Working on Improvements to Swinging My Mind

I know that my mind does weird things when I’m competing. Out of the blue, I make a shot that totally surprises me. I wonder, “How did that happen?” I get distracted and frustrated. Not good for my game.

I am beginning to understand that something from my past experiences triggers an automatic reaction. A little slip in my thoughts like a doubt or a hesitation in decision-making dredges up the same thing from the past.

It reminds me of when I was training in martial arts. Gary Foo, my “master” who used to be a police officer, told me about NLP or Neuro-Linguistic Programming---that how we see, smell, hear, feel and taste affects execution. Anthony Robbins talks about the same thing. In fact NLP turned around his life.

So, I have been putting myself though some thought experiments. Creating videos in my mind of one of my best shots and anchoring it with a gesture so it replays automatically. Using the colour of a situation where I was calm, cool and collected to replace the colour when I was agitated.

It’s too early to tell how well this is working. I’ve got some practicing to do before my brain decides to accept what I want rather than what I don’t want.

Back at the Gateway Tour

I’m back on the Gateway Tour to get going in 2009. It’s a good tour with really tough competitors. I will have many opportunities to work on the rough edges in my game. Just what I need for the Canadian Tour and any Monday qualifiers I try out for.

Speaking of Canada, I enjoyed the holiday break with friends and family but not the cold and the many snow storms.

It’s great to return to the warm weather in Florida. I was surprised at how quickly I missed golf when in Canada. I did not take my golf clubs on purpose. But, I really did need a break from the game.

I filled my time with reading about fitness and deliberate practice. Geoff Colvin’s book, Talent is Overrated and Malcolm Gladwell’s Outliers were both helpful.