
during your rounds.

Examples of “Switch on” signal

 A deep breath
 A verbal cue like – “let’s go!”
 Putting on your glove
 Looking at your pre-shot acronym on your glove

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 A sound like snapping the Velcro on your glove
 Taking a sip of a sports drink

The more you “anchor” the trigger (connect it with the beginning of
the shot), the more powerful it will become.

Course Strategy/Shot Selection (LEFT
BRAIN)

Course strategy makes up a key part of the shot process and success
of the Tour player, and gains them several strokes per round on the
average player. A strong course strategy is about knowing your own
game, playing the percentages and making good decisions based on the
weather conditions and what’s in front of you.

Know your distances

Hitting the right distances is just as important as how straight you hit
it. If you’re 10 yards short or long of a target, this is no different to
being 10 yards left or right.

We’ll talk about this more in the post-round analysis section, but keep
records of your approach shots into each green and take average
distances. There are some good game tracking devices using GPS that
can now provide very insightful data about your rounds, including
accuracy and distance. Alternatively, if you can get access to a launch
monitor (Flight Scope, Trackman etc), you can get accurate (average)
distances hit with each club.

Know your style of play

Pay attention to your style of play. When you’re on the golf course
playing in competition, it’s not the time to try new things. If your shot
pattern is a fade 90% of the time, it’s not the time to hit a draw. A lot
of Tour players today just have one style of shot that they stick to
during a round.

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Analyzing the shot and picking the correct target

The analysis or calculation phase of the routine is where you assess
and choose the best shot considering the conditions and what’s in
front of you.

Asking good questions

The questions you’ll be asking yourself during the analysis phase are:

 Where is the good miss?
 How will this lie affect the shot?
 What is the wind doing?
 How will the weather affect the distance the ball travels?
 What is the distance to the pin/dog-leg and any trouble?
 How hard/soft is the green or fairway?
 How risky is this shot and how confident do I feel about pulling it off?
 If it’s a tee shot – which is the best side to play my approach from,

considering my shot shape and my target?
 Will the next shot be one of my strengths? If your favorite yardage is

100 yards, and you have the option to have an approach from this
distance, why try to get closer and leave a harder shot?

Make Good Misses

“This is a game of misses. The guy who misses the best is going to win.” -
Ben Hogan

There’s a lot of truth to the quote above. Fact is, we all miss our
target from time to time – it’s a statistical certainty in golf. Ben Hogan
once said that he hit only 3-4 shots per round exactly as he intended,
the rest were good misses.

Even the best players in the world know they miss almost 1/3 of
fairways and greens. So, knowing where to miss your target is not a

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negative thought, but a smart one. There is such a thing as a “good
miss”.

How many times have you hit a shot, where if you were the other side
of the fairway or green, you would be in a much better position to
score? You were probably short sided or had a bad angle into the
green. If you’d thought about it beforehand, it could have been
avoided. This is why we need to adopt a “conservative-aggressive
strategy” (swinging aggressively at a conservative target). This
“conservative target” is a spot which is on the opposite side (long or
short, left or right) of the spot which limits your ability to score if you
were to hit it.

How will the lie affect the shot?

Hitting off the tee is the best lie you’ll get and if you’ve practiced
properly, you’ll know how far you hit each club from it. You should
also know how far you hit each club (on average) from the fairway,
semi rough and deep rough. It’s important to include this in your
decision making before each shot.

Pick a quiet afternoon on the course and practice from different lies
and see how that affects how far the ball flies (and rolls) and record
the average.

From around the green this is also important. Typically, from tighter
lies the ball will check up and stop quicker than hitting from a lie
where there’s more grass behind the ball. It’s important to factor the
amount of release into your shot selection.

Verbalize the shot in your head

Quality questions lead to quality answers. Ask yourself the question:
“What does a good shot look like here?” Tell yourself how you’re
going to hit it. Verbalizing it will make it feel more real and get you to
commit to your intention.

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Visualization (Mental imagery): RIGHT
BRAIN

“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.” - Jack Nicklaus

Why visualize?

The world’s best athletes use the practice of visualizing a great
performance before the action for a very good reason – it works!

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The reason is that it speaks to your subconscious mind, which we
ultimately want to control your movement.

