The Only Tour Proven Golf Psychology System
Based on Tour Research Conducted by Dr. Graham since 1981
Failing to Perform in Competition Is Not Your Fault!
(Unless you are trying to play poorly?)
It is the result of Bad Advice and your natural reluctance to work on Your Mental Game
Hi, I'm Jon Stabler, CEO and Co-Founder with Dr. Deborah Graham of GolfPsych.
After over 25 years of Tour level research, work with over 360 Tour Pros and hundreds of competitive golfers like you, these conclusions are undeniable:
A: Most golf advice is bad or incomplete because it does not result in you playing well in competition.
B: You don't want to work on your mental game and don't know how.
These two facts guarantee that you will be inconsistent and won't play as well as you know you can in competition.
The proof of the truth of these statements is found in your own experience.
Do You Play Your Best in Competition Most of the Time?
Do You Want to Work on Your Mental Game? Do You Know How?
If you have Golf Goals like these:
- Lower your competitive stroke average
- Make the team
- Win a tournament
- Play college golf
- Play Div. I college golf
- Get a full ride college scholarship to Div. I school of choice
- Make it on Tour
- Win on Tour
- Achieve #1 Ranking- Be Best Golfer in the World
Then you have to play your best in competition. You have to do it consistently and you have to do it NOW.
Are You Performing Your Best in Competition, Consistently? Are You Making Steady Improvement?
Conclusion: The Advice you are getting is Flawed or Somehow Incomplete. Therefore it is Bad Advice because it does not have you playing your best in competition consistently.
Now to the Second Statement: You Do Not Want To Work on Your Mental Game and Don't Know How.
There are several reasons for your reluctance.
1. First of all You Just Want to Do It!
This works in other sports and athletic activities. You learn to walk, run, throw, catch, dribble, shoot, tackle, etc. by watching others, by trying it and repeating to get good at it with some simple coaching or none.
And some do these things very well, "the natural athletes".
But in golf, as you know, it doesn't work like that, even for the natural athletes. Think Michael Jordan.
2. Secondly, the Golf Model for improvement emphasizes working on your swing not your mental game.
The model for learning and improving has you focussed on your swing and short game techniques. The golf industry has told you endlessly that you must have a perfect swing and use the right equipment to play better. They use video and fast cameras to capture the swing and analyze it in infinite detail. Then they have you working endlessly to perfect your swing and buying the latest technology. Works for them, not so well for you.
You don't want to worry about the mental game. The physical game is hard enough to perfect. When you have that down it may be time to work on the mental side. After all you do play well now and then doing what you are doing. When your swing is great then you should be playing fine all the time and not need to worry about the mental game either.
You cannot see that this model is not working. They have you brain-washed to see the world this way. If this was true then why are The Tour Pros always working on their physical games? The physical work is never ending.
3. You have secrets.
We all learn at a young age that others do not know what we are thinking. You find out early that you are judged by what you say, that there are repercussions for saying the wrong things.
So you learn to keep your thoughts and secrets to yourself or they may be used against you. (by your parents, teachers, older siblings, bullies) Having to let someone in and telling them your true thoughts is un-comfortable to say the least. To admit any weakness is hard on your ego.
4. Real Mental Training is not any part of your life.
In school you are not taught any mental skills for managing your thoughts and emotions. If they suggested Thought Control in school there would be a politically incorrect uproar. (Brainwashing, Communism, Potential Abuse, bad...)
5. Our Culture Does Not Encourage Mental Training.
The role models you are encouraged to follow, or you choose to follow: strong, silent, handsome, smart, cool, in control, never go to a psychologist unless there is something wrong with you, figure it out for yourself, be independent, captain your own ship, ...or you are weak and less worthy of respect than others. Again hard on your ego.
6. Your experience with Mental Techniques is not impressive.
Add to this a lack of true knowledge of the mental game by most players and a lack of emphasis on it or good explanation by most teaching pros.
