“Don’t Forget to Breathe* 

Most golfers say that they do hold their breath when they are swinging. Pay attention to how you breathe. Holding your breath causes more tension, which inhibits your smooth motion.

Less tension creates faster club head speed. Increased club head speed means more distance.

If you are someone who works out, you know that to lift weights easier, you breathe out for extra energy as you lift the weight, and breathe in as you lower the weight. In any athletic performance involving resistance, breathing out through the hardest part of the effort allows you to perform it easier and better.

Watch tennis players who take a deep breath before they serve, basketball players before shooting a free throw, and baseball pitchers who do the same to relax.

Just as tennis players and weight lifters audibly grunt as they exhale, you can get more distance on your drives by exhaling through your downswing.

If your abdominal area is not filling up with air when you inhale, you are not breathing the most efficient way for your mental, emotional, and physical coordination and health.

Under stress you breathe high in your chest, which means that only half of the capacity of the lungs is being used. The air is only moving out from the top half of the lungs. Fresh oxygen is coming in to fill it all up when you use the entire lungs. The brain is then more fully oxygenated. This requires proper movement of the diaphragm downward.

In natural breathing the abdomen moves outward (not in) when inhaling and moves down toward the spine when exhaling. The chest remains still. When that happens, the air in the abdomen is forced out of the way by coming forward. When you breathe this way you are taking full advantage of your lung capacity. You will have more energy and less fatigue. You will be more focused, your memory will be enhanced, and your muscular tension will be reduced.

When we breathe in we inhale oxygen and we breathe out carbon dioxide, which is a waste product of cellular respiration during the production of energy. The golf course is a wonderful place to energize your body as the trees take in your carbon dioxide waste and give off life-enhancing oxygen for you to inhale.

*Excerpts are from Chapter 10: Deep Breathing; “THE HEART OF GOLF, Access Your Supreme Intelligence for Peak Performances”

Now available on www.createspace.com/6307102 and www.amazon.com

                                   All royalties will be donated to Junior Golf!

© PositiveMentalImagery 2017– All Rights Reserved

To build your confidence and 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 present focus 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.

Do you remember being distracted from your shot preparation, telling yourself that it won’t bother you, and then missing the shot or putt because you lost focus? And then afterward telling yourself you should have backed off and started again? It is important to learn how to deal with distractions that interfere with your concentration.

“Distractions such as noises on the golf course are commonplace. It happened to me today. The men were talking loudly on their tee while I was teeing off on the forward tee.

There is also the distraction of your inner voice that brings up thoughts that are irrelevant to your golf game. Before I developed a consistent preshot routine, I would stand over a putt and think about what I was going to prepare for dinner or some other equally unrelated thought.

Using a repeatable preshot routine is a good way to focus your attention. An excellent step to add to your preshot routine is the D-line. Looking down the fairway at your target, draw an imaginary line between you and your golf ball. This is your decision line.

All thought and decisions about the execution of the shot are to be made before you cross this line and address the ball. You must be absolutely certain of where and how you are going to hit the ball when you cross the D-line. If you are distracted at any time after crossing this line, go back and begin your preshot routine again to refocus your mind.

Keep a mental scorecard with a pass/fail system or a one through ten system (with ten being the best and one the worst) and record your level of preparedness for every shot. You might be surprised how many shots you hit without being mentally ready. Bobby Jones said, “The most perfect swing in the world needs direction, and plenty of it, and when it’s possessor begins to do a little mental daisy picking, something always goes wrong.” If you have difficulty concentrating over the ball, it may be due to one of the following reasons.

1. Mental fatigue can play a major role in losing concentration. Some of the signs of mental fatigue are impatience, increased frustration, disappointment with normal situations, less ability to visualize, and reduced motivation and enjoyment.

2. Players who are too involved with correcting, finding, or improving their swing need to become more focused by using their skills of visualization, awareness of the target, tempo, feel, and touch. Negative attitudes about yourself and the way that you see the golf course can put you into a state of anxiety.

