Practicing
Great, But Struggling
in Competition?
Playing
your best golf in practice
but coming up short in
competition must be the
most common problem I
hear from golfers.
The
pressure of competition
often psychologically affects
golfers into either being too
careful with
their shots, or otherwise
being to controlled
or tight in
their swing, rather than
swinging freely and easily
as they do during practice.
Thus there often remains
a major gulf between the
standard of performance
for players between their
practice and competition.
There
are several things you
can do about this. The
most effective method is
to actively use some mental
projection during
your practice. This
means to imagine
before each and every shot during
practice that you are actually
playing in a competition,
rather than being in the
risk-free situation of
practice.
Before
you hit each shot, mentally project
yourself forward in
time into
a competition situation
- and this
slowly de-sensitizes you
to the big occasion of
competition -
which reduces it's impact
when you actually DO play
in competition. Your subsconscious
mind will eventually feel
that you are playing competition
golf each
time you
walk onto the course -
even for practice! When
this happens, competition
golf will become 'normal'
to it, and you will virtually
play your competitions
as if you were playing
practice.
Sure,
at first this may actually decrease the
standard of your practices! But
eventually, your mind
will acclimatize and
you will become more
relaxed playing in your
'competition' situation
- and you will begin
to notice the difference
in your actual competition
rounds. If you play competition
each time you walk on
the course (which your
mind will believe you
are!) then it stands
to reason that it will
adapt and relax to this
situation eventually,
no matter how long
it takes.
What
if your mind knows it's
not a real competition? Of
course, your conscious mind
will always know this
- however it is the powerful subconscious (which
is basically a non-thinking
computer), which can
be fooled into
believing what you tell
it. And as this is the
particular mind which
controls all
your movement, this
is the important one
we wish to contact!
Using
this technique is not to
say that you must be in
'competition mode' every
single moment during your
practice rounds - it's only
before each and every shot
that is important. In
between shots, you can
either relax and
enjoy yourself, or if you
wish, you can choose to
remain in 'competition
mode' the entire round.
Last
of all, when you do your
regular visualization
session at home, ensure
you always visualize
yourself playing great
golf during
competition, rather
than practice - to reinforce
the fact that you play
well under the pressure
situation of competition.
This is a powerful supplement
which can make a great
difference.
So
if your competion golf
is not as good as your
practice, de-sensitize yourself
to competition using
these golf psychology methods
- and the results will change
for you in the long-run.
"The
Mind controls the body,
and the mind is unlimited".
The best of success, Craig Townsend
