I don't know WHAT it is about that first tee shot!

It's no secret that in winning The Open golf last weekend that Darren Clarke has had a LOT of help from Bob Rotella, that doesn't surprise me at all, I've used Bob Rotella's golf mental psychology for YEARS and YEARS with great results.

BOB ROTELLA GOLF PSYCHOLOGY BOOKS US

BOB ROTELLA GOLF PSYCHOLOGY BOOKS UK

HOWEVER,

My post today is in response to a lot of regular visitors to my site who have actually written to me to say how much they have enjoyed the free golf hypnosis download that I offer, I must say though, that it IS one of my all time favorite golf mental downloads , the guy's voice is SO similar to Sean Connery that it is extremely relaxing and who better to help with controlling nerves in golf than 007 himself!!!   WELL, ALMOST!!!!!  ( NO--IT IS NOT SEAN CONNERY! )
SO, due to the many request to make this particular golf hypnosis download more visible on my site here is access to it again:

POSTSCRIPT:

As I was testing out the free golf hypnosis download process, I downloaded it again to make sure the links are correct etc and I had it playing while I'm working on my site, LOL
It's SO HYPNOTIC, I had to switch it off so I could concentrate.
I'll listen to it again later when I take a break.

ENJOY!

HEY, if you like the download, please leave a message to let me know what you think , if it proves to be really popular I'll add MORE free golf metal downloads.
Thanks

The Anatomy of Choking

By Patrick J. Cohn, Ph.D.

Rafael Nadal, the number two player in the world today, is known for his mental toughness on the men’s pro tennis tour. He’s won several tournaments on his aggressive style of play and mental toughness including the 2011 French Open. But last week, Djokovic defeated Nadal 6-4, 6-1, 1-6, 6-3 in the 2011 Wimbledon final. Did Nadal choke in the championship match against Novak Djokovic? Was Nadal’s confidence hurting because he lost four previous matches to Djokovic? In today’s article, I’ll explain why Nadal may have choked during the final match at Wimbledon and what I think constitutes choking in sports.

I don't think anyone would say Nadal is a choker... But according to Nadal himself, his confidence took a hit from four previous loses he suffered to Djokovic. Nadal stated that confidence is key especially when playing the important points of the match. “I started the final match without thinking [about the previous loses to Novak]. But when you arrive to 5-4 in the set, these [critical] moments, it probably affects you a little bit. That's what happened, and that's why,” Nadal explained after losing.

I think the previous wins was a mental advantage for Djokovic, which helped him to win the Championship in four sets. Novak said that winning the previous matches gave him more confidence to win the critical points or play well during the tough moments in the match. In addition, Novak used mental imagery to recall when he performed well against Nadal in previous matches and why. “Probably, you know, because I have won four times, consecutive times, in the finals against him this year. So I had that in the back of my mind. I was trying to take myself back to those matches and really perform the same way that I performed those days in those matches: aggressive, taking my chances, not giving him opportunity to take over the control,” said Djokovic after winning Wimbledon.

You can’t take anything away from Novak Djokovic’s performance. He played incredible during the first two sets and was playing the best tennis of his career (48-1 for 2011 so far). Could anyone beat him the way he was performing in the first two sets? When you are performing at the top of your game, you force your opponents into changing their game plan or approach…

My observation is that Djokovic’s aggressive and consistent style of play forced Nadal into playing defensive tennis and hitting more low-percentage shots, maybe stepping out of his normal attack game plan, which lead to uncharacteristic errors by Nadal and lots of winners by Novak. “I played short because I played short I think today. He's doing great. He's doing a lot of things fantastic. But I had to play better to win, and I didn't today. I played a little bit less aggressive,” conceded Nadal after he was asked if Djokovic forced him to play short.

But here’s what leads me to believe that Nadal might have choked in this match. Or maybe I should say he choked based on Nadal’s own standards of mental toughness. Everyone knows how great he is when his back is against the wall and what type of shots he can hit during the important moments or points of the match, such as break points or game points. However, Nadal conceded that he did not play the important points well in this match. He confessed that the mental part is “a little bit dangerous for me.”