3. If you are too tense physically and mentally, you may be too aware of things, such as perceived trouble and outside distractions. To perform optimally in your golf game and in your personal and professional lives, it is essential to be as relaxed as possible. Overstimulation results in stress and a decrease in the ability to concentrate and focus. People make more mistakes when they are tense and overstressed. Stress is like white noise that causes changes in our electrical system. On the golf course, use the relaxation technique of deep breathing to slow down your thinking process for greater concentration.”*

*Excerpts are from Chapter 15: Concentration; “THE HEART OF GOLF, Access Your Supreme Intelligence for Peak Performances”

Now available on www.createspace.com/6307102 and www.amazon.com

 All royalties will be donated to Junior Golf!

© PositiveMentalImagery 2017– All Rights Reserved

To build your confidence and 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 present focus 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.

“Others talking (maybe even in whispers) while I’m hitting a drive. Unfortunately, I experience this as a courteous dismissal of me, and it affects my self-confidence. Once, I said to them, ‘Mind if I golf while you talk?’  They laughed and became quiet, but the problem continued on other holes.”

Thank you, Terri, for your comment. Here are my thoughts about the “Chatty Cathy” personalities on the golf course.

Because mental golf is my business, I notice beliefs we have that sabotage our golf performances. I played with a gal who was bothered not by golfers talking, but by birds “talking” overhead when it was her turn to tee off. No one else in our group even noticed the noise they were making. Her primary sense to access her world was auditory, so she was more cognizant of the chattering birds than those of us who are more visual or feeling.

A social person likes to talk to an audience. I was on my way to the range to warm up before playing and started to walk past a friend who was telling a story to several friends. She became very irritated when I didn’t stop to listen to her. She said, “You can’t walk away from me!”

Just like you can’t make a slow player speed up, you won’t be able to make a sociable person stop talking. That is how they live their lives. For more information on the four basic DISC personalities, link on to the Positive Mental Imagery website, Archived Articles January through April 2004. Learn about your basic personality and how you can use your best traits on the golf course.

If someone’s behavior distracts or annoys you on the golf course, you have to take responsibility and stand up for yourself. I had a teenage client who was bothered by her opponent standing in her line and moving when she was putting. It was an obvious move of gamesmanship. I told her she would have to ask her opponent to move on all 18 holes. In this way, she took control and didn’t let the opponent’s behavior upset and distract her.

Patience is the key here. Golf is a social game and people in close proximity to each other like to talk. I always found that if I looked at the talkers and waited for them to finish their conversation, they would get the message and be quiet while I hit.

Everything that happens to us is a mirror of what is going on inside of us. The pre-shot routine is the answer to preparing your mind for shutting out negative thoughts and distractions.

If your pre-shot routine doesn’t put you entirely in the present, focused on preparing for your shot, look at the self-limiting belief you hold that is causing you to blame others and damage your self-confidence. Instruction for developing a consistent pre-shot routine can be found on the Positive Mental Imagery website on the Archived Newsletter February 2009 page.

Play “in the zone” with Joan

Entrain Your Heart & Mind for Peak Performances

To build your confidence and 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 present focus 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.

For instruction on accessing the mental tools to play at your peak performance level, “THE HEART OF GOLF, Access Your Supreme Intelligence for Peak Performances” is available on www.amazon.com and www.createspace.com/6307102. All royalties will be donated to Junior Golf. 

“The Yerkes-Dodson Law* 

The time-tested Yerkes-Dodson law developed by psychologists Robert M. Yerkes and J. D. Dodson in 1908 dictates that performance increases with physiological or mental arousal, but when the levels of arousal become too high, performance decreases. When a golfer gets too stressed out, the player might choke, as in the putting “yips.”

The Yerkes-Dodson law states that ‘the simpler the task, the higher the level of arousal required for success.’

The corollary to this law is that ‘the more complex the task, the lower the level of arousal required for success.’

On a scale of one (under aroused or not motivated) to ten (very tense or psyched up), professional golfers typically arrive at the first tee in the four to six range. Most amateurs, however, have an arousal level closer to the eight to ten range.

