Finally the shut down of golf is beginning to see less restrictions and the availability to play golf again is appearing. However if you have made it to the course this last week you are seeing many changes. Here in California, facial coverings are required in common areas, carts are not allowed, range availability is reduced or restricted totally. In time the hope is that things will return to normal......but the days of the old normal are probably gone for the foreseeable future and through the summer and fall.
What does this mean? It certainly means that you are going to have to make the most of your practice time when you get it. The demand for golf will be extremely high and for practice facilities also. But there is only so much to go around. In the grand scheme of things, everyone is being directed to see life differently. The Covid-19 situation has restricted many areas of our lives. These restrictions for many reasons ( I will not go into more opinion) simply have forced every person to review life, how they handle it, and what reactions they have seen, felt and been a part of as a result of this pandemic. As you are well aware, the restrictions placed upon people have created mental turmoil for family members, co-workers, friends and basically everyone living through this. So how we have reacted mentally each day has certainly directed the emotions we have toward our daily situation. Your mind is the fulcrum of how you view and react to the situations you have faced. Now with limited practice space and tee slots available, your mind will have to adopt once again. What does this mean? Simply put, the old ways of practicing and trying to improve will not be the same. You have been stretched mentally to accept many new realities. Some you probably do not like and some you respect. With golf you will need to find new ways of making substantial change with limited time. How can that be done? I coach many players and some practice more than others, for some the practice time is like a therapy of sorts. Those players will be hardest hit in the immediate future because of limited space. Others practice but do not make the most of their practice time. I see many players on there phones talking business while in our training center or on a practice range. Those days are over! Then there are the players who do not practice much and they hope things will get better or they thought if the took a lesson it will magically appear on their score card and things improve. These players see limited success (certainly more limited than possible). As we have all seen our minds and lives have been programmed to do certain things in certain ways and at certain times. Habits of action and thought were easily allowed....until lately. Thus, just as your old habit of going to work, or keeping your job or being free to travel to your favorite pub have vanished, the old habits of golf instruction and preparation and performance will have to drastically change very quickly. I know this sounds a little harsh, but it really is not. It is different, just like our stay at home to stay safe for the last 7 weeks has been. So 'different' is YOUR chance to get ahead of the curve and improve your game in new ways so you can create the improvement you desire. As you know, your golf swing is a habit, like a computer program that works really on automatic pilot. Your brain has mental files for your driver shot, your approach shots, wedges and a file on putting. Literally your mind pulls the file to create each new swing performance. These are all mental programs that you have a habit for. These habits are Subconscious thought patterns and they occupy most of your mind and daily routines you take for granted (or took for granted until now). How much do these Subconscious patterns take up in your mental computer bank which you call your mind? The answer is an very high 95%! That's right, 95% of what you have done daily is a mental program, from how you shower , get your morning coffee, go to work (or work from home now) and of course your golf swing. What is alarming about the fact of the subconscious programs that you have been running is that they were not only thought and action patterns but they also have an emotional reaction to them. In golf when you hit an errant tee shot off line and into a bunker you will have an emotional reaction to that shot, and circumstance (outcome). This reaction will include fear of not getting the ball out of the bunker, or if you have to pitch out because the lip of the bunker is so high, then you are left with just as long a shot for your next shot. Your mind tells you that this may lead to a limited outcome potential based on past performance perhaps? Your past loops of thought and actions will hurl themselves in front of you, which will no doubt have an affect on your next shot. Especially if you have had less time to practice and prepare due to the current reality we all face. As you can see you are where you are today based on past emotions, beliefs and thought patterns. Overall your swing is your swing and with limited availability to override past situations with practice, something UNIQUE will have to start to be used or tried to insure you continue to improve. Here is where your mind comes in to take the pressure off of you. Nothing can be created without thought first! You must first have the thought of what you wish to create and then action can follow. Because 95% of your life you see if from past subconscious programming, this means you have 5% now available to use. This 5% is critical to improving at an advanced rate.....and now you cannot go run to the range and insist change has to come from the swing. To make significant change to your golf game with your mind there is a great book I suggest you buy ...TODAY. No it is not mine, it is from a former LaJolla CA native and chiropractor who was in a terrible accident when he was hit by a car while cycling in an event here. His spine was severed and he was told that a certain low percentage surgery was needed for him to have any chance to walk again. Even all of his friends in the medical profession told him, you must have the surgery. But he knew the mind is the key to how the body works so with consulting many mental gurus he figured out how to heal himself and now walks and is a best selling author on how your mind can transform you to create rapid change and improvement in any area of life.....yes golf too! The book is called Becoming Supernatural, by Dr. Joe Dispenza. I have read hundreds of books on how the mind can help any being create a greater life or golf game too. This ONE book is the only one you need to read to learn how to accelerate your improving of golf this year. I will be elaborating on how to use the principles from the book further these next few months, but for now...with less time to play and practice you have enough time to read this book. The book ties science to the mental ideas gurus have suggested to people for centuries. Dr. Joe knew most would doubt his word in the book so he has worked for 20 years on research the science to prove to the nay sayers that indeed you can bridge the two together. Get this book, and start to learn how the mind can accelerate the change needed that you wish to see in your reality (golf game). You must first ACT and get the book to understand it, then I will instruct you on further methods I utilize with players. The normal you are used to seeing with golf is gone for now, thus you have limited resources to rely on. Basically the old ways of doing things will not work as they used to. So it is time to change....you have adapted for these last 2 months. Please continue to stay positive and let us keep adapting because your success depends on it.
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Al Owens CoachingAl Owens is a Peak Performance Golf Coach located in San Diego, CA Archives
July 2024
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