Golf courses are opening up now after the two-month global shut down, offering golfers a welcome outlet after the mandated layoff. Here in western North Carolina, the golf courses remained open using the new social distancing guidelines that permit outdoor recreation. Because of the nature of the game, our sport lends itself easily to social distancing without any physical interaction among the players or golf staff.

It is common now to see four golf carts in tandem on the cart paths, enforcing the “one golfer per cart” policy, where only two carts were allowed before. Golf is probably the most social distancing you can get in any sport.

Old structures are falling away to make room for a new way of life. The self-quarantine was an opportunity for reflection while you were not able to play golf. I was pleased to see how many ordered the PMI self-hypnosis CDs to program their subconscious minds for what they do desire when they get back to the course. www.pmi4.com/cart

Flexibility

It is necessary to be physically flexible to be able to hit the ball further. It is also necessary to be mentally flexible in your thinking to be able to cope with unexpected situations and results.

Golf is a game with lots of ups and downs. Every shot and every moment of your life is a new experience. For full enjoyment and success, you must be flexible and open to allow the release of any attachment to the outcome.

Your physical world is a direct reflection of your emotions and thoughts. Most golfers are their own worst judge and jury. To change your undesired outcomes, you must be flexible enough to change your thoughts and attitudes into positive, empowering ones. Reconnect with your true powerful self, not the one you believe you “should” be.

New Covid-19 Guidelines

We were just learning about the new global World Handicap System (WHS) rules for handicapping instituted on January 6^th, when the Covid-19 virus surfaced and caused the world to shut down. The USGA has put together a new set of guidelines, “Rules and Handicapping Guidance During the COVID-19 Era” https://cutt.ly/zyxHqa5  Additional guidance is provided at “Covid-19 Rules and Handicapping FAQs” https://cutt.ly/iyxHvQO

Golf is a sport where rules are of major importance and golfers obey them for the good of the game. For the protection of everyone, the new Covid-19 rules include the closure of areas such as clubhouses, driving ranges, putting greens and locker rooms. Flagsticks are not to be touched. Ball washers, trash bins and rakes were removed along with on-course scorecards, pencils, etc. All practice balls and carts are sanitized after each use. To enforce social distancing tee times are staggered 15 to 20 minutes apart instead of the usual 10 minutes, and players are asked to arrive no more than 20 minutes before their tee time.

The biggest change relates to the modification of the hole, and not requiring the player to “hole out” as required under the Rules of Golf. The liner to the hole is either raised above the putting surface, or objects are put into the hole so the ball can be more easily removed. When your ball hits the hole, it is now deemed to have been holed out. Because of this new rule, expect that your handicap will drop!

PGA Tour Return

The PGA Tour is scheduled to become the first professional sport to return to action. With the major championships and the Olympics being either postponed or canceled, the schedule opened up three weeks of flexibility. The Tour took advantage of the opportunity and moved the restart of their season from May 18 to June 11. The pros will be able to resume their careers at the first rescheduled tournament, The Charles Schwab Challenge at the Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth, Texas, June 11-14^th.  It is planned that the first four Tour events will be closed to the general public to ensure the health and well-being of all involved.

Get a New Outlook

• Your circumstances have shifted giving you the opportunity to find ways of expanding your imagination and rekindling your creativity.
• Do not wait for outer circumstances to shift to assist you. Write down problem areas and use your downtime as an opportunity to research articles on the internet for options. Monthly archived newsletters from 1999-2020 covering all aspects of mental golf are available at http://www.positivementalimagery.com/news_letters/index.php
• Slow down. Let go of all old scripts that cause negative thinking and emotions to surface. Allow your deeper feelings of love of the game to create space for enjoyment. Allow the light of your soul to rekindle your imagination and stimulate your creativity.
• Use your imagination/visioning power and put it to work for you preparing your mind for the future golf successes you desire. Do this every day, especially when you are falling asleep at night, or awakening in the morning.
• When there aren’t any projects or social engagements to take up your time, use the space to practice inner peace and calm. Meditation, or just sitting quietly and watching your breathing for 10-15 minutes will bring you into focusing in the moment of now where there is only peace.
• This is your opportunity to take a determined stand to create your new reality with every moment.
• This is your time! —use it wisely and envision the success and enjoyment you desire.
• Be prepared to receive it!

Play “in the zone” with Joan

Entrain Your Heart & Mind for Peak Performances 

To train your brain to play your best golf, listen to Positive Mental Imagery self-hypnosis guided imagery CDs in the privacy of your own home, available at www.pmi4.com/cart

If you aren’t able to maintain trust and belief in yourself on the golf course, email Joan at pmi4@bellsouth.net or call 828.696.2547 for a complimentary 15-minute phone consultation about developing a new strategy. Learn what is missing in your golf game so you can achieve the success you desire.

