Beginning a new year is an opportunity to start over by making changes in your mental golf game. It is an opportunity to reflect on the past year’s performances and to set new goals for how you would like your game to be in the upcoming year.

“Determine Your Intention* 

The first introspective thing you need to do in creating a purposeful mental golf game is to look at why you play golf. What is your intention?

Your desire to play great golf moves the energy, and your intention sets its form. Without intention, desire is just an awareness of your dreams without the belief that it can happen. When you set your intention for it to happen, it gets put into the form to begin fulfillment of what you have asked for. Through your belief in your power you move the energy.

Golfers often lose sight of their original intent and let other things distract them, such as friendly advice, equipment advertising, studying or talking too much instruction, or media hype.

Golf is not really about winning and losing. Ego is about winning and losing. Golf is about yourself and how to become successful. Golf is a metaphor for empowerment, a metaphor for concentration, and a metaphor for the power we all have but don’t think we do.

We are responsible for creating our lives. Now is the time to use your free will to make the choices that will produce the results you desire. While we are thinking about a problem we cannot truly experience happiness.

Results aren’t always in line with our expectations due to thinking about one thing and intending another. If you intend to hit the ball straight down the middle and are thinking about the fairway bunker or lateral water hazard on the right, the result will be to hit the ball into the bunker or water hazard.

The principle of intention shows us that the results aren’t the problem. Become aware of your intention, and you create a different outcome. This means doing only those things that come from the truth of who you are. Whatever your situation is right now, you have played a major role in setting it up. You have created your circumstances. With every experience you alone are creating your golf game, thought by thought and choice by choice. And beneath each of those thoughts and choices lies your deepest intention.”

*Excerpts are from Chapter 1: Create Your Intention; “THE HEART OF GOLF,

Access Your Supreme Intelligence for Peak Performances”

now available on www.createspace.com/6307102

 All royalties will be donated to Junior Golf!

© PositiveMentalImagery 2016 – All Rights Reserved

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

“Love is what makes the world go around. Love is the most powerful four-letter word in the universe. Love is what makes life worth living. Love is the feeling of the utmost high. To love is to be.

In the world of sport, with all the training and practicing, it is easy to forget why we play our sport. The game of golf is a spiritual excursion into realms of peace and happiness that are unique in all of sport. When you are performing at your ultimate best, it is as if you are riding the flow of energy of the universe. Golf transcends humanity’s earthly value and dwells into the spiritual value4s that harmonize the entire planet. These are values that are inherent in our spiritual nature and were given to us by a power greater than we are.

In the process of learning to perfect our sport, the ego goals of success, money, and power either enhance or overshadow these qualities. To sustain the energy, it is necessary not to look too far ahead, but rather be engrossed in the process of enjoying each moment to its fullest potential. In the4 quiet stillness of our higher minds the answer resides, waiting ever so patiently to be asked for the secrets to unlock the mysteries of life. It is the same in sport.

Golf is a metaphor for the adventure of our life. As the journey begins there is apprehension about the trip, the destination, the adventures along the way, and the arrival at the ultimate destination. Depending on the guidance of the skipper, the journey may be full of pitfalls or as smooth as sailing on a calm lake. The power is given to us to make a choice in either direction and to carry out our decision. It doesn’t matter to the giver of the power. The energy is pumped through the brain to analyze and then sent to the heart to discern and be released into the outer physical manifestation.

At any time, for any reason, this energy of love and caring can be pulled from the source for our use. To do that one only needs to ask and to let go of all judgment and expectation of the answer and to trust in the outcome. And so it is when you make a hole-in-one. Because you were not consciously planning and controlling it, you attribute it to luck or chance. In reality, because you were focused on the act itself, your judgment and expectation did not interfere and the shot was manifested.

When a golfer is playing at a high level of performance, the mind and heart are in sync. EKG and EEG electrical waves would show entrainment. Remember what you love about playing this game. Remember the good feeling inside your heart when you are playing “out of your mind.” Your golf swing is powerful, yet easy and effortless, and you are having fun in the search for the mystical power of the Holy Grail… the perfect golf shot.”

