Learn To Control Your Emotions On The Golf Course

April 17, 2010 by articles  
Filed under Golf-Tips, The-Game-Of-Golf

As a golfer you must certainlybe aware that learning the mental game of golf is just as important if not more imperative as learning even something as fundamentalas swing basics. Possiblyto a greater extent than with any other sport, conquering the inner game of golf is criticalto becoming a greatgolfer. Without a strong mental game, you can pretty much surrender yourself to ordinary playat best.

Remember back to your last round of golf did you visualize every shot before making your swing? If not, you are deprivingyourself of a very significantstep. With nomental pictureyou have no capacity to send your ball in the right direction upon impact.

If you failed to visualize your shot, the chances are pretty high that you did not have a great shot. If this was the case, were you able to rebound after missing the fairway? Or was your mental game of golf such that you fell quickly into a rut? On the other hand, when you have a great shot are you able to duplicate it on your ensuingshots? When you learn to turn the mental game into one of your strengths the bad shots will be less apt to bother you and you will rebound much faster.

To develop mental game you must be able to handle every distractionthat comes your way, be that a bad shot or a hazard on the course. But just like mastering your swing does not come easily, neither does the mental game of golf.

In addition to visualizing your swing and having the abilityto not let a bad shot get to you, there are many other components to the mental game of golf. Learning to handle with pressure is a huge part of the mental game. We all know that anxiety levels rise when the game gets competitive. Learning to redirect pressure to your advantage will drasticallyimprove your game. It is, in fact, reasonably possible to use pressure to take you to the next level.

Also, it is critical to the game of golf that you learn to stay in the moment. This technique is practiced by Buddhist monks from all over the world; and it can be applied quite relevantly to the game of golf. If you are not focused, centered and paying attention to your game, it is nearly impossible to preform your best. Learning to stay in the moment is perhaps one of the best methods to improving your game.

If you learn to controlthe mental game of golf the rest will fall into place. While it may seem counter productive to work on the mental aspect of a sport before even the fundamentals, this approach works. Any professional golfer will tell you that the Golf Mental Game is a very important aspect of the game that can’t be over looked. By working on the psychological element of the game, you effectively simplify the rest of the learning process.

Understandingthe mental side of golf can also be a fun and rewardingpart of the game. Watching yourself as you get better at this part of the game gives you a feeling of accomplishment.But along with this mental game you can’t leave out the necessity for a good physical one either.It’s being able to combine the two that will ultimately get you to the lower handicap you desire.

Worth Reading

What Can You Learn From The US Open?

April 12, 2010 by articles  
Filed under Golf-For-Beginners

So you may be wandering exactly what does the US Open Golf Tournament have to do with my game? Well if you want to execute well in your own club competition it could have a lot to do with your success. When you practice simply focusing on your swing and blasting balls at the range it’s only one small aspect to true practice. This is what is called the practise makes perfect method. Yet if you’ve golfed for any length of time you know this simply isn’t true: practice doesn’t make perfect. Practice makes permanent. So really you should be practising what is essential for you to play at your best. Your inner game requires the same attention .

To play well with pressure you need to practice with pressure. When the chips are down and you need to hit the shot of your life, the self imposed pressure felt increases 10 fold for most golfers. Trying to develop your inner game of golf toughness this way is a hit and miss method to say the least. Yet this is all most people know.

By entering more competitions and tournaments they have the false impression that this is going to improve their mental game and concentration skills. Unfortunately it just doesn’t work that way. What do you see happen most of the time with this typical tactic? Most players don’t perform to their own abilities in the key moments when everything is on the line because they lack the mental game training.

Then they merely chalk it up to knowledge and hope to get in the position to win again. This strategy , if you can call it one, is the “natural” way. Simply get in contention enough times and you’re bound to win. It’s a very haphazard mental game approach. Although the odds are if you are in position enough times sooner or later you are going to win.

I want to submit to you that the more times you are in contention and don’t win that what you are doing is increasing the likelihood of losing again, not of making winning easier. What the problem is; it’s a lack of mental game preparedness . Because the negative associations that are stacked in your subconscious mind around not performing well under pressure. It will drive your behaviour (your thought processes and the swings you make under stress). You will automatically duplicate the experience of losing that you are accustomed to.

It certainly is a hard pill to swallow but if you want real and lasting change then mental game preparation can save you months, and even years for some players , of pointless inner turmoil around pressure, performance anxiety, competitive stress and its influence on your game . Now what if you could reconstruct the pressure of the US Open in your practice sessions and then go and play with this mindset?