The balance between arousal levels and peak performance differs in different parts of the golf game. The optimum arousal level for driving and fairway metals and long irons on the one-to-ten scale is around a five or six—moderate arousal. As you get closer to the green, hitting wedges and putts, the optimum arousal level is closer to three or four—slight arousal.

What this law means is that the optimum level of arousal on a scale of one to ten for hitting your driver would be around the six level. This indicates it is a simpler task of swinging the driver with the large muscles of the body onto a twenty-five-yard fairway. When you are on the tee or hitting long irons or woods, you can be slightly more aroused than when you are playing scoring shots around the green. As you move closer to the green, your task becomes more complex as your target becomes smaller.

For less than full shots, such as wedge shots, putting and chipping, the optimum arousal is closer to the four level. Your optimum arousal level needs to be lower to successfully complete the more complex task of putting the ball into a four-and-a-quarter-inch hole because of the use of small motor skills, sharper visualization, precise rhythm, and increased focus.

Arousal Level Management 

Let’s look at a typical situation to get ready for a round of golf. You go to the range and hit a few balls, starting with your wedges up through your driver to establish your rhythm. You feel relaxed and moderately aroused at the five or six level.

At the first tee, you find that several things are happening that are causing you to become anxious. There is talk about handicaps, the game you are going to play, the wager, who will be partners, and perhaps other personal bits of conversation. As you think about these things consciously, your arousal level begins to rise.

If you are now above the six level, you will begin to notice signs of nervousness and your confidence waning. This is the time and place to take several deep breaths to relax your body and slow down your mind so you can focus on preparing to hit the first tee-ball.

After you have hit your drive, you will probably once again engage in excited conversation that will boost your arousal level above its optimum level. As you approach your second shot, it is important to slow down once again by taking deep breaths through your abdomen.

Approaching the green your task becomes more complex as your target becomes smaller. This requires a lower level of arousal around the four level for continued focus. Once again take several deep breaths until you are totally focused on being committed to your target, visualizing the shot, feeling the tempo of the swing, and trusting that the ball will go where you have pictured.”

*Excerpts are from Chapter 6: The Arousal Levels; “THE HEART OF GOLF, Access Your Supreme Intelligence for Peak Performances”

Now available on www.createspace.com/6307102 and www.amazon.com

 All royalties will be donated to Junior Golf!

© PositiveMentalImagery 2017– All Rights Reserved

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 a relaxed body and an alert mind 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 golf season is well underway with Pro-Ams and charity tournaments being held weekly. When you compete in these kinds of tournaments do you get nervous worrying about how you will play, how you will look to others in your group, and feel pressure to ‘play your part’ in the competition? When golfers are out of their comfort zone playing with expectations, they experience what is known as performance anxiety. It begins on the first tee.

“The First-Tee Jitters* 

Do you feel confident hitting balls on the range and then become anxious and lose your confidence on the first tee?

It is likely you prepare for your shots differently in the two places, but expect the same results. On the wide-open range, most golfers are not concerned with the mental discipline for scoring. Then on the golf course the score becomes the focus, and the wonderful tempo and relaxed swing are left on the range.

Performance anxiety begins on the first tee when every shot counts. Anxiety about what might go wrong causes tight, tense muscles that often produce off-line shots. To be confident on the first tee, you have to be thinking positively, be relaxed, and trust your swing.

The most important things you can do to relieve anxiety are to stay in the moment and let go of the outcome of your shot. For example, if you are concerned with others watching you, know that they are only concerned with their own games. Keep your swing thoughts simple, and focus on your tempo. The less you have to deal with, the more centered and focused you will be.

Monitor the self-talk chatter in your mind. The banter on the first tee is an indication of the doubts going on in golfers’ minds. You have probably heard statements such as, “I haven’t played in a week” (so don’t expect me to play well), or “My handicap just went up” (because I am playing terribly).

This kind of negative self-talk will sabotage your golf game by raising your anxiety level. Instead give yourself permission to play well by doing the best you can.

Adopt the attitude that the tee shot is easy since you use the club with the biggest club head… and, you can tee up the ball! Affirm that you believe in yourself and your ability and that you are really going to enjoy hitting the first shot of the day.

