Mind Training For Golf - Golf Tip No.3
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The Enormous Power Of Visualization

Visualization is the most powerful tool available to achieve peak performance on the golf course (or anywhere, for that matter) - which is the simple act of running through your mind the exact scenario you wish to happen on the course.

Whether they realise it or not, everyone uses visualization to some extent, as ALL thoughts are converted into images inside the subconscious - but the problem many golfers have is that instead of using it positively, they tend to run horror movies through their mind before they hit a shot! Of course, this works highly effectively and ensures they hit a bad shot!

So actively using visualization ensures that you are running positive movies through your head, instead of negative - which was the highly-used practice of Jack Nicklaus and Ben Hogan. Jack Nicklaus said that whenever he walked up to a ball, he 'went to the movies' which basically meant that he first of all pre-programmed the shot in his mind before he would ever consider addressing the ball.

Visualization has the ability to overcome any negative subconscious 'programs' which can create problems, such as:

• The yips
• 1st tee nerves
• Concentration lapses (eg. spasmodic lapses, or back-nine lapses)
• Lack of belief in your own ability
• Slumps in form
• Regularly recurring problems on the course
• technical problems
• Practicing hard but getting no results for your hard work
• Doubts, fears, worries and anxieties
• Inconsistency in competition
• Playing great in practice, lousy in competition
• Overly worrying about the "obstacles" such as the bunkers and trees
• Injuries occurring just before competitions
  

It is a scientific fact that in order for human beings to 'create' anything, they must first have a mental image conceived in their mind - this is true even of every invention created throughout history, and also true for your golf shots. You must first construct the shot in your mind before you can expect your body to do it properly. However, visualization should not only be used on the golf course, but for a 5-10 minute session each day at home - as this creates a new program within your subconscious for your body to follow.

There are many components to making this daily visualization work correctly, but I will try and summarise a few of the important ones here.

First of all, when you visualize you must be in a relaxed state in order to access your subconscious, otherwise your conscious mind simply interrupts with its constant, incessantly annoying chatter (which it churns out at 60,000 thoughts a day). You can achieve this relaxation with some deep breathing, relaxation exercises, soft music or a relaxation tape (or see bottom of this page for a link to my mental training tape).

Another effective time is simply upon awakening - after you wake up, lie there for 5-10 minutes (possibly with your clock-radio set to 'snooze' so it lets you know when the time is up) and mentally take yourself through a daily mental movie of perfect golf.

Secondly, your mental rehearsal must be vivid and realistic in order to fool your subconscious mind into believing you are actually on the green. You see, your subconscious (unlike you conscious mind) cannot tell the difference between reality and something you vividly imagine, which means you can actually make it believe you are on the golf course if you visualize realistically enough. This means you must vividly use all your senses when you visualize, 'seeing' the colours of the surroundings, 'hearing' the sounds, 'feeling' the breeze etc.

Thirdly, the images you run through your mind must be done on a regular daily basis for 5-10 minutes each day, in order to create a new mental program for your shots to follow - otherwise your mind follows the 'old' program it has been using for the past few years. The images you visualize must be positive and upbeat at all times, clearly seeing (and feeling) the process and result of great tee shots, chips and putts going absolutely perfectly everytime (never visualize a bad result).

To put it in computer terms, visualization puts new data in your computer in order to create a new printout (which means to put new thoughts into your subconscius to create a new result on the golf course). It is definitely a technique worth considering if you have not tried it before.

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