May 1, 2011 by admin

Learn the 3 R’s to bring your range game to the course – by Connell Barrett, Editor-at-large Golf Magazine

I love the scene in Tin Cup when a panic-stricken Roy McAvoy shanks shot after shot on the range at the U.S. Open. His caddie Romeo comes to the rescue. “Turn your hat backwards,” Romeo says. “Put all your change in your back pocket. Now, take this tee and … stick it behind your left ear.” Roy obeys, and the hosel takeover ends. He starts striping the ball. Why? Romeo explains: “Because you’re not thinking about shanking…You’re not thinking at all. Your brain was getting in the way!”

Not long ago, I played golf with a peak-performance coach named Frank Prince. Like Romeo, Prince, a very bright guy, knows that the mind means well but betrays you on the course. It gets louder when it needs to pipe down. Prince’s audio program Thought Free Golf is designed to silence the swing-killing chatter by rewiring the mind, helping you bring your range swing to the first tee.

“So many golfers swing great on the range because they’re just hitting, not thinking,” says Prince, co-author of the book Blueprint for Success. ”Then they reach the first tee, and everything changes. They go through a checklist of do’s and don’ts, which is not the way to have a freewheeling swing. My approach is to banish distracting thoughts and let your best swing come out.”

Which leads us to Prince’s three R’s, designed to quiet the mind. Me, I never met a swing thought I didn’t like. So when I stand over the ball my mind sounds like the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. This 3-step plan helped me a lot. Address the ball, and ask yourself…

 

READY?

“Ask if you’re ready to swing, and if you’re not, step away,” Prince says. “If you’re over the ball and you’re thinking it’s teed too low, or you have the wrong club, then you’ve set yourself up for a bad shot. Not ready? Step away, make the needed adjustment, and start your routine again.”

 

RELAX…

“Take a deep breath and feel your shoulders drop and arms loosen. Breathing deeply sends a bio-mechanical signal to your whole body that it’s OK to relax. Tense, tight shoulders and arms are no way to swing the club.”

 

RELEASE!

“Not the club–release thought. This cue shuts the brain down, almost like you’re blacking out. Say ‘release,’ and the brain shuts off, and you can make your best, thought-free swing. Does this guarantee a perfect swing? No. But you have a better chance of making your best swing because you’re free of all the other crap” — the lake to the right, your buddy’s opinion of you, multiple swing thoughts — “that get in the way.”

About Connell Barrett

As editor-at-large for GOLF Magazine, Connell Barrett has written profiles on Tiger Woods, Nick Faldo, Arnold Palmer and Steve Williams. In 2006, he conducted the last interview with Byron Nelson. He’s an 8 handicap, but he just knows he can be scratch. He lives in New York City.

Read more: http://blogs.golf.com/flyers/2010/05/how-to-play-thoughtfree-golf.html

April 7, 2011 by admin

Golf Using The 4C’s

Concentration, confidence, control and commitment (the 4C’s) are generally considered the main mental qualities that are important for successful performance in most sports.

• Concentration – ability to maintain focus
• Confidence – believe in one’s abilities
• Control – ability to maintain emotional control regardless of distraction
• Commitment – ability to continue working to agreed goals

The techniques relaxation, clearing the mind and visualization will assist a golfer to achieve the 4C’s.

Concentration

This is the mental quality to focus on the task in hand. If the golfer lacks concentration then their athletic abilities will not be effectively or efficiently applied to the shot. Research has identified the following types of attention focus:

• Broad Narrow continuum – the golfer focuses on a large or small number of stimuli
• Internal External continuum – the golfer focuses on internal stimuli (feelings) or external stimuli (ball)

The demand for concentration varies in Golf:

• Golf requires short bursts of deep concentration followed by sustained focus between shots.
• Strategies to improve concentration are very personal. One way to maintain focus is to set process goals for each round. The golfer will have an overall goal for which the golfer will identify a number of process goals that help focus on specific aspects of the course. For each of these goals the Golfer can use a trigger word (a word which instantly refocuses the golfer’s concentration to the goal) e.g. Thought Free Golf uses the trigger words “Ready, Relax, Release”

Confidence

Confidence results from the comparison a golfer makes between the goal and their ability. The golfer will have self confidence if they believe they can achieve their goal. Remember the quote: “You only achieve what you believe”.

When a golfer has self confidence they will tend to: persevere even when things are not going to plan, show enthusiasm, be positive in their approach and take their share of the responsibility in success and failure.

To improve self confidence, a golfer can use visualization and mental imagery to:

• Visualize previous good shots to remind them of the feel of the swing.
• Imagine various scenarios on the course and how to cope with them.

Confidence is a positive state of mind and a belief that you can meet the challenge ahead – a feeling of being in control. It is not the situation that directly affects confidence; thoughts, assumptions and expectations can build or destroy confidence.

High self confidence

• Thoughts – positive thoughts of success
• Feelings – excited, anticipation, calm, elation, prepared
• Focus – on self, on the task
• Behavior – give maximum effort and commitment, willing to take chances, positive reaction to set backs, open to learning, take responsibility for outcomes

Low self confidence

• Thoughts – negative, defeat or failure, doubt
• Feelings – tense, dread, fear. not wanting to take part
• Focus – on others, on less relevant factors (coach, umpire, conditions)
• Behavior – lack of effort, likely to give up, unwilling to take risks (rather play safe), blame others or conditions for outcome

Control

Identifying when an golfer feels a particular emotion and understanding the reason for the feeling is an important part of helping a golfer to gain emotional control. A golfer’s ability to maintain control of their emotions in the face of adversity and remain positive is essential to successful performance. Two emotions that are often associated with poor performance are anxiety and anger.