Repetition is a key to removing anxiety. When you do the same thing over and over, it becomes a habit and you don’t have to think about it anymore. Then it becomes easy. Repeating the same preshot routine gets your mind and body ready without any anxiousness.

If you mishit your tee shot on the first tee, remind yourself that it is only one shot. It is not an indication of what the future shots will be like. Do what the pros do. Step to the side of the tee and swing your club until you regain your rhythm and confidence. You don’t want to go to your next shot with the mental  images and physical feel of an unproductive swing. Make sure that the swing you do want is ready to be enacted on your next shot.”

*Excerpts are from Chapter 9: Performance Anxiety; “THE HEART OF GOLF,  Access Your Supreme Intelligence for Peak Performances”

Now available on www.createspace.com/6307102 and www.amazon.com

 All royalties will be donated to Junior Golf!

© PositiveMentalImagery 2017– All Rights Reserved

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 a positive attitude 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.

Playing “start and stop” golf becomes a mental problem when it affects your attitude. Your attitude about the situation will affect your emotions. It can cause annoyance in the same way as waiting in a slow-moving grocery line or stop-and-go traffic.

When you play with or behind a slow methodical golfer like Morgan Pressel or an analytical golfer like Jordan Spieth, it is up to you to change your attitude as they aren’t going to change their preparation habits.

What is your attitude? Are you ready for a slowdown on the course? Do you tell yourself you lose your rhythm? Do you become annoyed that the game isn’t moving at the pace you like?

What are the thoughts that are revolving inside your head when you have to stand and wait? In the grocery line or on the golf course are you judging the people in front of you who are taking up too much of ‘your time?’

At the dinner before the first round of every USGA Senior Women’s Amateur Championship, we were instructed about the pace of play rules. We were told there would be penalties for slow play. As a Type-A player, this struck fear in my heart and caused me to speed up to make up for the slow player which resulted in losing my rhythm. In the ten years I played in these championships I saw lots of slow players holding up the field, but I never saw anyone penalized.

Since I am not a slow player, I released the fear by ignoring the threat of being penalized and played at my own pace.

Your peak performance is in large part determined by your personal management of your own behavior. The more you understand your own behavior patterns, the more you can adapt to the different situations that come up on the golf course. The less you understand the fewer options you have.

Don’t let Type-A Tendencies Rule your Game

Americans are doers. Seventy-five percent of our large urban population is made up of Type-A people. About half of the general population has Type-A tendencies.

Type-A people exhibit the following characteristics on the golf course.

• They are easily irritated by delays.
• They have a high degree of competitiveness.
• They have a low tolerance for frustration.
• They are in a hurry to finish the round.
• They get really annoyed at themselves when they mishit shots.
• They cannot relax without feeling guilty.

Golf requires that you change your impatient, intolerant, always-in-a-hurry behavior. While you can’t change your personality, you can learn to behave in a patient, tolerant and more easygoing manner as required by the USGA Etiquette and Rules of Golf.

If you are a Type-A person, it is not enough to just learn how to relax. You must also change your thinking, behavior, and attitudes to avoid mental mistakes on the golf course.

Under pressure such as slow play, fast players will speed up to make up for the delay. Their swings become fast and erratic. Slow players under pressure will slow down and become even more deliberate.

If you are a golfer who likes fast action, use the slow play as a red flag signal for you to change your hurried pace. Breathe deeply to relax and use the extra time to plan your shots more carefully.

Slow Down to Score Lower

You can improve your mental game in the following ways:

Change your thinking.

Slow down your mind instead of letting it race into the future “what-if” scenarios. Type-As tend to think rapidly with two or three ideas going simultaneously. Don’t decide on a plan of action until you get to your ball.

Change your attitude.

Most important is your attitude toward time and the sense of urgency. Decide that you will give every shot the same amount of time and attention making each one the most important shot/putt you will hit in that round.

Change your behavior.

Changing your behavior begins in the mind. Improve your time management by planning to spend more than four hours on the course. Consider all your options when you have a problem. Smile at your missed shots instead of being in a hurry to correct them. It is impossible to be anxious and calm at the same time.