“THE HEART OF GOLF, Access Your Supreme Intelligence for Peak Performances”  explores and explains negative emotions such as fear and performance anxiety, the four Cs of mind blockage, the four progressive stages of learning the supreme intelligence of the heart, and the way to access the zone in competition. It is a player’s guide for developing your true inner self by returning to the joy and love of self instead of seeking praise and rewards from the outside world.

This guidebook for transforming your life and golf game is available now on Amazon:

https://cutt.ly/6yxTywN

All royalties will be donated to Junior Golf!

Breathing is the most important physiological function of your body. You can live 40 days without food, ten days without water, but only five to ten minutes without oxygen.

The whole world is shut down now because of the fear of spreading the contagious Coronavirus respiratory illness from person to person. Fortunately for us in the Carolinas, our golf courses and forests are still operational so we can get outside and breathe in the life enhancing natural oxygen produced by the trees. With the focus on our lungs now, it is important to remember why breathing is so important for our golf success as well as our health. 

Don’t forget to breathe

The way you breathe can directly affect your emotional state. When we are frustrated or angry, most people breathe in, tense their bodies and hold their breath. Most golfers say that they hold their breath when they are hitting the golf ball. Holding your breath causes more tension, which inhibits your smooth swing motion. When you hold your breath, you hold the carbon dioxide waste product in your cells, in your blood and in your lungs. Ventilators are in demand now because they keep oxygen moving into the lungs, brain, heart and kidneys to give the lungs a chance to fight off the virus infection.

Under stress you breathe high in your chest, which means that only half of the capacity of the lungs is being used. When you use the entire lung capacity, fresh oxygen is coming in to fill it all up. The brain is then more fully oxygenated.

Your breathing is a good indicator of your feelings and thinking patterns. Proper breathing can relieve stress-related symptoms such as performance anxiety. It is important to keep your breathing even for consistent golf.

The secret to healthy breathing is in the abdomen

If you watch a sleeping baby breathe, or watch someone who is sleeping, you will see this relaxed, natural breathing as the stomach protrudes on the inhale and falls on the exhale. We have been taught to relieve tension by sucking in our stomachs, taking in a big breath and letting our chest and shoulders rise as we stand tall. This creates tension and tightness in your chest and shoulder muscles. In golf we need to have these muscles relaxed so we can make a full shoulder turn to set up the torque for maximum club acceleration.

Less tension creates greater clubhead speed. Greater clubhead speed creates more distance.

Deep breathing is the key to relaxation. The more you relax, the better you feel. The more you relax, the better you play. The more you relax, the easier it is to focus. And the more you relax, the more powerful your mind is.

My personal preference to relax before hitting any shot on the golf course is to take in three deep breaths (through the abdomen) during my preshot routine. I take in one deep conscious breath each to calm and focus my mind, body and spirit.

Here are four important reasons for using deep breathing on the golf course:

• Breathing deeply relaxes your muscles.
• Breathing deeply clears and focuses your mind.
• You will have more energy and less fatigue.
• Breathing deeply keeps your arousal level constant.

Pay attention to how you breathe. If your abdominal area is not filling up with air, you are not breathing the most efficient way for your mental, emotional, and physical health. By breathing naturally, your heart will beat slower and your entire body will relax. As you relax your body, your busy conscious mind will begin to relax and let go of worrisome thinking. Your focus on what you are doing will become easier and sharper. Now while you are quarantined at home, take advantage of the free time to practice removing your tensions by sitting alone in the quiet, breathing deeply and allowing any fear or anxiety to drain out of your body.  Enjoy breathing and being alive.

Be well. Follow the health guidelines. Be safe. Just be.

Play “in the zone” with Joan

Entrain Your Heart & Mind for Peak Performances 

Use your quarantined time to train your brain to play your best golf, by listening to Positive Mental Imagery self-hypnosis guided imagery CDs in the privacy of your own home. Available at www.pmi4.com/cart

If you aren’t able to maintain trust and belief in yourself on the golf course, email Joan at pmi4@bellsouth.net or call 828.696.2547 for a complimentary 15-minute phone consultation about developing a new strategy. Learn what is missing in your golf game so you can achieve the success you desire.

“THE HEART OF GOLF, Access Your Supreme Intelligence for Peak Performances” explores and explains negative emotions such as fear and performance anxiety, the four Cs of mind blockage, the four progressive stages of learning the supreme intelligence of the heart, and the way to access the zone in competition. It is a player’s guide for developing your true inner self by returning to the joy and love of self instead of seeking praise and rewards from the outside world. 

“THE HEART OF GOLF” guidebook for transforming your life and golf game is available now on Amazon and Kindle at https://amzn.to/2MQzjfq

All royalties will be donated to Junior Golf!

Golf courses are in the process of returning slowly to their summer conditions. Take a hint from nature and plan the return to your golf game by creating it one step at a time to develop your confidence.

