Posts Tagged golf psychology
Balance Your Golf Mind and Body for Better Golf – Focus on Your Hara
Posted by in golf on June 17th, 2009
Moving from the balance of my life to the balance of the golf swing, I was intrigued to read recently about how many people view this as a key element of a successful golf swing. Now you know that I never comment on the mechanics of the swing as I’m neither a golf professional nor a swing coach. However, I do believe that balance is a key component of golf psychology and that psychological balance contributes significantly to balance in the golf mind and the golf swing. It also works wonders for your putting stroke.
When I was first studying NLP, Paul McKenna got us to do an exercise that he explained was based to some extent on Aikido. He asked for a volunteer and got her to just stand in an upright, relaxed posture and then to focus her mind on the audience. He then gently pushed her sideways with his hand against the outside of her shoulder. We saw how easily Paul caused her to sway off balance with just a light push.
Paul then asked the volunteer to focus all her attention on a point about two inches below her navel. Paul explained that this is known in Aikido as the ‘hara’ – the location of a person’s spirit and their centre of mass. He then repeated the push on her shoulder, but this time he couldn’t budge her, however hard he pushed. I was particularly surprised that the volunteer remained calm and relaxed despite Paul’s inability to shove her off balance. Paul then split the audience into pairs and I was able to confirm the experience for myself by working with someone much smaller than me. Despite his frailty, I couldn’t easily budge him when he focussed on his hara.
So what’s does all this have to do with golf, I hear you say. Well, just try it the next time you are out practicing. I did and I found that focussing on my hara when hitting a shot seemed to smooth out my swing and massively improve my balance. Let me know what it does for you.
Andrew Fogg, the Golf Hypnotist, is an enthusiastic golfer, hypnotherapist and NLP Master Practitioner. He is a golf psychologist and author of a soon to be published book “The Secrets of Hypnotic Golf” and a series of golf hypnosis MP3 programmes.
Visit his website http://www.golf-hypnotist.com for information on getting the most success, pleasure and enjoyment from your golf.
Sign up there for the free Golf Hypnotist ezine for your free 25-minute “Your Own Virtual Caddy” golf hypnosis MP3.
Article Source: Balance Your Golf Mind and Body for Better Golf – Focus on Your Hara
The Mind Golf Secrets The Golf Equipment Industry Does Not Want You to Hear
Posted by in golf on June 11th, 2009
When people write about the top professionals, they tend to talk about the externally visible aspect of their game – their swing technique. Those same writers rarely tell you about the golf mind golf secrets of those same professionals.
So what about Jack Nicklaus and 90% of golf in the mind?
When I started out in golf in the late 60’s I recall hearing Jack Nicklaus talk on TV about golf being 90% in the mind. However, when I eagerly read his first book, The Greatest Game of All published in 1969, I found very little information about golf psychology. In fact, two thirds of the book was biographical and the remaining third was about the golf swing. Maybe that was what the public wanted to hear or what Herbert Warren Wind, his co-writer, wanted to write about. There wasn’t any more about golf psychology in Jack’s Golf My Way published 5 years later.
Surely Ben Hogan’s secret was about swing mechanics?
I only recently found a similar contradiction about Ben Hogan in an article I read somewhere online. Now I got interested in Ben’s ideas a few year’s back when I first bought my Explanar swing trainer. I had a series of lessons with its inventor Luther Blacklock up at Woburn Golf and Country Club. Now Luther is a real advocate of Ben Hogan’s swing technique and has published a well thought out instructional DVD called The Lost Fundamentals of Hogan. Luther demonstrates these lost fundamentals looking like, swinging and dressing exactly like the great man.
So what was the contradiction? Well, the article I read suggested that according to Bob Rotella, one of the golf psychology greats, he interviewed Ben Hogan shortly before Hogan’s death in 1997 and asked what Hogan’s real swing secret was. Hogan told Rotella that the technical secret was something to do with how he cupped his wrist at the top of backswing.
