The Benefits of Relaxation for Athletes

excerpt from The Mindset for Winning by John D. Curtis: In pressure situations, most average athletes tend to get too aroused, or too stressed. This is why they remain average athletes and do not get the maximum from their abilities. To achieve optimum performance on a regular basis, the ability to relax and control this tendency to become over-aroused is necessary....Listed below are some of the major benefits an athlete will derive from the ability to relax:

• Relaxation prepares one for mental imagery.
• Relaxation improves concentration ability.
• Relaxation helps control arousal level.
• Relaxation helps one sleep better.
• Relaxation helps improve body awareness.
• Relaxation reduces recovery time.
• Relaxation decreases minor illnesses and symptoms of illness.
• Relaxation increases sociability.

To learn more the benefits of relaxation for athletes and Dr. Curtis's other work, please visit this link: http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/0961145633/ref=sr_1_olp_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1197293100&sr=1-2

Why Don't They Feel Pressure

excerpts from Mental Toughness Training for Sports by James E. Loehr Pressure is something you put on yourself. The only difference between playing a sport competitively and playing it for fun is pressure. For lots of athletes, playing for fun is easy and playing competitively is too much work. For them, competition is hard, threatening, frustrating, and unnerving. But the game is played in exactly the same way in both cases. You keep score the same, the rules don't change, and you are often playing the same people. In most cases, the only difference is the difference you make of it in your head! .....Situations are not nervous or anxious - people are. The sooner you accept that pressure comes from within and not from without, the sooner you can start shutting it down. To learn more about handling and avoiding pressure, and Dr. Loehr's other work, please visit: http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/0452267951/ref=pd_bbs_sr_olp_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1197293969&sr=1-1

15 Tour Secrets to Playing Your Best Golf

this an excerpt from Good to Great Golf by Rob Gilbert and John Sikes, Jr.

1. Play the round in your mind the night before which gives you an extra practice round.
2. Make a list of things that you do especially well and say them out loud on the way to the course.
3. Get to the course one hour ahead of tee time leaving enough time for personal things so that there is no rushing.
4. Leave all personal problems on the seat of the car. They will be there when you return.
5. Warm up the body and the mind on the practice area. Do not attempt to make mechanical swing changes. These can be worked out later.
6. Practice putting first, then hit balls on the range. Make your last practice shot a good one with the club that you are going to hit on the first tee.
7. Commit to walking, talking and acting like a winner no matter what happens, right down to body language. A good idea might be to think about your favorite golfer and act like he or she would act.
8. Make a good yardage book during the practice round keeping record of clubs hit to different targets.
9. Have a game plan and stick to it.
10. Commit to giving every shot 100%. Perform the best you can on each shot, one at a time.
11. Anchor the good shots. Pause 3 to 5 seconds after making a great shot and remember exactly how it felt. This will put the shot into your muscle memory. When a similar shot is coming up you can "pull it up" out of your memory before taking a swing.
12. Be positive about everything. Negativity will kill your game. Stay absolutely present oriented in your focus.
13. Be totally target oriented for the entire round.
14. Stick to your pre-shot routine on EVERY shot.
15. Play as if the match is being held at your favorite course with your favorite holes, favorite weather and favorite playing partners - no matter what the actual conditions are.

To learn more about the work of Dr. Rob Gilbert and John Sikes, Jr., please visit: http://www.goodtogreatgolf.com/

