As summer wanes in North Carolina, the trees are beginning to turn into brilliant fall colors of reds, oranges and yellows. This special time of year also signals the end of most summer tournaments.
Tiger Woods won the inaugural FedEx Cup September 16th with a brilliant performance of how well he has perfected his art. He led in greens in regulation at 80.6% and averaged 27 putts per round. A lesson for all golfers who want to score their best…… he missed only 5 of 68 putts inside of 10 feet on the bumpy greens at East Lake.
Also in September, the Americans changed their team strategies and put together good team spirit to win the 17th Solheim Cup, (LPGA vs. Ladies European Tour) 16-12 in Halmstad, Sweden; the 41st Walker Cup (U. S. vs. Great Britain & Ireland men amateurs) at Royal County Down Golf Club, N. Ireland; and the 7th Presidents Cup 19.5-14.5 (U.S. men pros vs. international pro team) 19.5-14.5, at Montreal, Canada. It had been noted in the past that the Americans were only good at individual play. This time they showed their prowess by having great fun in the spirit of the game and came out the winners.
The Curtis Cup (U.S. women amateurs vs. Great Britain & Ireland) will be held in 2008 at St. Andrews where the U.S. team will defend the Cup that they won at Bandon Dunes, Oregon in 2006. The format will be changed from two days to three.
If you didn’t end up with a winning season, it is time to gain some awareness, which is the key to all change. Value the process, not the outcome.
We are responsible for creating our lives. Now is the time to use your “off-season” time to mentally program your golf game. Now is the time to use your free will to make the choices that will produce the results you desire. Results aren’t always in line with our expectations due to thinking about one thing but intending another. If you intend to hit the ball straight down the middle and you are thinking about the fairway bunker or lateral water hazard on the right, the result will be hitting the ball to the bunker or the 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. It is you who have created your circumstances. With every experience you alone are painting your own canvas, thought-by-thought, choice-by-choice. And beneath each of those thoughts and choices lies your deepest intention.
What is your real intention?
Lorena Ochoa’s intention was to become the best woman player in the world.
Tiger’s intention is to better all of Jack Nicklaus’ records.
The American teams intended to win on foreign soil and believed they would.
Your intention and desire can create a better life and a better golf game. And when you don’t examine your intention, you often end up with consequences that block your progress. If you change your intentions, you create different consequences. When you make choices that honor who you are and you begin believing in the greatest version of yourself, you’ll get exactly what your Creator intended for you—the chance to reach your greatest potential.
When you were learning the mechanics of the golf swing, motor skill by motor skill, you had to think about how to do it. Now is the time to move from the analytical, thinking process into the swing that is more of a reflex action. The more you practice it in your mind using your senses of feeling, seeing and trusting, the more automatic it will be. This is the way you learned to drive a car. After you had learned to drive the car, you no longer thought about your foot on the gas and break pedals, or your hands on the steering wheel. You were then only concerned with reacting to the road.
Roger Bannister was the first person to break the four-minute mile because he had a belief in his head that other runners didn’t have.
Roger Bannister was in Medical School at Cambridge when he ran the first sub-four-minute mile. And no one believed it could be done. At Cambridge there were several research papers published that said the mile could not be run in less than four minutes. Roger read those research papers and thought about the great milers who couldn’t do it. However, Roger’s intention was to break the record. He believed that he could do it. He saw himself doing it over and over again in his mind. By the time he broke the record, he had already practiced hundreds and hundreds of times in his mind.
Like Annika, Tiger, Lorena and Roger, you can improve your performance by practicing in your mind away from the golf course. Set aside ten to fifteen minutes a few times every week to practice your golf swing, your pre-shot routine and your golf game in your mind. You can do this easily by repeatedly listening to PMI self-hypnosis CD’s in the privacy of your own home. Order them now at www.pmi4.com/cart Inside your mind is the only place you can practice perfectly. Program you mind with your best intention of what you want to believe about your golf game. Train your brain so you can swing the same on the golf course as on the practice tee.
1. Begin now to stop giving yourself verbal instructions about how to swing the golf club. Practice seeing, feeling and hearing your golf swing in your mind’s eye. Hear the solid contact of the club striking the ball. Hear the dynamic sound the shaft makes as it moves through the air. Listen to the rhythm of the entire swing. Feel the easy, fluid tempo of the club moving through the entire arc. Feel your body and club moving in harmonious synchronization.
2. Swing the club indoors or out without a ball, feeling and sensing the rhythm, tempo and feel of the swing while looking in a mirror. Give yourself one swing key to anchor your good swing. Close your eyes and swing the club noticing the feel of your body, your balance, and the movement of the club.
3. Practice your pre-shot routine in your mind until it becomes an imprint in your unconscious mind. Then physically practice it indoors until you can repeat it without thinking. Having a repeatable preshot routine that you don’t have to think about will give you the consistency you desire.
“What's the longest walk in golf? It's from the practice tee to the first tee.
I don't care if it's 10 yards. It's the longest walk in golf.
Winners take their swing with them. Losers don't." - Moe Norman
Entrain Your Heart & Brain for Peak Performance!
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Improve your golf game NOW by listening to PMI self-hypnosis CDs/tapes in the privacy of your own home. Order today at www.pmi4.com/cart
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