It is important to participate in a spring training program before returning to the golf course after a lay-off. On the first warm, sunny day, golfers are in a hurry to get out and play. They invite frustration because they don’t take the time to prepare themselves mentally, emotionally and physically.

When you resume playing in the spring, do you expect to continue scoring the same way you did last summer? Or, do you expect to play poorly because you haven’t played in several months? Either way, you have mental and emotional distractions to correct before you tee off. Here are some reminders for building a strong golf game before you get to the golf course this spring.

Physical Conditioning

Sitting in front of the fire watching golf on TV is not the best conditioning for springtime golf. If you haven’t swung a club in months, your physical body is not in the same condition it was before your break from the game. It is time now to strengthen the muscles that you will be using.

Stretching for Flexibility

The place to begin is by stretching out those dormant muscles. Before you hit any balls, stretch out your neck, back, arms, legs and core. This will go a long way toward preventing an injury to your body. Stretch slowly to warm up your muscles to prevent pulls and strains. Hold each stretch for 30 seconds. Put together a routine that you can use before and after playing.

Fundamentals

Every sport is the same. When you have not participated in a while, it is necessary to refresh your mind and body by reviewing the basics. In order to be successful at golf, you need to have good fundamentals. These include the grip, posture, stance, ball position, alignment, and pre-shot routine. Review your basic mechanics and reacquaint your golf muscles before going to the range to hit full shots. Good posture will allow you to swing your arms freely and your feet and ankles to be active and provide good balance. When you have good posture, it will be easier to have a proper swing plane.

Mental Rehearsal  

Mental rehearsal or imagery is where your inner mind uses all your senses to create the event that you desire. The first ingredient to become more consistent in your golf game is perfect practice. Practice doesn’t make perfect, only perfect practice does. The best place to practice is in your imagination, mentally rehearsing perfection repeatedly, creating a habit. When you have mentally rehearsed doing something, it is already done except for the physical execution. 

Develop a Consistent Pre-shot Routine 

The whole point of learning a pre-shot routine is to make golf a reaction game so you don’t have to think when you are over the ball. Develop your own personal routine on paper and practice it indoors until it becomes habitual. A pre-shot routine prepares you to LET GO of thinking and to put your swing automatically into motion. A consistent pre-shot routine will produce consistent results on the golf course.

Believe in your putting ability

Putting is the last stop at the train station. Putting can be up to 40% of your score.  Once you miss a putt, it must be counted in your score. On the way to the green there are numerous options to recover from missed shots, but none from a missed putt. Golfers’ nerves show up in their putting sooner than in other strokes. Now is the time to practice developing confidence in your ability to be a great putter so you don’t put pressure on your full shots to get the ball closer to the hole. Listening repeatedly to the PMI CD “Confident Putting for Lower Scores” (www.pmi4.com/cart) and rehearsing the feel and rhythm of your putting stroke indoors will prepare you for your return to the golf course.

On the Practice Range

Don’t be in a hurry to hit a few balls and then rush to the course to play. Your mind and body are not in the same place they were last summer. Begin with wedge shots to access your tempo. Your golf muscles need to be activated slowly. Hit at 75% or less speed, working up to the longer clubs gradually. Hit to different targets for feedback. Go through your pre-shot routine on every shot to prepare your mind.

The Mental Game

Without mental preparation, the first day on the golf course could turn from joyous anticipation to frustration very quickly. Winners win in advance. They know how to direct their thoughts.

To have a consistently strong mental game means you need to prepare your thoughts and strategy long before you get to the golf course. Spring is a good time to look at your strategy so it will carry a good consistent mental game throughout the summer. Your spring training sessions could include:

Release expectations

Lower your expectations. Do not expect to play as you did at the end of last summer. Let go of all scoring expectations for the first few times you play and just enjoy being outdoors with friends. Realize that it will take time to regain your confidence and concentration. By letting go of expectations you will not have to deal with emotions of anxiety, frustration, embarrassment, etc. Making progress is the plan.

Breathe deeply

Breathe deeply before every shot to relax your mind and body. Remember to take a deep breath before every shot for focus in the present. Instead of trying to block out a distracting thought, move your attention to your breath. This will focus your attention away from the thought. When you are relaxed, begin your pre-shot routine. 

Have fun

You have been waiting all winter for this day. Don’t spoil it by putting pressure on yourself by having unrealistic expectations. Enjoy each good shot and let go of the mishits. Enjoy all aspects of the golf course. Play from your heart and have fun playing the game of getting the ball into the hole in the fewest possible strokes. Be patient and wait for the low scores to happen.

Play “in the zone” with Joan

Entrain Your Heart & Mind for Peak Performances

To train your brain to play your best golf, listen to Positive Mental Imagery self-hypnosis guided imagery CDs in the privacy of your own home, available at www.pmi4.com/cart

If you aren’t able to maintain trust and belief in yourself on the golf course, email Joan at pmi4@bellsouth.net or call 828.696.2547 for a complimentary 15-minute phone consultation about developing a new strategy.