We have found most players think the mental game is the simple concepts of "one-shot-at-a-time, focus and concentrate, patience, control your emotions, think about this over the ball, visualize your shot, consistent pre-shot routines"...
Pretty simple stuff so you don't have to practice it and just need to remember it when you are playing.
Some of these mental things might work for you for a short while. Most likely they stop working and you hit some poor shots. The first thing you probably think is, "I need to fix my swing or technique".
The Mental Game, Forget About It! Didn't help, Didn't work for me.
This leaves you with a problem because you need to perform, so you get a lesson or you buy new clubs or you buy a game improvement device everybody swears by.
Easy to See, Easy to Do, Works for Them, the Magic Bullet. Unfortunately, these solutions generally don't last.
You know this is all true if you examine your own thoughts and experiences. You would not work seriously on your mental game unless you were forced to or were convinced somehow it was the only way.
Here are some of the problems with not working on your Mental Game.
The Arousal Problem-
Your personality, your experience, the comments of others and the importance for you of performing in this tournament, this round, this shot all tend to raise your level of arousal when you are competing.
Based on our research, there is an optimum level of arousal for the long game and a lower level for your short game. When you exceed those levels your physical skills decline. Your swing will change. Your touch and feel will not be as good. Your mind will be busier. Your decision-making will not be as good and you will second guess those decisions. Your focus will open. Your intuition will not work as good as normal.
In addition, you will be more emotionally reactive than normal. If you are naturally dominant, then you will get more aggressive. If you are naturally submissive you will get more defensive.
The higher the arousal above optimum the more obvious these changes are.
Just a little above optimum and the changes are subtle. You may be miss-reading your putts slightly or lipping out a lot. Your ball striking may be off a bit, and you cannot figure out why.
This is just the impact of arousal above optimum.
If you do not know what optimum arousal feels like then you don't know why things aren't working right. This leaves you guessing and probably trying to fix something in your swing or technique. It reduces your confidence.
The Left Brain Problem-
Another big problem is trying to play with your Left Brain in control. The Left Brain is thought to be good at logic and math, at memorization and calculations. It is not very athletic. Think of it as the nerd or the computer.
Your Left Brain is useful and helpful in golf for doing all the calculations before the shot or putt. It is good at getting the yardage and considering all the variables, picking the club and the shot. But it must never try to do more than that.
You must use your Right Brain to play your shots. Your Right Brain is athletic and has great feel and imagination. Let it play.
If in your pre-shot routine you are being careful to do the physical aspects and checking or judging how well you are doing them: checking your alignment, checking your swing and your swing keys, checking to make sure you are doing everything you are supposed to, then your Left Brain is trying to play the shot. This is a big problem because your Left Brain is a lousy golfer.
If over the ball you are making adjustments of line or target, then your Left Brain is engaged. If you are paying careful attention to the way you are moving the club and your body to hit the ball, then your Left Brain is trying to control your swing.
A really good mental pre-shot routine will have you using your Left Brain at the beginning for calculations and your Right Brain to play the shots. It will work really well when your level of arousal is optimum for that shot.
The Wrong Thoughts Problem-
Then we have your thoughts between shots and before the round. The wrong thoughts or memories will trigger emotions and raise arousal. Remember the problems with arousal above.
This is another big problem area.
When you are playing, what are you thinking about between shots? If you are thinking about your score and what you need to do or how you are matching up and what it means, you are wasting energy and may be raising arousal.
You may be on the outcome thoughts and emotional roller coaster. If you get good outcomes then you may get excited, raising arousal. If you get bad outcomes, then you may get frustrated or angry or try to press, raising arousal. You are being affected by your outcome thoughts and out of control.
If your thoughts before the round are anxious or fearful or excited, you are probably raising arousal before you get to the course. When you do get there you will go even higher in arousal. Remember the problems with arousal above.
You cannot just breath and relax to lower arousal, if you are not dealing effectively with these arousing thoughts. So you need awareness of your thoughts and ways to control them. You also need to get good at breathing and lowering arousal to the optimum level.
