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Golf Practice in the Unconscious Mind
Part 2: Play Golf in your head!
By Craig Sigl
Ok. I left you last time convinced that we can do things in our mind only that will translate into correct physical action. You were able to transfer the ability to write your name in the air with your elbow that you never use that way!
I do feel it necessary to state, however, that what we call "the mind" is not necessarily only located in the brain. Yes, it's probably the biggest part and we're not going to go into the science of this but you intuitively know it to be true. You've all heard such sayings as: "gut feelings" or "from the heart", or "my body is telling me something" etc. Just keep this thought in mind as we go.
I want to now give you some more help and detail on how to do "imagination practice" or "mental golf practice" as opposed to real golf practice.
A scientist, R.A. Vandell did a study on mental performance practicing. He had his subjects standing in front of a real dartboard and throwing imaginary darts. At the end of the study, these people showed the same gain in proficiency at dart throwing as a control group who spent the same amount of time practicing with real darts!
Another example of this reported on by Research Quarterly, tested sinking free throw shots in basketball. There were 3 groups in the study. One group did no practice whatsoever as a control. The 2nd group practiced 20 min/day for 20 days actually shooting shots from the free throw line. A 3rd group just stood at the line and did imagination practice for 20 min/day for the 20 days.
At the end of the 20 days, the group who did no practicing had no improvement, obviously, The group that actually shot baskets returned improvement of 24% more shots made. And the group that did imagination practice resulted in a 23% improvement not actually having sunk any balls in reality during that 20 days.
Mental practice acts as the target instructions or guidance programming for your cybernetic mechanism.
So let's get right down to the necessaries for golf practice using only our mind:
Get yourself as relaxed as possible without falling asleep. Imagine a place that you know that always makes you peaceful. Slow down your breathing and make it deeper. Squeeze, hold and then release each of your muscle groups. Talk yourself into a calm state.
You want to see yourself through your own eyes, not somebody else's. If you can see the back of your head, you're not doing it right.
Get as specific as possible. If you know that you have a major fault that if you got rid of it, would clear up a big one big problem for instance, then do your mental practice while focusing on doing that one item correctly, over and over.
Only picture yourself playing the golf shot perfectly, every time. Sinking the putt, landing approaches inside 2 feet, striping drives right down the middle. Inject feelings and emotions into everything you see. Conjure up details of the golf course environment. Use your favorite course. Be consistent. Do this regularly.
Hypnosis, Accelerated Learning techniques, Guided visualizations are all forms of this that can enhance the effectiveness. Stay tuned for more golf information coming your way. Until next time,
Greens and fairways,
Craig
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I am much more "target oriented" as opposed to focusing on 97 different swing thoughts. As a result, I find myself hitting a very high percentage of fairways. I've lowered my handicap by 20% and I now shoot in the 80's almost 50% of the time I play. Prior to utilizing the program, I might break 90 once a month.
-- Ken Alterwitz, Loomis, CA |
