FIND YOUR OWN TRUTH IN 2014

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

2013 is history and the New Year is unfolding with unlimited opportunities for you to accomplish your golf dreams.

The purpose of life is to grow in self-awareness by using your creative abilities to learn positively from your experiences. To play golf at your personal best requires that you have a physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual strategy in place.

Consider the following as signposts to lead you in the right direction of self-awareness.

  • Allow yourself to envision your fondest dreams.
  • Acknowledge the perfection in each moment of your dream.
  • Practice the art of intention by writing down your daily, monthly and year-end golf goals.
  • Manifest your intentions by taking disciplined action on these goals.
  • Staying with your intentions opens the gateway to endless possibilities.
  • Don’t give up on your dreams when you don’t accomplish your goals.
  • Experience is your best teacher.
  • Learn from the outcomes of your choices.
  • Refuse to beat yourself up when things don’t go your way right now.
  • Be kind and gentle with yourself and honor your abilities.
  • Move past any anxiety and fear that keep you from trusting yourself.
  • Worrying doesn’t take away the perceived trouble; it takes away your intention.
  • Worry is the interest you pay on inadequate skills. Practice.
  • Change your state of consciousness by believing in infinite possibilities.
  • Above all, have fun on your journey to accomplish miracles.
  • Listen to others’ advice but know that you are the only expert of your own life.
  • Begin the process NOW to be free by manifesting one intention.
  • Build up your golf bank account with past memories of greatness stored in the vault.
  • Practice quieting your mind to focus on the wisdom that comes through your heart.
  • The true nature of the heart is to create what one loves and love what one creates, without condition.
  • Listen to your heart as love is the most powerful energy in the universe that doesn’t have to understand mentally.
  • Love yourself and your golf game unconditionally!

Consult not your fears but your hopes and your dreams.
Think not about your frustrations, but about your unfulfilled potential.
Concern yourself not with what you tried and failed in,
but with what it is still possible for you to do.
– Pope John XXII
I

 

Season’s Greetings

MERRY CHRISTMAS

AND A

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Thanks to everyone who reads my weekly blog. And thanks to all who take the time to add comments about how the mental golf tips help improve their golf games.

There will be no blog next week as I am on vacation in Florida playing golf with my family and friends.

I wish each and everyone of you a joy filled holiday and that all your dreams and wishes come true in the coming year.

Joan

 

 

Meditation for your golf game

Are you stressed out and impatient with the hustle and bustle of the holidays?

Most golfers say they play golf for relaxation from their hectic schedules. When you encounter a situation that frustrates you, do you have a method for controlling your mind and emotions?

Practice meditation for golf focus 

Meditation was taught by the Buddha thousands of years ago to quiet the voices of fear, anxiety, worry and other negative emotions in the mind. He described the inner mental noise as drunken monkeys chattering in your mind. Today we call it the negative self-talk that goes on in everyone’s mind. Golfers try to “block out” these distracting thoughts, but it’s useless to do that because what you resist, persists.

Meditation is considered a type of mind-body alternative medicine. Meditation produces a deep state of relaxation and a tranquil mind. During meditation, you focus your attention and eliminate the “monkey mind” thoughts that may be distracting you and causing stress.

The Mindfulness of Breathing 

Deep breathing is very useful in your pre-shot routine to put you into the relaxed state of mind-body-spirit necessary for accessing your personal best performances.

By practicing this simple breathing meditation daily for 10-15 minutes you can find inner peace and balance in all aspects of your life.

  • Find a place that is quiet where you won’t be distracted.
  • Sit in a comfortable position; either the cross-legged posture or a straight back chair.
  • Concentrate only on how you breathe.
  • Inhale deeply and then exhale as long as possible.
  • Imagine how far out from you the air you exhaled goes before you breathe it in again.
  • If your mind wanders from this process and is following your thoughts, bring it back to focusing on your breathing.
  • Continue following your breath until you are no longer distracted by your thoughts.
  • You are now in the present moment where all is still and quiet. 