Now let’s say you have a mental game visualization routine that is filled with every possible pressure situation you could encounter.   Do you think it would be safe to say that you are a few steps ahead of your competition? You most certainly would.

By feeling with your mind’s eye, not simply seeing, you can undergo the exact pressure you’ll face in a tournament . Your subconscious mind will absorb these sessions and add them to your mental game library and integrate them into your golfing self image. They become real situations in your subconscious. With this methodology you are providing your mind and body with sensory specific information about what pressure is to you and how to play when it’s present .

This is in fact preparing your mind and body to react in a desire behaviour when the anxiety of competition is present. When you are at the range hitting golf balls pretend you are in the US Open. Try to make every shot count, give yourself only one chance to hit your desired target. Create a scoring system to monitor how well you do when practising this way. Increase the pressure by taking only one drive, then one iron, then a chip shot if you miss your target with your approach shot. Pay attention to how well you perform this way.

If you want to speed up your mental game improvement and begin to play well under pressure then it’s vital you simulate pressure in your practice routine. What other way is there to get ready to face the inevitable? Do you honestly want to rely on the time worn method of entering more and more tournaments and matches just hoping to get use to the pressure? How much time money are you prepared to lose before you make the changes needed?

Grab a hold of your potential and start to develop a dependable mental game. Your overall mindset on the course, your mental game of golf, your sense of clarity and inner confidence under the gun, and a list of other benefits will enter your game. Not just sporadically but for a lifetime. You will be absolutely amazed at how all the little distractions and rubs of the green that used to get under your skin and derail you don’t even enter your mind anymore.

Exactly How Can Your Game Benefit From The US Open?

March 29, 2010 by articles  
Filed under Golf-For-Beginners

What does the US Open have to do with your game? Well if you want to play well in your own club competition it could have a lot to do with your success. When you practice simply focusing on your swing and blasting balls at the range it’s only one small aspect to true practice. This is what is called the practise makes perfect method. Yet if you’ve golfed for any length of time you know this simply isn’t true: practice doesn’t make perfect. Perfect practise makes perfect. So  really you should be practising what is essential for you to play at your best. Your Mental Game of Golf requires equal attention .

In order to play well with the anxiety of pressure you need to practise under the same conditions. When it counts the most and you need to pull off a great shot the stress of the moment you have forced on yourself increases 10 fold for some golfers. The trial by fire approach to improving your mental game of golf toughness and performing under pressure is a haphazard method. Yet it’s the only method that most amateur players know.

They enter more competitions with the hopes that by being in more events they will attain the mental game toughness and concentration skills to deal with the pressure. Unfortunately it just doesn’t work that way. What do you see happen most of the time with this typical approach ? Most players don’t perform to their own abilities in the key moments when everything is on the line because they lack the mental game training.

Then they merely chalk it up to knowledge and hope to get in the position to win again. This strategy , if you can call it one, is the “natural” way. Simply get in position as many times as possible and you’re bound to win. This is a very hit and miss mental game strategy. Although the odds are if you are in position enough times sooner or later you are going to win.

I want to submit to you that the more times you are in contention and don’t win that what you are doing is increasing the likelihood of losing again, not of making winning easier. Why is this, lack of mental game training? You have built a mindset of losing in your subconscious mind around not performing well under pressure. It will drive your behaviour (your thought processes and the swings you make under stress). You will without thinking reproduce the experience of losing that you are accustomed to.

This a tough pill to swallow but if you want real and lasting change then mental game preparation can save you months, and even years for some golfers, of pointless inner turmoil around pressure, performance anxiety, competitive stress and its influence on your golf game. So what if you could simulate   the US Open championship pressure when you practise and then were able to take that mindset out to the course when you play?

Now let’s say you have a mental game visualization routine that is filled with every imaginable pressure situation you could encounter. Do you think you would be perhaps a step or two ahead of your average player with the “natural” approach? I believe you most certainly would be!

By using visualization and actually feeling with your mind’s eye you can invent the exact kind of pressure you would feel in competition. Your subconscious mind will absorb these sessions and add them to your mental game collection and integrate them into your golfing self image. These become real events to your mind. With this approach you are providing your mind and body with sensory specific information about what anxiety is to you and how to perform when it’s there.

