Mind
Training For Golf - Golf Tip No.31
http://www.MindTrainingForGolf.com
Keep Your
Game Insulated
From Your Playing Partner
Even though golf
is mostly a game where you generally compete with yourself, it is surprisingly
easy to be affected by your playing partner and their game - if you are not vigilant.
Believe it or not,
just a few chosen words uttered by your playing partner, and even the simple
act of watching them play a bad shot can surprisingly have - if you are
not careful - a negative impact upon your game (but luckily not now that you are
reading this article!). Let me explain.
If your playing partner
is having a particularly bad day, they can often make some rather negative or
self-demeaning comments about how bad their game is today, or possibly
even how difficult the conditions are, etc. Whilst it does
not matter quite so much what you say to these comments in response, it
is absolutely crucial as to what your mental response to this is.
For
instance, if you find yourself mentally agreeing with these negative comments,
you may open yourself up to a possible and classic case of mental sabotage.
This is where you find yourself suddenly focusing upon some of the negative
conditions of the game or the course, instead of playing with the positively-focused
mind you had been up until that point of the found. It is no mystery that focusing
upon 'negatives' - no matter how subtle, is one of the quickest ways to sabotage
an excellent round, even if you have just played some fabulous holes.
This
may sound a little melodramatic, but it actually takes exceedingly little
to change your mental environment whilst on the course, especially if you are
unsuspecting - and this should be guarded against very closely every time you
play competition, or even a practice round for that matter. Needless to say, this
is not to say that your playing partner would be trying in any way to de-rail
your game - most mental sabotage is usually done quite easily by oneself!
So
if you are thinking negatively about your shot before you start, walk away from
the shot and silently recite a positive mantra that can quickly change your mental
attitude around (eg. possibly something like "I'm getting better and better").
Amazingly,
this sabotage can even occur by the simple act of watching your
playing partner miss a shot. By now, having read from my golftips just how
important mental images are to your next shot, you would realise how disastrous
it would be to hit your tee shot with the fresh image in your mind of the terrible
slice that your playing partner just hit!
If
you do not cancel this mental image from your mind before you set up for
your shot, you can often find that you replicate that very shot you were
just watching your playing partner hit. This is simply caused by the predominant
mental image which is in your mind before you hit the shot - so it is very
important to delete any previous negative images from your mind before
you move up for your next shot. Even better, run some positive images of
your next shot through your mind before you set up for it.
If
you find it difficult to mentally erase the image of your playing partner's
last shot (and some images can be more difficult to forget than others!), mentally
replace their shot with another shot instead - by simply conjuring up images
of them making a brilliant shot instead!
Regardless
of what you do, never ever begin your shot in a negative frame of
mind.Even though you play golf with a playing
partner, in the crucial moments before each and every shot, you must mentally
become an island, totally unaffected by the outside world and focused purely
upon the positive outcome of your own shots, not anyone else's.
As
long as you are watchful of your mental state directly before each shot, you
can be as relaxed with your playing partner as you wish to be - as mental sabotage
only generally occurs to the unsuspecting.
So
be aware of your mental state before each shot, and ensure that you have only
the best expectations. Remember, we don't get what we deserve, we get what
we expect!