“THE HEART OF GOLF, Access Your Supreme Intelligence for Peak Performances” explores and explains negative emotions such as fear and performance anxiety, the four Cs of mind blockage, the four progressive stages of learning the supreme intelligence of the heart, and the way to access the zone in competition. It is a player’s guide for developing your true inner self by returning to the joy and love of self instead of seeking praise and rewards from the outside world. 

“THE HEART OF GOLF” is a guidebook for transforming your life and golf game.

Available now on Amazon and Kindle

https://amzn.to/2PRbqHB

All royalties will be donated to Junior Golf!

A Leap Year is a year where a day is added to the shortest month; February 29. Because of this extra day, this year will have 366 days instead of 365, one extra day to play golf. This extra day has to be added every four years to keep our Gregorian calendar (365 days) in alignment with the earth’s revolutions (365.25) around the sun.

February is a unique month in our calendar. Not only is it the shortest month, Valentine’s Day falls on the 14^th in the middle of the month. Valentine hearts remind us that love is the greatest emotion that brings us joy and excitement. This is a good time to remember why we love to play golf. A change of heart changes everything.

Here are some of the reasons my clients have told me why they love to play golf.

• Golf is a fun game to play.
• Golf is a game they can play by themselves or with others.
• Golf is a common social bond among all who play the game.
• Golf is a game played outdoors in the beauty of nature.
• Golf is a game that challenges them against the golf course and others.
• Golf is a game that moves them into an inner state of focus.
• Golf is played in a peaceful setting that relaxes them.
• Golf reinforces confidence in themselves and in their abilities.
• Golf teaches valuable life skills like patience, responsibility, self-love.
• Golf is a game of honor.
• Golf mirrors the game of life.
• Golf is a sport that can be played for life.
• Golf is the most difficult sport that keeps them playing for the perfect shot.
• Playing golf “in the zone” is the same feeling as when a person is “in love.” What can you add to this list? What do you love about playing golf?

HAPPY VALENTINE’S DAY! 

To play golf at your highest potential requires being in a state where you are balanced in your mental, physical, emotional and spiritual bodies. Everyone needs to seek their own Arousal Level where this happens. Golf is such a difficult game because this state must be maintained over a 4-5-hour period despite multiple inner and outer distractions. And in golf, every shot is counted. That means that every shot must be given your 100% intention and attention as if it is the only shot you will be hitting that day.

One of the ways we found to maintain this balance at tournaments, was using humor to voice how much we love the uniqueness and acknowledge the frustration of the game. After every round, we would get together and take turns telling golf jokes to relieve the tension created during the day.

Following are some humorous quotes that will remind you of why golf is such a mental game. Perhaps reading them will bring a smile to your face and change your state of being.

• If you can’t break 80 you’ve no business on a golf course.  If you can break 80 you probably have no business. – Jess Root
• There is no rush.  Swing as if you are working by the hour. – Harvey Penick
• If you think it’s hard to meet new people, try picking up the wrong golf ball. – Jack Lemmon
• Putts get real difficult the day they hand out the money. – Lee Trevino
• The reason a pro tells you to keep your head down is so you can’t see him laughing. – Phyllis Diller
• I know I am getting better at golf because I am hitting fewer spectators. – Gerald R. Ford
• Golf is played by twenty million mature American men whose wives think they ae out having fun. – Jim Bishop
• If you watch a game, it’s fun. If you play at it, it’s recreation. If you work at it, it’s golf.  — Bob Hope
• Show me a man who is a good loser, and I’ll show you a man who is playing golf with his boss. – James Murray
• Golf is a game in which you yell ‘fore’, shoot six, and write down five. – Paul Harvey
• Golf is the hardest game in the world to play, and the easiest to cheat at. – Dave Hill
• Don’t get mad at the club; it’s the same one you used to hit that great shot yesterday.  – Harvey Penick
• It’s good sportsmanship to not pick up lost golf balls while they are still rolling.
  — Mark Twain
• If your swing is grooved, you can hit the ball with a sack over your head. – Harvey Penick
• The reason they call it ‘golf’ is that all the other 4 letter words were used up.  — Leslie Nielsen
• The only thing a golfer needs is more daylight. — Ben Hogan
• It’s tough to play bad when you’re happy on the inside. – Jessica Korda, LPGA
• My number one rule for a friendly round of golf: Make sure my playing partners enjoy their game. I offer tips. I compliment good shots. It’s important to let people know you enjoy their game as well as yours. And then we go enjoy it a little more at the 19th hole. – Arnold Palmer
• Golf puts a man’s character on the anvil and his richest qualities—patience, poise, restraint—to the flame. –- Billy Casper
• I’ve heard people say putting is 50 percent technique and 50 percent mental. I really believe it is 50 percent technique and 90 percent positive thinking. See, but that adds up to 140 percent, which is why nobody is 100 percent sure how to putt. — Chi Chi Rodriquez
• Eighteen holes of match play will teach you more about your foe than 18 years of dealing with him across a desk. – Grantland Rice
• It is almost impossible to remember how tragic a place the world is when one is playing golf. –Robert Lynd
• If profanity had any influence on the flight of the ball, the game of golf would be played far better than it is. – Horace G. Hutchinson
• They say golf is like life, but don’t believe them. Golf is more complicated than that.
  –  Gardner Dickinson
• If a lot of people gripped a knife and fork as poorly as they do a golf club, they’d starve to death. – Sam Snead
• Golf is a day spent in a round of strenuous idleness. – William Wordsworth
• If you drink, don’t drive. Don’t even putt. – Dean Martin
• If you are going to throw a club, it is important to throw it ahead of you, down the fairway, so you don’t have to waste energy going back to pick it up. – Tommy Bolt
• Man blames fate for all other accidents but feels personally responsible when he makes a hole-in-one. – Bishop Sheen
• The ardent golfer would play Mount Everest if somebody would put a flagstick on top.
  – Pete Dye
• The only time my prayers are never answered is playing golf. – Billy Graham