Meditation Practices 

  • Guided meditation. Listen to guided imagery on the Positive Mental Imagery CDs to  be guided on forming the mental images of the golf game you desire. Available at www.pmi4.com/cart
  • Mantra meditation. A mantra is a personal ritual of repeating a calming word, thought or phrase to prevent distracting thoughts.
  • Qi gong. Qi Qong is part of traditional Chinese medicine that combines breathing exercises, physical movement, exercise and meditation for balance.
  • Tai chi. Tai Chi is a form of Chinese martial arts. It combines deep breathing with slow, graceful movements. It is meditation in movement and my personal favorite.
  • Yoga. Yoga combines physical, mental and spiritual disciplines to attain a state of permanent peace. The series of postures and controlled breathing exercises promote a more flexible body and a calm mind. 

Meditating for a few minutes every day can improve your focus, your health, your enjoyment of your golf game and your quality of life.

In the midst of movement and chaos,
keep stillness inside of you.
– Deepak Chopra

 

Forgive yourself for your missed shots

One of the great lessons of life we have heard for the past week is the way Nelson Mandela forgave those who imprisoned him for 27 years for his beliefs.  

Forgiveness is not a state of mind, it is a state of being. Once you forgive yourself you can let go of feelings of frustration, anger, embarrassment, etc. and feel compassion and more self-confident for whom you truly are. It will also reduce your stress level and increase your energy.

As humans we make dozens and perhaps hundreds of “wrong” choices and decisions daily. 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 for not being good enough. Return to a peaceful and harmonious state of mind where you play golf at your peak performance level.

On Sunday, December 8, 2013 at the Northwestern Mutual World Challenge, Zach Johnson shocked everyone watching when he holed out his approach shot on 18 after shanking his first shot into the pond in front of the green. We have seen over and over how a crucial missed shot will destroy a player’s chances to win. But Zack was able to forgive himself for this untimely mistake, let it go and regroup to hit his miracle shot. He learned from his mistake, and hit a 58-yard three-quarter wedge from the drop area to the left of the pond on to the green. It took three bounces, spun back and dropped into the hole for his par culminating in a play-off win against Tiger Woods.

Forgiveness means changing your thinking to release the accompanying emotions that keep you stuck in the past. When you forgive yourself it means you have stopped the endless cycle of negative thinking and emotions that you carry forward into successive holes.

Here is a story that illustrates the destructive power of holding on to non-creative beliefs.

Two Zen Monks

There were two Zen monks walking back to their Monastery. Along the way they came to a river. A woman was standing by the river and she was crying. The first Monk said to her, “My dear lady, why are you crying?”

She said, “My dress is long, the river is swollen, and I am to be married.  I can’t go across the river without getting my dress wet.  What can I do?”

“My dear lady,” he said, “jump on my back and I will carry you across.”

And he carried her across the river. The Monk put her down on the other side and bowed to her. He and his brother Monk continued on to the Monastery.

About a mile before the Monastery he noticed that his brother Monk had said nothing.  He turned to him and said, “My dear brother Monk, what is wrong?  What is troubling you?”

The brother Monk said, “You know we Monks are not allowed to have anything to do with women. Yet you not only talked to her, you carried her across the river.”

The first Monk said, “My dear brother, I put that woman down on the banks of the river five miles back. It has been you who has been carrying her all the way back to the Monastery.”

Studies show that people who forgive are happier and healthier than those who hold ill feelings.

Playing golf “in the moment’ means letting go of the past and focusing all of your attention and intention on creating the present shot.

Play “In the Zone” With Joan

Entrain Your Heart & Mind for Peak Performances

 

 

USGA Revises Decisions for 2014-2015

Every two years the United States Golf Association (USGA) and The R&A, St. Andrews, Scotland jointly review the decisions made according to the Rules of Golf to give greater clarity to the rules. It is a process to help make the game more understandable for players as well as officials.

The USGA publishes “Decisions on the Rules of Golf” which contains more than 1,200 entries that address specific situations under the Rules of Golf. There are 87 new changes which take effect on January 1, 2014.

The R&A and USGA have now considered new developments in the game which give new clarity to the use of smart phones and advanced video technology.