“The most important thing, to win in matches here, to win tough matches like today, like two days ago, is to play well the important moments. There are a few points in the match that can change the match, and I didn't today. Probably the mental part is little bit dangerous for me, because when I arrive to the 5-4, I played a bad game with 30-Love. When I arrived to 4-3 of the fourth set, I played another bad game with my serve. That's what I say: to win these kind of matches, I have to play well in these kind of points, they can change the match. When I had the breakpoint at the first set, at the first game of the fourth set, I didn't play well that point. But these three times, that's what happened. And to change that is probably be little bit less nervous than these times, play more aggressive, and all the time be confident with myself. That's what I gonna try next time,” said Nadal after the lost.

You might question: how does not playing the big points of the match qualify as a choke? You feel pressure when you have to come through on big points or important plays -- the ones that can change the outcome of a match. You come to a point in the game when you realize you have to make a big play to turn the game or match around. Did the pressure get to Nadal in the big points and cause him to under preform? Yes, I think so, but only because of the style of tennis Djokovic played: he was controlling the match.

Let’s back up and allow me to discuss what choke really means in sports. The term “choke” comes from the concept that you feel like you can’t breath – or someone is strangling you – when under pressure; a lack of oxygen. But choking has a wider meaning to me. Choking happens when you get in your own way mentally or your mind prevents you from performing at your best. In most cases, athletes experience physical changes, such as tension, increased heart rate, and rapid breathing. Athletes also report mental changes, such as anxiety, fear, apprehension, and confusion. Athletes often change their strategy when choking.

Most athletes and coaches would agree that choking happens when you are firmly in command of your performance or the competition and you lose because of a change in your mental state or a mental meltdown. You feel pressure or suddenly lose confidence, such as when Rory McIlroy lost a big lead and shot a 43 on the back nine during the final round of the Masters tournament. Athletes who choke will lose a big lead because they are fearful of not finishing off the game or they perform tentatively or defensively and lose trust in their skills.

But I think athletes can also choke at the start of the competition. They might feel intimidated or have a lot of doubt interrupting their mental processes. They proceed to play scared or afraid to lose and thus can’t perform with trust in their skills.

Based on my definition, did Nadal choke? When I look at his comments after the tournament, I would have to say, for Rafael Nadal, this was a choke. However, I think Nadal was reacting to the quality of the play of Djokovic.  Novak put a seed of doubt into his mind prior to Wimbledon when he beat Nadal four times in a row. This became a factor for Nadal when playing the important points of the match; the ones that can determine the outcome of the match.

I also give credit to Novak for beating Nadal at his own game: an aggressive style of play and forcing Nadal to play defense, which I think lead him to make more errors. This was Djokovic’s game plan from the start. “You got to take the chances, you know. In those moments, you have to believe that you can do it, not wait for your opponent to make a mistake,” said Novak Djokovic after winning.

Nadal was able to rationalize losing and like a good champion use this lose as a springboard to improve his game. “He's in the best moment of his career. That's true, too. I am in one of the best moments of my career. Still not enough for him. I have to play longer. I have to play more aggressive. I have to have less mistakes. I understand the sport is like this. When one player is better than you, at this moment the only thing you can do is work, try to find solutions, and wait a little bit for your time,” said Nadal.

For tips on how to avoid choking, visit Peaksports Network Online Mental Training System.

"You know, it's going to be hard to take for a few days, but I'll get over it. I'm fine…. This is my first experience at it, and hopefully the next time I'm in this position, I'll be able to handle it a little better. I didn't handle it particularly well today obviously, but it was a character-building day, put it that way. I'll come out stronger for it."

~ Rory McIlroy, US Open Champion

Golf Mental Training

I LOVE the voice in this FREE golf mental training download, it's 27 minutes of sheer relaxation, is it REALLY SEAN CONNERY?

Well, NO, IT's NOT Sean , but why not let your mind wander that extra step!

007 in your head

ON THE GOLF COURSE, at times of mental golfing stress?

I'll go for THAT!

Left Handed Golf club Auctions

That’s, because most people don’t know how to control the way they feel.

