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The phrase, "Power of Positive Thinking", seems overused. I know it's a movement of sorts and there is significant science dedicated to its understanding. But, when discussed with some of my students, it seems to fall on deaf ears. Not that they don't believe in the power of positive thinking, but because it is so obvious. Almost as if they are accepting defeat in that category, a burden they have to carry around the course with them. Or, maybe they don't believe in it.
The idea of pumping ourselves up seems to rely on past experience. When applying this to golf, a game rot with failure and deflation, it's tough for many players to pull on that past experience to help improve their state of mind and build up their confidence. The most recent experience typically overwhelms the thought process. If I pull my drive into thick rough under the trees, exactly where I did not want to be, it is difficult to keep that out of my mental state over the next few minutes. In some cases it can last for the remainder of the round. We hear negative self talk all the time from ourselves and overhear it across the fairway from playing partners. The language used on the golf course is not for the easily offended.
If you tell yourself that you stink at golf over and over you will reek, until you get lucky.
I recently read an article in Golf Digest titled, "Make The Turn Challenge 8: Fire Up Your On Switch." I almost dismissed it as just another mental game approach. But its simplicity got me thinking. Jeff Ritter asks, "What is it that makes one shot agony and the other pure ecstasy?" If we rule out luck, then in either case there is often the feeling of, "I knew that was going to happen!" Ritter goes on to suggest that, "the secret to your success might be in your ability to capture or better yet consistently 'produce' that can't-miss feeling." The goal is to produce an elevated mood. How we go about it is up to the individual.
Ritter says that the key to understanding high-level mental performance, or the "coolness" associated with it, is to embrace the fact that the feeling "is entirely controlled by you." I have always felt that champions had a "coolness" to them. Great players, whether club champions or PGA Tour winners, have a very level persona about them. They are confident for many reasons. It might be their experience of winning. Or of hitting the ball at the hole often. Or making clutch putts. They have been there before, therefore they are comfortable. While this may be true, Ritter suggests that because our feelings can be controlled by ourselves then it makes sense that we can build ourselves up, EVEN IF THE THOUGHTS ARE NOT ROOTED IN REALITY.
If the thoughts don't have to be rooted in reality then I can tell myself anything. This is what got me!
I have always taught students to be positive. Focus on where they want to hit it, not where they don't want to hit it. To have a sound pre-shot routine. To act confident. To commit to the shot. To have a big broad thought about their swing (ie. tempo). To visualize their success. The list can go on.
On a much more basic level, the idea of flooding my head with positive thoughts, even if completely unrealistic, means that I can have a conversation with myself for 18 holes where I am the star of the show. This is very liberating. To embrace the idea that my goal is to elevate my mood for every shot means I can think about anything. Even when the shot goes awry. That is the challenge!
During a recent tournament round I took the challenge. It actually started several hours before my tee time when I popped in some great music during the drive. I committed to elevating my mood for the entire day. My drive to the course was filled with absurd thoughts of how well I hit the golf ball, how perfect the weather was, and how much I liked the course. I thought back about recent great shots, even if at the time they seemed like "luck". I even recalled several of my best rounds of golf. Many of them nearly 20 years ago. I thought about how perfect the tee time was and that I would be able to get home in time to see my family for a full evening. I decided to embrace every emotion or thought as long as it was positive, even if those thoughts made me nervous or elevated my heart rate, both associated with winning.
The result of the challenge was remarkable. Let me start by saying that I did not score well. But that was not the challenge. The challenge was to elevate my mood and to sustain it throughout the round, which I was able to do. I felt like I owned every shot. I will spare the details of my internal conversation, except for the fact that I was a star no matter what happened. I accepted each shot as a continuation of the overall challenge and began building myself up immediately after every shot in preparation for the next. I looked forward to every swing.
An example of my success began on the second hole. I lost a ball after an approach shot into a par four. Not because of an errant shot, but because I was so jazzed up that I hit a six iron 15 yards further than normal. It was dead on the pin and I never found it. Returning to the original spot to hit a second ball, I clubbed down and nearly holed it out on the fly. I would follow up on the next hole, a par three, hitting a seven iron to six feet and making birdie. I may have lost a couple of shots but I hit three near perfect irons in a row. My accuracy continued throughout the round.
At the end of the day I hit 13 greens in regulation and averaged about 15 feet from the hole including two 40 footers. If I take those out, I was within 12 feet for eleven holes. This is well above my normal performance. On the eleventh green in regulation one of my competitors said, "Man, your are really on right now." My response was, "I know! I am really good." The words just flowed out. I never talk about myself like that on the golf course. I struggle with confidence just like the students I teach. But it was exactly what I was thinking. I had been thinking it all day.
Someone might ask why I didn't score well. It's probably obvious that my putter was not working well. I found that the way in which I handled the challenge really pumped me up. I hit the ball well off the tee and my iron game was as good as it could be. My full swing has a flow to it that has a similar start and end regardless of the club. But the short game is different. I did not chip and pitch very well when needed, and apparently this bolstered self confidence was more pumped-up instead of comfortable. Pumped-up is not how I want to feel over a 15 foot putt. Hello 6-footer coming back!
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