Mindful Golf

Mindful Golf

Mindfulness is consciously bringing awareness to your here-and-now experience. Paying attention in a particular way: on purpose, in the present moment, and non-judgmentally. So what does this have to do with golf I hear you ask? And how can I learn to play mindful golf?

Mindful golf

Golfers have a tendency to be very caught up in either the past or the future. For example, Past; “Damn – why did I just hit that shot, I knew it was the wrong club to use, man what an idiot!” Future; “If I sink this putt that will be a birdie and that will give me the best round I’ve had in ages!”

And the problem with past and future thinking is you lose the ability to be present. Your mind is tied up in very judgmental thoughts and these judgemental thoughts can cause your brain to go into a ‘threat state’ and prepare your body for ‘fight or flight’. Certainly not the relaxed state you need to be in to hit with flow and feel.

 Mindful golfers focus on what is happening rather that what just happened. Their minds are calm they are in the present, right here right now with no attachment to the past or future. They play golf in the present, knowing that this moment right now is the only one available

How to Become a Mindful Golfer

Watch this 2 minute tip video to see how to become more mindful on the golf course and start playing out of your mind!. If you enjoy the video please click “like” and share it with your friends.

What you focus on expands

Focus on the target

What you focus on expands

Think about what you do want

When you step up to take your shot your brain has a tendency to focus on the things that you think about the most, whether it is positive or negative. If you say to your self “don’t hit it into the water”, then there is all likelihood that you will do exactly that! Retrain your brain to think about and focus on what you do want. Pick a target and say to yourself “hit to the target”. Chances are that is where your ball will land!

Your call to action:

Try on this new thought process during your next game.Focus on what you do want.  If you catch yourself thinking about the dont’s then reframe the thought into what you do want.

Peter Senior Held his Nerve to win the Australian Open 2012

Who could forget the thrill of Aussie favourite Peter Senior winning the Australian Open in Sydney in November under extremely trying weather conditions! He simply didn’t let it get to him.

Peter Senior held his nerve and showed golf is as much about mental toughness as grace when he won after finishing the 18th under spotlights.”These are the conditions I thrive in,” he said. Senior confessed conditions were so horrible that when play was suspended at lunchtime he did not want to go back out. However, he also knew that the weather brought him right back into the tournament. Peter Senior has held his nerve in “near impossible” conditions to become the oldest Australian Open golf champion. ”If the conditions were good, the really good players would have shone this week,” he said.

Senior shot an even-par 72 to win the Open by a shot over Canberra’s Brendan Jones, describing it as one of the highlights of his life to share the win with his son Mitch.

Peter Senior with son Mitch. Picture: Brett Costello Source: The Daily Telegraph

The 53-year-old regular on the U.S. Champions Tour shot an even-par 72 in the final round at The Lakes to become the oldest Australian Open champion. Senior finished with a total of 4-under 284, keeping his composure while several other contenders struggled with the winds to drop down the field. Fellow Australian Brendan Jones was second after a 71, while countryman Cameron Percy finished third after a 73, two strokes behind. England’s Justin Rose finished in a tie for fourth after a 76, three strokes behind Senior.

Play was suspended for three hours shortly before midday, tournament officials quickly justified for their decision when a Channel 7 television tower crashed on the 18th hole. Winds hovered around 50km/h with frequent gusts of 80km/h. Of the 26 players who started the day under par, only six remained so at the end of the day.

Darren Walton from Stuff.co.nz reports:

With his teenage son Mitchell carrying his bag, Senior tallied four-under for the tournament after rounds of 75-68-69-72 to claim his 30th professional win – and first since the 2010 Australian PGA Championship at Coolum.

“This is probably the most special,” Senior said.

“We’ve been closer over in America. We’ve lost three playoffs, come pretty close in a few other events and just once I would have liked to have said: ‘Mitch, well done mate, we’ve done it.’”

The Queenslander’s second Open victory on a drama-charged afternoon comes after his first as a 30-year-old at back in 1989.

“I’m getting a bit long in the tooth now. I really thought these days were over,” Senior said.

“God, golf is such a funny game. One minute you think you’re down, the next minute you’re up.

“I didn’t play particularly well this week, but I got it up and down out of some places all week and today was no exception.”
The previous oldest Open winner was the legendary Peter Thomson at 43 at Kooyonga in 1972.

As virtually the entire field went backwards in winds gusting up to 80kph, Senior dropped just two shots all day – at the fifth and seventh holes – but birdies on the par-4 10th and 12th holes proved priceless.

Adam Scott crashes and loses British Open

Adam Scott’s golf gremlin took over on the last 4 holes today. He was leading by four and then bogeyed the last four holes to lose by one shot to Ernie Els. Scott says he “cannot justify” his spectacular capitulation during the final round.  This is a common problem for many golfers – even the top professionals. In the mind game of golf we call it “being too attached to the outcome”  On the 15th he felt he had it in the bag, he was already imagining holding up that trophy!  All he had to do was par the last four holes.

What happened you ask.  His golf gremlin started carrying on in his head, it put his brain into a threat state as  if he was ready for fight or flight. With the extra cortisol coursing through his body he was now unable to be in a flow state and experience real feel. Scott blamed it on the poor putting in those last few holes, but that wasn’t it.  He whole body was tense, he was making poor decisions and as a result he bogeyed and lost.

Adam Scott crashes on the last four holes to lose the British Open by one stroke.

So how do you quieten the golf gremlin I hear you ask. One of the easiest ways is to get very present. What I mean by that is do not focus on the outcome in the future (that is winning) or the last few poor shots or decisions you may have made. Instead focus on the hear and now, try listening to your breathing, or feeling the spongy grass under your feet, or listening to the sounds around you. All these things help you quieten your mind.

Adam Scott will be replaying those last four holes over and over trying to work out where he went wrong.  It was the 5 inches between his ears that was the problem.

Golf is a game played between the ears

Golf is a game played between the ears.

Kim Bi-O proves it’s mind over matter as he wins his second back to back One Asia title in May. He was struggling to get the ball of the ground during practice and many onlookers thought his game was doomed. But he went on to win after playing an almost flawless round.

What happened during the walk from the practice area to the first tee some might ask.  At an after match interview he was asked what was going through your mind after such poor preparation. Grant Dodd courtesy of ONe Asia Tour describes his answer:

Without wavering, Kim confidently replied that he had hit some solid draws on the range, and as a result was happy with the way the process had evolved. There was no mention of the worm-burners and ‘wounded duck’ ball flights that would have sent most young professionals to the first tee in a quivering mess, and certainly no suggestion that self doubt was at any stage a factor before, or during the final round.

Kim-Bo makes it mind over matter and wins.

It demonstrated once again the truth of the adage that ‘golf is played between the ears’. So many young golfers have talent. Many of them have an innate ability to hit the ball with a purity of strike that makes others envious. Yet the chief reason why many prodigies fail to make an enduring markin the professional game is because they often lack the ability to rise above adversity when confronted with situations and mental challenges similar to that faced by Kim Bi-o.

To play great golf you have to have a strong  belief that you can do it. That you can play the kind of golf you have been visualising. It is all about walking onto the first tee with confidence and belief, no matter what your warm up was like.

Your expectations need to be realistic yet not pie in the sky. If you go into your game worrying about who you will score today or a bad feel about your swing it will become a self-fulfilling prophecy.  As Henry Ford once said “If you think you can or think you can’t you are absolutely right”.

Imagine yourself playing great golf, hitting that spot on the fairway, landing it close to the flag and then sinking that putt.  If you can’t imagine it you won’t be able to perform it.