WHY YOUR GAME IS ABOUT TO IMPROVE AND HOW TO USE THIS PROGRAM
Firstly, I’d like to congratulate you on being open minded enough to explore game improvement techniques, which go beyond working on your swing.
I’m going to assume that you believe you are a better player than your scores would sometimes suggest, or perhaps you know that your mind can get in the way of your skills, but you don’t know what to do about it. Perhaps you’re a competitive player who feels the pressure to perform and struggles in tournaments?
Conversations I have with new students can often start like this: “If you saw my swing, you’d think I was a scratch handicap, but I can’t break 80!” or “On the range, I can hit any shot I want, but on the course it’s a different story…”
I’m sure that you’re experiencing something similar, or at least you are aware that your performance on the golf course goes beyond how good your swing is.
Technical Skills Do Not Equal Performance Skills
I was there myself. Fifteen years ago, I was a competitive amateur golfer living in San Francisco, CA.
Having taken a break from the game whilst I lived and worked in London after graduating from the University of St. Andrews in Scotland, I found myself quickly regaining my passion for the game. I played in most of the weekend amateur tournaments I could find in the Bay Area, of which there were plenty. I worked hard on the technical aspects of my game – recording swing videos at the range and taking a weekly lesson. My swing had never felt or looked better. During my practice rounds, I would comfortably shoot around par. However, when it came to tournaments, it was a lottery which player would show up. On some days, I was able to play the golf I knew I was capable of, but on others, a different player would show up – an anxious, frustrated player who had something to prove to himself and others. On those days, the skills that I had displayed just days before were nowhere to be found. I was left searching and “playing golf swing”, instead of playing golf. It had me scratching my head and wondering what I was missing…
Looking back, it is easy to identify what was happening – my mental skills were not strong enough to deal with the challenges of playing the game in a tournament. Instead, my ego and ignorance of the mental aspects continued to prevent me from solving the problem – it was much easier to tell myself: “my swing was off that day”, than to tell myself that I was feeling the pressure to perform, and I wasn’t doing a good job of handling it.
What I now know, is that becoming the best that you can be requires looking just as much at yourself and how you are playing “the inner game”, as it does your technical skills. However, when you look inside, you might find things that you don’t want to see or admit. A swing change is easier, more tangible and doesn’t require you to be vulnerable.
During the time I lived in San Francisco, I became very interested in self-development and self-mastery. I wanted to discover how to achieve greater wellbeing, self-fulfillment and better performance in all areas of my life. As I read many books on Buddhism, Eastern Philosophy, Ancient Wisdom (such as Stoicism), Spirituality and more recent books such as Stephen Covey’s “7 Habits of Highly Successful People”, I couldn’t help but relate much of what I was reading to my inconsistencies on the golf course and some of my under-performance off of it.
I quickly realized that many of the principles in these books would not only help me develop the mental skills and strategies to be more productive and happier, but they could also benefit my golf game.
What I concluded, was that on those days when the game felt easier, it was because my state of mind was such that it allowed me to focus on the task and play with less interference from my ego, fear and judgement. It wasn’t my golf swing that wasn’t good enough in competition, it was my “mental game”, and that was affecting how well I could access my skills.
Despite coming to the realization that my mental game was a big factor in my performance on the golf course, there was surprisingly little available to help me with improving my “mental game of golf”, compared to the vast libraries of books and videos on how to improve your golf swing.
So what exactly is the mental game of golf and how can it be improved upon? Those books that I did find on the subject were mostly full of anecdotes and contained little in the way of practical application and training. Although golf coaches are becoming more open minded today, back then the golf industry was reluctant to include Sport Psychology in a coaching program.
From the research I’ve done since, I believe that a lack of awareness, understanding and coaching available to improve the mental game and how we develop skills, is the main reason why the average handicap of 16 has not fallen during the past 50 years. What makes this statistic even more shocking, is when you consider how much technology (clubs, balls and coaching tools) has evolved in that time.
Here’s my take on why:
- The Golf Industry as a whole, makes money from selling swing lessons, equipment and training aids, which it promotes via TV, websites and magazines.
- Technical instruction is more tangible – you can immediately see the effects of a swing tip or an equipment change. Changing the mental side of the game is a slower process and requires players (and coaches) to look deeper at themselves and be more vulnerable, which isn’t as easy or as fun to do.
- Most golfers want quick fixes. Look at the front cover of any golf magazine and that’s clearly what sells. Changing mindset and skill development is a longer-term investment, which requires more patience and discipline.