We have no conscious control over the subconscious mind, it just
responds to the words and images the conscious mind feeds it.

The subconscious is your belief system – if you feed it positive images,
it will believe them to be real and make them more likely to become
real.

Have you ever noticed that when you’re faced with a tough shot out
of trouble you’re able to pull it off fairly often, whereas an easy shot
into the green from 150 yards can be more challenging? The reason is
visualization. When you have to really focus on what the ball needs to
do to get to your target it’s easier to hit it there. There’s less
interference. When I researched this, I found hundreds of studies
proving how powerful visualization is in sports.

“Where is my target?”

Finding your target using the steps in the course strategy/shot
selection stage has to be done before you can start visualizing.

“Where is my target?” is a very simple yet very powerful question.
Most of us swing without really identifying a clear target. We get so
absorbed by fixing the swing and other mental distractions that we
forget the most important thing –we have to hit the ball to a target!
Simply having a clearer idea of what the intention is can lower
distractions and make for a more aggressive swing.

But visualization works both ways…

“My life has been full of terrible misfortunes, most of which never
happened” - Michel De Montaigne

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If you’re like most golfers, you have a habit of seeing everything that
could go wrong instead of seeing a perfectly executed shot to a
carefully chosen target. Do you fear the ball slicing into the water, and
play to avoid that, or do you see a gentle fade down the left side of
the fairway? 99% of the time, imagining a bad shot before hitting it, will
result in that shot you were picturing (or at least a poorly struck
shot).

The problem is that the subconscious doesn’t know the difference
between what you do want to do and what you don’t want to do. The
input to the brain (either by words or imagery is the same). If I was to
say to you, “don’t think of a blue elephant”. What’s the first image
that comes into your mind?

If you start putting negative imagery in your mind, you’re telling your
subconscious (which is controlling your movement) what it needs to
do and you’re more likely to see what you don’t want happen. E.g. just
don’t slice…don’t leave it short…don’t lift up…don’t get too
quick…all these commands (mental chatter) create the wrong
thoughts and lead to a tentative swing/stroke and can make those
things you are trying not to happen a reality.

When I evaluate my students’ mental games, one of the things I give
them credit for is holding on to the image of the shot and the target
from the time they start their walk into the ball to when they take the
club away from the ball. This keeps the mind quiet and the movement
of the swing positive and aggressive.

If you need help with this, get into the habit of asking yourself
questions that create positive images only.

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“Visualization’s the most powerful thing we have.” – Nick Faldo

Case Study: The Effects of Visualization

In a study done at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado, they
tested the effect of visualization on a group of 30 golfers.

The group was divided into 3 sub-groups (at random) to conduct a
test on the effect of visualization on putting. Each group was asked to
do the exercises for the same amount of time. Firstly, each group did
a series of putting exercises using their normal putting technique.

After this, the first group was asked to perform the same exercises as
before, but this time, just thinking about only their stroke. The second
group was asked to visualize each putt in its entirety before it was hit
(seeing the exact line of the putt, the speed and where on the hole it
would go in). The third group was asked to visualize the ball finishing
short of the hole each time. After a week the change in their results
was as follows:

The group that just practiced the stroke improved by 11%.

The group that visualized each putt following its line to the hole and
going in improved by 30%.

The group that visualized the ball finishing short, worsened by 21%!!!

You might want to think about this example next time you’re thinking
‘don’t hit it in the water”.

The science behind visualization

Movement is initiated by the brain. When you visualize a physical
action, you’re actually stimulating the same muscles that you would
use to perform the real action. Sports scientists call this “Functional
Equivalence”.

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A study was done by Sports psychologist, Richard Suinn, which
involved skiers being monitored by an EMG machine (a machine that
detects muscle activity) while imagining skiing down a slope. The
results showed that even though the skiers weren’t moving, the exact
same muscles they would have used during a downhill ski were
activated.

So when you simply think about a physical action you are essentially,
getting those muscles you need, ready for action.

In golf, if you don’t have a clear picture of the shot you’re about to hit,
you’re quite simply wasting a valuable opportunity to prepare the
brain to activate the exact muscles required to execute it. To access
those muscles, the brains uses specific “neural” pathways to send
impulses to those specific muscles. When you’re visualizing, you’re
telling the brain which pathways it needs to use.