Hogan went on to say that the real secret to his starting to win major championships came when he eliminated all swing thoughts from his tournament play and focussed instead on imagination and instinct. I would describe that as trusting his unconscious mind. Hogan added that he only told people about his swing secrets because that’s what they wanted to hear about.
Well what about other top professionals
So how many other top professionals are being similarly misrepresented in this way? Two that I’ve played with, a long time ago admittedly, are Tony Jacklin, in a fourball in 1970, and Nick Faldo, in an open amateur competition called The Hertfordshire Stag at Moor Park back in 1976 – just before he turned pro. Oh I am a name dropper, aren’t I. Tony talked a lot about his cocoon of concentration when he won his majors, but most of what I’ve read about him refers to his swing and his life in general. There’s very little said about his mental strength and golf psychology techniques.
When I played with Nick Faldo, he was very impressive mentally and no one who saw him winning tournaments and major championships would doubt his mental strength and focus., However, at the time all the media focus was on his swing change and everyone was surprised when he appointed a golf psychologist to help with the Ryder Cup team when he was captain.
Even with Tiger Woods, and no I haven’t played with him, we here more about his swing and prodigious length off the tee than his amazing mental resilience, his obvious use of self-hypnosis and the fact that he’s had a mind coach from a very early age in Jay Brunza.
So who’s suppressing the mind golf secrets?
For some reason the golfing media doesn’t think it’s that important to promote golf psychology as the secret of golf success. I wonder if the golf equipment manufacturers want you to know about that secret either.
Andrew Fogg, the Golf Hypnotist, is an enthusiastic golfer, hypnotherapist and NLP Master Practitioner. He is a golf psychologist and author of a soon to be published book “The Secrets of Hypnotic Golf” and a series of golf hypnosis MP3 programmes.
Visit his website http://www.golf-hypnotist.com for information on getting the most success, pleasure and enjoyment from your golf.
Sign up there for the free Golf Hypnotist ezine for your free 25-minute “Your Own Virtual Caddy” golf hypnosis MP3.
Article Source: The Mind Golf Secrets The Golf Equipment Industry Does Not Want You to Hear
Positive Reframing for Better Golf Performance Like Justin Rose
Posted by in golf on June 11th, 2009
Two stories have got me thinking about the power of positive framing for better golf performance and the increased enjoyment of this wonderful game. In NLP terms this is called Reframing.
I was talking to an old golfing friend of mine about his round of golf. I’d like to stress that he’s not a client and just isn’t interested in talking to me about golf psychology – he’s still a good friend, though. Anyway, he was moaning about the condition of the course that day and how on every shot he just seemed to have a worse lie than he expected. If he was on the edge of the fairway, the ball was nestling against the edge of the rough. If he was in the bunker, it hadn’t been raked properly. If he was on the green, there was always a pitch mark just in front of his ball. He just went on and on about his bad luck and how bad he felt about it. And he wished he hadn’t played at all that day. I wasn’t surprised to hear that he’d had a bad round and hadn’t enjoyed himself and the company of his golfing friends
Earlier that day, I’d heard a story about Justin Rose that put my friend’s experience into sharp contrast. Now I don’t know if you are aware that one of the US golf networks is experimenting with equipping caddies in PGA tournaments with microphones. The idea is that we can better hear the exchanges between caddie and player. This certainly sounds interesting and could well provide some support for the ideas about having “Your Own Virtual Caddy.”
So coming back to the Justin Rose story, apparently Justin had been having an “unlucky” day, just missing fairways and greens and bouncing into bunkers – the sort of experience that would have driven many of us, including my friend above, to distraction. Anyway here’s what Justin was heard to say to his caddie, “you know, this lie’s not at all bad, look at that rough over there that I could have been in, it’s much worse.” The whole way round, he turned his perception of bad luck into good luck and got on with the job. Now I don’t know if he enjoyed himself, but I do know he scored well that day and I wouldn’t mind betting he enjoyed overcoming the “rub of the green” that day. I’m sure that he felt better after his round than my friend did.
