Keeping Your Confidence High Whilst Learning To Play Golf - Part 2

Yes, there are easier and there are more difficult ways of creating a great shot. Yes, there is an optimal technique. BUT ONLY IF YOU HAVE CONFIDENCE IN IT. As Henry Ford said "If you think you can or you think you can't you are probably right". The moral of this story is that if you feel that you have over-dosed on technique to the degree that your confidence has gone, take a sabbatical from technique and concentrate on simply hitting the ball towards your target, whilst keeping the club face square.


It's amazing how frequently a golfer is not aware of ball flight and where the club face was at impact in order to have created a particular shot. And any golfer, just by becoming aware of how side spin is created, has the power to change what they are doing and truly take control of the club, and in this way they will RETAIN THEIR CONFIDENCE.


It is well known that children "have minds like sponges", that they find it easier to learn and that it gets increasingly more difficult to learn as you get older. This is because up until the age of 7, during the imprinting period of development, the subconscious mind is completely open to suggestion. And from then to the age of 12, the modeling period, the conscious mind is forming, and after that the conscious mind filters everything before it is assimilated into the subconscious.


Trainee golfers may have beliefs about whether they are good or not at sport, or golf, or good or not at learning - but these are just beliefs, nothing more. There is no need to be held back by limiting beliefs. Everyone has the power to choose to change beliefs no matter how deep rooted they are. All individuals have a body and a mind which has a similar physiology and neurology as the best golfers in the world. Athletic literature is full of examples of athletes who have excelled because of their internal desire, rather than the physical attributes such as size, strength, power or speed. There are tall golfers and short golfers, male and female golfers, young and old golfers. It is not age or body shape which prescribes ability. It is your mind which makes the difference. What the mind can perceive, the mind can believe and the mind can achieve.


Everyone has the ability to play golf well. The most important thing for a golfer is to set your own goals, and enjoy your golf - it's a game and golf should be fun.


Unfortunately many people overlook this fact, and allow worries and fears to get in their way. Fear is something which we learn through experience. Fear of embarrassment and fear of failure result in many adults not even attempting to learn a new task. Returning to the subject of children, we are not born with fear. Think about when a baby learns to walk. How many times does that baby teeter along and then fall, and then try again, and fall over again and try again, until eventually they can walk? If that child was worried about embarrassing him or herself, would they have learnt to walk? A baby will persevere time and time again, and has absolute trust that they will be able to learn that skill - otherwise they would not learn that skill.


The most important factor to grasp here is that what other people think doesn't matter...but what you think does. And having confidence in what you are doing as you play golf will dictate the outcome of your shots.



Roseanna Leaton, specialist in golf hypnosis cds and hypnosis mp3 downloads.