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Golf Monthly - Team Agran - Article #1
My main goal during our first session was to make Clive feel comfortable,
start to build rapport and trust and initiate gentle discussion
about his golf – what his aspirations are, what he has worked
on before and what he perceives his strengths to be. I consciously
kept the exchange as positive and reassuring as possible. Many
people feel threatened by the idea of psychology, so I wanted to
reassure Clive that I wasn’t going to psycho-analyse him,
criticise him or play any kind of mind games with him.
I often begin by asking amateurs how important they believe the
mental game is, in percentage terms. The response is usually between
40 to 80 percent, while Tour Pros say it’s somewhere in the
region of 60 to 100 percent. I asked Clive the same question and
although he said he was aware of the need to “think positively”,
he had never considered trying to improve mentally.
When I ask golfers to describe their golf, they normally say something
like: “Well, my driving is dreadful and I can’t putt.” It’s
rare to hear someone reply: “I’m a great iron player,
my putting and chipping are good, but....”
Clive mocked his poor chipping. Standing over the ball dreading
the shot, he lacked confidence and his mind was crammed with negative
thoughts and images. I explained that he was acting out a self-fulfilling
prophecy, which basically means that he will get precisely what
he pays attention to. Clive thinks so much about fluffing chip
shots that, inevitably, it continues to happen.
Although we didn’t begin any work this first session, I
explained that we would take a two-pronged approach to his problems.
The first would be a quick-fix solution for use as a band-aid to
get him back on the right track. The second is to find out the
underlying sources of his weaker areas and teach him how to remove
destructive thoughts from his mind. Better quality thinking quickly
leads to better shot placement and accuracy whatever your level
of play.
Golf Monthly - Team Agran - Article #2
Golf Monthly - Team Agran - Article #3
Golf Monthly - Team Agran - Article #4
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