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Most amateurs dread the opening shot, particularly if it's in
front of others, and they often think about it for hours and hours
before they have to play so the fear and anxiety builds and builds
- HELP.
Talking yourself into an unresourceful state ahead of an upcoming
game is a common malady. By fervently weaving vivid memories and
self-talk of past disasters into thoughts about the future, is
a recipe for failure. Even the best are afflicted, David Leadbetter's
quote about British Open champion Ian Baker-Finch, four years after
his victory, "He tells me that when he stands up there he
has a mental image of disaster". Yet this is easily remedied.
No matter whether you are a fading champion or a weekend hacker,
unwittingly you are setting yourself up to get exactly what you
expect to get, and in all probability don't want! The notion of
'negation' in psycholinguistics (the psychology of language) is
helpful here. Negation simply means that the unconscious brain
does not distinguish a negative. For example, if I ask you NOT
to think about a huge green golf ball - what do you think about?
- Even more interestingly, the harder you try to erase the image
- the more compelling and annoying it becomes!
Typically the more important the event, the more colourful, clearer
and larger the picture in your 'minds-eye'. Accompanied possibly
by the voices in your 'minds-ear' becoming louder and harsher,
and the comments more off-putting or intimidating. All guaranteed
to trigger feelings of acute discomfort, such as fear, anxiety,
or worse. Inadvertently you are cueing-up your brain, a self-fulfilling
prophesy, to tell your body to stimulate the sympathetic nervous
system and pump adrenalin to activate a natural 'fight' or 'flight'
response. A strong negative expectation of disaster, failure, fear
or anxiety will guarantee, as you already know from long experience,
that as you tee-up on the appointed day, your hands and body stiffen,
your stomach churns, your palms and forehead sweat, your rhythm
desserts you, your swing thoughts quicken and become muddled, and
much more. The result is predictable. To change it is very simple,
just reverse the process. To work for you, not against you.
How to overcome tee-up blues:
Create a movie starting from arriving at the clubhouse to addressing
the ball at the first tee. Then every time you think about the
event, mentally rehearse this movie overlapping in all your senses
(words, pictures, sounds and feelings, even smell and taste if
you want!), in the order that suites you, of ideal circumstances
and making the perfect shot. Ask yourself and remember; "Can
you recall a specific time when you . . . hit a perfect tee shot
. . . felt totally calm, confident, etc.?"
- Words - Tell yourself exactly what you want (and actually be
there), NOT what you don't want. Remember 'negation', and state
'as if' you have already accomplished the result. Even write it
down. eg. I am totally calm, composed and confident.
- Pictures - Imagine details in your 'minds-eye' exactly as you
want to see them - people around you (make them smaller or
caricature them if they intimidate you), see the conditions as
you expect
them - a perfect looking fairway - a clear and perfect ball
strike, etc.
- Sounds - Hear perfect noises in your 'minds-ear' - a friendly
supportive crowd expressing encouragement, the perfect 'click'
as you power the ball away, mumerings of approval - 'great
shot', etc.
- Feelings - act 'as if' you are in the ideal mood, emotion or
state, and get a strong sense of how your muscles, joints and
tendons (proprioceptive) in your arms, torso and legs, the sensations
in
your grip, hands and skin (exteroceptive), actually feel. Totally
immerse yourself in the required mood; fully confident, positive,
perfect swing, patient, energetic, focused, successful, or
whatever.
We have covered the essential mental preparation needed to transform
first tee nerves. The next step after giving your undivided attention
to your mental preparation is to stop and 'let go' of all your
thoughts, movies and ideas, and get on with your daily life. Then
when the day arrives and you go out and play, it is essential to
do the following; 1. Do not try and remember any details of your
amazing 'tee-shot' movie at any time while playing, 2. Totally
focus 100% of your attention on the routines and tee-shot you are
about to take. 3. Clear your mind of any other thoughts; the thrashing
awaiting your competitors, the hazards ahead, making the winners
speech, the row you had with your wife yesterday, the important
business meeting tomorrow, etc, then 4. Just do it!
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| © MIND4Golf Academy 2004 |
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