subject: The mental golf mistakes that golfers make Part 1 [print this page] Here's a list of the top 10 mental mistakes that golfers make. At least, these are the ones they talk about in the bar after a round of golf or in the office the next day. Although I'd normally want to know a lot more about the individual before offering advice, I've included my initial suggestions as to how to address each problem with golf psychology.
Number 1: Letting your internal dialogue run wild
Get a good hypnotist to install a post-hypnotic suggestion that you go into a trance as you step into each shot or use self-hypnosis to achieve the same result. Whichever way, you're allowing your unconscious mind to get on with playing the shot to the best of your technical ability while keeping your chattering conscious mind out of the action. That seems to work for Tiger Woods.
Number 2: Tightening up on your difficult shots
Learn to use hypnosis or an NLP anchoring technique to relax before planning any shot. Then control the inevitable internal dialogue with a post-hypnotic suggestion to relax every time you play a shot or stroke a putt.
Number 3: Worrying about the Yips
This is basically a mental tightening up on a specific difficult shot, so I'd handle it in a similar by learning to use hypnosis or an NLP anchoring technique to relax before planning any putt. I'm planning a future article specifically to address the issues of overcoming the yips.
Number 4: Telling yourself what NOT to do
I'm sure you've said to yourself, "Now, don't hit it into the water" or it could have been the water, the trees or the wrong side of the green you were trying to avoid. Your unconscious mind doesn't know how to not do something. If I ask you to not think of a blue elephant, you unconsciously have to imagine one - you probably just did! If you want to give yourself or anyone else a suggestion, phrase it using positive progressive language. It would be better to say, "Now, let's hit this ball onto the fairway over there."
Number 5: Dwelling on your mistakes and bad shots
The key thing is to learn from your mistakes, bad luck and plain bad shots before releasing them to the past where they can trouble you no more. Once again, you can make sure you do this with the help of post-hypnotic suggestions using self-hypnosis. Tiger Woods handles this well despite, or maybe with the help of, his temper tantrums when he hits a bad or unlucky shot. Once you release a bad shot like this, you're free to hit the next one to the best of your ability, as if you had never hit the bad one.
