By Lisa Ann Horst, LPGA Class A Professional
Want to drop five or more strokes from your handicap this season? Would you like to eliminate self-imposed pressure from tee to green? Do you desire a more consistent and enjoyable experience on the golf course?
The keys to achieving these goals likely lie in improving the quality of the thoughts you carry around on the course (not the clubs) and in making subtle adjustments in your practice and on-course strategy (not swing). Consider that all performance evolves from the inside out—your mind controls everything you do. In sports, a properly programmed mind is tantamount to success; a poorly programmed one, to failure. Your mind is never neutral—it's either helping you or hurting you. Thus, it’s paramount that you engage in some mental training if you desire to take your game to the next level.
Following are four mental training strategies for enhancing performance in any activity—applied to golf they are powerful stroke-saving techniques that you can begin using today!
1. Separate your self-image from your performance.If you are reading this article, then golf surely plays a major role in your life. Unfortunately, when your self-image is tied too strongly or singly to this role, it translates to an overwhelming need to perform perfectly every time in order to prove your worth in that role and, thus, as a person. The subsequent pressure can become stifling; it may be the single greatest cause of frustration in this sport.
Human beings perform best in a process-oriented, not outcome-oriented, frame of mind. Detaching your self-image from your golf performance allows you to enjoy the process of golfing regardless of the outcome. More important, it liberates you to try new shots or attack a course because you’ll be able to deal with a poor shot, should it happen. In this way, self-image detachment will reduce pressure and anxiety—and paradoxically, you'll play better by not needing to!
2. Get into the peak performance zone."The zone" is an internal state where everything comes together for the perfect shot or personal-best round, and it all seems to happen almost effortlessly and automatically. The trick is being able to create this state on demand and often in stressful situations, such as at a competition or when playing a course for the first time. The best way to do this is by using one or more of your senses to reenact the feelings of a brilliant performance or event from your past (this doesn't necessarily have to be a golfing event). Have you ever experienced the relaxed pleasure that washes over you upon hearing an old song or smelling something familiar that instantly connects you to a great event in your past? That's what you’re after.
If you've been golfing many years, then you surely have some "perfect" past days you can use as anchors for your peak performance state. If not, think back and identify some other event where you felt like you were in complete control and that anything was possible. Create about a sixty-second mental movie of this past event using all your senses. Make the pictures crisp and bright, and let the feeling and state of that event take over your body. Some people find that listening to a particular song through headphones is a powerful anchor for locking in the peak performance state. Be creative and experiment in developing your own pre-performance rituals that can transport you into the zone.
3. Leverage a "mental scrapbook" of past successes to persist through adversity.This third strategy is extremely powerful, and it’s fundamental to achieving high levels of success in any field. Create a mental scrapbook of past successes that you can review on demand to fortify your confidence and persevere in the face of apparent failure. Relive in your mind’s eye the process of some of your greatest accomplishments, both golfing and nongolfing. Make these mental movies vivid and get inside them as if they were happening again at the present moment. Feel the exhilaration and joy of the accomplishment, then take that emotion and apply it to the difficult situation with which you are presently faced. Forge ahead wearing the "mental armor" of your past successes and a whole new level of performance will begin to be revealed.
4. Be happy regardless of situations and outcomes.A superior trait of all real winners is resilience to bad results and/or criticism and unwavering belief that success will come with time, effort, and patience. Attitude is the wild card in the golf performance equation that can often compensate for what you are lacking in skill or experience. I can't overstate the importance of always having fun. We all take to golfing because we love the outdoor experience and the feeling of hitting the ball, yet in time far too many golfers become tense and miserable if they aren’t hitting it perfectly every time.
The biggest secret to better golf is to love golf unconditionally. Vow that any day out golfing is a great day regardless of the results, and you will usually get the results you desire.
