Guest
Golf Blog By Tom Sterner, Author of The Practicing
Mind
Golf has been called an art and
practice is to the arts — whether music, dance or golf — what breathing is to
life. Practice is integrated and inseparable from these experiences. Surrender
to the practicing process is what makes refining your skills pleasurable instead
of drudgery.
There are
many aspects to “practicing” the game of golf. There are the obvious things such as
the full swing, sand play, chipping and putting. But, there are also the mental
aspects of managing your mind, your thoughts and your round. All of these
require an “awareness” of what you do in a given situation...what you should do,
and a plan to get there.
All champions know how they work and
how they think. They have an awareness of their self-talk.
Here are some practical ways you can
make the most of your practice session and not only improve your mental game,
but your score as well:
• Practice Being Quiet –- Find ten minutes a day (or
every other day) to sit and train your mind to be still. This will greatly
increase your awareness of the things you are saying to yourself and will allow
you to begin having more control of your thoughts when they are not serving you
on the golf course. You can’t control what you are not aware of and this simple
exercise when done daily will definitely help you step up your
game.
• Process NOT product
–- Golf is a process. The score is the product. Focus on the process and
the product will take care of itself.
• Maximize Your Lessons
–-
What you do immediately after your
lesson is part of the lesson.
Take a few moments after each lesson to
solidify your personal interpretation of what you learned and what you need to
work on between sessions by writing down your thoughts. This
will help to solidify in your mind what you have just learned and it is great
for review in the future.
• Practice
doesn’t make perfect...practice makes permanent.
Understand how your brain works and creates habits. Repetition = Habit (good or bad) and
repeating the desired actions with a conscious intention of achieving something
speeds up the process. Repeat and Relax. Know that what
you are repeating with intention will become a part of your
game. You don’t need to force it. Your brain will make it
happen.
This is true for physical actions
like your swing mechanics and it is also true for how you think. If you don’t
like the way you think you have to work at repeatedly thinking differently.
Critical self-talk, re-living poor
shots or missed putts are just a few examples of “bad”
mental habits. They can and must be unlearned to reach
your potential.
• At least 50% of your swing practice
should be AWAY from the range. This
helps to keep you mindful of whatever aspect of your swing you are working on
and keeps you from being distracted by undesirable ball flight, which is normal
during times when you are working on one particular aspect of your
swing.
• When you work on mechanics use the
four “S” words.
Your brain
can learn anything and much more quickly if you don’t overload it with too much
information at one time:
Simplify what you
are working on to speed up the learning curve.
You do
this by working on small sections of
your swing.
Work with
short intervals on
each mechanic and perform at least some of the repetitions in slow motion.
This helps
to force your brain into the present moment and to increase your focus and
intention thereby facilitating the process of habitualizing your desired
mechanics.
Write it
down….
Process NOT
product….
Repeat and
Relax….
Four “S” words Simplify, Small, Short, and Slow
Following these tips will help you
maximize the effort you put into refining your skills and your goals will flow
toward you with much less of a sense of struggle. Mastering a skill efficiently
with the least amount of effort is a skill itself and what you learn through
your practice sessions with golf will serve you in all areas of your life, so
know that you aren’t just working on your game. You are working on
yourself.
# # #
Thomas M. Sterner
is the author of Practicing Mind: Developing Focus and
Discipline in Your Life. He serves as staff mental performance coach at
Applecross Country Club, a Nicklaus design course in Downingtown PA, where he
helps golfers of all levels improve their game. Visit him online at http://www.thepracticingmind.com.
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