These first three mental game areas are fundamentally important to your ability to perform in competition.
The Eight Traits Problem-
Of equal or perhaps greater importance are the 8 Champion Personality Traits. These are the personality trait scores that the Champion Group of Tour players, the frequent winners, have in common and that are a lot different from the other Tour players. We found these through our scientific studies of the Tour players on the PGA, Senior PGA and LPGA Tours. Dr. Graham discovered them with her first study in 1981.
If you don't learn how to emulate the Champion personality traits when you are playing they will sabotage your efforts to do your mental skills well. They will make it harder for you to handle the three big problem areas above.
Obviously you need to know how you measure up to the Champion personality traits to do this.
These big three problem areas and the 8 Traits are a big part of anyone's mental game and ability to perform. Other mental areas that also contribute are course management, game plan, preparation to play, nutrition and hydration and wellness, effective practice and enough rest.
But here is the biggest Point I want you to take from the Mental Game discussion above:
The advice you are getting on your swing and short game may be fine but without a good Mental Game, it doesn't matter. Your swing changes, you short game technique will not work in competition if you do not have a solid mental game.
So the advice you have been getting is incomplete, not necessarily bad.
Now that you know what the problem has been, it is time for you to get serious, to take responsibility for your improvement.
The Solution to Your Inconsistency and Playing Less Than You Know You Can= Work Seriously on Your Mental Game
If you want to reach your golf goals, you have to do it now.
You have to change the way you are operating too. You must demand results from your efforts. You cannot afford to waste time.
Start by using every competitive round as a test of how well your efforts are working.
Start evaluating your mental and physical performance in competition.
We have created Our Online Coaching System (only $4.16 a month) and the Post Round Evaluation form to make it really easy to do this. The included Mental Game Scorecards make it easy to track them on the course.
Use this evaluation to guide your efforts to improve. Adjust your mental goals and methods after each round. Adjust your physical practice plan and goals after each tournament and at the end of the season.
Don't judge your progress by your scores. Judge it on these evaluations and how well you control everything you can control, like doing a really good Mental Routine for every shot, managing your thoughts and controlling your level of arousal.
What you will find is that most poor competitive performance is due to mental errors and the 8 Traits. Hopefully this will help you overcome your natural reluctance to work on your mental game seriously.
Our Mental Game Builder Package for $199 will help you do this with proven methods and customized recommendations that are right for you. It includes:
Everything you need to seriously and effectively develop your mental skills and mental game, NOW.
The knowledge you gain and the methods you learn to use will reduce the mental errors and help you get the most from the advice you are getting on your physical game. The Post Round Evaluations will help you move forward effectively.
If you have really high goals and want to progress in the fastest possible way, you should work with a Certified GolfPsych Instructor and/or attend a GolfPsych School too.
No-one will know you are using these techniques and knowledge. All they will know is that you are playing a lot better, a lot .
Our Guarantee: We stand fully behind our products, there is no risk for you. If you use these products and follow the recommendations and do not play better within 60 days of being able to play, call us to figure out why. If you still do not play better within 30 days of that call, we will be happy to refund your money in full and you can keep the reports.
In our experience you cannot afford to wait to develop your mental game.
Good Luck and Great Rounds!
Jon Stabler
CEO and Co-Founder GolfPsych
Co-Author, "The Eight Traits of Champion Golfers"
Inventor of the Mind Meter and Zone Training System
P.S. The most important mental skill is an effective Mental Pre-Shot Routine.
Just fill out this form and we will give you access to our Mental Routine Video for FREE with all of the principles of a good mental routine and add you to our newsletter list.
Please understand that this is just one part of a good mental game. Do not try to simply add it to your current physical pre-shot routine. It should be the only thing you are thinking about when playing any shot.
The routine on the video is the one Steve Veriato developed for his game with our coaching. Your routine must meet the same principles but can be quite different.
Contact us or any Certified GolfPsych Instructor to help you develop your routine and make it very effective.
I guarantee that we will never share your information. We hate Spam as much as you do.
