Senior Tip of the Week

Senior Tip of the Week

Don’t Let Stress Ruin Your Game!

By Jennifer Scott

Chances are you’ve experienced one of the following conditions during a round of golf: First Tee Jitters, Choking When Ahead or Quitting When Behind. Regardless of how we refer to them, they’re varying forms of stress, none of
which are good for your game.

What can an otherwise good golfer do to keep stress from taking over and ruining your fun? Two things:

· Distract your Conscious Mind

· Educate your Subconscious Mind

If you’ve ever tried to think your way out of a stressful situation, you know how futile that is. Here are the two steps essential in controlling stress before it starts.

Distract Your Conscious Mind

It’s very important to get rid of that nagging mental chatter before it escalates and creates physical tension in your body. This can be achieved simply by humming or whistling a favorite tune, which is the preferred method of golf-great Fuzzy Zoeller.

Here’s another distraction technique: As soon as you catch yourself thinking “what a @@## shot that was…I can’t play this game for @@###”….before that stress takes hold of your body, take a deep breath or two and think the words: “Peace, Harmony, Relax, Relax.” If you catch yourself soon enough, this technique will distract those bad thoughts away and you’ll be back to neutral – ready for your next shot.

Actually, I suggest that my golf clients do this in their pre-shot routine — especially to calm themselves down on the first tee.

First Tee Jitters are one of the reasons so many weekend golfers need First Tee Mulligans. But if you’d rather play by the rules, here’s how to handle that early fluttering in your stomach before your first shot: Don’t fight it. Use the adrenal pump of energy to your advantage, just like Jack Nicklaus used to do.

Focus your attention on your target while you take a couple of deep breaths. You’ll find this will immediately calm you down. Got tension in your arms and shoulders? Do “gorilla arms,” which is the rapid shaking of your hands and arms almost as if you were flicking water off your hands. Then take a smooth practice swing towards your target. If you like it, say “just like that” to yourself. Step up to the ball, take another look at your target, burn that image into your brain, and swing.

Watch your ball sail out to your target. Sure, you can relax and enjoy the compliments. But mostly you feel good because you’ve learned how to manage those First Tee Jitters.

Remember, the key is to mobilize the anxiety that’s trying to take over. Take control of it rather than let it control you.

Choking happens in every sport. In golf, fear causes tightening in the arms and shoulders, restricting a smooth flowing swing which in turn causes hitting fat, chunking, chili dips, worm burners and pulled putts.

And it never feels good after you quit mentally when stress causes these ugly shots. So don’t go there. Instead, use these techniques whenever you find yourself getting nervous. They’ll help you turn around your mood as well as your performance.

Educate Your Subconscious Mind

Thinking is Conscious activity and usually the root of stress. For example, if you think, “On this water hole, I’ll use an old ball, so if I hit it into the lake, it won’t be so bad.” You know what happens next. Plunk!

Obviously, you didn’t want the ball to go in the water, so why did you hit it there? Because your Subconscious took over your swing.

Your Subconscious Mind doesn’t understand negatives like “not” or “don’t.” It functions through imagery and emotion. It sees the lake you’re gazing at, senses the emotion attached to it and obediently makes it your new target.

So in order to stay out of the water, you’ve got to concentrate on the positive. Focus on the target and visualize the trajectory of where you want the ball to go. (And make sure you breathe before that shot to release tension.) This is a universal truth, and it works whether you’re driving, pitching or putting.

You’ll play better the whole round if you’ve educated your Subconscious Mind to respond the way you want it to. Obviously, you can’t do this on the golf course. It happens at home, in your office or anywhere away from the course where you can relax and learn the techniques of Self Hypnosis.

By the way, Self Hypnosis is safe, easy to learn and must be practiced on a regular basis if you want to let new positive suggestions sink down into your Subconscious Mind and Body. Today, many of the top PGA touring professionals use Self Hypnosis (including a golfer you may have heard of whose initials are TW. He learned it when he was 11 years old).

Once you master the skills necessary to Distract Your Conscious Mind and Educate Your Subconscious, you’ll be able to eliminate the destructive effects of stress, both on the golf course and in your everyday life. Then when your golf partner says, “Watch out for water on the right,” you’ll be able to reply “What water?”

Jennifer Scott, C.Ht., is a Certified Clinical Hypnotherapist who practices in Scottsdale Arizona. Jennifer’s CD, “Own the Zone,” received the top review in GOLF Magazine and she is the only woman with a chapter in George Peper’s book, “The Secret of Golf.” She has also been a special presenter at the Golf Academy of Arizona for the last 5 years. You can email Jennifer with questions or comments at jscott@ownthezonegolf.com or call her at 480 483 6941.

TIP OF THE MONTH

For you fat skulling chippers of the ball...

Practice cross-handed chips - it will help you from the right hand dominating, which causes most of the problems.

The other possible help for this is to chip only with the left hand when you practice.

Do that at home with plastic wiffle balls and chip onto the couch.

These will help.

I have saved the golfing world! - Ken Green