Visualization can create a mood for success

Studies have shown (and the experience of many sports teams and
individuals that use it) that simply imagining a great performance can
get you in the right frame of mind and mood to achieve it. In the same
way that visual triggers (NLP) work to retrieve positive and negative
emotions, seeing yourself being successful (either times that have
already happened, or visualizing future success) can access feelings of
confidence and success from your subconscious. I’m going to talk
more about this in the Pre-round warm-up module.

2 ways to visualize a shot

To visualize a shot, you need to paint a picture in your mind of the
path the ball will travel to reach the target. Is it a fade or a draw? Low
or high? How will it bounce when it lands? Make the picture as vivid as
you can. If you’ve seen the Shot Tracker technology they use to show
the shape of a shot on the PGA TOUR TV coverage, that’s what

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you're looking for. This type of visualization is called “outcome
visualization”.

The other way to visualize is to actually see yourself hitting the shot
(with the flight of the ball too). This is the one I prefer as you actually
get a look at the swing you need to make, which will help you repeat
that movement. This type of visualization is called “Process
Visualization”.

When your focus is on an image of your desired outcome, and you
can keep that focus on that image (even when you’re over the ball),
your focus is on something external. Golf is a hard game because you
are not looking at the target when you hit the ball. When you throw a
basketball you have the information of where the target is relation to
you as you perform the action. Your focus is on the target as you
throw the ball, not on your body, which makes it a lot easier. In golf,
visualization is important because it imprints that image of where the
target is and how the ball will get there on your mind, so it’s as close
to “facing the target” while you’re swinging as possible.

Tiger Woods used to say that he could still see the target in his
“mind’s eye” when he is looking at the ball. Nick Price said he felt like
he had a camera looking out of his left ear (to the target) as he looked
at the ball.

This is a concept called “external focus”. When your focus in on what
your body has to do to hit the target, it’s called “internal focus”.
When your focus is internal, it’s proven there’s more contractions in
your muscles, meaning the movement is not as fluid and free-flowing
and it leads to inconsistencies.

Place your focus on the target and the shot shape (the intention), and
let your swing being a reaction to it and you’ll see much better results.
If you want to find out more about the science of attentional focus

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and motor learning, check out this study by Gabrielle Wulf and
Rebecca Lewthwaite.

FEEL (Physical Rehearsal)

Once you’ve decided upon and committed to your shot, you need to
feel that particular movement with your “rehearsal” swings.

I call them rehearsal swings and NOT practice swings, because you
are not practicing anything. Many golfers use this time to work on a
swing drill, instead of getting fully connected with the shot.

This time in your routine is about rehearsing the shot you are about to
play in your mind. During your rehearsal swings, you’re asking the
creative side to produce a feeling to make that shot real. You’re
ingraining that particular shot in your subconscious mind, ready for
recall a few seconds later.

With each rehearsal swing you’re using the information you’ve already
received from the visualization and the analysis phase. With your
visualization, there should be an automatic response from your
muscles, so now you’re getting familiar with that feeling, so you can
just “trust it” during your shot.

Actually imagine the ball coming off the club face and flying to the
target (see and hear it in your mind).

Make 1-3 practice swings to really get the feel for the shot you are
about to hit.

You could go a step further and imagine the sound of the shot as it
comes off the club face. All this will help you become more connected
with it – as opposed thinking about your swing mechanics or where
you don’t want the ball to go. Try to hold on to that image of the ball
being fired at the target, even when you’re addressing the ball.

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When the mind knows what to expect (with greater certainty), there
is less doubt and greater chance of better movement and a positive
outcome. The combination of visualization and feel will make you feel
a lot more relaxed and confident ahead of pulling the trigger.

Just as your course management gets better with experience, so does
your feel for shots. With awareness practice (being aware of the feel
of shots while you practice), you’ll be able to feel each type of shot
and get it deeper into the part of the brain that controls the things
you do without thinking, like tying your laces or riding a bike.

Eventually you’ll know by instinct the feel of a low 5-yard fade vs a
high 5-yard draw.