Things that Separate Great Collegiate Golfers from Average Collegiate Golfers

written by Jon Whithaus

1. Some things that separate great collegiate golfers from average collegiate golfers: How you handle missed greens, both mentally and physically: Mentally, the best players are not bothered my missing greens because they believe in their ability to handle the situation. Physically, when the best players are anywhere within 100 yards of the hole, they get the ball in the hole in 2 shots a high percent of the time. The other percent of the time they get the ball in the hole in 3 shots. They NEVER take 4 shots to get the ball in the hole.
2. Predictable ball flight: Great players always know which way they will curve each shot. The ball flight does not have to be pretty, just predictable.
3. Handling Wind: Great players can control the trajectory of their shots with set-up, club choice and swing speed/tempo. The ball of a great player is rarely at the mercy of the wind.
4. Distance Wedges: Great players are excellent at controlling the distance of wedge shots between 30-130 yards. Great players hit a high percentage of wedges to within 10 feet of the hole. Great players NEVER miss greens with wedges.
5. Picking the correct targets: Great players pick targets that will increase the chances for success on the next shot, without exposing too much risk. After great players pick targets, they 100% trust their decision and executive the shot to the best of their ability. They leave very little (if any) room for self-doubt.
6. Belief: Great players have the belief that they will score very well. Low scores do not surprise them. They are not concerned with mistakes on past holes, because they truly believe in their own ability do well on the next hole.
7. Fitness: Great players understand the need to be fit, strong and flexible. They know that they will not reach their potential without preparing their body. Great players make fitness a priority.
8. Routine and pace: Great players have a routine that is quick, but not hurried. They have practiced and ingrained a routine that allows them to assess the situation and make a decision. The pace of the routine is quick enough that it allows their athleticism to take over and allows little time (or no time) for self-doubt.
9. Handling Setbacks: Great players use setbacks to spur themselves to re-focus and re-evaluate their efforts in order to find a way to succeed the next time. Setbacks are often the catalyst that pushes a great player even closer to their potential.
10. Self-motivated: Great players are motivated to prepare for the opportunity to win. Great players do not need outside motivation from coaches and teammates. They do, however, excel within a team of other great players. Great players gain momentum from other great players.
11. Enjoyment of competition: Great players love to compete. They have fun competing and they rarely show frustration during competition. Great players end each round of golf wishing that there were more holes to play. (Average players are happy to get through a round and get the competition over with). Great players enjoyed the competition so much that they are eager to prepare for the next round and they leave the course in a positive frame of mind. You probably also realize that becoming a great player requires a lot time an individual effort. There are also many other social and work related activities that will challenge your time management. However, never lose site of the priorities that you must maintain to be a successful student and golfer at the collegiate level. There are four parts of your life that must come first: religion, family, academics and golf. The order of these four elements may vary from person to person. Also, the order of these four elements may change for each person based the time of the year. But make no mistake about it, if you want to be a successful student and collegiate golfer; family, religion, academics and golf must always come before social events, video games, etc.

8 Topics Essential to Getting the Most Out of Your Preparation

written by Jon Whithaus

Eight Topics to focus your preparation towards:

1. Compete as much as possible in tournaments, especially amateur tournaments such as state amateur qualifiers and U.S. Amateur qualifiers.
2. Short Game: Work extremely hard on all aspects of your short game. Usually the one thing incoming players notice is the how good older players are at getting the ball up-and-down from anywhere inside 100 yards.
3. Mental Improvements: Having belief in your ability to executive the correct shot. Belief in your ability to shoot scores under 70. Ability to compete without becoming frustrated with mistakes. Patience and letting things happen and not forcing things to happen.
4. Course Management: Becoming better at picking the correct targets. Becoming better at trusting your choices. Becoming better at preparing for a particular course. Becoming better at reading greens and green complexes.
5. Fitness: Any player will not reach his potential if he not fit, strong and flexible.
6. Student of the Game: Reading books on important competitive elements in golf. Topics such as sports psychology (especially books by Bob Rotella, David Cohn, Richard Gordin), short game (especially books by Dave Pelz), the rules of golf, golf course architecture, etc.
7. Hang around the best: Play, practice and/or speak with best players that you can find. This may include other college players (past or present), club pros, club champions, etc. Ask the pro at your home course to help you set up weekly or bi-weekly games with the best players. When you are with the best players, observe them and ask questions; then write down what you notice about their actions and habits, and what they say.
8. Work with someone you trust: Either with your head pro or someone that you trust, take a few lessons and develop a fundamentally sound set-up and routine that you can depend on to produce the shots that you visualize. Make sure to take notes or ask your instructor to write down comments. You will need to refer to those ideas during the future months.

Self-Belief and Confidence

written by Jon Whithaus Self-belief and Confidence: I believe when a player successfully trains himself to control his thoughts, he gains confidence and self-belief. I believe that true self belief and confidence can not occur from winning a competition. True confidence occurs when: 1. You have persisted at mental training to handle situations, 2. The situation occurs, and 3. Your mind performs as you had practiced. 4. Then Self-belief and Confidence grow. Written by Jon Whithaus

Welcome

Welcome to the Mental Golf Mastery blog. The blogs and information that you will find on this site will provide the competitive player with insights to the mental barriers that often keep excellent players form playing the golf of their dreams. This blog is managed by the Central Ohio Golf Academy and Academy Director Jon Whithaus.