A Different Kind of Golf Lesson

I had a client yesterday who was interested in help mentally for his golf game. He was a 7 handicap but it had jumped to a 15 when he started to take golf lessons. He’s finally found a teacher he is satisfied with, but is still struggling with the mental side of the game. He had much to tell me and was very excited about finding a golf psychology consultant in the area.

I thought I would point out some issues that seem to be common in today’s society. I look at it as a western/eastern spiritual approach to the game. Much of the time the people that I work with have a very western- Type A personality approach to the golf game. Often times they have made it successfully in their businesses and other sports by working extremely hard. Often times this approach does not work in their golf game. They come to me frustrated and determined to get it right. With this, I try to get them to understand that working hard is great for wanting to improve their golf game, but the mentality of working hard often produces poor results because of tension in the golf swing equals high sores.

With this client I worked on breathing exercises. He was talking as if propelled by a motor. His energy was very excited but it was coming out all over the place. He needed to be more centered and calm deep within himself. We worked on breathing. Often times just reminded him to breathe down deep into his stomach seemed to channel his energy and calm him down a bit.
He also tended to beat himself up a bit which leads to piling more strokes on. When someone gets emotional like this a technique called EFT is great. This is done with a series of tapping while repeating out loud, “Even though I feel like beating myself up, I deeply love and respect myself.” This also calmed him down a lot.

A lot of people in our culture also have a hard time staying in the present. That is why practicing staying in the present throughout the day is so important. Often times people are regretting over the past or anxious or excited about the future. The key to playing great golf is staying in the present. Taking a deep breath and just noticing how you are in a given moment can help you develop your presence in the moment.

Seeing someone who is trained in these areas that can help point out key points while you talk to them can quickly bring lots of awareness to your growth and journey into yourself and your golf game. Hypnosis takes it even deeper because it works with a deeper state of awareness. So when I hypnotize him I will write about that. Happy Golfing!

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