Re-read this section before you go to your next practice session and
put it into action straight away.

Breathe!

Breathing is very under-utilized by the amateur. Breathing properly,
and focusing on it, is a great way to stay in the present and remain
calm. At this stage of my routine, just before I’m about to walk into
the ball, I take a deep breath to get rid of any tension and clear my
mind completely. This represents my entering the “Trust Phase” with
a quiet mind.

Set Up (Conscious, Left Brain)

At this point of your routine (when you’re getting set up over the
ball), the only “conscious” thinking that needs to be done is getting
aligned and set up properly. Your thinking about the shot selection
has been done and it’s important that you keep the left side of your
brain quiet and engage the right side only (the creative side).

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How to get aligned correctly

I like to use the same alignment technique as Justin Rose.

1. Close your non-dominant eye. If you don’t know which eye is
dominant use this exercise:

i. Hold your hands out at arm’s length and, with both eyes
open, make a circle with your fingers and thumbs around a
ball like in the photo below:

ii. Now close one eye, while keep the other open and do the
opposite open/close combination. One of your eyes will
keep the ball in the middle of the circle. This is your
dominant eye.

What’s actually happening is that both eyes cannot see the ball
directly, so your hands naturally move to allow your dominant eye
to focus on it.

2. a spot 6 inches in front of the ball that’s directly in between the
ball and your starting target (this could be the same as your final

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target if you plan to hit the ball straight). Step into the shot and
align the club-face to your spot.
3. Make sure the ball position matches the trajectory of the shot
you have visualized.
4. Align your body parallel-left (or right for the left-hander) to that
line between the ball and spot.

Reminder: If any negative thoughts creep in at any time, START YOUR
ROUTINE OVER.

Visualize and Engage with Target (Right brain active,
left brain quiet)

Now you’re over the ball, keep reminding yourself of that picture of
the shot and have it in your mind’s eye, even when you’re looking at
the ball. Become very connected with the target at this point. We
want to be “looking and reacting” to the target, not thinking about
what swing we need to hit to the shot. Personally, I like to take 2
looks at the target before starting my swing.

“Quiet Eye”

The term “Quiet Eye” was coined by Professor Joan Vickers, a
specialist in Kinesiology (the study of body movement). In a study, she
found that elite golfers have a common pattern of fixation of their
eyes before and during a shot, which higher handicap player don’t
share.

Elite players have a more focused “scan path” during the few seconds
before a shot. Their eyes move directly between the ball and the
target and nothing else. The average player is more erratic with their
gaze (they don’t just see the ball and the target). Next time you’re
over a shot, make sure your gaze is very focused. When you’re

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focusing on the ball before you swing, pick out a single dimple to look
at. So it would go like this:

- ball and target
- ball and target
- ball and target
- ball for 2-3 seconds
- swing, focusing on a single dimple.

Mental and Physical Triggers

Those few seconds just before you’re about to swing are crucial in
hitting the shot as best you can. You don’t want to undo all the great
work you’ve done in your pre-shot routine.

You want to keep the positive momentum going right up to your
take-away. You don’t want to start having doubt over the ball or any
technical thoughts. A trigger can give you that little boost of
confidence that keeps out negativity and gets you in the mood to give
the shot one of your best swings.

NLP

With the mind being such a big factor in performance in golf, there
are several hypnosis and self-hypnosis techniques that can be applied
to shave strokes off your score. One of them is called NLP, or neuro
linguistic programming. The basic idea here is that in your life there
are what’s called “triggers”, those things that can make you remember
something or feel a certain way. The stronger the impact of whatever
you’ve experienced (e.g. fear, worry, joy, confidence etc.) gives it a
stronger connection with that trigger, which could be seeing a picture,
a certain smell anything that “triggers” a memory which makes you
feel a certain way (those feelings are stimulated by the trigger and are
otherwise stored in the subconscious mind).

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For example, think of a time on the golf course when you’ve been
faced with a shot over water or a greenside bunker. If you topped the
ball into the water or chunked it into the bunker, there will be a
negative association with that particular shot. You might not know
you have it (it’s a subconscious thing) but being in that situation again
will bring those feelings to the forefront again.

