Whether you think you can or whether

you think you can’t, you’re right.

 

The statement above is attributed to wise old Henry Ford who built one of the most successful companies in America that is still going strong today.  He may have had other things in mind when he made the statement, but it certainly applies 100% to the game of golf.

Today we are going to discuss attitude. Do you play regularly on one single course? Are you familiar with this course enough to be able to play it mentally even away from the golf course. Have you heard the story about the pilot who was shot down in the Vietnam conflict, and wound up in prison for the next 3 years?

Every day of his capture he would play a round of golf in his mind. When he was released and finished with all the debriefing he went to that course and played his first round in 3 years of “no golf.” He shot a 76!

Prior to leaving for Vietnam his best round had been 85. How could that happen? After three years of torture and sleep deprivation, anguish about surviving another day with not much hope of even being released, he returns to his golf course and performs a near perfect round of golf.

(For the record, Snopes.com says that this story is an urban myth. Though it has been repeated often from some fairly reputable sources including Zig Ziglar, and Dr. Denis Waitley which is where I originally heard it.)

While it may indeed be an urban myth, the concept is not. You can use your imagination and visualization techniques to vastly improve your golf game. Lets go back and look at your home golf course as an example.

“Attitude is Everything”

There are times when you arrive at a certain tee box on your course and you may remember that the last few times you were here that you may have performed poorly on the tee shot or approach or whatever. Over time this can lead to developing an attitude about this hole. “It always gives me fits,” or “Every time that I play this hole I,___fill in the blank_____.” “When I compete with my buddies and I double bogie my first 2 holes, the game is finished.”  “I will never catch up.”  You know that these attitudes are game killers, but you are not quite sure how to correct them.

Lets examine those statements a bit. Notice that they have a universal finality, the words “always” , “every” and “never” are called universals in logic. These words are also making statements about your behavior that are not necessarily true. You really don’t “know” always and every, you “know” that in the past you have had that experience.

However, you do not “know” that this is true of your future performance. So, the first step is to watch your self talk and catch yourself when you are tempted with an “I’m always” thought. It simply is not true on the golf course or even of life in general.

Speaking of self talk, this should be a part of your set up routine. You have probably played your home course often enough to have accomplished a great shot on any given hole. Remember when you chipped in for a fantastic birdie? Remember when you sank that 60’ putt or that drive down the middle that left you with the perfect approach on the dog-leg? (the shot that you accomplished that was absolutely a thing of beauty) This is the kind of victorious thinking that you want to have on every shot that you take.  Part of your setup routine as you stand behind the ball looking down the fairway should be a knowing attitude that you have done it before and can do it again.

Hey that is why we play the game!

In a word it could best be described as a visualization which leads to an attitude of “I can”. The power of visualization is certainly a strong factor in everything that you learn to do. When you think about it you have already been through this process many times before.

We move through 4 stages of learning from unconsciously incompetent to conscious incompetence, to conscious competence and finally unconscious competence.  Put another way, when you are totally new to a subject you don’t even know that you don’t know, but when you get it completely learned you can execute without thinking like tying your shoe.

Think back to when you learned how to ride a bike or drive a car, the first few times you performed it was scary for you and for others watching. Eventually you got to the point where you did what you needed to accomplish without even thinking at all.

With visualization you can spend some time off the course playing the hole in your mind and seeing yourself make those perfect shots. The professionals are taught in “Q” school to “see” any shot from 120 yards as being a “make-able” shot. Your chances of making a putt are significantly better when you “see” the putt going into the hole. When you know that you can make any given shot on a golf course then it becomes a matter of attitude. You approach every shot with the confidence that since you have done it before there is no reason why it will not happen again, right here and right now.

“Be still my beating heart”

Golf is touted as a non-contact sport. It is one of the few sports that can and often is performed with only yourself playing against the challenges of the course itself. Then you add in the challenges presented by the fact that you are playing with presence of others. You are adding a competition element that can sometimes get the best of you.

Beginning golfers or even professionals have encountered challenges in their own minds that come from the presence of an audience. It is amazing to watch sometimes as some uncouth heckler yells some unkind words at a professional during a tournament. The “Pro” ignores the remark and executes a perfect shot anyway.

Sometimes however, we let that uncouth spectator be ourselves and yell in our own minds. In a word, “Don’t” There is no substitute for practice, you need to know that you can execute. You discover that on the practice facility first. You need to know how far your irons and woods travel. You need to own some wedge shots with a half swing or quarter swing that you know you can repeat.

As you develop a successful “golf shot ownership” you will know that you can execute. When you know that you “can” then all that is left is that you “do.” You need to concentrate on your knowledge of past successes. Meaning “success” is your dominant thought when it becomes your turn; don’t self sabotage by thinking of past failures.

Thanks for taking the time to read. If you liked this, be sure to sign up for my 10 part course on  golf mental habits that you can develop to improve your game.

Until next time, hit them straight and seldom.

Michael Brown

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