Golfing with Your Eyes Closed: Mastering Visualization Techniques for Exceptional Golf (NTC SPORTS/FITNESS) - Softcover

Macy, Erin

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0071615075 ISBN 13: 9780071615075

Publisher: McGraw-Hill Education, 2009

Synopsis

The body achieves what the mind believes . . .

Visualize yourself on the green. Smell the freshly mown grass, feel the leather grip in your hands, see the ball sinking into the hole. Mental rehearsal like this is used by golf's greatest athletes to give them the edge they need to play round after perfect round. Now you can get that same winning edge with this unique mental training program for golfers at all levels.

Written by two sports psychology consultants, Golfing with Your Eyes Closed is filled with practical exercises, key points, and professional advice--all created to help you get mentally tough and take your game to the next level.

You'll turn visualization into reality as you learn how to:

• Build your muscle memory with imagery practice
• Turn nervous energy into powerful performance
• Avoid choking under pressure
• Refocus after concentration lapses
• Develop a consistently positive mindset
• Write your own script and realize your golf ambitions

About this title

About the Author

Erin Macy and Tiffany Wilding-White both earned masters degrees in exercise and sport science, with an emphasis in sport psychology, at Ithaca College. Erin has been a college instructor of mental training for athletes, and Tiffany, a former national gymnastics champion, has worked as a sport psychology consultant for numerous school teams, private sports academies, as well as amateur and professional athletes.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

GOLFING YOUR WITH EYES CLOSED

Mastering Visualization Techniques for Exceptional GolfBy ERIN MACY TIFFANY WILDING-WHITE

The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

Copyright © 2009 Erin Macy and Tiffany Wilding-White
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-0-07-161507-5

Contents

Chapter One

THE FIRST HOLE

Your Ace in the Hole

Michael is an amateur golfer whose mind often gets the better of him in the game. He has had a difficult summer on the course, losing to his rivals nearly every round. Often, it takes just one mistake to break his rhythm, leading to more mental errors and missed shots. Michael knows the value of visualization and has tried off and on to implement it in his game. As an important tournament approaches, he begins to practice it more consistently, seeing each stroke in his mind's eye before he makes it. At home, off the course, he pictures himself at the tournament and in a variety of situations on each hole.

The day of the tournament arrives, and Michael is feeling confident, believing in his ability to be near the top of the leaderboard. He arrives at the course at his usual forty-five minutes ahead of time and runs through his warm-up routine. Ready but anxious, Michael steps into the first tee box, going through the motions he has practiced so many times. He drives through the ball. It carries over a small ridge and comes to rest on the fairway. He's off to a great start! His approach shot lands him on the green within range for a sinkable putt, and he is feeling good. He lines up for an easy putt and blows it five feet past the hole. Frustrated, Michael uses an extra minute to collect himself, taking the time to go through his visualization routine and even seeing his name on the leaderboard. He addresses the ball for his second putt, repeating his mental mantra to himself. Body balanced, he gently strikes the ball. He hears the ball hit the bottom of the cup, and his confidence returns.

TEEING OFF

In your own golf game, you've probably felt the frustration of blowing an easy putt and wondered, "How could I have missed that?" Logic tells you that your lineup was accurate, your read of the green was right on, and your stroke was smooth. But reality shows that something went awry. Most likely, it was your mental composure. Like Michael in the previous example, you may have rushed a little instead of slowly taking each step in your pre-shot routine. By learning to visualize, you increase the likelihood of making more shots more regularly, because you become sharply focused on the exact actions required to consistently hit your target.

This first chapter introduces you to the basics of visualization and gets you started on a plan of action. The theories, examples, and exercises here help you:

-> understand the different forms of visualization

-> practice both external and internal imagery at appropriate times

-> focus on the positive images and block out negative pictures

-> keep in mind the theories that govern visualization's power over your game

-> replace thinking with visualization on the course

-> integrate the elements that make images come to life

You may want to consider the exercises that follow in this chapter to be as important as your pregame preparations. You wouldn't play golf without first taking out your clubs, tying your golf shoes, and putting on your glove. This chapter, like those rituals, is both basic and essential to playing your best.

IMAGERY'S INNER WORKINGS

In the movie The Greatest Game Ever Played, two different styles of visualization are portrayed. Harry Vardon brilliantly erases every distraction surrounding him—the crowd, the noise, and even the trees lining the fairway. He wipes these images out and sees only his target. Francis Ouimet, on the other hand, creates a picture of the hole being extremely large by making his mind zoom in and fixing his aim on this one point. Other players use different techniques. Jack Nicklaus talked about seeing the shot take form before he even addressed the ball, and Sam Snead compared visualization to painting a picture of the shot he planned to hit. Imagery comes in many forms, and this section should help you determine the most beneficial form for your golf game.

Forms of Visualization

Visualization can be external or internal. If you practice visualizing externally, you see yourself from an observer's view, as if watching a video of your performance. Visualizing internally, you see yourself executing a skill through your own eyes—what you actually see when performing. For example, a golfer visualizing herself teeing off from an external perspective sees her feet shoulder-width apart; arms, chest, and hands coming together to form a triangle; her head tilted at an angle; and her eyes focusing on the ball. From an internal perspective, however, she only sees the tee and the ball, the grass underfoot, her feet, and in her peripheral vision she may see the natural surroundings of the course.