Next time you get a bad lie on the golf course, remember to reframe it positively. Think how much worse it could have been and the shot you have to play won’t seem so difficult. You may find you enjoy your golf more as well.
Andrew Fogg, the Golf Hypnotist, is an enthusiastic golfer, hypnotherapist and NLP Master Practitioner. He is a golf psychologist and author of a soon to be published book “The Secrets of Hypnotic Golf” and a series of golf hypnosis MP3 programmes.
Visit his website http://www.golf-hypnotist.com for information on getting the most success, pleasure and enjoyment from your golf.
Sign up there for the free Golf Hypnotist ezine for your free 25-minute “Your Own Virtual Caddy” golf hypnosis MP3.
Article Source: Positive Reframing for Better Golf Performance Like Justin Rose
Rub Of The Green and Anger Management at The Masters
Posted by in golf on June 11th, 2009
I’ve already talked about how much I enjoyed last weekends 2009 Masters at Augusta. Now, as each day goes by, more detail is coming into my conscious mind. I hadn’t realised how much I had learned about golf psychology from watching just one event on television.
I don’t know if you saw much of Sergio Garcia during the weekend and saw just how unhappy he seemed to be with himself and the course. It was no surprise to hear his negative comments about the course after his final round. One quote really stuck in my mind, “I don’t think it’s fair,” he said. “It’s too tricky. Even when it’s dry you still get mud balls in the middle of the fairway. It’s too much of a guessing game. They can do whatever they want. It’s not my problem. I just come here and play and then go home.”
Now, he clearly wasn’t the only one exhibiting similar feelings through their body language and in one particular player through his obvious anger. I saw many players having apparently mishit shots resulting from “mud balls” and I saw many different reactions. I didn’t notice any anger from Kenny Perry when his “mud ball” on the second playoff hole veered off to the left – he was disappointed – but just got on with the job of playing the ball as it lies, without complaint. I suspect he would have said that it was the same for everyone. Maybe that attitude got him into the playoff, even if his mental game seemed to desert him over the last few holes.
I wonder what Justin Rose would have done if he had been in Sergio Garcia’s shoes. If you read my article about Positive Reframing for Better Golf Performance like Justin Rose, you’d know the answer.
Golfers who complain bitterly about the “Rub of the Green” rarely enjoy their golf that much or perform to their best and I know that before I got into golf psychology I used to suffer in that way. One possible exception is Tiger Woods with his clear annoyance and sometimes outright anger over things like “unfair” gusts of wind affecting his shots. He still scores amazingly well despite the anger. Perhaps he would score even better if he could manage it as well as he handles the rest of his mental game.
On a final happy note, I was delighted to read of Sergio’s later apologies in the press, as I think he has the potential to be the real successor to his mentor, the great Seve Ballesteros.
Andrew Fogg, the Golf Hypnotist, is an enthusiastic golfer, hypnotherapist and NLP Master Practitioner. He is a golf psychologist and author of a soon to be published book “The Secrets of Hypnotic Golf” and a series of golf hypnosis MP3 programmes.
Visit his website http://www.golf-hypnotist.com for information on getting the most success, pleasure and enjoyment from your golf.
Sign up there for the free Golf Hypnotist ezine for your free 25-minute “Your Own Virtual Caddy” golf hypnosis MP3.
Article Source: Rub Of The Green and Anger Management at The Masters
Technically Perfect Golf Does Not Always Win Over Good Mental Golf
Posted by in golf on June 11th, 2009
Have you noticed that the winners on the professional golf tours around the world aren’t always technically or statistically the best players. They often don’t even look like the best player over the four rounds the week they win. Now, I know that’s a contradiction, because if they win the event, then they must be the best in that event.
Going back a few weeks to the 2009 Masters, no one would suggest that Kenny Perry, Angel Cabrera and Chad Campbell were the best players in the field, but they were the one’s that got into the playoff, despite their obvious mistakes. Many of the technically and statistically better players looked to be playing really well, but despite some amazing heroics from the likes of Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods, none of them came near getting into the playoff.
