How
To Stay In
the Zone, Once You Get
There!
When
you are having a great day
on the course, almost everything
you try comes
off. This
is called playing in
the zone, which
means that your conscious
mind has ceased interrupting
and allowed your body to
get its instructions directly
from your control
center of movement, your
subconscious. And
what a great feeling it is!
Unfortunately,
often when we begin to
play our best golf, many
golfers sadly seem to sabotage this
process shortly after,
causing a major drop in
thier playing level. Most
often this sabotage is
brought on simply by trying
to analyze their
current game, and trying
to work out why they
were playing well!
Ironically
this the the very thing that
makes it disappear! This
is the last thing we should
ever do when we are playing
well, because as soon as
we bring our conscious mind
back into the equation (through analysis), it
immediately overrides any
instructions your subconscious
directs to your body. Result: the
zone disappears
very quickly - and even works,
this often sends our golf
crashing down in the opposite direction.
And
there are few things more
soul-destroying than finishing
a brilliant round with
a double bogey!
So
what form does
this analysis (or self-sabotage)
take, when you are playing
well? It comes in the simple
form of:
1. questions that
your mind begins asking about
your brilliant game
2. observations about how you are hitting certain shots today, or
3. focusing upon future outcomes such as scores you may attain, handicaps
you may beat, etc, because you are playing so well.
All
of these forms of thought
should be avoided on the
course at
all costs! These
might include fatal thoughts
such as:
Basically,
the thoughts we should
avoid are those that either analyze what
we are currently doing
(which breaks the mental
process that delivers our
best golf), or thinking
of the possible
future outcome instead
of focusing upon the current
task at
hand - which only puts
additional pressure on
your current shot.
The
only possible future
outcome you ever want
to think about is visualizing
the outcome of your current
shot. Any
other form of projecting
your thoughts into the
future (or
'thinking ahead') will
only sabotage your present
shot.
Always
remember that you
do not have the luxury
of thinking cumulatively
on the golf course, it
must be one shot at a time.
The
worst pitfalls
to avoid in golf are the
mental ones which are intangible,
as these are far more difficult
to notice than trees, bunkers,
tough greens and rough!
So
next time you are playing
brilliantly, never analyze
how you are playing until you
reach the safety of the
nineteenth hole - that way
you will ensure you finish
the round as well as you
began it - and have something
to truly celebrate!
