Many students of mine tend to be to hard on themselves on the golf course.
Constantly berating yourself is a recipe for disaster.
The dialog that you hold with yourself is critical to your development
as a player and as a person.
Self-talk can be encouraging or it can be detrimental, according to how
you present it to yourself. Remember: Your mind doesn't have a sense of
humor. If you program it to do something and the message is negative,
it will respond accordingly.
This is why it's important to monitor your inner dialog; what you say to
yourself after a poor shot can be self-destructive.
Even the best players in the world are guilty of this mistake, and if
they don't make corrections immediately, the round or tournament is lost.
We've all beaten ourselves up after a bad day on the links, or when
things don't go our way. If you watch a tournament on television,
periodically you'll see a player bad-mouthing themselves. They might
be saying things such as, "I'm the worst golfer in the world," or "Why
can't I hit that simple putt? I stink." These statements or other
expletives will bring the golfer down.
The key is to change how you talk to yourself while practicing or on
the course. I've taught and worked with a number of sports psychologists
over the years who gave me some good insight about how to break
negative self-talk patterns.
First, you need to be aware of situations when negative thoughts can occur.
Here's a simple method to get you started on the right track: The
next time you head out to play a round of golf, put a handful of
pennies in your right pants pocket. Not too many to weigh you
down, though.
Every time - and I mean every time - you become aware of negative
images or internal dialog where you're speaking poorly to yourself,
transfer one penny from your right pocket to your left pocket. By
learning to monitor your thoughts, you're on the right path to
correcting your inner demons.
When you're finished playing, count out the number of pennies that
made the journey from one pants pocket to the other. Then write down
the total as well ... try to remember what words you used, and
what situations prompted them.
Then, start setting some new, clearer goals. In this case, the
goal is to attempt to cut down on the number of negative self-talk
speeches. Just like you have goals to shoot certain scores, you
need to apply this same attitude with correcting this
debilitating self-talk.
Once you have been able to calmly re-examine your round and
your outbursts of negativity, imagine yourself reacting to
those circumstances in a different way and replacing those
negative statements with positive thoughts. Learn to laugh
with yourself and say, "I can do this shot," and other such
positive feedback to reinforce your self-worth.
With each round, make a conscious choice to reduce the
negativity and try to remain positive - remember, it's only
a game. With some diligent practice and commitment, you're
on your way to erasing bad thoughts about your golf game.
Now doesn't that make more cents!