Play “in the zone” with Joan

Entrain Your Heart & Mind for Peak Performances

To train your brain to play your best golf, listen to Positive Mental Imagery self-hypnosis guided imagery CDs in the privacy of your own home, available at www.pmi4.com/cart

If you aren’t able to maintain trust and belief in yourself on the golf course, email Joan at pmi4@bellsouth.net or call 828.696.2547 for a complimentary 15-minute phone consultation about developing a new strategy. Learn what is missing in your golf game so you can achieve the success you desire.

“THE HEART OF GOLF, Access Your Supreme Intelligence for Peak Performances” explores and explains negative emotions such as fear and performance anxiety, the four Cs of mind blockage, the four progressive stages of learning the supreme intelligence of the heart, and the way to access the zone in competition. It is a player’s guide for developing your true inner self by returning to the joy and love of self instead of seeking praise and rewards from the outside world.

“THE HEART OF GOLF” is a guidebook for transforming your life and golf game

Available now on Amazon and Kindle

https://amzn.to/2PRbqHB

All royalties will be donated to Junior Golf! 

When I began playing golf in 1958, changes in golfers’ handicaps were determined by our club pro so all members had an equal playing field.  He knew all the members’ playing abilities and was known to cut a handicap in the middle of a tournament if he thought their score wasn’t indicative of their handicap.

Times have changed since the advent of computers, and after decades of input, on Monday, January 6, 2020 the golf World Handicap System (WHS) will go into effect.

Currently over 15 million golfers in more than 80 countries have a handicap as an indicator of their potential skill level. The new modernized World Handicap System is designed to bring the game of golf under a single set of Rules for handicapping and provide a more consistent measure of players’ ability in the different golfing regions of the world.

The WHS system was formulated from consultations with the existing handicapping authorities around the world; Golf Australia, the Council of National Golf Unions in Great Britain and Ireland, the European Golf Association, the South African Golf Association, the Argentine Golf Association, the USGA, the Japan Golf Association and Golf Canada.

The World Handicap System has been created to ostensibly allow golfers of different abilities to compete fairly in any format, on any course, anywhere in the world. The new system focuses on three key goals:

1. To encourage as many golfers as possible to obtain and maintain a Handicap Index.
2. To enable golfers of differing abilities, genders and nationalities to transport their Handicap index to any course around the world and compete on a fair basis.
3. To indicate with sufficient accuracy the score a golfer is reasonably capable of achieving on any course around the world, playing under normal conditions.

For your information, here are the changes that will go into effect next Monday.