However, these “triggers”, don’t necessarily need to be organically
created by past experiences. We can be pro-active about we trigger
by using “anchors” to hold on to something that’s made us feel a
certain way, to help recreate that emotion on-demand. For example, if
there was something you did after hitting a great shot which anchored
that feeling, simply doing that same thing before a shot, can help bring
back that moment of success and confidence

So how do we anchor those times when we’ve felt confident and
successful and use them to trigger that same feeling in the future?

The Global NLP Institute defines anchoring as:
“Anchoring is a process where a specific stimulus (cue, trigger) is
connected to a memory recall, state or state change, or another
response. Anchoring occurs naturally all the time. You likely have
several powerful anchors in place; a certain smell may remind you of a
specific person (perfume, etc). Each time you see something, it can
bring you back to the state or a past memory (a photograph, a living
room etc.). The same occurs when you hear a certain sound or piece
of music.”

What I’m about to show you is how to “anchor” great shots you’ve
hit, and use it to trigger confidence on the golf course.

There is no one anchor that works for everyone. I.e. some people can
recall an experience better with smell (e.g. perfume), some with
sound (e.g. music) and some with a verbal “key word”. You essentially
label the feelings and use that label to experience them again.

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Types of Anchors and Triggers

We are all different in how we respond to stimuli – some of us are
more visual (sights/colors etc), some more kinesthetic (movement),
some more verbal (words) and some auditory (sounds). Here are a
few ideas for you to try and see what works best for you. The idea
here is that you “anchor” the feeling of good shots with one of these
things (the more you anchor it the stronger it becomes) and then you
use it before you start your walk into the ball or before you’re about
to play your shot.

Feeling <–> Anchor/Trigger <-> Stimulus

Verbal Triggers:

You might want to start your walk into the ball or use the time you
are over the ball to use a verbal trigger. This means you say something
to yourself that evokes a feeling of confidence and success. It could be
something you’ve anchored after great shots, or words that describe
what your swing is like when you’re at your best.

Some ideas are:

“Commit”

“Solid”

“S-M-O-O-T-H”

“Gorgeous”

“Smooth and powerful”

Pick your own special word and anchor great shots with it.

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Visual Triggers:

Vision is our primary sense, so this one is most effective. Advertisers
use this

Fred Couples says:

“I pull up my sleeves, shrug my shoulders and try to get them relaxed and
then I try to remember the best shot I’ve hit in my life with whatever club
I’ve got in my hand.

Here Freddie uses the image of a great shot he’s hit in the past to
recreate that mood of success.

Louis Oosthuizen’s red dot became a talking point after he won the
2010 Open Championship. Louis had marked a red dot on the glove
on his left hand and used it as a trigger to get himself in a highly
focused state.

Louis had found that when he was playing his best golf, the word that
summed it up best was “CONCENTRATION”, and his mind coach,
Karl Morris, asked him if “Concentration” had a color, what color
would it be? And he said “red”. So from then on he worked on
anchoring those times he felt most focused with the Red Dot on his
glove. So when he was in the heat of the competition at The Open
Championship, with all the distractions that it throws at the players,
he was able to look at the dot and get into that same focused state of
concentration.

You could do the same by writing a word or colored dot on your
glove and look at it before you walk into the ball (make sure you take
a look at it after a good shot to reinforce it. You can also do this after
the round by doing the following:

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Auditory (Sound cues)

Remembering the sound of a really well struck shot.

Music: humming a tune after hitting a great shot and then using it at
other times during the round.

Snapping the Velcro on your glove after a good shot and then doing it
as part of your pre-shot routine.

Kinesthetic (touch/movement)

Clicking fingers

Jordan Spieth tips his cap before every full shot

Tiger Woods blinks methodically

Swing cues

The moments before a shot are key in making a good swing. One idea
to keep your mind from wandering and becoming disconnected with
the shot is to have a “Swing Cue”. This can keep things moving along
and prevent freezing.

A waggle:

A waggle can set the tempo for your swing and can work to give you a
running start instead of starting from a static position. Watch the tour
players at the weekend and a lot of them will waggle the club before
starting their back-swing.

