subject: Imagine Your Way to Better Golf [print this page] Imagine Your Way to Better Golf Imagine Your Way to Better Golf
One of the things that really annoy me about so many hypnotists I know is that they simply assume that because they can see pictures clearly in their mind then so can their clients. If like me, you used to struggle to visualize things clearly in your conscious minds, then you'd also be frustrated with their insistence that everyone can visualize. In fact they often go on to say things like, if you couldn't visualize, how would you know what to wear every day and how would know where to look for your car.
Now they are right about the fact that every normal person can and does visualizes things in their minds, but they are wrong to assume that every person actually sees those pictures consciously. Research suggests that at least 40 percent of the population is not consciously aware of the pictures they make in their minds. If you are one of this 40 percent, then if I was to ask you questions about the color ping g15 driver, style and handle of your front door, you may not see a clear picture of your front door. However, I'm sure that you do somehow know the answers to those questions. Maybe the answers come to you in words or in terms of feelings.
When I think of the handle on my front door, I can feel the shape and texture of it before I can picture it. I used to have the same experience remembering people's faces. I could tell you a few details about someone's appearance and maybe remember their name, but I didn't use to see them in my mind's eye when asked to describe them. My wife, on the other hand, tells me that she can "see" the faces of people she hasn't seen for 20 years as if they were standing right in front of her. She just assumed that's the way it works for everyone.
Now there's no doubt in my mind about the power of visualization in golf, especially when I read about the way Jack Nicklaus, one of the best mind game players golf has ever "seen", uses visualization to such good effect. I think Jack made that clear in this famous quotation: "I never hit a shot, not even in practice, without having a sharp, in-focus picture of it in my head.
First I see the ball where I want it to finish, nice and white and sitting up high on the bright green grass. Then the scene quickly changes and I see the ball going there it's path, trajectory and shape, even its behavior on landing. Then there is a sort of fade-out and the next scene shows me making the kind of swing that will turn the previous images into reality."
If you really concentrate hard on "trying" to create a visual image, you may well struggle to see it. It's a bit like times when you "try" really hard to remember someone's name or a long phone number. When you relax, stop "trying" and trust your unconscious mind to find it, the name just seems to pop into your head after a few moments? Something similar happens when you recall a picture. Once you get into a light trance, like when you're telling a story, you seem to start recalling all the visual information, even if you don't actually always imagine a perfect photographic image.
