I hope you have spent some time reflecting on your challenges and achievements of last year, in order to really consolidate and deepen your learning and show you what you’ve been working on (or not!) in your golf game.
In this blogpost, I want to help you make an uplifting and inspiring plan for improvement in 2016 and show you how a few simple, yet mindful changes can make all the difference to your on-course performance this coming season.
Achievement in anything is 50{c2f17feaf9643b514b931860cddc9c6f2ea00171588f8eaf96a325d9beaaeb64} philosophy and 50{c2f17feaf9643b514b931860cddc9c6f2ea00171588f8eaf96a325d9beaaeb64} practice, so it’s no good just thinking about the changes you want to make and the type of golfer you want to become. You actually need to start or deepen your approach to practicing both your swing technique and your mental game, and you need a comrade or coach to help you in both of these areas.
It’s important to realize you are not just pursuing ‘better golf’ or more enjoyment out on the course, but self-actualization, personal improvement and the ability to master yourself and the game. If this is what you’re all about, you’re in good company as the great Jack Nicklaus wrote in ‘Golf and Life’ and elsewhere that self-mastery was his key to becoming the greatest player (by number of wins) of all time.
So let’s get into some practical stuff and we’ll start with goal setting. Now this won’t be based on the (boring) S.M.A.R.T. goal formula, which stands for specific, measurable, achievable, results-driven and time-bound (not very inspiring!), but on the D.U.M.B. goals approach which stands for Dream-focused, Uplifting, Method-based, and Behaviour-driven.
Let’s look at each of these in turn, but do journal or brainstorm for at least 10 minutes on each point, to come up with your own unique plan for 2016:
Dream-focused: to win the club medal, to become the Captain/Lady Captain of your club, to drop your handicap to single-figures, to take two putts not three on the greens, to get organised enough to spend time each week practicing on the range…
Uplifting: to play with your partner, sibling or offspring on a beautiful course with a view of the ocean, to read inspiring books on the inner game like Michael Murphy’s ‘Golf in the Kingdom’, to re-watch some of the greatest duels between the game’s finest players…
Method-based: to use deep practice techniques like mediation and slow-motion drills to develop your understanding of your swing and take your practice game to the course; to practice what your swing coach has taught, but on the range and not while playing the course!
Behaviour-driven: to focus on how you show-up on the 1st tee (present, joyful, committed) rather than what you look like or how far you can hit the ball; to get to the course early enough for a proper warm-up…
As stated above, achievement will always be based on 50{c2f17feaf9643b514b931860cddc9c6f2ea00171588f8eaf96a325d9beaaeb64} philosophy (i.e. the goals and statements you’ve written down, the learning taken from last year etc.) and 50{c2f17feaf9643b514b931860cddc9c6f2ea00171588f8eaf96a325d9beaaeb64} practice, the most important one of which is to learn to quieten your mind with meditation.
Here are some reasons why you need to dedicate 15 mins each day to the practice of quietening your mind with meditation:
- The meditative state is the zone
- The quieter your mind, the more fluid your motion
- It will help you detach from negative thought-chains
- It will calm your nervous-system and keep adrenaline under your control
- You will be able to let go of swing thoughts and over focus on the mechanical
There are many ways to learn and I’m here to help you. I’m also here to prove, through my 12 years of research and almost 30 years experience that this is the ultimate mental game tool and it’s not as difficult as you might think, once you get a coach on-board, get organised and develop a daily discipline.
You can learn with me online through Skype sessions, through Personal Tuition or Intensive Study and/or by following the learning in this online course.
Until then, stay in the zone and play golf one breath at a time, one shot at a time and one hole at a time.