Anxiety comes in two forms – Physical (butterflies, sweating, nausea, needing the toilet) and Mental (worry, negative thoughts, confusion, lack of concentration) Relaxation is a technique that can be used to reduce anxiety.

When an athlete becomes angry, the cause of the anger often becomes the focus of attention. This then leads to a lack of concentration on the task, performance deteriorates and confidence in ability is lost which fuels the anger – a slippery slope to failure.

Commitment

Golf performance depends on the player being fully committed to the game over many years. In competition with these goals the golfer will have many aspects of daily life to manage. The many competing interests and commitments include work, studies, family/partner, friends, social life and other hobbies/sports.

Commitment comes with positive feedback. A great shot, a low score and even praise from other players can fuel the commitment level to the game.

When playing golf, commitment to the game can be undermined by:

• a perceived lack of progress or improvement
• not being sufficiently involved in skills development through lessons
• an injury
• lack of enjoyment (Focusing on the bad shots)
• too much anxiety about performance – competition
• becoming bored

Successful emotional states

The following are emotional states experienced with successful performance:

• Happy – felt that this was my opportunity to demonstrate an excellent performance. Felt I could beat anybody.
• Calm and nervous – Felt nervous but really at ease with these feelings. I accepted and expected to be nervous but felt ready to start.
• Anxious but excited – Felt so ready to compete but a little nervous. Nerves and excitement come together
• Confident – I remembered all the successful training sessions and previous best performances

 

Psychology Skills Training

Training for the golfer should aim to improve their mental skills, such as self-confidence, motivation, the ability to relax under pressure, and the ability to concentrate. Mental golf skills training has three phases:

• Education phase, during which the golfer learns about the importance of psychological skills and how they affect performance
• Acquisition phase, during which the golfer learns about the strategies and techniques to improve the specific psychological skills that they require
• Practice phase, during which athletes develop their psychological skills through repeated practice, simulations, and actual competition.

 

Mental Golf Skills Program

Taking lessons from a pro is essential to developing the mechanical skills required to be a good golfer. Having good mechanical skills paired with good mental skills is the key to greatness. The Thought Free Golf program is the best mental golf skills training program available to rapidly achieve the 4C’s. It is designed to develop a thought routine that is used as effectively as a swing routine. It will both focus and relax the golfer with every shot. Thus driving up consistency and lowering the score. It is key to taking your game to the next level.

July 4, 2010 by admin

Another Tip for “Letting Go” – Charlie King , Top 100 Teacher Golf Magazine

Here is Charlie’s  ”Fun Tip” on how to THROW YOUR CLUB!

Watch the Video.

July 4, 2010 by admin

How to Think Your Way to Solid Shots – by David Wright, Top 100 Teachers Golf Magazine

This story is for you if…

• You shine on the range but fade on the course.

• You tend to think about your swing during rounds.

The Problem

You practice your rear-end off, but you aren’t seeing the results you expect when you play.

Why It’s Happening

You’ve become too mechanics-focused. Thinking about your swing is fine when you’re at the range, but when you’re on the course and stepping into a shot, the last thing you want to think about is folding your right elbow, or how to trigger your downswing. You’ll never play to your potential this way.

The Solution

Accept that you’re going to play with the swing you have at that very moment. That means forgetting about it. Instead, before you swing focus on visualizing the exact shot you want to play to the exact spot on the green where you land it. When your mind sees something, it’s almost 80 percent of the way to “doing” it. Follow these five steps to do it every time:

1. ASSESS AND SELECT Step off your exact yardage, get a sense of your lie and make a confident club selection. In the situation here, I’m 145 yards from the pin, and based upon my downhill lie and yardage I select a 9-iron.

2. DETERMINE SHOT SHAPE Stand behind your ball and visualize the line that your lie will produce. Here, I’m thinking that the downhill lie with the ball slightly above my feet will move the ball a tad right to left.

3. PICTURE THE BALL FLIGHT While standing behind the ball, visualize your ballflight and choose a point on the horizon where you want the ball to start. Here, I choose a “V” in the branches of the tree directly behind and to the right of the pin, and I picture the ball starting at that “V,” turning a little right to left, landing on the green, taking two hops and rolling into the hole. Be specific with your imagination.

4. ADDRESS THE STARTING LINE Stand square to your start line and draw an imaginary straight line to your point on the horizon. Commit to this line, and use it to align your clubface, stance, hips and shoulders.

5. SEE THE RESULT Before you start your swing, create an image in your mind of your ballflight once again. The better your visual image, the quieter your tempo will be, and the better your golf shot.

By David Wright, Top 100 Teacher Golf Magazine,

Wright Balance Golf Academy at Arroyo Trabuco GC

Mission Viejo, CA
Read more: http://contributors.golf.com/golf-teachers/Dr.-David-Wright.html#ixzz0shdVXfii