Change your belief about your game and watch scores drop.

Developing a Healthy & Rational Philosophy
Patrick J. Cohn, Ph.D. Peaksports.com- mental golf tip page The first step in developing a healthy philosophy or belief about your golf is to uncover and identify the specific self-limiting beliefs or expectations that may hold you back from playing your best. Armed with this information you are in a position to challenge your self-limiting beliefs and adopt a new philosophy about the game of golf.

Identify Your Expectations and Labels. As discussed in last month's newsletter, several different types of limiting beliefs exist. I will discuss a few of the most common expectations that limit you. (1) 'I'm failing if I can't break 70 today.' I am not a fan of target scores, but this one can make you feel frustrated easily if you are not on track to accomplish the target. (2) 'I hope I don't lose it on the back nine.' This is a big one for many amateurs who shoot a good score on the front and then start to worry about back nine results. (3) 'Here I go again…syndrome.' This one is deadly to stalling momentum. A good example is the golfer who makes the first mistake of the round and says to himself… 'Here I go again…making a double and screwing up a good round.' (4) 'I always play poorly when…'. This is the number one generalization in golf. The classic example is the golfer who has trouble playing a troubling hole and approaches it from a defensive mindset.

Free golf mental tip match play Change Your Lingo. Irrational beliefs, according to psychologist Albert Ellis, often take the form of absolute statements such as, 'I must break 70 or I am a failure.' Ellis states that people need to change the terminology they use to describe events or needs. The goal is to abolish absolute thinking (via changes in terminology) to stop making unrealistic demands on yourself and others. The major task is to replace dire needs with preferences and desires, such as, 'I would prefer to shoot the best score possible today.'

Free golf mental tip match play: Dispute and Rationalize. People adopt irrational beliefs that limit success because they do not dispute the reality or evidence for the belief. Let's use an example of an irrational or unhealthy belief: 'I always end up making a big number to ruin my round.' In this case the golfer anticipates a train wreck at some point during the round probably because it has happen in the past (a generalization). I teach golfers to argue against or dispute these irrational ideas. You have to look at the evidence for this belief. Just because it has happened in the past, does that automatically mean it will happen repeatedly.

Free golf match play mental tip Replace with a Healthy Belief System. The hardest step is to adopt a healthy philosophy or attitude that helps you play better golf. Let's use an example of what it means to replace a unhealthy belief with a healthy one. Unhealthy belief: 'I don't play well every time I have to tee off early in the morning.' Healthy belief: 'Today I believe I can turn it around and play well early in the morning.' Which one do you think will give you a better chance at playing well?

Free golf match play mental tip : Step Outside the 'Box' and Take a Risk. The difficult part about changing one's attitude is that a golfer wants to hold onto those ineffective beliefs for whatever reasons. It may seem like taking a risk to view an event or situation in a different way. I often challenge students with an assignment to get them to think 'outside the box' and push beyond what feels natural to do. If you are very score conscious during the round, for example, I would ask you to keep track of something else such as fairways and greens hits and set a goal to do so.

Free golf match play mental tip Avoid Negative Labels. Often a player gets labeled by one of his peers (or himself) and then adopts the label. Soon the negative label takes on a life of its own and the player internalizes the label as part of his self-concept. If you think you are a streaky putter, for example, you will live up to that label. Here are examples of a few negative labels some of my students maintained: 'I'm an airport player,' 'I'm a range pro,' 'I'm a choker,' 'I'm a poor closer,' 'I'm a slow starter,' or 'I'm a mental midget.' You can see how destructive it can be to adopt negative labels.

** This article is adapted from Dr. Cohn's Book, Going Low: How to Break Your Individual Golf Scoring Barrier.

Here's another one from Dr.Cohn:

Avoiding Big Numbers will Improve the Bottom Line

How many times have you played a decent round of golf only to have that one or two holes jump out and bite you? Some amateurs have a mental block with one or two golf holes that always balloon their score. Or golfers will hit a bad shot, which turns into a triple bogey and ruins a good round in the making. At the end of the round, you’re upset because you shot 84 when it could have been a 79 if you don’t have a couple big numbers on a couple of holes.

Free golf match play mental tip : The first step to avoiding big numbers is to minimize the damage after one poor shot. Some player’s anger makes them too aggressive on the next shot and they end up making matters worse. Don’t let that one bad shot lead to another because you are so angry about the first bad shot. Some golfers can’t take their medicine and chip out of the trees—they try to hit a perfect recovery shot and wham—a big number. If you get into trouble and hit the ball into the woods, instead of trying to hit the perfect fade around and over the trees, chip out and play for bogey. Keep your emotions in check because anger or frustration can cause you to make one poor decision after the next. Frustration can also cause you to hit shots very quickly without the proper thought process.

Second, what causes big numbers? Hitting the ball out of play. Free golf match play mental tip : One of your goals should be to keep the ball in play as often as possible. For example, if you are on a tight par four with water on the right and out-of-bounds on the left, you don’t have to hit a driver just because everyone else hits a driver. You can play the hole like a par five. Hit an iron off the tee, lay up with another iron, and wedge the ball on for a chance to make par, at worst bogey. It’s a lot easier to play from the fairway than the bottom of the lake!

Free golf match play mental tip :Third, don’t carry the expectation that you always find a way to screw up the round and make a big number when its going well or that you always screw up on hole number 14! Both of these expectations will turn into reality if you hold on to them. Both beliefs will make you play defensively when you have a chance to shoot a good round. As soon as you start to think “don’t screw this round up with a big number,” you are playing defensive golf. Instead, set a goal for the end of the round to have a chance at making birdie or par on the remaining holes. You have to stay aggressive and play offensively, but at the same time keeping the ball in play and playing within yourself.

My comment: I really benefitted from Dr. Cohn's books, especially "The Mental Art of Putting". Check out his website

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