The number one problem on golf courses today is slow play!  This 18-hole game that should take about four hours has slowed to a 5 1/2-hour weekend endurance test! When you are playing behind or with slow players, change your own attitude and behavior to play well and enjoy your golf regardless of the pace of play.

This article appeared April 30, 2017 in WomensGolf.com, the world’s ranked #1 women’s golf newsletter.

“The Psychological Fear of Anxiety*

Life is full of choices. On the golf course, we have a multitude of choices as every golf shot is different. Most people are afraid of making the wrong choice. Some people become frozen, afraid to choose. Risk takers make a choice knowing that it can be the difference between success and failure, but that it will be a new and exciting learning experience. 

Having a good mental game means changing your thinking to accept that you cannot know everything and cannot control the outcome of your game. All golfers want to win. What they don’t realize is that the more energy they put into winning, the less control they have. You can only control what is happening to you in the present moment.

Golf is not a sport where there is fear for your physical safety, even though some golfers have sustained physical harm to their bodies. But almost all golfers experience anxiety due to psychological factors. Psychological fear leads to tension, which is the ultimate swing destroyer.

GPA; golf performance anxiety is an agitated feeling aroused by an awareness of possible trouble. It is an uneasy feeling that something may happen contrary to your desires.

When you begin to feel anxious, your mind will bring up situations where you have experienced those fearful sensations in the past. Then you find yourself in a loop that escalates the fear. Fear is a sense that we are not in control.

Anxiety occurs when you project what you think is going to happen in the future. An example would be trying to break 100/90/80 for the first time. Or when you have a two-foot putt to win the hole for the team and you know everyone expects you to make it. Or adding up your score on the front nine, figuring what you need to shoot on the back nine to make a good score.

The most important thing you can do to relieve GPA is to keep your mind on your task by letting go of everything other than that. Trust the learnings that you have put into your subconscious mind.

1.  Be aware of your physical signals. Anxiety is the opposite of being loose and relaxed. Be aware of your body signals. Know what upsets you. Know what makes you feel fear, worry, anger or frustration. Most people think their feelings and aren’t aware of the physiological signals.
2. Choose to change.  After you are aware of your body signals, the next step is always to breathe deeply to slow down your mind to make a decision and take action to change. Anxiety is the enemy of athletes. Decide that anxiety serves no useful purpose in your game of golf. Choose to release the feeling as soon as possible.
3. Dissociate from the feeling.  When you are feeling anxious, you are associating your thoughts with the feeling. To dissociate means to detach or disconnect your thoughts and mentally replace them with thoughts of what you do want.
4. Enjoy the release of tension.  Feel the calm and relaxation of your body. Enjoy getting control of your relaxed mind and body. Enjoy hitting the shot with ease.”

*Excerpts are from Chapter 9: Performance Anxiety; “THE HEART OF GOLF,  Access Your Supreme Intelligence for Peak Performances”

Now available on www.createspace.com/6307102 and www.amazon.com

 All royalties will be donated to Junior Golf!

© PositiveMentalImagery 2017– All Rights Reserved

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 a calm focus 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.

It’s the first warm, sunny day of spring. The grass on the golf course is growing. The greens and fairways are a bright green color. The daffodils and tulips have rapidly broken through the surface of the earth and are bursting with color. The trees are radiantly blooming with colors of white, pink and lavender. You can hardly wait to get to the golf course to play after staying indoors for the winter.

But have you prepared for this day? Are you physically and mentally prepared to go out and play well, and to enjoy the day?

Every sport is the same. When you have not participated in awhile, it is necessary to refresh your mind and body by going back and 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. 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. Following are some tips for mental and physical rehearsal to prepare you for the range and golf course.

Feel your Swing

Once you “know and own” your fundamentals, begin to “feel” the swing motion from the ground up through your body. The kinetic energy begins in your feet and flows upward connecting all parts in a rhythmic flow. It is important to feel relaxed in all parts of your body to achieve the flexibility so necessary for timing and club head speed. Your feet and ankles should be loose and relaxed as if you are swimming in warm water. This feeling will then cause a chain reaction upward into your knees, hips and upper body without any conscious thought of moving a particular part of your body.

