Winning Golf by Saul L. Miller

Author:Saul L. Miller
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: ECW Press
Published: 2022-10-25T00:00:00+00:00

“A lot of my buddies also played golf, but when it came to going to the beach or on the boat and chasing girls, they usually went that way . . . and I went to the golf course.”

— Mike Weir

Early Mental Coaching

Discipline can be coached, and that coaching can begin fairly early. The following is a golf example of some early mental coaching. I had a phone call from a woman who said, “My son, Matt, is a good golfer and he has some issues with controlling his emotions. Is that something you could help him with?” I replied that I do work with clients helping them to manage their emotions. That’s when she informed me that her son was seven.

Matt was a bright youngster with lots of energy who didn’t exactly sit still during our sessions. As I do with most of my young clients, I asked a parent (in this case, his mother) to sit in. And, as I also frequently do with young clients, I began the session by asking the parent how she hoped the meetings with me would be helpful for Matt. She explained, “When Matt makes a bad shot, he sometimes gets very upset — he cries, he shouts, and sometimes he even throws his golf clubs, all of which is unacceptable. He has been told by me and his father that this behavior is unacceptable. Officials from the golf club have also told him this.” She continued, “Matt expresses some overt happiness when an opponent makes a bad shot, which he has been told is also unacceptable. We’ve told him he has to learn to behave better if he wants to continue to play golf.”

I asked Matt what he thought about what his mother had said. He agreed that he gets upset when he makes a bad shot. With some prompting, he said he understood that to be a really good golfer he has to learn to be more calm. I explained to him that the reason he gets upset is that he really wants to do well. But getting upset like he does when things don’t go as he would like is not acceptable golf behavior, and, most importantly, it is behavior that will make it harder for him to have a good next shot.

I asked Matt if he wanted to learn how to be calmer, just like PGA Tour golfers. He nodded that he did so we began training. I adapted my usual training process in consideration of Matt’s age. First, I explained to him that the mind is like a mental supercomputer and that it was his mental computer. If he didn’t like what he was thinking or feeling, he had to change the program. I said the first thing was learning how to take a couple of breaths and relax. We ran through a simple breathing exercise. I told Matt that he had to practice five minutes of relaxed (conscious) breathing every day. Next, I showed him how to use the release reflex.

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