• The new WHS system will be based more on your good scores by averaging your eight (8) best scores out of your most recent 20 scores. This is a change from the old system that used 10 out of 20 scores. Even though you may not be playing golf now your handicap can change up to one stroke.
• For beginners the maximum allowable Handicap Index has been raised to 54.0 for both men and women. By moving the handicap maximum up, the USGA is encouraging more golfers to obtain a handicap so they can measure their progress and enjoy the game with their friends.
• With the new system, handicaps will be revised daily instead of twice a month. The Handicap Index will be revised the night of a score posted and a new Handicap Index will be available the following day. For the system to work accurately, scores need to be posted as soon as possible after the completion of your round, and before midnight on the day of play.
• The new WHS will not calculate or display 9-hole Handicap Indexes. All golfers in the system will have an 18-hole Handicap Index. One-half of an 18-hole index should be used when calculating a 9-hole Course Handicap. However, all 9-hole scores played are to be posted and held in the system until combined with a second nine-hole score to make up a combined 18-hole score.
• A new feature included in your Handicap Index is called the Playing Conditions Calculation (PCC) which determines whether the playing conditions on the day you played differ from normal conditions so that an adjustment is needed to compensate.  It is calculated each day at midnight for each golf course.
• A new term, Low Handicap Index will be included within the Rules of Handicapping and will be made visible to you. It is established when you have at least 20 acceptable scores. The Low Handicap Index is the lowest Handicap Index value that you have had in the last 24 revisions/12 months. This value will serve as the baseline for the soft cap and hard cap procedures which will limit extreme increases or decreases of your Handicap Index.  A soft cap is applied to reduce the value of any increase over 3 strokes by 50%. A hard cap is applied when a player has reached a maximum of 5 strokes above their Low Handicap Index. When special circumstances exist, such as injury, the Handicap Committee will have the ability to override the soft cap or hard cap.
• Another safeguard is the Exceptional Score Reduction (ESR).If a player shoots an exceptional score, their handicap will be automatically adjusted one or two strokes depending on their score according to the adjustment table. The ESR replaces the old system of Reduced Handicaps (R) and Tournament Scores (T).
• The Equitable Stroke Control (ESC) is no longer in effect. Everyone will calculate their maximum hole score in the same way. Your maximum hole score is calculated by adding the par of the hole + 2 strokes (double bogey) + your handicap strokes on that hole.

USGA Executive Director/CEO Mike Davis said, “One wonderful aspect of golf that separates it from other sports is the opportunity for players of differing abilities to play on an equitable basis through handicapping. With one global system, golf courses will be rated and handicaps calculated in a consistent manner everywhere in the world. Removing borders to provide an easy way for all to play together is great for the game and golfers everywhere.”

For further clarification on the new WHS system link on to https://www.usga.org/handicapping.html

Play “in the zone” with Joan

Entrain Your Heart & Mind for Peak Performances

© PositiveMentalImagery 2020 – All Rights Reserved

The month of December signals the end of the year and forecasts the beginning of a new year. As this year winds down, it is an opportunity to look back and reflect on the successes you have had, the missed opportunities, and the life-long memories you created on the golf course.

It’s a good time to ask yourself if your mental golf toolbox has all the tools it needs to play at your peak performance level next season. It is a good time to ask yourself some questions that will empower you to ensure that the next year is even more fun and rewarding than the past year.

Golf is an inner game. Get to know yourself better to improve your performances. Develop a mindset to become a better player by differentiating your mental game from your peers.
Here are some mental, emotional and spiritual attitude tools to bring you into balance for a more rewarding life and more successful golf games.

• Be aware. Thoughts, words and deeds are the tools of creation. Every act you perform is an act of self-definition. It is important that you use your full awareness to speak and act consciously from your own experience instead of just repeating what you have heard from others.
• Focus on what you desire, and not on what you don’t want. Staying in the present state of flow is all about focus. Choose the results you want. Have complete trust that it will happen. The degree of your trust will be the degree that the results will happen.
• Put yourself at the head of your gift list. Be kind to yourself. Think, talk, PLAY golf, and live your life the way you would like it to be. Play for your own enjoyment, not to please others.
• Turn frustration into a smile. Smile through adversity. When you are frustrated in traffic, at the shopping mall, or on the golf course, acknowledge the emotion as an opportunity to change. Smile inwardly to change your physiology and send lightness into your heart and the world instead of darkness.
• Turn worry into action. No one has ever accomplished anything by worrying about it. When you begin to fret about something in your golf game, let go of your attachment to the outcome. Formulate a plan and execute it. Affirm what it is you want to manifest NOW. For example, instead of worrying about HOW to hit the ball on the first tee, formulate a plan to relax, and then focus on your tempo and target.
• Be grateful. By being grateful for the things you do have in your life, you create a positive attitude and send positive energy into your mind and body, and out into the world.
• Forgive yourself for your mistakes. Understand that making mistakes is the best and fastest way to learn and grow. Forgive (give for) yourself for being human and give yourself the gift of letting go of blame and guilt. Return to a peaceful and harmonious state of mind.
• Make your self-talk positive. Monitor your thoughts. Change the words “if only” to “next time.” Stay in the present by changing fear thoughts from the past, and anxious thoughts of the future, to thoughts of what you desire to happen in your life right now.
• Make happiness a habit. Look for the “good” in all situations. Have faith in the perfection of your life experiences. Believe that you do not always know what is best for you. Acknowledge that on another level you are creating every situation for your learning experience.
• Use your sense of humor. Children laugh 500 times a day and adults only around 50 times. When you laugh your body produces endorphins to make you feel good. Humor can take the tenseness out of a situation. Perhaps that is why there are so many jokes about the game of golf. Humor builds self-esteem if you can laugh at your humanness.
• Maintain your composure. Golf will always challenge your self-control. Accept your circumstances and LET GO of reacting, defending, explaining, becoming fearful or anxious. When you let go of control, you have more control. Breathe deeply to center yourself back into emotional balance.
• Accept your circumstances. Acceptance is surrendering to what is; your feelings, your problems, your relationships, your golf game. Before you can change what is, recognize that this is the way it is right now. Resist the struggle. Accepting the situation brings a peace to your soul. It releases the pressure and brings relief. When you relax, you change your heartbeat, physiology and energy pattern. Then you are better able to see what to do next.
• Do random acts of kindness. Fill in a divot, fix a ball mark, return a shopping cart, or pick up trash. You will not only feel better, you will be helping the environment and creating good will.