Four of the important new changes described by the USGA for 2014-2015 are the following:

  • “Decision 14-3/18 confirms that players can access reports on weather conditions on a smart phone during a round without breaching the Rules. Importantly, this new Decision also clarified that players are permitted to access information on the threat of an impending storm in order to protect their own safety.”
  • “Decision 18/4 provides that, where enhanced technological evidence (e.g. HDTV, digital recording or online visual media, etc.) shows that a ball has left its position and come to rest in another location, the ball will not be deemed to have moved if that movement was not reasonable discernible to the naked eye at the time.”
  • “Decision 25-2/0.5 helps to clarify when a golf ball is considered to be embedded in the ground through the use of illustrations.”
  • “Decision 27-2a/1.5 allows a player to go forward up to approximately 50 yards without forfeiting his or her right to go back and play a provisional ball.”

 Play “In the Zone” with Joan

Entrain Your Mind & Heart for Peak Performances

Develop an attitude of gratitude

The official holiday season in the US begins tomorrow, November 28th with our celebration of Thanksgiving Day. It is a national holiday when we give thanks for all the blessings that we have received and are about to receive. For those of us in western North Carolina it will be a white Thanksgiving. The ground here is covered with snow.

Although there won’t be any golf for a few days, it is a good time to reflect on the progress you have made in your personal growth from your experiences on the golf course.

Gratitude is a state of being. It is a feeling in your heart that can transform your thinking and your body. This state of gratitude is where you can balance the chaos that seems to be in the world around you. Take the time to find the balance between your heart and your will to make things happen. Remember why you love to play golf.

If you have a tendency to look at your golf game with a critical eye and only notice what didn’t happen as you wished, it is time to look at the successes that you had. No golfer’s game is all good or all bad. Writing down what you enjoyed will bring back memories of the good times you had on the golf course in the past year. Be aware of how this makes you feel different.

Happiness is an attitude you can make in every moment. A key to feeling happy is gratitude. When you are thankful for whatever experience you are having, your whole being energetically opens to the possibility of feeling happiness.

Like every aspect of your golf game, repetition is necessary for success. Decide to spend time being grateful in every moment. The more you practice being grateful, you will develop an awareness of appreciating small everyday experiences.

When you arise in the morning,
give thanks for the morning light, for your life and strength.
Give thanks for your food, and the joy of living.
If you see no reason for giving thanks, the fault lies with yourself.
– Tecumseh

Play “In the Zone” with Joan

Entrain Your Heart & Brain for Peak Performances

 

 

 

 

 

Mental Awarenesses for Golfers

Concentration

  • Mental concentration is at its peak when your mind is clear of all distractions.
  • “The ability to concentrate is good, but thinking too much about how you are doing what you are doing can be disastrous.” — Harvey Penick
  • Be totally ready mentally and physically to play before you hit your shot.
  • Concentration is the art of allowing yourself to become engrossed with what you are doing.

Tempo

  • Don’t be in a hurry. Make your backswing and forward swing speeds the same.
  • Think positively as you approach your next shot. Every shot is a new experience. The next one may be the best shot of your life.
  • Never make a change based on one bad shot, or even a few missed shots.
  • Stick to the one thing you can control—you.

Emotions

  • “You just have to take the attitude that you’ve done all the training that is required, and what is the point of that training if you’re not going to trust it”? — Bob Rotella
  • You cannot be relaxed and tense at the same time. The easiest path to a relaxed state of mind is through a relaxed body.
  • Know the difference between being self-centered and centered in self.
  • Release fears and judgments that keep you bound in faulty thinking.
  • Remember the confident feelings of playing “in the zone.”
  • “It’s tough to play bad when you’re happy on the inside.” – Jessica Korda, LPGA

Positive Mental Practices

  • It is more important to learn to score than it is to learn to swing.
  • A miss-hit is a golden opportunity to learn what not to do.
  • Experience is your best teacher.
  • Always picture in your mind where you want the ball to land safely.
  • Change “it’s impossible” to “maybe it’s possible” – Just Do It!
  • A consistent pre-shot routine produces consistent shots.
  • Expecting to play a round without error is unrealistic.
  • The game of golf is mind over muscle.
  • Golf is a waiting game. Wait for the opportunities to appear.
  • Practice the way you want to play.
  • The mental game of golf is not so much what you know, as it is how you use that knowledge at the right times.