This is in fact preparing your mind and body to react in a desire behaviour when the anxiety of tournament play is present. Practise your mental game by imagining you are in the US Open and at the range hitting balls. Give yourself only one shot to hit your desired target. Create a scoring system to examine how well you do when practising this way. Increase the pressure by taking only one drive, then one iron, then a chip shot if you miss your imagined green with your approach shot. Try to pay very close attention to how your perform when using this technique.

If you want to accelerate your mental game improvement and begin to play well under pressure then it’s vital you simulate pressure in your practice routine. What other way is there to get ready to face the inevitable? Do you honestly want to rely on the time worn routine of entering more and more tournaments and matches with the hopes of getting used to it? How much time money are you prepared to lose before you make the changes needed?

Grab a hold of your potential and start to develop a dependable mental game. Your overall mindset on the course, your inner game of golf toughness, your sense of clarity and inner confidence under the gun, and a list of other benefits will enter your game. Not just occasionally but for a lifetime. You will be amazed how the little things that used to distract you before no longer enter your mind.

Review of Barrie St John’s Great Golf Hypnosis Download.

March 10, 2010 by articles  
Filed under Golf-For-Beginners

I first became aware of the ‘Great Golf’ self hypnosis download by Barrie St John when I noticed a huge amount of online searches being made for this particular title. I purchased the Great Golf hypnosis download myself so that I could make a full and accurate review from a low handicap golfer’s point of view.

I’m a great believer in the golfing mind game and ALWAYS use self hypnosis techniques both before and during my matches.

Barrie has a very soft, deep, relaxing voice with a slight Yorkshire accent which is very comforting. His voice took me into a totally relaxed state very quickly and I relaxed comfortably into my armchair.He asks you to start counting down backwards from 300 but as usual, I could only get to about 280 before drifting off into a lovely relaxed, peaceful state.

The creativity of your unconscious mind is fully utilised by golf hypnosis downloads and you feel the benefit of a calm state more and more when you play the game you love.

When Barrie softly says ‘ there is nowhere you have to be, nobody needs anything, the time is yours, not a care in the world, nothing at all for you to do except to relax and let go’  it takes you further into a completely relaxed trance like state and clears your unconscious mind for the positive golf thoughts and suggestions that are about to follow.

I like the choice of music and the 3D effects of his voice tracks makes for a very professional effect although I would expect nothing less than serious professionalism as Barrie currently sees his clients at his Harley Street Clinic, London.

The relaxation stage lasts for approximately 12 minutes by which time your unconscious mind is in a perfect state for the golfing part of the hypnosis session.

Although you are drifting off into a wonderful trance like state, your unconscious mind however is still listening intently and uses his words to continue to make positive changes in your golf mental game.

Barrie John’s starting focus is about the importance of having rhythm in your golf game, commonly known as being ‘in the zone’.  Remember the times when everything has worked well at the same time, you hit the ball with no effort, your mindset is calm and relaxed and everything just flows. It’s all down to rhythm.

That all important but so elusive Rhythm !

Barrie  offers a suggestion for disposing of distracting thoughts that come to your mind when you play golf,’ imagine a bin by the tee where you can drop all your distracting thoughts before you strike the ball’.

There is also a section on putting technique where you picture long putts and putting to a six feet circle around the hole where you want to leave your ball to go down in 2 putts, visualising the path you want the ball to take.

He then asks you to think of a player you admire and to put yourself in their place, to feel what its like to swing the golf club like they do and see the result through their eyes.

You’re then led to mentally practice what you have learnt, feeling how much better things feel, noticing how much more confident you are and how much you are looking forward to your next round of golf.

All in all, I enjoyed the session and look forward to using it again as I know that the more I use it I will be able to use my imagination more vividly and as with all hypnosis sessions the effects will be cumulative in my subconscious mind and as Barrie says ‘ will help me to produce positive and profound changes to my golf game.’

Barrie St John’s Great Golf Hypnosis download or CD lasts for 24 minutes and is a time well spent as you feel totally relaxed yet refreshed and REALLY looking forward to getting out on the course for your next golf game. 

Recommended 5 star download !

Barrie St John is a professionally trained hypnotherapist and counsellor. Past and present memberships include U.K. Guild of Hypnotist Examiners,British Association of Therapeutic Hypnosis, British Society of Clinical Hypnosis and the American Board of Neuro Linguistic Programming. Barrie is also a member of the B.A.C.P. (the British Association of Counselling and Psychotherapy).

New Way Productions Ltd specialize in producing self hypnosis CDs and downloads since April 2002. They are true experts in the field, which means you can rest assured in the knowledge that New Way Production’s self hypnosis products are developed and produced by the finest in the field of personal change.