© PositiveMentalImagery 2016 – All Rights Reserved

*Excerpts are from Chapter 19; The Heart Connection; “THE HEART OF GOLF, Access Your Supreme Intelligence for Peak Performances” now available on www.createspace.com/6307102

 All royalties will be donated to Junior Golf!  

“Control* 

If you are feeling as if you have lost control of your golf game and your confidence is waning, it is time for you to look at your thoughts and beliefs. To be responsible for your thoughts, emotions, and beliefs is to be responsible for your life and your golf successes. If you are not aware of what you are thinking and feeling, you have no self-control because you have no awareness. You are in control when you are aware of your thoughts. Then you can choose whether to act on them or not.

Having control of your thoughts and emotions all depends on your internal self-talk. It is up to you to choose whether you are going to enjoy the challenge of the game or get anxious and nervous over the pressure of trying to control the outcome. As Fred Shoemaker said, ‘When you take the evaluation and judgment out, what is left is awareness.’

Once you have the awareness that you create your internal world, you will realize that you can change it into productive thoughts. Your body learns what it is told to do. Learn to tell it what you want, not what you don’t want.

Control of the body is not accomplished by force. Control is accomplished by becoming relaxed and imagining and visualizing what you intend. If you do not begin to control and use your brain, then someone else will either control your mind for you or, worse yet, you just leave your mental training to chance. You need to control your self-talk and also filter out what you hear from others around you, including your friends, family, and coach.

The first thing to do is to determine what your mental stumbling blocks are. Take note of your limiting thoughts abut the golf course or how you view your upcoming round. For example, you might think, ‘I worry about playing with others who are better than I am.’

Most golfers are intimidated when playing with better golfers. During the round they worry about what the better golfer might think of them and their golf game. This kind of thinking causes anxiety and a lack of mental and emotional control.

Decide what is under your control and what is not.

The way someone else plays the game is not under your control. However, letting go of worry and thoughts about someone else’s game is under your control.”

*Excerpts are from Chapter 18; Control, “THE HEART OF GOLF, Access Your Supreme Intelligence for Peak Performances” now available on www.createspace.com/6307102

 All royalties will be donated to Junior Golf!

Play “in the zone” with Joan 

Entrain Your Heart & Mind for Peak Performances

© PositiveMentalImagery 2016 – All Rights Reserved

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

Consistency* 

“Many factors make up a consistent round of golf, such as desire, realistic expectations, and confidence in your ability to perform well. Consistency comes from practicing your skills until you are confident that you can execute the shot or putt. But physical practice is not enough. You must believe that you can do it time after time under all kinds of conditions. Mental conditioning is what separates the great players from the field.

The Preshot Routine

Why have a pre-shot routine?

A mental and physical routine is used in every sport to prepare the athlete to perform. It keeps the athlete engrossed in the moment, away from the pressure of the results. A good preshot routine is a series of actions designed to get the golfer totally absorbed in the process of getting the ball to the target. It is a signal to the unconscious mind to get ready.

When you watch gymnasts, ice skaters, and divers perform intricate maneuvers with their bodies in midair, you know that they do not have time to think about what they are doing. What they do have is a strategy to activate those maneuvers.

Athletes train their minds to do the same thing in sequence over and over until it becomes a habit so they don’t have to think about the routine or the physical activity. These preperformance routines are the maps that give direction to the brain and body. Without a consistent routine, the results will be inconsistent.

When you watch an engrossing movie or play, your attention is focused on the drama. In the same way, planning for your next golf shot can be just as engrossing. The shot will hold your attention if you lead up to it with a consistent preshot routine. When you are this focused, you are not distracted by outside noises, and your mind is too focused to listen to negative thoughts. As you approach the end of the routine you will have built up a rapt desire of wanting to swing the golf club toward your target.

A preshot routine allows the thinking, analyzing brain to stop and attention to be focused on the process of preparation to hit the ball to the target. If you do not use the same routine before every shot, your brain is sending different messages to your body, which will then react with inconsistent results. Robert Schuller has said that “spectacular achievement is always preceded by spectacular preparation.”

*Excerpts are from Chapter 17; Consistency, “THE HEART OF GOLF, Access Your Supreme Intelligence for Peak Performances” now available on www.createspace.com/6307102  All royalties will be donated to Junior Golf!