Play “In the Zone” with Joan

Entrain Your Heart & Brain for Peak Performances

For more information about how to play “ín the zone” contact Joan at 828-696-2547 or visit the Positive Mental Imagery website at www.positivementalimagery.com 

Learn to prepare your mind through relaxation, imagery and suggestion by listening to “Self-Hypnosis for Playing in the Zone.” CDs are available on the website for moving into the zone state for accessing your peak performances. www.pmi4.com/cart   

 

 

 

 

How do I stay “in the zone” after I miss a shot?

            Imagine that you are playing golf on a beautiful sunny day. While looking for your ball you run into a genie. In mystical stories, a genie is a magic spirit who serves the person who calls it forward. Genies are very much like your subconscious mind because they give you exactly what you ask for. 

            This genie is like all the other genies. He will give you three wishes for your golf game. Whatever you ask for, he will give to you. What three wishes do you desire for your golf game?

            Your genie has granted your three wishes.

            How long do you think it will take you to sabotage those three wishes? 

Which part of your mind is playing the game of golf when you are in the zone?

Your subconscious mind. If you let go of control of thinking in your conscious mind and allow your subconscious mind to swing the club you will access your peak performances without the effort.  Everyone knows how to do this because it is a form of daydreaming.

Golfers think they have to control all the aspects of the game. Their worries, judgments, criticism, and thoughts about themselves keep them focused in their ego centered conscious mind instead of allowing the subconscious mind to “Just Do It.”

How do I stay in this mental state where golf is so easy?

A 30-handicap woman played the front nine in one over par. At the turn she saw her husband and excitedly told him all about her extraordinary game. On the back nine she tried to duplicate her miraculous feat and shot 54. By thinking and analyzing, she took herself right out of the easy, trusting mode of playing.

“Staying in the present is the key to any golfer’s game. Once you start thinking about a shot you just messed up or what you have to do on the next nine to catch somebody, you’re lost.”  — Paul Azinger

Staying in this mental state where you are calm, have a heightened sense of intuition, mental clarity, intensified concentration, and are totally focused on shot-making, requires that you stay in the present. Here are some mental keys to practice for staying in the zone for an entire round or successive rounds.

  1. Have a positive attitude at all times
  2. Trust your intuition & decisions
  3. See some good in every shot
  4. Stay in your desired arousal state
  5. Take deep breaths to relax and slow down your conscious mind
  6. Stay totally focused on the shot at hand
  7. Use your imagination to create the shot in your mind
  8. Be totally focused on your pre-shot routine

“When I’m in a zone, I don’t think about the shot or the wind or the distance or the gallery or anything. I just pull a club and swing.”  — Mark Calcavecchia

Play “In the Zone” with Joan

Entrain Your Heart & Brain for Peak Performances

For more information about how to play “ín the zone” contact Joan at 828-696-2547 or visit the Positive Mental Imagery website at www.positivementalimagery.com 

Learn to prepare your mind through relaxation, imagery and suggestion by listening to “Self-Hypnosis for Playing in the Zone.” CDs are available on the website for moving into the zone state for accessing your peak performances. www.pmi4.com/cart   

 

 

 

Is it time to winterize your golf clubs?

Here in the mountains of North Carolina, the beautiful orange, gold and red leaves of fall have fallen off the trees. After the first frosts, the Bermuda grass fairways have turned from green to brown. Colder temperatures suggest to golfers in our northern climates that it is time to put away their clubs for the winter.

Now is the time to give some loving care to your clubs if you aren’t going to be playing for awhile, or if you are going south for the winter golf season to resume play. Here are some things to consider.