Their state is usually determined by what is happening in the outside world or their perception of it – their personal map of reality.

If it is a nice sunny day they feel good.

If the golf ball is “behaving itself” they feel confident.

If the person they are playing with is to their liking they feel happy.

The way they feel, their state, is controlled by external events - events that are beyond their control.

However, we don't have any control over external factors such as these.

You can train yourself to control your 'mental state' , you can develop the ability to get into the right state, at the right time, for the task or experience at hand is key.

THIS is the fundamental difference between golfers who play well and golfers who let thngs that they CANNOT control affect their state of mind.

GOLF MENTAL GAME TRAINING COURSE

Step 1

Step 1: Imagine you’ve just hit a really bad golf shot, maybe one that costs you a couple of shots. Remember what you said to yourself and most importantly what you felt. What state were you in then and how do you feel thinking about it? Now forget about that shot completely. It never happened.

Just about all golfers have hit that perfect shot more than once in their lives and MOST golfers are able to drive itstraight and sink those long  putts. However,  what keeps those players back is a combination of nervousness, lack of focus, low energy, and random lapses in focus.

With that in mind, golf mental coaching enables you to beat back these kinds of common difficulties and unleash the top quality golfer within.

Golf mental training by using hypnosis

One of the things that may continuously hold a golfer back is really a problem with their sub-conscious thoughts. Most golf players are controlled by their anxieties and those worries naturally dominate when they stand over a putt or when they're at the very first tee.

Hypnosis will help a golfer in a number of ways.

Accessing  the unconscious mind and sorting through the issues there can allow golfers to improve endurance, harness natural strength, and increase long-range hand-eye co-ordination.

Exterior distractions can be entirely removed from the equation, which will enable players to operate at their strongest possible levels.

On the list of significant issues is a rise in self-confidence, which can result in more reliable swing planes for competitors of all levels.

Golf mental coaching withNeuro linguistic programming

NLP - or Neuro Linguistic Programming - is used in a variety of fields to help people get on the right track. Neuro linguistic programming for golfers can help golf players particularly by eliminating those subconscious concerns that they don't have any control over.

We've ALL  hit plenty of excellent shots on the range prior to a round, but whenever we stand over the ball on the very first tee, we  are often wracked by nerves.

Possibly by a fear of failure that is deep-rooted, who knows.

These issues can be helped and effectively improved with NLP.

Simply speaking, by incorporating NLP techniques into their golf game, players are hard-wired for success.

Think about exactly what it might be like walking out onto the golf course with a free mind and with a boat load of self-confidence.

That is what golf psychological training is able to do for you.

Many players just accept  the belief that they cannot conquer their worries. They drop strokes and waste their potential on the golf course, simply because they don't understand the way to deal with nerves and lack of golfing confidence.

With some of the modern golf mental training methods it is absolutely possible and HIGHLY LIKELY to drop strokes and turn playing golf into a positive experience all around.

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Short sleeve weather with just the tiniest of sea breezes and the views at this golf course are just gorgeous!

Anyway, I didn't start off very well, good drive, 2nd ( and 3rd ) into the nearest bumker, no score on that hole!

The next few holes were not much better and the old feelings of frustration and golfing misery were starting to re-appear!

I started working through the  mental training that I've been working on in my golf mental programme and slowly, in my head, started to turn things around.

Now, who knows whether you feel better mentally because you start to play better golf, or you start to play better golf because you feel better mentally and I really believe it's the latter but slowly and surely, as my mental attitude improved, my golf game turned into that of another person.

I told myself that I was going to enjoy my game WHATEVER the score was and focussed SO hard on just hitting the ball in front of me and to be truthful, I played the best golf I've played in a long time and ended up with scoring 20 points on the back 9 !

My best score in forever and especially gratifying as it was on a course that was new to me. So together with my 'frustrated' front 9 score of 11 points I finished with a respectable total of 31 points so just dropping 5 points off my current handicap of 13 !

The mental golf game improvement is a slow, ongoing process but is most definitely working and I'm beginning to enjoy playing again.