This is not for show, it’s telling themselves they’re in ready mode, sets
the tempo of the swing and eases tension in their hands. Try to make
the number of waggles the same every time, so every shot feels the
same no matter what the situation.

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A lot of players have a unique body movement which initiates the
back-swing.

 Sam Snead cocked his head to the left to start his swing, which
was later copied by Jack Nicklaus

 Tom Kite and Nick Faldo, bend their knees slightly before taking
the club back

 Gary Player kicks in his right knee
 Mark Calcavecchia shuffles his feet
 Greg Norman sets the toe of the club at the ball and then slides

it forward so the sweet spot’s behind the ball.
 Harvey Penick told us in his “Little Red Book” that the back-

swing should be started with a gentle forward press of the
hands.

The Shot

“You turn off your mind. You feel your golf swing without really thinking
about it. It’s almost like you don’t think at all. Maybe you have one little
thought, and everything else becomes automatic.” – US Open
Champion, Graeme McDowell.

So many golfers ask me about “swing thoughts” and what are “the
best”.

During the shot itself, it’s very important that your left brain is quiet.
You certainly don’t want to be giving yourself technical instruction or
having any internal dialogue while swinging. If the left-brain is too
active, the swing will lose its fluidity.

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How to keep the conscious mind quiet during a shot

If you have problems not thinking during your swing, then we’ll need to
find something for your conscious mind to focus on that will still allow
the subconscious to drive the swing.

Swing thoughts

When we feel pressure on the golf course or when we’re playing
badly, one of the first things to be affected is tempo or speed of the
swing. We tend to tighten up and swing faster, meaning the body and
mind become unsynchronized. You lose your timing you have under
normal circumstances.

A good way to keep your tempo and displace swing thoughts is to
count or say something during your swing. On your back swing say in
your head the word "one" until you reach the top of the back swing,
then say in your head the word "two" during the downswing.

Or, start with “One” at address, “Two” at the top of the back-swing
and “Three” through the ball. Timothey Gallwey, one of golf’s first
mental coaches, recommends “Back-hit”.

If you do this with your practice swing, and then during the actual
shot, you’ll get closer to your slower rehearsal speed. This helps take
any focus away from anything mechanical and keep the swing fluid and
seamless.

You could also try saying something like “S-U-P-E-R…S-M-O-O-T-H.

I’m not going to say that all technical swing thoughts are bad. As long
as it’s one simple thing such as “turn”, “stay centered”, or “high finish”
it can actually help occupy the conscious mind and allow the swing to
be more subconscious (and repeat certain “swing keys”). Players get
into problems when the swing thought changes from shot to shot

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(depending on the outcome of the previous shot) and they start to
follow their movement from start to finish. This ends up interfering
with fluid movement and synchronicity and disconnects them from
what they’re actually doing – hitting a pre-determined golf shot.

Post Shot Routine

Acceptance

Acceptance is a huge factor in controlling emotions and staying
focused on what’s most important. If you let poor shots affect you
negatively, you’re setting yourself up for a poor performance. As long
as you don’t get overly excited, it’s ok to hold onto the image and
feeling of good shots you’ve hit, but shots that you weren’t happy with
need to be erased as quickly

Switching off

During a round of golf your golf-brain is either “switched on” or
“switched off”. When you’ve finished a shot, it’s important to quickly
get back into neutral and “switch off” as quickly as possible.

During the shot routine is the only time it needs to be switched on
(so for most of the round you are conserving mental energy and
staying calm). In the same way you want to switch on your golf brain
with a trigger at the beginning of the shot, you might find it helpful to
remind yourself to switch off with another trigger. I’m going to discuss
acceptance and bounce-back techniques in Module 4.

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MODULE 4: CONTROLLING YOUR
THOUGHTS AND EMOTIONS

Our thoughts and emotions have a huge impact on our performance,
and in the game of golf, there’s a lot of time to allow them to take
effect.

By the end of this module, you’ll have a great sense of awareness
about where your thoughts are during every round, and you’ll have
the tools to guide your mind towards the optimal mental approach for
golf.