You’re often hearing me talk about how I started my golf during the golden years of my golfing hero Jack Nicklaus, the Golden Bear. Listening to me and many other pundits, you’d imagine that Jack was the most technically and statistically perfect golfer of all time. However, I have to admit that although he may still be the best golfer the world’s ever known, he was physically and technically way behind the likes of Tiger Woods.
I was recently picked up my rather well thumbed copy of Dave Pelz’s Short Game Bible, published in 1999 and re-read his section on the ideal composite golfer – who he would pick as the top three golfers in each of six key technical areas. Interestingly, Tiger Woods appears only once as Number two behind Greg Norman in Driving and Fairway Woods and Jack Nicklaus doesn’t appear at all!
A more recent article broadly confirms these results, but this time it includes ratings for the Mental Game and Course Management. The truly great golfers, like Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods, Lee Trevino and Nick Faldo, rise to the top in these categories and demonstrate how they make the best of their all-round technical skills through the strength in the areas of golf psychology.
In conclusion, I suggest that although it’s good to be as technically and physically competent as you possibly can, you’re more likely to achieve consistently good golf by mastering the mental side of golf and your course management first. The time to work on the technical side of your swing and putting stroke is when you are achieving the best results you can with your current ones.
Andrew Fogg, the Golf Hypnotist, is an enthusiastic golfer, hypnotherapist and NLP Master Practitioner. He is a golf psychologist and author of a soon to be published book “The Secrets of Hypnotic Golf” and a series of golf hypnosis MP3 programmes.
Visit his website http://www.golf-hypnotist.com for information on getting the most success, pleasure and enjoyment from your golf.
Sign up there for the free Golf Hypnotist ezine for your free 25-minute “Your Own Virtual Caddy” golf hypnosis MP3.
Article Source: Technically Perfect Golf Does Not Always Win Over Good Mental Golf
The Fast Track to Better Golf in your Unconscious – Slow Play Kills your Golf Mind
Posted by in golf on June 11th, 2009
How long did your game of golf take this weekend? Maybe 3 hours or less if you played on a traditional Scottish championship course, 5 hours if you played a fourball around a more modern country club or even more if you played in a serious open amateur event. I remember playing in a two-ball at Royal Troon, as the guest of a 70 year old friend, and getting round in 2 hours and 20 minutes and we were chased around by the Club Captain playing in a foursome. I can also remember playing in top amateur events and taking over 11 hours to play two medal rounds as a two-ball and no time for lunch. \The quick round was much more enjoyable although we were both a bit out of breath by the end.
As a golf psychologist, I’ve often been falsely accused of contributing to the slow play at my home club. People assume that, with all the extra thinking going on, that my clients will take more time playing their shots. This may be true for people who implement long conscious checklists and complicated pre-shot routines, as outlined in many of the popular “so-called” golf psychology books and magazine articles. Have you noticed that those people usually don’t seem to start thinking about their shots until they have got to their ball and everyone else in their group has played their shots and are halfway to the green!
For me, golf psychology is about being prepared and ready on the golf course and automatically doing the right things using the power of your unconscious. Apart from it being inherently quicker, you also save time by hitting better and fewer shots. If you plan your shots in advance, like a chess player would, you’re more likely to hit your drive to the best part of the fairway and you’ll already know the ideal shot to play from there. All you need to do is to confirm your club selection and the shot you want to play and hand over to your unconscious programming to complete your pre-shot routine and hit the ball – with no need for complicated checklists.
The same thing applies to your putting. Just because Jim Furyk goes through a long and complex pre-shot routine before stopping walking away and starting again, doesn’t mean that you have to. If you’ve assessed the putt you have to play and can see it in your mind’s eye, then again you can trust your unconscious to get on and hit the shot. If you hit your approach shot near to your preferred spot on the green, you should already know what to expect from the putt, so just get on with it.