More tomorrow when we play Ilfracombe Golf Course !

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As I mentioned in an earlier post, I didn't enjoy playing golf last year, in fact, most of my rounds I wanted to be any where else but on a golf course.

This year, I WANT to play, and THAT is the difference. My golfing mindset is TOTAlly different! I missed playing with my team mates, our handicaps range between 10 and 14 and we're quite a competitive group.

My handicap is 13 at the moment, I used to be 10 but it has slowly crept up, ( see my handicap explanation here ).

I didn't start my round too well, but kept mentally VERY positive and kept patient.

Here's my score today, I'll use this as a benchmark for future rounds:

Well, at least I kept below 100! My back 9 was MUCH better than my front round and I was striking the ball really well once I got used to the mud and slush on the course.

What was important today was that I kept postitive the whole time and I didn't let the bad shots 'get to me' I literally played just one shot at a time and didn't think backwards or forwards.

A good start to my year and most importantly I enjoyed the round.

Next step for me is to start listening to the golf mental training downloads from the training course.

More on that next...................

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However, I've been working hard too with my golf lessons and going to the driving range regularly and I'm really beginning to feel a difference in the physical side of my golf game.

My golf pro has made quite a few changes to my swing, previously I was not turning my shoulders enough and therefore my swing had become a little bit wild and two 'army'.

Now we're focusing on using the body more to get more power back into my swing  and to get the distance back which I had lost through not turning my body correctly. He introduced a really good training aid called 'Tour Sticks' which I'm  finding very helpful. Basically, they are just fluorescent sticks about 3 feet long and you placed them on the ground to help with alignment issues. I take them down to the range with me and they are helping a lot.

I had a miserable round of golf the other day, in our 1st competition of the year, I managed 23 stableford points over 18 holes, quite pathetic really, BUT, what was impressive is that I kept my cool the whole way round and still managed to come off the course with a positive mind whereas last year I would have wanted to jump off a cliff.

To be fair to myself, I am taking lessons at the moment and my pro had changed my grip to make it stronger and we discovered that I haven't been turning my body for the back swing, so there were quite a few swing changes interfering with my game that day PLUS the fact that there was a magnet in the bottom of each hole that was the opposite polarity to my ball !

When I was playing my best golf a year or so ago, I wasn't 'thinking', just seeing the flight and where I wanted it to land,so, just too many swing thoughts that day.

I'm working regularly with the golf audio sessions that are included in the golf medal training programme and the more I listen to them the more I find that some little snippet will appear in my mind out of nowhere which is a good proof that the program is working for me. In fact, the more I listen to thr golf mental training aidio sessions  and follow the mental training programme, the more fascinating I find it to listen to the way my playing partners talk themselves out of a good round of golf. Hilarious really when you know what you are looking for! If they only knew!!

The more I research golf mental training, the more I see that 't's quite an untapped market and I realise how FEW people actually seriously bring mental training into their game. I'm more than happy to write about the training program and my progress here on my website, but I've no intention of sharing it with anyone that I might be playing against in the near future ! I want to keep my mental edeg to myself!

The creator of the mental training program that I use Wade Pearse, is about to launch a very exciting new concept in the field of golf audio sessions and golf hypnosis  downloads. His new site is not launched yet but I have been able to test out the new equipment and I'm in the process of writing a thorough review for my website

The concept behind it is quite new and VERY exciting.

As you can see from the photo,the 'sound and light machine’  is a type of iPod that plays the golf audio sessions and you wear glasses that flash a mixture of cool blue flashes to your closed eye lids.

The concept is simple, but innovative!

The sound & light  machines use blue L.E.D.s (Light Emitting Diodes) and binaural beats (sounds) that pulse at specified frequencies.

MUCH more on this project later when I’ve worked on my reviews some more! It's REALLY worth waiting for and I feel it's one more trick up my sleeve when I play in competitions!

If you’re in a hurry and would like to know more about the sound & light machines and how they work, lease a message on the bottom of this page with your email and I’ll send you some more info.

Or, better still, sign up to our Golf Mental Game newsletter for the latest news!

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