Your answers to questions 3 and 4 of the Self-Assessment Scorecard show you how you visualize.

COACH'S CORNER

Try this exercise to help your players learn the power of imagery: Tie a weight to the end of a string six to twelve inches long. Have them hold the end of the string, close their eyes, and keep their hand and arm perfectly still. Ask them to visualize the string and weight swinging like a pendulum, back and forth, back and forth. Lead them through this for about one minute. When they open their eyes, the string will actually be swinging, convincing them of the strength of their mind-body connection. This should really wow them!

External visualization is used to assess how a stroke looks to an observer. It allows you to analyze your body positions, thereby enabling you to correct mistakes and refine your movements. On the other hand, internal imagery is used to assess how your swing feels. Repeatedly visualizing from your own perspective helps internalize the feeling of a stellar performance. Once you can see and feel your mistakes or fears, you can correct them by mentally rehearsing the right technique instead. Regularly creating images of the performance you hope to achieve equips you to execute under pressure.

Try it! Let's imagine the same scene from two different viewpoints. First, close your eyes and visualize externally: You stand on the green, alone, wearing a collared shirt and pants and carrying your putter. Other golfers watch you from the edge of the green. They are completely silent as you take your time examining the green and lining up your putt. You approach the ball, align your body, and take a practice swing. Take your normal stance and address the ball. Like a pendulum, your arms swing and you strike the ball. Watch the ball travel across the green and drop into the hole.

Now try visualizing this same scene from your own internal perspective.

Notice the differences. From an external perspective, you probably saw the other golfers, your putter in your hands, and the contours of the green. From the internal perspective, you probably saw the ball and felt the putter extending from your arms. Make a note whether one form was easier for you than the other.

Given this information, you may ask, "So which one should I use?" The answer is both! A combination of the two perspectives is optimal. Continuing with the preceding example, the golfer putting on the green needs to use external visualization to see her tempo and follow through. She also needs to use internal imagery to experience what a correct putt feels like. With the two together, she can make corrections and perfect her putt.

The more time you spend practicing visualization, the easier it will be to quickly apply this skill on the golf course. While it might seem like a lot right now, you can visualize any shot in just a second or two—the same time it takes to make a practice swing. So don't get overwhelmed. Just take it one step at a time, and it will become second nature before you know it.

Most athletes are naturally more comfortable with one kind of visualization than the other and require practice to perfect both types. Some athletes, though, flip back and forth between the two without thinking. With only a few minutes of visualization practice each day, you can learn to control these images. Read on to find out how to apply this "mental video" to your game.

The Body Achieves What the Mind Believes

Now that you understand the two different forms of visualization, we can briefly discuss why imagery works. To start, know this: the body achieves what the mind believes. Thus you want to visualize positively.

For example, if we say, "Do not think of a bright purple golf ball," what do you think about? The purple ball, right? Yet if we say, "Do think of a purple golf ball," you still picture that same odd-colored ball. The trick is, your mind focuses only on the object or action, without distinguishing between the do or don't. So by stating your desires positively, you trigger your mind to focus on what you want rather than on what you don't want. By visualizing only positive images, you deny your brain the chance to latch on to negative images, and thus you promote peak performance. Think, "I'm going to hit a nice high cut into the center of the fairway," rather than, "Don't hit into the lake," or, "Try not to hit out of bounds." Picture yourself sinking the putt rather than thinking about avoiding hitting it four feet past the hole. Effectively, you can block out doubts, worries, and fears by visualizing positive images of performance.

What negative thoughts or images do you have when you perform? Example: "Don't leave this putt short."

1. __________________________________________________________

2. __________________________________________________________

3. __________________________________________________________

Which positive thoughts or images could you use instead? Example: "Give the putt a chance."

1. __________________________________________________________

2. __________________________________________________________

3. __________________________________________________________

Anytime you have a negative thought or picture yourself making a mistake, consciously replace that destructive thought or image with a positive one. If you worry that you might hit into a hazard, picture yourself striking the ball down the middle of the fairway.

The imagination principle also helps clarify why imagery works. It asserts that your mind cannot tell the difference between reality and imagination. Therefore, you can condition your body to perform better through visualization, because your body physically reacts to imagined situations, as well as to real ones. As an example, have you ever been nearly asleep, dreamed you were falling off a cliff, and then jerked awake? Your mind did not know the difference between dreaming you were falling and actually falling. So by visualizing your performance skills— your stance, your grip, your backswing and follow-through—your mind believes you are actually performing, thereby building confidence and consistency.

In fact, the muscle memory theory indicates that during imagery, the muscles involved in the skills you visualize become slightly activated, duplicating the actual pattern that takes place during physical exercises. Further evidence of this comes from a Harvard University study that shows that the brain processes both mental imagery and images we actually see in the same area of the brain. Practicing imagery thus strengthens the mind-body connection and helps make golf performance more consistent.

