NLP and GOLF Performance
I am a very avid golfer and currently play off a handicap of 12.
I have long been using various NLP and Hypnosis techniques to improve my mental strength and credit this approach for bringing my handicap down fairly quickly from 18 to 12.
As keen golfers, we are all aware that the sport is 90% mental and how many times do we get to the end of a great round and fall apart for the last two holes ? Or be in a matchplay situation and let the match slip away near the end?
I used to have this problem but since I have been using NLP and Hypnosis, my mental strength has improved incredibly and I KNOW and BELIEVE that I ALWAYS finish strongly and I KNOW that my mental strength will always carry me through a tough situation. My self belief in my game has increased hugely and this is all from consistantly listening to various hypnosis downloads that relate to golf.
I have several different topics that I use from time to time, some for putting, some for visualisation of standing on the first tee for a matchplay event. At the very least, each of the sound files is incredibly relaxing and even though at the time of listening, you might not think it is doing you any good, or you might not even remember what you have heard if you have dozed off, it is INCREDIBLE how, at various points during a round, something that has been stored in your unconscious mind will pop up at the relevant time.
I have lost count of how many times I have been standing over a putt and the thought
of ' visualising the line and feeling incredibly calm ' will pop into my mind seemingly from absolutely nowhere.
Or how I can stand on the first tee and hear this thought in my mind:
' feel the warmth of the sun on your back and shoulders and remember the image of one of your best drives, hear the sounds around you, remember how easy it felt, picture the exact flight of the ball ' .
Anyone who wants to improve their mental approach to their golf game should really give one of these sound files a try and find out for themselves how very effective they are.
Please don't doubt it before you try it!!
The latest one that I listened to was just yesterday, called Get into the zone by
Hypnosis Downloads.com
I was due to play the away match of a home and away county league match.
I had won the home match the day before 4 and 2 but was well aware that my opponent who played off 9 would be very strong on her own course. I play off 12 and the format is scratch match play. I have been enjoying my golf so much more recently and playing very consistently since I learned how to let go of the fear of losing.
Previously, if I played badly and lost a match I would drive home feeling very down and would go over all the bad holes and missed chances, but I have come to realise that all I was doing was reinforcing all the negative elements of my game. These days, I can regulate my emotions to such an extent that I enjoy the good parts of my game, re-live the good shots etc, and the wins but all emotion is removed from losing or playing a bad shot. This totally takes away the misery on the drive home which then frees me up to really go for my shots especially at the last stages of a competition or match because I have no fear of feeling badly if I lose.
How cool is that!
( more on how I worked on this process on another page and my blog )
Anyway, to get back to yesterday's match.
I knew that I just had to play steadily to win the match as I had a 4-2 lead from the day before. My opponent started off with a birdie, my ball was in the bunker, one down. ( no emotion )
The thoughts from the Get into the zone download were very much in my mind and I stayed totally calm. The next hole was a par four, 2nd shot was over a hill to a downhill green that was out of sight. I walked to the top of the hill to get a line to the green, I struck the ball beautifully right on line and hoped it would turn out alright. When I got over the hill and saw the green, there was my ball 6" from the hole for a gimme birdie !!
What a confidence boost, I allowed myself to really enjoy the feeling and walked to the next hole all square. I really felt as though anything I hit would work out for me and sure enough I was 2 over par for the first 9 and already 4 up. I did manage to win the match quite easily by 6 and 5. I had 3 birdies during the round and when we walked in after the 15th hole I was only 3 over gross.
It was a very satisfying day but most importantly I was pleased with the fact that my attitude stayed totally positive all day and I managed to play 'one shot at a time' and not let my mind wander and start thinking of the score or the result etc. Yes, of course, I practise quite regularly and I am hitting the ball well at the moment but the biggest improvement overall has to be the control of my mind and the amount of enjoyment I am getting from the game.
My opponent made a very special comment that really made me smile:
" nothing seemed to faze you at all".
PERFECT!!
This is the hypnosis download I was referring to from hypnosis downloads.com:
Get into the zone
with the great sportsmen and women of the world
Wouldn't it be great to be able to enter the 'zone' that draws from you the very best of which you are capable whenever you wanted or needed?
What is the 'zone'? What happens there?
The 'zone' is a place in your mind where time seems to stand still or even disappear. Your movements become totally fluid and natural, yet effortlessly controlled. Tasks transcend the mundane, reaching a perfection of focus far beyond everyday concentration. When you enter the zone, even though your body may be incredibly active, your mind has a center of beautiful stillness and peace, utterly free of concern.
You can find yourself in the zone 'by accident', as if just transported there on a magic carpet. Suddenly, everything you are doing becomes easy and effortless, every action true and right in its very essence. People from all walks of life have experienced this phenomenon, where they stop 'doing' what they are doing and instead 'become' what they are doing. So there is no distinction between the 'actor' and the 'act'.
What does it take to get into the zone?
Great performers in every field, and especially in sports, spend more time in the zone than others, and from their experience we have learned what it takes to be able to enter the zone at will.
To reliably enter the zone you need:
- exclusive focus on the immediate
- good emotional regulation
- highly developed functional skill
- control of physical, emotional and mental states
And the good news is that you can train to get into the zone more frequently and reliably, so that your sports performance can reach the highest level of which you are capable. And you don't know what that might be…
Training to get in the zone more frequently, more reliably
The first thing, of course, is to work hard on the practical aspects of your sport. Undertake the necessary training and coaching. Put in the hours. Ensure that you develop all your skills to the best of your conscious ability. Look after your physical and mental health by eating well and relaxing deeply and often and making sure that you have other satisfying activities and relationships in your life.
And the second thing is to use the powers of your unconscious mind.
Using hypnosis to augment your ability to enter the zone
Get into the zone is an audio hypnosis session which is in effect a training program for the mind. It will teach you how to harness the amazing abilities of your 'unconscious' - the aspects of your mind which are outside your awareness and apparently beyond your control.
Being 'in the zone' is, in fact, being in a particular kind of 'trance state'. Get into the zone will train you in the art of entering this trance state by relaxing deeply and completely clearing your mind of all other concerns. This process is highly enjoyable and beneficial to the health of your mind and body, so you will find it a real pleasure to learn.
Powerful hypnotic suggestions will enable your mind to build a compelling neurological blueprint for how you want to be when giving your best sporting performance, thus making it more and more natural and inevitable that you will reach the highest level possible. Repeated listening will ensure that you deeply embed these new patterns in your brain so that you can activate them at will.
