If you think it, will it happen?

Posted on June 25th, 2009 by donwedderspoon

Golf Shot Memories – Use Them Wisely Or They Will Ruin Your Card Without You Realising It

By Mark H Wright

What you think about you program into your mind, remember that next time you are recalling poor performance. If you are thinking about the last time you had a shank, or putted 10ft past the hole and ended up 3 putting or sliced it out of bounds off the T, don’t be surprised if you repeat that poor performance. If you are thinking it, it has a really strong chance of happening again and that’s because your unconscious is taking note of the images you are making, even if you are not consciously aware of it.

Your mind works in images and even if you are someone who thinks they cannot visualise let me assure you that your mind still works in images. I have worked with plenty of people who said they cannot visualise and within five minutes we have them visualising like anyone else. Think about making a drink and take note of the images that come to mind. What is a word? It’s just a way of communicating your thoughts and images to another person.

Making images is just like giving instructions to your unconscious mind to get it to perform a task for you. That’s why if you’re thinking about something you don’t want, like slicing it out of bounds, your unconscious will “see” the images of the ball going OB and then repeat it for real when you swing. It does not differentiate between what you want and what you don’t want because the image is pretty much the same.

In order to tell yourself NOT to slice your ball out of bounds, you have to first make an image of the ball going out of bounds and that’s when the negative image is in essence “programmed” in to your system. Of course your mind does not perceive the image as negative or positive it simply reacts to the image you have made. Have you ever done something and then said something like, “I knew I was going to do that!” You thought it and your mind/body gave it to you. You “knew” you were going to do it because you recall making the image of it happening first.

So thinking about bad shots you’ve had on the golf course in the past is a really bad idea and these negative memories could be costing you tons of shots and feelings of negativity that knock hell out of your confidence which compounds the problem even further.

Your unconscious mind is listening to your thoughts and watching the images in your mind and every time you recall a negative past performance you are reinforcing it.

Now I am not going to say that you must learn never to think about bad past performances because that’s pretty unrealistic and although it would be nice it is not the way the human mind works, for good reason. If you could never remember something you did which was bad, you would be doomed to repeat it. Recalling past negative events is the human system’s way of learning and avoiding possible threats in the future.

Unfortunately this does not help us when it comes to thinking about the last time we knocked it in the water on a certain hole, when really we have no need to recall that event as it does not threaten our very existence, and if you think it does then I suggest you either quit golf or get serious help fast.

Here’s some advice on how to start helping yourself. Thank your mind for bringing a potential hazard to your attention after all it’s just trying to warn you of a potentially negative event, by doing it’s job, advising you to “watch out!” As soon as you are done thanking it for the warning, say “cancel” or “scratch that” to the negative thought (or something similar) and then immediately begin to strongly think about what the perfect shot would be.

• How would it look if you hit a great shot? What would you see?

• What would it sound like? The sound of the club through the air and the strike of the club on ball. You can even imagine the sounds of people congratulating you on a great shot.

• What will it feel like? What will the swing feel like when you make this great shot? (Rehearse the swing several times) What will it feel like emotionally when you make this shot with confidence and the ball does what you want?

Try to get all three senses of See, Hear and Feel in your positive imaginations and just keep focussing on” what you want” to happen. Don’t try to block out negative thoughts as this will probably just have you inadvertently thinking about them. You must learn to focus on what you want with increasing intensiveness which will then naturally start excluding negative thoughts.

The more you work on positive focus the better you will get at it so don’t worry if you are not Tiger Woods straight away and just keep doing it. The stronger you get at it the more your game will start to improve, perhaps dramatically but it will require that you consciously and consistently practice the principals if you want the great results it offers.

Wishing you FIR’s, GIR’s & Blue Skies.

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