To illustrate this, we know of an elite 800-meter runner who consistently runs his race in his head in exactly the time it takes him to run it in real life! His mental imagery is spot on; his mind and body connect so intimately that his mental rehearsal exactly duplicates his physical workout. In fact, during a laboratory test, sensors indicated his muscles actually activated parallel to what he pictured at that moment, while sitting down and visualizing. Specifically, his muscles tightened as he sped up and fired asymmetrically as he leaned into each turn. Thus through visualization, he strengthens his muscle memory while sitting in a chair!

Also, 2005 world champion Laura Wilkinson used imagery to help her win an Olympic gold medal in platform diving. Months before the 2000 Sydney Games, her foot was in a cast. Unable to physically practice, she mentally rehearsed to perfect her dives. Her body was actually slightly physically activated during imagery, so it was ready as soon as her cast came off, and she gave the performance of her life.

When you become aware of how your mind and body work together, you begin to perform more fluidly and consistently. How do you gain awareness? By tuning in and paying attention to how each move feels. Focus on sights, sounds, and feelings, and practice mentally rehearsing these thoughts, sights, sounds, and feelings. The keener your awareness of these sensations, the more real and vivid you can make your images and the more effective they will be in improving your game.

Visualize yourself performing one stroke perfectly. Repeat this image again and again in your head. (You may need to slow down your mental video to gain control.) Take the time to focus on the senses of sight, sound, smell, and touch.

COACH'S CORNER

Be aware that you think differently than your players do. Coaches tend to analyze and instruct, as is your job. Your verbal comments come from the left side of your brain, the "thinker." However, athletes perform from their right brain, the "doer." Therefore, it would be helpful for you to give them instructions that stimulate their right brain, like imagery. Encouraging their creative mind allows them to stop thinking and start doing.

Also note that as players' anxiety increases, their left brain becomes dominant. So take care to keep them from becoming anxious, by incorporating relaxation. This way, they can operate from their right brain and not be hindered by the analytical left brain.

A Split Brain

Here's an interesting concept to remember: the left half of your brain concentrates on different aspects of performance than the right half does. Knowing the specifics helps you focus your energy in the appropriate areas. The left brain is the thinker—very logical and analytical. Conversely, the right brain is the doer and is creative. Performance is a right-brained activity. Your right brain is your body's autopilot, taking over and "just doing it."

Visualization requires creativity and therefore takes place in the right brain. Hence, by practicing imagery, your right brain becomes more familiar with just doing it and does not hesitate by thinking about it. Since thinking can get in the way of successful performance, using your creative right brain to image engages the doer in your mind and silences the thinker. Let visualization take the place of thinking.

The next time you find yourself overanalyzing each movement in your swing or facing a competitor who intimidates you, press "play" on your mental video to recall a previous right-brain performance. Visualize that experience; relive it in your mind. Note on the following lines how well these images effectively block out your doubts and fears and allow your body to perform without hesitation.

VIVACIOUS VISUALIZATION

Imagery should be vivid, controllable, and positive. It will take time and practice to make sure each element is part of your images, but keep working at it. The better your images, the stronger your mind and body will be linked.

By vivid, we mean that the images should be clear, intense, and full of detail. Use all of your senses to make your images as realistic as possible. Try to feel the temperature, smell the freshly cut grass, hear the sound the club makes as it strikes the ball, sense the way the club feels in your hands, or whatever it is that your senses notice. You want to be able to conjure up images with every detail present.

Controlling your images has two meanings. First, it refers to being able to man ipu late speed, tempo, and direction. Maybe you want to slow down your swing in your mind and analyze your takeaway. Or maybe you have been rushing through your tee shots and want to visualize yourself taking your time to prepare. The second definition has to do with the responsibility you have to be in charge of what your images do. You direct your images; you choose how you want your swing to look, how you address the ball, the result of a shot, and even your emotional response. Aim for a state where you can get your images to do what you want. Maintain control of your mind, not allowing your images to turn into daydreams for which you are not actively responsible. Being able to modify your images and tell them to do what you want them to do is important. Take charge of your mind.

As Dr. Bob Rotella states, "Golf is not a game of perfect." However, it is my personality to make it one. I have learned over the years that golf is a game of misses. The best players know how to manage their misses and get out of trouble quickly to avoid the high numbers. Recently, I have been learning to allow myself to play well. It is so easy for me to get on a hot streak, but think in my mind, "I have to hold on to this," or even worse, "Oh no, it's only a matter of time before I screw up." These thoughts creep in, and before I know it, they have come true. Therefore, I must stay relaxed, mind and body, and allow myself to play well. My mind has to stay quiet for me to perform well. My golf coach has the best advice for this. She tells me to remain unattached to the shots. If I just hit the best shot of my life, I acknowledge the good act, but I do not get too excited about it. Instead I move on to the next one.

(Continues...)

Excerpted from GOLFING YOUR WITH EYES CLOSEDby ERIN MACY TIFFANY WILDING-WHITE Copyright © 2009 by Erin Macy and Tiffany Wilding-White. Excerpted by permission of The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
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Edition details

• Publisher: McGraw-Hill Education
• Publication date: 2009
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0071615075
• ISBN 13: 9780071615075
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 208