  1. Clean your grips.  It’s time to remove all the dirt that has built up over the summer. Use a brush to scrub the grips with warm soapy water. Rinse thoroughly and make sure they are dry before putting them back into your golf bag. Removing the dirt will restore the tackiness of the grips and make them last longer. If your grips are still slick after cleaning, it is time to get new grips.
  2. Clean your club heads. Scrub the face of your irons to remove all dirt from the grooves. Check the grooves to see if lots of use hasn’t worn them down. The club heads can be replaced instead of buying new irons. Wipe down your woods also.
  3. Check your irons for alignment. Have your pro or clubmaker check the loft and lie angle on your irons at least once a year. Just as your body has wear and tear as you get older, so do your irons. Softer forged irons can bend over time. If you hit a lot of balls off artificial turf mats or hard ground, the lie and loft of stainless steel irons can also change. If your 7-iron only goes the distance and trajectory of your 8-iron you will probably make incorrect mental corrections. It is not necessary to buy new irons as the clubs can be bent back into their original specifications.
  4. Check the cleats in your golf shoes. Clean out the grass and dirt from your cleats and check to see if they are worn down and need to be replaced. Clean and polish your shoes so they will be neat and clean in the spring. Put in shoe trees and store them inside in a warm, dry place.
  5. Clean out your golf bag. Take out your rain gear and hang it up in a closet. Go through all the pockets and remove unusable items. Wipe the outside of the bag so it looks new and fresh.
  6. Store your golf bag indoorsBring your bag inside from the garage and store it in a warm, dry place so your clubs won’t rust. 
  7. Put your putter in a visible place. The off-season is a good time to practice your putting for maintaining confidence in your stroke. Leave your putter, balls and putting cup in a place where you are likely to take a few minutes every day to putt.

Play “In the Zone” With Joan

Entrain Your Heart & Mind for Peak Performances 

PMI © 2013 – All Rights Reserved      

Improve your mental golf game in the off-season by listening to PMI self-hypnosis CDs/tapes in the privacy of your own home. Train your brain by listening to positive visualizations and suggestions in seven different areas of your golf game.

Order today at www.pmi4.com/cart

One on One Coaching: Call Joan at 828.696.2547 or by email for a free 15 minute consultation to learn about mental golf coaching in person or worldwide by phone. Learn what is missing in your game so you can achieve your peak performances.

Please share this weekly blog of mental golf tips if it has been helpful to you. Forward it to your friends. They may wish to subscribe so they can have more fun playing the game of golf while lowering their scores.

 

 

Do you really love to play golf?

Do you really love to play golf? Does playing golf bring you joy every time you play? Our emotional states dictate how we feel. The lowest energy level of emotions that upset us on the golf course are anger, fear, frustration, etc. At the highest energy level that makes us feel good are love, joy, care, compassion, etc.

Most golfers believe that when they play well they will be happy. And when they aren’t playing well they experience anger and frustration. To be successful requires a paradigm shift in the thoughts that cause your emotions. It is important to remain in a state of loving the experience of playing golf no matter what the results are. Albert Schweitzer explained it simply as:

“Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful.” – Albert Schweitzer

How do you change your stressful state?

We become stressed when our performance doesn’t meet our expectations and we don’t manage our emotional reaction.

To change your emotional state, reframe the situation that upsets you. There is always another way of looking at a situation and reacting to it.

You hit a perfect shot over a sand bunker to a pin in the front of a green and it falls just short and imbeds under the lip of the bunker. Amid the frustration and disappointment, remember why you love golf. It’s a game where one-half inch can be the difference between perfection and disaster. Chasing perfection and avoiding disaster is the challenge that makes the game so captivating.

If you only love to play golf when the half-inch works in your favor, you will be frustrated and angry often on the golf course.

To change your state of mind and body when things don’t go your way, smile at adversity and be surprised rather than angry that it didn’t happen the way you expected. The more you repeat changing your state in this way the easier it will become to access and stay “in the zone.”

Play “In the Zone” With Joan

Entrain Your Heart & Mind for Peak Performances

If this article is helpful to you, and you want to learn more about developing a strong mental game, call Joan for a complimentary 15-minute consultation. She can be reached by phone at 828-696-2547, or by email at pmi4@bellsouth.net 

Self-empowering mental golf CDs are available on the Positive Mental Imagery website.