When you develop a mindset for these types of self-awareness, looking both at the past year and anticipating the new one, it can provide the stimulus for action that is focused, committed and effective in helping you fully enjoy the wonderful adventure of your golf game and your life.

Let the brightness of the holiday season shine in your life,
bringing you peace, harmony and love for yourself and all that you do.

Additional tools to put into your mental golf toolbox:

Improve your golf game over the winter by listening to PMI self-hypnosis CDs in the privacy of your own home, available at www.pmi4.com/cart

“THE HEART OF GOLF, Access Your Supreme Intelligence for Peak Performances” explores and explains negative emotions such as fear and performance anxiety, the four Cs of mind blockage, the four progressive stages of learning the supreme intelligence of the heart, and the way to access the zone in competition. It is a player’s guide for developing your true inner self by returning to the joy and love of self instead of seeking praise and rewards from the outside world.

“THE HEART OF GOLF” guidebook for transforming your life and golf game is available now on Amazon and Kindle at https://amzn.to/2MQzjfq  All royalties will be donated to Junior Golf!

How many times have you chosen a certain golf club and the ball falls short into the greenside bunker even though you felt you had hit a perfect shot? Did you then say to yourself; “I knew that I needed to take one more club.” This was when you heard the quiet little voice inside telling you to take more club, but your logic and reasoning somehow overrode it. The quiet voice was the voice of your intuition.

Intuition is a feeling that comes from your heart when “you know” the answer without conscious reasoning. It’s the sudden alignment of neuronal pathways. And don’t discount what you feel or sense in your gut. Intuition is when you are guided by a “feeling” instead of “facts.” Our intuition works closely with the (feeling) right hemisphere of the brain. You are gifted with an ability to sense/feel what comes before the conscious mind.

You were born with intuition. You don’t have to think about how you know, you just know. It is estimated that 90 percent of people over think their decisions. Think of what that means for all the decisions you make during a round of golf. Using your intuition can keep you from making all kinds of mental errors.

Trusting your intuition is one of the most important things you can do while playing the game of golf.

Now that most of us are playing golf in our “off season,” this is a good time to practice using your intuition when it doesn’t matter as much. The easiest time to practice would be when you are playing on your own in a non-competitive situation.

When your logical mind figures the distance, target, wind conditions, etc. and decides which club is the correct one, and your little voice (subconscious) is saying to take a different one, trust your intuition. It is imperative that you believe and trust your intuition, or you will sabotage the shot.

Steps to acknowledging intuition 

1. Be open to believe and receive in the first free sense/feeling.
2. Trust your feeling/sensing of knowing as it is your wisdom and truth.
3. Believe that your intuition is your highest intelligence.
4. Let go of reason, judgment and logic – just trust the feeling.
5. Breathe to become relaxed and less stressed.
6. Learn the difference between self-talk thoughts and intuition.
7. Practice the skill of listening to your intuition.

Something isn’t right 

In your preshot routine if you sense that the little voice in your head, or your gut, is telling you that something isn’t right, it is important that you listen to it, stop your routine, and begin again. Trust that your intuition has sensed that something isn’t right and is sending you a message.

Play “in the zone” with Joan

Entrain Your Heart & Mind for Peak Performances

To train your brain to play your best golf, listen to Positive Mental Imagery self-hypnosis guided imagery CDs in the privacy of your own home, available at www.pmi4.com/cart

If you aren’t able to maintain trust and belief in yourself on the golf course, email Joan at pmi4@bellsouth.net or call 828.696.2547 for a complimentary 15-minute phone consultation about developing a new strategy. Learn what is missing in your golf game so you can achieve the success you desire. 

“THE HEART OF GOLF, Access Your Supreme Intelligence for Peak Performances” explores and explains negative emotions such as fear and performance anxiety, the four Cs of mind blockage, the four progressive stages of learning the supreme intelligence of the heart, and the way to access the zone in competition. It is a player’s guide for developing your true inner self by returning to the joy and love of self instead of seeking praise and rewards from the outside world.