- Most golf instructors don’t know how to teach the mental side of the game, nor do many of them buy into how much it improves performance, so they don’t pass it onto their students.
A Deep Dive into Sport Psychology and Human Performance Training
To learn more about how I could improve my mental game, it was clear that I would have to go beyond the sport of golf and look deeper into sport psychology and human performance training.
To begin my research, I wanted to get answers to the following questions:
Do elite performers in any field share a similar mindset and mental traits? If so, could these traits be learned or were they inherent talents?
What techniques do Sport Psychologists use with their clients?
How does an average golfer train and what is their mental approach during their rounds compared to elite level players?
What exactly is “The Zone” or “Flow State”? Is it a random occurrence or do we have some control over it? What mental and physiological conditions are being met that allows such freedom and focus?
As I researched these subjects and interviewed many golfers, performance coaches and Sport Psychologists, I felt compelled to share my discoveries – believing that it could be of benefit to other golfers.
I purchased the web site “Golf State of Mind.com” and began writing a blog.
Because there was very little on the web regarding improvement of the mental game of golf, my blog quickly got interest and positive feedback – it was helping other players lower scores and enjoy the game more. This inspired me to research further and produce more content, which eventually led to the creation of “The Golf State of Mind Training Program”, which you are now using.
The program you are about to begin is far from the first iteration. Since the inception of it, it has led to many opportunities to work one on one with players as well as do further study and learn from some of the best performance coaches. During that time, I developed a passion and purpose for the work that I now do full time. It gives me a great sense of satisfaction to help my students understand more about what brings out the best in them, not just on the course, but off it too. Every day that I coach is a learning opportunity for me, and as such, the coaching program has evolved to reflect that. I continue to add to the modules (and will continue to do so), to maximize the effectiveness of the coaching.
Although I call this a “program”, it’s a player-centric approach. Something that I’ve learned over the years is that the most important aspect of coaching is the player themselves not a system or formula. Although you will benefit from implementing and practicing all 7 modules, many of the concepts within them are for you to experiment with, test and reflect upon and build your own “process”. We are all different in how we learn, communicate, and see the world, so it’s important to find out what works best for you.
It’s Time for A More “Holistic” Approach
Fortunately for all golfers, the golf industry is beginning to pay more attention to the benefits of a more “holistic approach”, instead of solely focusing on a player’s technique to improve their performance. More and more players (of all levels) are working on developing all the following 4 key skill sets:
Physical skills:
Fitness, strength and conditioning, sleep, good nutrition
Technical skills:
Fundamentals, learning how to swing the club to hit different shots
Tactical Skills
Golf I.Q. Knowing your game and the optimal shot to play given the situation/conditions
Mental or “Performance” skills:
Being able to focus on what brings out the best in your performance while removing limiting inhibitions
The Goals for this training program:
- Improve your mindset so that you approach problems with less “ego” and more curiosity
- Identify what brings out the best in you in each stage of a round (process goals)
- Develop strategies to deal with setbacks and control your “performance state”
- Learn how to measure your success in ways that go deeper than score and lead to long-term change for the better
- Practice in a way which challenges you to solve problems and develop skill, not just work on technique
Transferable Skills
“Golf is the closest game to the game we call life. You get bad breaks from good shots; you get good breaks from bad shots, but you have to play the ball where it lies.” – Bobby Jones
In this system, we’re going to discover what it is that brings out the best in you on the course, but you’ll also find tools for personal growth and self-development in all areas of your life. We call it “the mental game of golf”, but it may as well be called the “mental game of life”. The mental skills required to access any of your skills more easily are no different to those needed to play your best golf. If you can improve your ability to deal with pressure, focus, respond and not react, stay present, bounce back, view mistakes objectively, set goals, and gain a more positive, optimistic attitude, then you’re improving valuable “human skills” which will help you achieve more success and happiness. The greatest gift that the game of golf can give you is not the trophies or scores, it’s the life lessons it teaches you about yourself.
How To Use This Program
In the upcoming weeks, I’ve broken down the program into bite-size pieces which you’ll receive by email. You don’t have to wait for the weekly email if you would rather go through it at your own pace. If you do this, I recommend reading/listening to the whole program first and then going back to the sections that will help you improve your current weaknesses. Your answers to the assessment questions will tell you what these are.
Complete The Mental Game Assessment
First, I’d like to you to complete the mental game assessment, so we can find out more about your mindset, your current mental game strengths and what you need to improve to become the player you want to be.
Click here to take the Mental Game Assessment.