To make solid contact with the ball requires good balance. When you have mastered your fundaments, it is time to swing the golf club (without a ball). Check your balance by swinging with your feet close together. If you lose your balance, swing the club slowly and smoothly until you develop the feeling of good rhythm. Developing good rhythm allows you to forget about the mechanics of the swing and sense how to swing so the clubface returns to its original square position on the path through to the target.

Swinging freely without tension produces high club head speed, coordination and more distance. Tension or tightness in any part of your body will produce low club head speed and less distance. Feel the centrifugal force in the swing rather than using brute force. Tell yourself to swing in a long, smooth, easy, effortless motion. Feel the pause at the top of the backswing to have time to change direction. Feel the natural release of the club head as it rotates back to square. Let the club head build up speed through the hitting area like a roller coaster going down a steep incline. Allow the club head to swing freely. Swing back and forth in a rhythmic motion, letting gravity do the work. When you sense this feeling of a rhythmic and coordinated swing, anchor it into your memory bank with a word like “easy” or a fist pump, or a feeling of confidence. 

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 has to be counted in your score. On the way to the green there are numerous options to recover from missed shots, but not 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.

The easiest and most effective way to practice is inside your mind, by imagining and repeatedly seeing the ball drop into the hole. Performance anxiety comes from your belief about yourself and the way you view your putting ability. First, change your thinking to believe that you can roll the ball well enough to give it a chance to go in. This means you must accelerate the putter through the ball on every size putt. Second, give every size putt the same attention. Third, focus your eyes on a mark on your ball, and don’t move your eyes until after you have hit the ball. 

Develop a Consistent Pre-shot Routine

The whole point of learning a pre-shot routine is to make golf a reaction game. So by the time you get to the ball you won’t have to think and can just react. 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. Using the same pre-shot routine for every shot

1. keeps your muscles relaxed,
2. keeps away negative thoughts, and
3. creates a habit that begins the process of swinging.

 Play “in the zone” with Joan

Entrain Your Heart & Mind for Peak Performances

A new mental golf book is available now on www.createspace.com/6307102 and www.amazon.com 

All royalties will be donated to Junior Golf!

“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.

If you watched the Masters on Sunday you were privileged to watch the transformation that had occurred within Sergio Garcia, the 2017 Master Champion.

Sergio began his professional career at the age of 19. He has superb talent and a brilliant career with 30 international wins. However, his petulant attitude kept him from winning a major tournament. Always wearing his emotions on his sleeve, he vacillated between celebrations and whining. Every time he had an opportunity to win and didn’t, he blamed his losses on bad breaks and the golf Gods who he thought were out to get him.  Because of his poor attitude he was the subject of intense heckling by the fans and criticism from his fellow players.

His Masters post talk interview revealed a different Sergio. He was at peace with himself, in love and looking forward to a life beyond golf. He said, “I was able to deal with the emotions the whole week, and accept the good things and the bad things and move on and keep going. It gives me a sense of extra proudness.” He credited his good friends with telling him what he needed to hear about himself instead of what he wanted to hear.  His fiancé Angela helped to change his mind, “All week we were talking about he could do this, he could do this. His mindset is great.”

“Everything is helped by what happens outside the golf course,” Garcia said. “Things have been much better. I have felt comfortable and I’m trying to do things the right way and take things the right way and not let it bother me as much as it did earlier in my career when things weren’t going well.”

At age 37, Garcia has learned and applied the life lessons that will bring him the success and happiness that we all desire. He said, “We get older and we learn from mistakes, and I’ve made my share but I think I’ve learned from them.”

In order to be successful you have to process out your underlying feelings of inadequacies, angers, and fears. Release yourself from these feelings and let go of the attachment to your doubts. Don’t be afraid of allowing yourself to be more than you have ever been before. This is your life and your game.

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 believe and trust 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 mental strategy. Learn what is missing in your golf game so you can achieve the success you desire. 

A new mental golf book is available now on www.createspace.com/6307102 and www.amazon.com

All royalties will be donated to Junior Golf!

“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.