“THE HEART OF GOLF” guide book for transforming your life and golf game

is available now on Amazon and Kindle at https://amzn.to/2MQzjfq

All royalties will be donated to Junior Golf!

Visualization or mental rehearsal is the easiest way to increase your physical golf abilities. Your unconscious mind does not differentiate real from unreal. As you imagine your golf swing, your neurons fire in exactly the same patterns they would follow if you were actually swinging the golf club.  As you see the pictures in your mind, your subconscious is convinced that the desired feat is possible. When you experience the complete success of your movement, you also feel the accompanying pleasure, which is then your cue for retrieving this information from your unconscious mind.

The only place you can practice perfectly is in your mind. When you see yourself swinging the club smoothly, easily and effortlessly (in your unconscious mind), there is no need for the inner critic (your conscious mind) that judges your actions, your reactions, and you. Mentally rehearsing at an inner mind-level gives you that added edge; the winning edge. As you center your thoughts on what you want, you automatically center your actions.

Your subconscious mind is like a computer. A computer can only operate with the programming that is put into it.  It has no choice. It has to operate on that programming.  If you tell yourself “You are so stupid!” when you miss a two-foot putt, your conscious mind is criticizing your performance and sending a powerful message of programming to be recorded into your subconscious mind. In the future, when you have a two-footer, your subconscious will bring up that program to feel the emotion of being stupid, and missing the putt.

We do not directly react to the world around us. We first create a map, which is our perception of our world. Change your “map” (your perception), and you change your reaction. The map in your mind is composed of pictures, sounds and feelings. Every human being uses one or more of these modes of sensing to create his world. You can make your golf game and your world anything you want it to be, easily and quickly.

All thought originates in the mind. Whatever you do, keep your mind focused on the positive. Hold positive thoughts and images, and believe them. Do not focus on getting rid of a problem, but on creating the positive elements that will give you the results you want. Forget the negative. Don’t even acknowledge its existence. It doesn’t exist in the present. Only give your attention to what you want in your golf game. And that of course, is only the positive.

Using your creativity through imagination is a holistic way to integrate your mental, physical and spiritual bodies for the creation of peak performances. Through positive suggestions and imagery that focus on the areas that need change or improvement, a golfer can put the competitive spirit into proper perspective and develop a new empowering attitude towards him/herself and the game.

Self-hypnosis or being in “the zone” is a natural state of life.  During a normal waking day we go in and out of a trance-like state many times.  Some of the natural states of trance we encounter are: highway trance, electronic trance (TV, cell phone, computer), movie trance, reading trance, eating trance, doing two things at the same time, watching the sunset or ocean, daydreaming, boredom, or looking at a holographic picture.

The naturalness of being in the “flow state” is apparent in the “runners high” of the marathon runner, the “tiger’s eye” of the boxer, and the “Zone State” of other athletes when they are performing at their optimum performance levels.

Being in the “Zone State” on the golf course is when you have let go of all the restrictions imposed by conscious irrelevant thoughts and you have created the reality that you want to happen.  It is when your brain and body are in such harmony before you swing that they act as one, and the swing occurs without effort or thought.

The best time to practice your golf game perfectly is at night when you are drifting off to sleep, or in the morning when you are just coming out of the sleep state. Your conscious mind is relaxed and allows your unconscious to create what you want using your imagination. Or during the day, find a place where you can be alone and quiet. Spend 10-15 minutes a few times a week where you won’t be distracted, relaxing by breathing deeply. Mentally rehearse your swing and what you want to happen during your upcoming round. Scientists have found that visualizing while in this Alpha State can improve your swing because your mind is actually programming your muscles. When you arrive at the golf course, you will find that your mind is clearer, your visualizations are sharper and your concentration and focus is easier.

You are what you think you are. You become what you see yourself becoming. Imagine that it has already happened.

Play “in the zone” with Joan

Entrain Your Heart & Mind for Peak Performances

To train your brain to play your best golf, listen to Positive Mental Imagery self-hypnosis guided imagery CDs in the privacy of your own home; available at www.pmi4.com/cart

If you aren’t able to maintain trust and belief in yourself on the golf course, email Joan at pmi4@bellsouth.net or call 828.696.2547 for a complimentary 15-minute phone consultation about developing a new strategy. Learn what is missing in your golf game so you can achieve the success you desire.

“THE HEART OF GOLF, Access Your Supreme Intelligence for Peak Performances” explores and explains negative emotions such as fear and performance anxiety, the four Cs of mind blockage, the four progressive stages of learning the supreme intelligence of the heart, and the way to access the zone in competition. It is a player’s guide for developing your true inner self by returning to the joy and love of self instead of seeking praise and rewards from the outside world.

“THE HEART OF GOLF” guide book for transforming

your life and your golf game

is available now on Amazon and Kindle

https://amzn.to/2MQzjfq

All royalties will be donated to Junior Golf!