* Digitally mastered recordings using professional equipment.
* Developed using powerful and advanced hypnotherapy techniques.
* Incorporates Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) and Creative Visualisation.
* Deeply hypnotic and relaxing background music.
* 3D voice effects

Visit the Golf Mental Training for other hypnosis reviews.

Review best golf hypnosis download from Barrie St John.

July 11, 2009 by articles  
Filed under Golf-For-Beginners

I first became aware of the ‘Great Golf’ self hypnosis download by Barrie St John when I noticed a huge amount of online searches being made for this particular title. I write hypnosis download reviews for my site exploring-hypnotherapy.com and as a very active 12 handicap golfer myself I am interested in the ‘Great Golf’ hypnosis download from a personal point of view.

Improving my own golf mental game has drastically reduced my handicap and I always watch out for particularly effecitive golf hypnosis downloads. 

Barrie has a very soft, deep, relaxing voice with a slight Yorkshire accent which is very comforting. He starts off by taking you through the deep relaxation phase and in no time at all I could feel my muscles melting and my body feeling heavier as I relaxed into my armchair. He asks you to start counting down backwards from 300 but as usual, I could only get to about 280 before drifting off into a lovely relaxed, peaceful state.

Barrie oftens uses the term ‘creativity of your unconscious mind ‘which really pinpoints the way these hypnosis products work by harnessing that creativity in such positive ways .

‘There is nowhere you have to be, nobody needs anything, the time is yours, not a care in the world, nothing at all for you to do except to relax and let go’ are the words that really help you to let go of all tensions and allow yourself to float and get in exactly the right frame of mind for golfing thoughts to enter your subconscious mind.

The choice of music is excellent and the 3D effects of Barrie’s voice tracks are extremely professional which is exactly what one would expect from someone who has an active hypnotherapy practise on Harley Street, London.

The relaxation stage lasts for approximately 12 minutes by which time your unconscious mind is in a perfect state for the golfing part of the hypnosis session.

Although you are drifting off into a wonderful trance like state, your unconscious mind however is still listening intently and uses his words to continue to make positive changes in your golf mental game.

Barrie John’s starting focus is about the importance of having rhythm in your golf game, commonly known as being ‘in the zone’.  Remember the times when everything has worked well at the same time, you hit the ball with no effort, your mindset is calm and relaxed and everything just flows. It’s all down to rhythm.

 That all important but so elusive Rhythm !

Barrie  offers a suggestion for disposing of distracting thoughts that come to your mind when you play golf,’ imagine a bin by the tee where you can drop all your distracting thoughts before you strike the ball’.

There is also a section on putting technique where you picture long putts and putting to a six feet circle around the hole where you want to leave your ball to go down in 2 putts, visualising the path you want the ball to take.
 
He then asks you to think of a player you admire and to put yourself in their place, to feel what its like to swing the golf club like they do and see the result through their eyes.

You’re then led to mentally practice what you have learnt, feeling how much better things feel, noticing how much more confident you are and how much you are looking forward to your next round of golf.

All in all, I enjoyed the session and look forward to using it again as I know that the more I use it I will be able to use my imagination more vividly and as with all hypnosis sessions the effects will be cumulative in my subconscious mind and as Barrie says ‘ will help me to produce positive and profound changes to my golf game.’

The Great Golf hypnosis download is approximately 24 minutes long and I found it to be very enjoyable and extremely beneficial in helping me to take the right mind set to the course for my next golf game.

Recommended 5 star download !

Barrie St John is a professionally trained hypnotherapist and counsellor. Past and present memberships include U.K. Guild of Hypnotist Examiners,British Association of Therapeutic Hypnosis, British Society of Clinical Hypnosis and the American Board of Neuro Linguistic Programming. Barrie is also a member of the B.A.C.P. (the British Association of Counselling and Psychotherapy).

New Way Productions Ltd specialize in producing self hypnosis CDs and downloads since April 2002. They are true experts in the field, which means you can rest assured in the knowledge that New Way Production’s self hypnosis products are developed and produced by the finest in the field of personal change.

    * Digitally mastered recordings using professional equipment.
    * Developed using powerful and advanced hypnotherapy techniques.
    * Incorporates Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) and Creative Visualisation.
    * Deeply hypnotic and relaxing background music.
    * 3D voice effects

Visit the Fear Go website for other hypnosis reviews.