So “get off layin’ on the nail.” and you can start having success and fun on the course again. “Break that old broken record” that has you playing that same sad song and taken your game into tailspin.
There’s a great old saying that goes,” If you always do what you’ve always done. You’ll always get what you’ve always got.” It’s time to start seeing the ‘Light through that dark tunnel’ you have built for yourself.
Mark Twain once said, “You can’t depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of focus.” There is a multitude of reasons why we bury our games into submission and none of them are good.
It’s time for you to start believing and seeing yourself pulling off the shots you dreamed about instead of worrying about where disaster is lurking ready to strike you down on the course and ruin your round.
Many players say that even when they’re playing good they are anticipating the proverbial wheels to come off at any moment. I read a statistic somewhere that 92% of what we worry about or fear never comes to fruition: meaning that you’re wasting your time on meaningless things distracting you from your goals.
Stop concerning yourself with past events or things in your game that you have no control. “You can’t water yesterday’s crops with today’s tears.” Let it go and move onward!
It’s a good practice to mentally play a round in your mind where you control the ball and place it where you want it to go avoiding all the problems such as water, out of bounds, sand, etc. Try it sometime and let your imagination run wild.
Take notice of this mental exercise to see if you allow bad thoughts to enter your mind even in your pretend round. Bad habits die hard and the first place to attack them is in your conscious mind.
In order to eliminate bad habits that you have formed in your game try this 3 step process:
1. First confront your fears in your game and admit them by writing them down on a piece of paper.
2. Replace it-it’s time to trade in bad habits and negative behavior for good ones.
3. Stick with it-by being persistent, diligent and remaining disciplined your game plan you’ll be soon forming a new habit.
We can’t change our circumstances about how the ball bounces so to speak, but we can alter our response to them. It’s all about choice so choose wisely.
Having a brighter outlook about playing and excepting occasional bad breaks that are inevitable will help you start getting over being “Teed off” about yourself and your golf game.
However, sometimes losing your cool can be good because it can help you let off some steam and help you refocus on the task at hand. Often, as all golfers know we keep it bottled up which can impair our performances for the rest of the round.
The key is to allow yourself to completely vent, then refocus again immediately. By venting I don’t mean throwing or breaking clubs, or cursing. The skill of refocusing lies in knowing what the most important element to master is. How does a person learn to regain composure after losing it?
Just remember that losing your cool is nothing more than focusing on what went wrong, and allowing yourself to get frustrated, angry, ticked off, etc. Think about how you respond when you’re angry – you breathe faster, your body tightens up, your heart rate increases and so on.
These stress messages you’re sending to your brain only make your body tighten up more sabotaging your abilities to perform
properly. This unfortunate cycle will continue until you learn to break this broken record set on self-destruct.
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