Monitor Your Thoughts On The Course

How is this possible? Because it's your mind which controls your body, and your mind is programmed by your daily thoughts. On top of that, most of the time you may not even KNOW when you are thinking negative thoughts - because 90% of human thought becomes habitual, which means it can no longer be noticed by your conscious mind.

It is essential to begin noticing what you are thinking almost every moment you are on the course - especially after a bad shot, which is the number one time for thinking negative thoughts! One of the crucial reasons for removing negative thoughts is because they create powerful beliefs which can be very difficult to overcome (eg. the yips).

The first and most difficult step to conquering negative thoughts is to first of all notice them. That is the hardest part, because so many of them may be habitual. Negative thoughts appear not only in the form of thoughts, but also appear in our everyday speech and the words we use - so monitoring your speech and your thoughts for negative thoughts whilst on the golf course is essential. There is no way of removing negatives from your everyday thought pattern without this.

The second step is to remove them immediately upon discovering them. The simplest and easiest way I can explain (in this short tip) is to simply replace the negative thought with the exact opposite thought. For example, a golfer might hit a tee shot which they are unhappy with, and instantly they find themselves abusing themselves (ie. "how could you be so stupid" etc).

This is the perfect time to replace those thoughts (before the negative thought becomes emotional, and then it's too late) with something more positive - ie. "that's not the shot I was wanting to hit, but I'm not going to let it bother me, I'm going to focus upon hitting a great second shot".

Of course, if the second shot isn't so great, then it takes great willpower to continue doing this (!), but this is what MUST be done in order to break the habitual hold the negative thoughts can have on your thinking whilst on the course.

Once your mind is habitually thinking positive thoughts whilst on the course (and this can takes quite a while to achieve fully), you will see a dramatic improvement in your general standard of golf. This is no surprise, of course, as your mind is the control-centre of all movement - and of course your golf swing.

"The Mind controls the body, and the Mind is Unlimited"

The best of success, Craig Townsend

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