The Golfers Mind
"The inner game has always been the last frontier in golf. Why? Because the source of all excellence is within, and because that's usually the last place we look for it."
Timothy Gallwey
The Inner Game of Golf
Aim & Alignment Series
The Golfers Mind
Your Golf Un-
Huge Bearing On Your Golf Swing and Shot Result.
If you don't think that your un-
Think about this. When last did you try to control your own digestive system and remove energy from the food to distribute around your body? When last did you control the PH Acid/Alkaline levels in your blood by consciously using body resources to neutralise too much acids? How about controlling the functions of your liver or kidneys? No? I didn't think so.
Now tell me that your unconscious mind will have no bearing on how you play golf.
If you think about hitting your drive out of bounds and then you do it for real, congratulate yourself on a perfect performance. That's right I did say its perfect and here's why.
Your unconscious mind (or sub-
Even if you are not consciously aware of the images, I can still assure you that it is happening. If you think about doing something, images are flashing through your mind. Think about driving a car to the golf course. What images do you notice? They will be images of you, the car, parts of the journey and the arrival, golf course, perhaps even Teeing off? You have just experienced your unconscious running the program called – "Get me to the golf course, I want to Tee off and play."
When you think about hitting it Out of bounds, what images go through your mind? Do you imagine the feeling of a bad shot and see the arc of the ball going where you don't want it to? Can you hear the ball clattering around in the OB woods? Think about what thoughts travel through your mind for a moment. Congratulations you have just experienced your unconscious running a program called "Hit this ball out of bounds."
"But I don't want it to go OB and I was thinking NOT to hit it out of bounds!" I hear you say. Unfortunately this does not work, as your ball flying out of bounds will testify to.
Here is another KEY INFORMATION TO REMEMBER. Your unconscious mind WILL NOT PROCESS NEGATIVES FOR YOU IN A POSITIVE MANNER. In other words if you say "Don't hit it out of bounds" your unconscious will run images of it going out of bounds and interpret that as the command, ignoring the "Don't" bit.
If I say "Don't think of a pink elephant" you have just run an image of a pink elephant. In other words you have done exactly what you didn't want to do. You cannot, NOT think of what it is you don't want to think about! Whoa! Keep it simple – think about what you want to happen and not what you don't want to happen.
REMEMBER:
Your mind is image driven.
Your unconscious mind will deliver what the images it processes suggest, negative or positive.
If you process images of a negative even (Hit it in the water/bunker/OB) your mind takes this as an image driven command.
Your unconscious does not process the "Don't" part, only the images of the event.
What you think about, you get more of.
Think about WHAT YOU WANT TO HAPPEN! The positive shot staying down the fairway, rolling out and stopping in the perfect place. Let your mind run those images then hold the image of your target in your mind and swing away.
You cannot not think so you best consciously think about what you want so your unconscious mind will work with you to deliver great results more often. Have faith, keep practicing Positive Image Driven Thinking and you will get better and better.