Now I’m not suggesting that you should hurry the shot, just that you shouldn’t waste time. The more time you take, the more time is available for that inner voice of yours to start sowing the seeds of doubt in your mind. And we all know what happens then.
Andrew Fogg, the Golf Hypnotist, is an enthusiastic golfer, hypnotherapist and NLP Master Practitioner. He is a golf psychologist and author of a soon to be published book “The Secrets of Hypnotic Golf” and a series of golf hypnosis MP3 programmes.
Visit his website http://www.golf-hypnotist.com for information on getting the most success, pleasure and enjoyment from your golf.
Sign up there for the free Golf Hypnotist ezine for your free 25-minute “Your Own Virtual Caddy” golf hypnosis MP3.
Article Source: The Fast Track to Better Golf in your Unconscious – Slow Play Kills your Golf Mind
Self-Talk Your Way to Golf Improvement Like Geoff Ogilvy
Posted by in golf on June 8th, 2009
How much do you berate yourself when you play a bad shot at golf? If you’re a typical golfer the answer is pretty badly! In fact, you probably use language that you’d never use in public. It’s a good thing that you save the worst things for expression privately in your head. Just imagine how you would feel if your fourball or foursome partner said the same things to you after you hit a bad shot. You’d be horrified and you’d probably make a mental note never to play with them again.
What’s possibly worse is that many players have similar negative internal dialogue whenever they plan and execute a shot. They recall all the bad shots they’ve ever hit in this situation and focus more on what can go wrong than on what they’re trying to do.
I was surprised to hear Geoff Ogilvy saying that he used to experience negative self talk earlier in his career. In an interview after his recent victory in the World Golf Championship Match Play event, he said that early in his career, he found it almost impossible to suppress any negative feelings he was experiencing. You wouldn’t think that, watching his cool demeanour when playing last week.
After some more research, I found a much older interview where he was talking about how half the Tour talks to themselves badly when they’re out there playing bad. They do it every day and it’s very unconstructive. When asked what he meant, he said
“Yeah, just call yourself useless and what are you doing out here and all sorts of stuff. And I was hopeless. And I’m still not the best out here, but I’m getting a lot better.”
Clearly Geoff has come a long way since then and I’m sure that golf psychology has had a lot to do with it.
With hypnosis and NLP we can do a lot to channel and manage that negative self-talk. One simple approach from NLP is just to give that negative voice in our head a silly or a sexy accent – it would be hard to take the negative self-talk if it came from Donald Duck or a seductive Marilyn Munro. You make up the voice in your head, so it’s yours to do whatever you want with.
Andrew Fogg, the Golf Hypnotist, is an enthusiastic golfer, hypnotherapist and NLP Master Practitioner. He is a golf psychologist and author of a soon to be published book “The Secrets of Hypnotic Golf” and a series of golf hypnosis MP3 programmes.
Visit his website http://www.golf-hypnotist.com for information on getting the most success, pleasure and enjoyment from your golf.
Sign up there for the free Golf Hypnotist ezine for your free 25-minute “Your Own Virtual Caddy” golf hypnosis MP3.
Article Source: Self-Talk Your Way to Golf Improvement Like Geoff Ogilvy
EFT for Better Golf: Part 2 – Let’s Get Tapping
Posted by in golf on June 8th, 2009
EFT, the Emotional Freedom Technique in its traditional form is used by therapists with their clients and by individuals to reduce or eliminate all types of negative emotions including anger, fear, grief, trauma, anxiety and stress. It’s also often used to treat physical and physiological issues that may have an often unidentified, emotional component.
At this point, I’m obliged to stress that EFT is not a substitute for conventional medicine. You are advised to consult with your doctor and seek conventional treatments before using EFT to address any physical ailments or mental conditions. Phew, I’m glad to get that out o the way.
Here we are talking about using golf psychology for Golf Improvement. How many of us have a desire for golf improvement that’s so often stymied by negative thoughts, emotions and unresourceful states? Along with Hypnosis and NLP, EFT has a place in this area of improvement.
