Mental Training for Golf Improvement

Are you a better golfer than your scores show?

The use of mental training can quickly improve your score, without you having to spend any more time on the practice ground. You pretty much know, deep down, how to hit the ball, its just that the conscious mind can get in the way sometimes.

Your "chattering" conscious mind takes charge, and can fill you full of dread for the next shot!

You may recognise this.

Now, everyone has different issues when it comes to performing at their best.

•  Lack of belief in yourself

•  Nerves on the first tee

•  Inconsistent play

•  Worry about bunkers and other obstacles

•  Negative self talk

•  Anxiety, doubts and fears

•  Not able to reproduce good form

And many more.....

Non of these, or anything else that affects your game in a negative way, are uncommon. In fact most golfers live with these issues for most of their golfing lives.

It may not always be like this. If you have been playing for a while, you have probably had a round when everything went perfectly. When the ball seemed to leave the club and end up pretty much where you wanted it. It was almost as if the clubs had a mind of their own, and you couldn't do a thing wrong, flowing easily and effortlessly! "How did I do that?"

Its wasn't the clubs that controlled this, it was you! You were in a state of Flow, a state well recognised as the optimum mental state for sport (or any other) performance.

A golfer in the Flow state experiences a slightly detached feeling of power and control in their play. Some players report that it is almost as if someone else was responsible for the shots, as if an outside influence was guiding the game.

Its not an outside influence, but very much an inside influence. Your unconscious mind, in fact!

You are not conscious of how it happens, because it is, erm, unconscious!

It would be great to be able to achieve this "flow" state at will, would it not?

Well, it is very tricky with willpower alone, as you may have noticed if you have ever tried?

But all is not lost!

Imagination Power is much stronger than Will Power!

The use of Visualisations is generally accepted in Sports Psychology as an effective method of overcoming negative thought processes, and "seeing" the desired outcome. Like "running the movie through your mind", as Jack Nicklaus once put it.

(A visualisation will also, however, need to incorporate "feeling" "hearing", perhaps even "smelling" and "tasting" to be even more effective).

The winners in Golf, or any other sport you care to mention, have all mastered the art of self belief and self talk to enhance their play.

Many use Hypnotic techniques to easily access the unconscious for the purpose of visualising the perfect round, mastery of form and posture, and damping down the effects of previous unwanted results.

You can, of course, do this yourself at home, or even on the golf course. This is provided you can quieten your busy mind down enough to experience the visualisation. On occasion, most people can spontaneously achieve a state of "reverie", imagining a great round, for instance, but cannot do this at will. In my experience, not many golfers are able to achieve the relaxed state they need without some guidance.

This is where Hypnosis comes in!

Visualisation and positive affirmations are much easier to achieve in a state of Hypnosis. The Flow itself exhibits similar brainwave patterns to the Hypnotic trance and Reverie.

With a custom approach, issues affecting the individual player can be addressed, and a more positive mindset put in place.

Listening in a quiet situation, in the comfort of their own surroundings, the player is relaxed progressively into a very pleasant, daydream like state, which calms the conscious mind, and allows the unconscious to listen without interference. The player is then guided through a visualisation and reinforced with positive affirmations. These are constructed specifically for the individual. The more the recording is listened to, the stronger the effect.

Basically, this programs the mind to accept a positive outcome, overcome the mental obstacles that can dominate play, and allow access to the Flow state.

The player is set up with mental "tools" to transfer to the game, to calm adrenalin rushes and approach the game in a calm but focused way.

A very effective way to improve performance, for much less than the price of a good golf club!

Research

Centre for Sport and Exercise Science, Sheffield Hallam University, South Yorkshire. J.Pate@shu.ac.uk

This study examined the effects of an hypnotic intervention on flow states and golf-chipping performance of 3 participants. The study utilized an ideographic ABA single-subject design combined with a procedure to assess the participants' internal experience (Wollman, 1986). The intervention involved relaxation, imagery, hypnotic induction, hypnotic regression, and trigger control procedures over 5 wk. and 7 trials. Analysis indicated the 3 participants increased their mean golf-chipping performance from the trials in Baseline 1 to intervention, with 2 returning to Baseline 1 performance after the intervention phase at Baseline 2. The intensity of flow experienced by the participants during the performance trials was measured using Jackson and Marsh's 1996 Flow State Scale. Two participants experienced higher flow during the intervention phase and much lower flow during Baselines 1 and 2. Finally, participants indicated the intervention seemed useful in keeping them confident, relaxed, and in control. These results support the hypothesis that an hypnotic intervention can improve golf-chipping performance and increase feelings and cognitions associated with flow.