Play “in the zone” with Joan 

Entrain Your Heart & Mind for Peak Performances

© PositiveMentalImagery 2016 – All Rights Reserved

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

“Focus on the solution, not on the problem*

Focusing on your weaknesses keeps your attention on the negative and leads to low self-esteem and a lack of self-confidence. Self-confidence remains when you aren’t deterred by a missed shot or by not having your A game. When you are confident, you are able to let mishits go, remain calm, and focus your energy on the next shot.

Develop self-confidence

What exactly is self-confidence? It is an inner feeling of certainty about who you are and what you can do.

Developing self-confidence begins off the golf course. You must believe before you can achieve. As your confidence builds, you move from “I’ll try it,” to “I think I can do this,” to “I know I can hit the shot,” or break 90 or whatever you desire. As you focus your attention on believing in your ability, you move toward your goal and become more confident as your skills improve.

Self-confidence is a product of the way you view yourself. If your view of yourself is positive, you feel good about yourself whether you had a good round or a bad round. Make a point to notice the way you talk to yourself on and off the course. Replace negative thoughts with thoughts that can boost your self-confidence. For example, say to yourself “I have hit this shot dozens of times before and I can do it again now,” rather than “I need to hit this shot close for a birdie to make up for the double on the last hole.”

This state of knowing is accomplished by constantly reminding yourself of what you do well. Think about it often.

The more you think about creating what you want, the easier it becomes. Use imagery that depicts yourself as being prepared, in control, confident, having fun, and swinging easily and effortlessly. When you focus on your swing fault or game weaknesses or why you can’t hit a shot, it becomes difficult. Focus instead on your strengths. The verbal, visual, and feeling images in your mind form your self-image and self-confidence. World-class golfers constantly repeat their affirming, positive self-talk. They practice these images over and over again in their minds until the image is automatically accepted. Caddies for pro tour golfers also remind their players of what they can do and have done successfully.”

*Excerpts are from Chapter 16; Confidence, “THE HEART OF GOLF, Access Your Supreme Intelligence for Peak Performances” now available on www.createspace.com/6307102

All royalties will be donated to Junior Golf!

Play “in the zone” with Joan

Entrain Your Heart & Mind for Peak Performances

© PositiveMentalImagery 2016 – All Rights Reserved

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

The Problem Four Cs*

“When golfers are struggling with their golf games, I have found that one of the following four Cs is lacking in their mental game: confidence, concentration, consistency, or control.

Lack of concentration

Concentration is not thinking. It is not an analytical process where you think about what is going on, what has happened in the past, or what will happen in the future. When you are totally engrossed in what you are doing (focusing), the past and future thoughts disappear and you are experiencing the process in the now. Concentration is focusing your attention on one image, object, experience, or line of thought as it is taking place.

Concentration is a mental skill in which you can excel no matter what your handicap is. Golfers who play at their peak potential talk about being in the zone, being on automatic pilot, being focused, or seeing good pictures.

This zone state happens when you are concentrating in the moment. You experience a distortion in your sense of time. It appears that everything has slowed down so you can focus on the present moment easily and naturally. At the same time you have that perception of slowness, your subconscious mind has speeded up, and you react intuitively to the situation with total confidence.

The human mind processes hundreds of bits of sensory information every second, so it is no wonder that we have trouble focusing on one shot at a time. This is obvious when we blame our wandering thoughts on Alzheimer’s or senior moments.

Lack of concentration is due to many factors, including tension, being too involved with correcting, finding, or improving your swing, fear of missing a shot, emotional fears, fear of keeping a good round going, etc. The list is endless. This is where change needs to happen.

Many golfers believe they have to concentrate on the game for four hours when in fact it is a good thing to relax and joke with your partners between shots and concentrate only when it is your turn to hit. It is important to spend the time between shots in a manner that is most comfortable for you.”

*Excerpts are from Chapter 14; The Problem Four Cs, “THE HEART OF GOLF, Access Your Supreme Intelligence for Peak Performances” now available on www.createspace.com/6307102  All royalties will be donated to Junior Golf!

Play “in the zone” with Joan

Entrain Your Heart & Mind for Peak Performances

© PositiveMentalImagery 2016 – All Rights Reserved

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