Controlling Nerves and Stress

Your optimal level of intensity

Firstly, it’s important to know your optimal level of intensity. When
you produce your best results, are you pumped up, or more relaxed?
To find this out, you need a consistently good post-round evaluation.
What I’m sure you’ll realize as you look back is that nerves are a good
thing. Acknowledging and accepting that feelings of apprehension and
not being in your comfort zone is a sign you are getting ready
(mentally and physically) for competition. When you feel nerves, your
body is producing adrenaline, which if kept under control (with
relaxation techniques), can be exactly what you need to reach new
scoring levels. You’re more focused, determined and you have more
“fight”.

Unless you are feeling a little uncomfortable, you won’t be able to
break through into new scoring zones. But the more you get used to
this feeling of being uncomfortable, the better you’ll be able to handle
it (more on this in the practice system). The goal here is to become a

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“stress-seeker”, one who plays better in competition rather than
practice, not a “stress-avoider”.

See the graph below:

If you’re too relaxed, you’re on the left side of the optimal level, and
too nervous, you go the other side of curve.

In this post, we’re going to focus on what to do when you’re too
nervous or “too intense”.

What happens when you’re too nervous?

You’ve probably heard of “the fight or flight response”, a term used to
describe what happens (mentally and physiologically) when we feel
fear.

It’s called the fight or flight response because standing and fighting, or
running away is the only choice you are given by your brain – rational
thinking and reasoning isn’t an option. You’re unable to think clearly.
Why? This is a survival instinct that nature developed hundreds of
thousands of years ago when there was real danger to the lives of our
early human ancestors, such as being eaten by a large predator.

What does this have to do with your golf game?

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Obviously there’s no threat of any real danger on the golf course. But
what we perceive as danger is not physical, but a feeling. It’s the fear
of what it feels like to fail, be disappointed or being looked down upon
by others.

Unfortunately for us, we have the same primitive response to any kind
of fear. In the millions of years of human existence, there’s been no
software upgrade when it comes to our response to fear. Your heart
starts racing to get blood to your muscles in preparation for either
fighting or flighting and your brain starts shutting down to deliberately
reduce your options (the stress response).

In order to regain control of our minds and bodies during those times
of fear on the course, we need to get control of our physiology i.e.
our heart rate. If you can control your heart rate, you prevent the
from brain shutting down and your muscles tensing up.

The most effective way to do this is with good breathing techniques.

Breathing techniques for playing more relaxed golf

To play more relaxed golf (and play in your optimal arousal zone),
your breathing needs to be rhythmical and steady. The ratio of time
taken to inhale vs exhale isn’t as important as the rhythm. So if it takes
3 seconds to inhale (through your nose until your belly goes out),
then a hold for 2 seconds, and a exhale (through your mouth) for 6
seconds, then that same pattern needs to be repeated until you feel
your heart rate lower and you become less stressed. Try this before
your round and in between shots. Repetition of this will enable you to
stay calmer, think more clearly and maintain your optimal level of
intensity.

Table here for physical signs of tension and how to
counter it

Tighter grip (the most common cause) –> deliberately lighten your
grip pressure

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Clenched jaw –> be aware of this and put tongue in between your
teeth
Faster swing (caused by tightness) –>use a tempo drill to slow down
your swing
Not releasing the golf club through a shot or putt –> swing to a high
finish
Lifting up too quickly to look at outcome of a putt or shot –> focus
your eyes on the spot where the ball was after impact
Getting jabby with the putter –> use a tempo drill and lighten your
grip
Muscle tension –> clench your fist or tighten whichever muscles you
feel tightening. Immediately after tensing the muscle will relax.
Walking faster –> slow everything down. In the same way that you
might talk faster when you’re nervous, you get quicker over your
routine and through your swing. Be conscious of this and try to slow it
down. Slow your walk, your routine and your swing.

Managing “the 90%”

Ironically, 99% of golf instruction is focused on the shot itself, but
about 90% of your time playing is actually in between shots.

How we manage our mental and emotional side during “the 90%” has
a huge effect on our scores.

For me, the average golfer loses more shots during the time in
between shots, than when actually swinging the club.

Where are your thoughts in between shots?

I’d like you to think about this and become more aware of it.

Your thoughts trigger an emotional response, which affects your
mood and ultimately your physiology and how you swing. By
physiology, I mean your heart-rate, tension levels and ultimately your
movement during your swing.

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