The Psychology of a Confident Golf Swing
Adam Eason
The Psychology of a Confident Golf Swing Part one.
Before focusing on the subject of developing confidence with ones golf swing I want you all to think about this notion; you cannot just "Think" yourself a wonderful golf swing. Otherwise, we would all just think about pots of gold arriving in our front rooms and we'd all be rich. However, the pots of gold do not arrive just by thinking about them, likewise, our golf swing does not transform into that of Tiger Woods just by thought alone. Something needs to be done to get confident about that golf swing. So, this is the first notion that I want you to think about before I talk about building a powerful level of confidence in your golf swing.
When anyone is developing a new confident golf swing, there needs to be an element of action that is taken to alter and update the golf swing properly and effectively. Something new needs to be done enough times for the unconscious mind to learn it.
The early success philosophers and gurus like Stephen Covey and Napoleon Hill recognised that in order for a new behaviour to happen unconsciously and automatically, it needs to be done for 21 consecutive days. So then the new behaviour is learned thoroughly by the unconscious mind and your confidence in your golf swing can begin to happen on auto-pilot. So, any confidence with your golf swing needs some conscious effort and repeated application for your new confident golf swing to happen unconsciously.
Now, when you have a new way of doing things, the other, old, unwanted way of doing things doesn't just wither away instantly. It remains in the bank. If you were confined to a wheelchair, the muscles in your legs would begin to experience atrophy, the same way that when certain parts of your brain are not used, they experience atrophy; this is why it is difficult for us learn languages when we are much older and school kids find it a bit easier; that part of our brain has not been used for a long time.
The old golf swing needs significant time to experience atrophy. Imagine that here and now as you read this, your unconscious mind has carved out a distinct way of you swinging your golf club and this way is well defined by repitition from the past. Every time you step up to perform your golf swing, your unconscious mind carries on down that well trodden pathway that you have always gone down; your golf swing is the same. It is the only way that it knows and is the easiest route to take.
When you create an alternative, confident new golf swing, you are carving out a new pathway that needs to be trodden down and paved well several times, so that your unconscious knows it is there and knows that it can take this route in certain circumstances, events and situations.
Ok. So then with repeatedly taking the new pathway, the old pathway can begin to overgrow and have its own atrophy. However, we all know how easy it is to unearth an old pathway and drift back to our old golf swing; if we allow ourselves to go back along that way, it can begin to get carved out again.
These notions can form the foundation of any programme of change. However we are focussing on your golf swing here today and how to develop enhanced confidence with your golf swing.
When I first became involved with the world of hypnosis, NLP and personal development, I read a wonderful book by a man called Dr Maxwell Maltz entitled "Psycho-cybernetics" that formed the basis of many modern ideas as to how we understand personalities. Dr Maltz was a plastic surgeon and he found that if he changed the way people looked, often it changed their personality too. When people looked different, they also felt different. Often people that had lacked confidence, were transformed into more confident, outgoing people who lived life with more zest.
What perplexed Dr Maltz is that some of clients did not seem to get happier. Some, whose appearance had changed a lot, didn't seem to change their feelings. They still felt lacking in confidence.
So what Dr Maltz concluded was that cosmetic surgery would not benefit the client if they had a poor image of themselves. His solution was to create a visualisation technique that helped them to change their inner self-image. He had some wonderful results. So when the clients changed the way they felt about themselves, they became happier and more fulfilled and their confidence grew. You know that when you feel great about your golf swing, your golf swing is better and you are more competent with your golf swing. The technique is simple, here it is;
Firstly, imagine your golf swing as you would ideally like your golf swing to be. Think about how you would look if you were as happy and confident as you wanted to be with your golf swing. How do you walk? What do you wear? What expressions are on your face? How do you move? Take all the time necessary for this, to really get an idea of how you are when you are confident with your golf swing.
Secondly, when you know what you will look like, make a film clip inside your mind, in your imagination of yourself being happy, confident and deeply self-assured with your golf swing.
Thirdly, imagine yourself stepping into that film, imagine seeing through those eyes, hearing through those ears, and feel those confident feelings, think to yourself; how do I know the confident feelings? Where in my body are they? Enjoy feeling and being exactly how you want to be.
Lastly for this exercise, imagine that when you get up tomorrow you awaken as that ideal you, feeling this good and imagine your golf swing going as you want it to and be confident about your golf swing.
Remember what I said at the beginning, you must use this technique over and over in order to get the most from it and really make yourself a confident golf swing. Look out for part two of this article of getting confident with your golf swing.
About the author: To receive Adam's amazing bi-monthly newsletter, packed with modern, innovative, psychological tips, techniques and information visit http://www.adam-eason.com You'll also receive a free instantly downloadable hypnosis session to enjoy at home.
The latest information and news on Golf:
COMMENTARY | Golf is the type of sport that needs all the help it can get when it comes to market share and coverage in the United States.
Rio fails to show Olympic golf course contracts
SAO PAULO (AP) The ownership dispute over the land set to be used for the Olympic golf course for 2016 took another twist Friday when a court ordered the city of Rio de Janeiro to hand over the contracts with the owner of the land - and city officials said no such documents existed.
Golf-Winners of the Byron Nelson Championship
May 20 (Reuters) - Winners of the Byron Nelson Championshipsince 1980, following the one-shot victory by American JasonDufner at the TPC at Las Colinas in Irving, Texas, on Sunday(U.S. ...
Golf-American Dufner wins Byron Nelson with late birdie
May 20 (Reuters) - American Jason Dufner holed a 25-footbirdie putt at the last hole to win his second PGA Tour title inthree weeks with a dramatic one-shot victory at the Byron NelsonChampionship in Irving, Texas on Sunday. Dufner, who made his breakthrough on the circuit at lastmonth's New Orleans Classic, pumped his right fist incelebration as his ball dropped into the cup for athree-under ...
Golf: Dick King still swinging despite lung disease
For Dick King, golf has become a breath of fresh air, and for him, thatand#8217;s saying a lot.
Golf Simulator Leader Full Swing Golf and Guru Training Systems Enter Exclusi...
SAN DIEGO, CA-- - Full Swing Golf, worldwide golf simulator leader, has entered into a long term exclusive distribution agreement with Guru Training Systems, creators of Swinguru Pro, the world's first ...
Golf-World Match Play Championship final scores
May 20 (Infostrada Sports) - Scores World Match PlayChampionship final in Casares, Spain on Sunday. Nicolas Colsaerts (Belgium)beat Graeme McDowell (Britain) by 1 hole
Callaway Announces upro mx+ Golf GPS Device
CARLSBAD, Calif., May 17, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Callaway Golf Company (NYSE: ELY) today announced that its new upro mx+? golf GPS device will be available in stores starting May 30th. The upro mx+ is the ...
Rio fails to display Olympic golf course contracts
SAO PAULO (AP) -- The ownership dispute over the land set to be used for the Olympic golf course for 2016 took another twist Friday when a court ordered the city of Rio de Janeiro to hand over the contracts it with the owner of the land - and city officials said no such documents existed.
Montgomerie blames golf fans for lost majors
Scottish golfer Colin Montgomerie, who has been at odds with American golf fans for more than a decade, blamed them for his lack of success in the U.S. on Thursday.