So when’s he going to tell us about the EFT Basic Recipe? Well, I’m coming to that. The 4 steps are going to seem rather odd and complicated, but only take a few minutes to complete once you’re familiar with them.
1. The Setup – where we identify the problem or issue we want to work on
2. The Sequence – that’s where we start tapping, while focussing on the problem or issue
3. The 9 Gamut Procedure – a rather bizarre 10-seond brain stimulation exercise.
4. The Sequence, again.
Today, I’m focussing on the Sequence and fairly briefly. Tomorrow I’ll talk about the other steps and review the whole process in a golfing context. So let’s get nearer to tapping by identifying how to tap
• You tap with you’re the tips of your index finger and middle finger held together, using either hand – both fingers of the same hand, of course.
• Tap about 7 times quickly on each point, more times, if it feels good.
• About 2-4 taps per second is about right.
• Tap firmly enough to feel a gentle skin vibration in the area without hurting or bruising yourself.
The tapping points are energy meridian end points and are tapped in sequence at the following locations. It doesn’t matter if you use points on the left or right, it’s your preference. There’s a great chart including the tapping points for the Sequence at Gwenn Bonnell’s wonderfully named website TapIntoHeaven.com.
1. Eyebrow – The inner end of the eyebrow, a bony point above and slightly to the side of the nose.
2. Side of Eye – On the bony ridge just on the outer edge of the eye.
3. Under Eye – on the bony ridge just below the eye.
4. Under nose – between the nose and the upper lip.
5. Chin – centrally just below the lower lip.
6. Collarbone – The junction between the collarbone and the sternum, one inch to the side of the top centre of the sternum.
7. Underarm – Four inches below the armpit on the side of your body.
8. Thumbnail – the inner edge of the thumb at the base of the nail.
9. Index Finger – the inner edge of the index finger at the base of the nail.
10. Middle Finger – the inner edge of the middle finger at the base of the nail.
11. Little Finger – the inner edge of the little finger at the base of the nail.
12. Karate Chop – Half way down he the outer edge of the hand.
So here’s just a very simple way of practicing the tapping and you may well be surprised at the outcome. Just think of a golfing problem or issue you experience calmly and rate it on a score from 1 to 10, where 1 isn’t important and 10 is a real pain in the neck issue. When you’ve got a number, make a note of it and focus on the issue, as you start tapping seven or so times on the Eyebrow point described above. Continue focussing on the issue as you tap seven or more times again on the Side of Eye point. Repeat for the remaining 10 points.
Congratulate yourself and take a well earned breather. You’ve just completed the Sequence.
Now I know we haven’t completed the whole Basic Recipe yet, but it’s worth thinking about the problem or issue again and rating it again on a scale of 1 to 10. If it’s even a half-point lower, then EFT could have something to offer you.
I’ll be back with the rest of the EFT Basic Recipe in Part 3.
Description
Let’s get tapping with EFT for Golf? This is the second in a series of articles about the Emotional Freedom Technique and its use with Hypnosis for better golf. EFT, the Emotional Freedom Technique in its traditional form is used by therapists with their clients and by individuals to reduce or eliminate all types of negative emotions including anger, fear, grief, trauma, anxiety and stress. It’s also often used to treat physical and physiological issues that may have an often unidentified, emotional component.
Andrew Fogg, the Golf Hypnotist, is an enthusiastic golfer, hypnotherapist and NLP Master Practitioner. He is a golf psychologist and author of a soon to be published book “The Secrets of Hypnotic Golf” and a series of golf hypnosis MP3 programmes.
Visit his website http://www.golf-hypnotist.com for information on getting the most success, pleasure and enjoyment from your golf.
Sign up there for the free Golf Hypnotist ezine for your free 25-minute “Your Own Virtual Caddy” golf hypnosis MP3.
Article Source: EFT for Better Golf: Part 2 – Let’s Get Tapping
