Use Hypnosis for Winning Golf

By: Joan King, BCH

All of life is hypnotic!
We live our lives by suggestion.

Over the last 30 years the scoring abilities of the average American golfer has remained the same. This is surprising considering all the new club technology, the new biomechanical understanding of the golf swing and improved teaching aids and methods.

What has not changed?
Our thinking process! It has been proven that 90% of the thoughts we think today are the same ones we had yesterday. Our poor golf games are still dominated by negative thoughts and feelings learned in our past and enhanced by our golfing environment. This is why we see the same patterns emerging over and over in our golf games.

How, then, do we change our thinking process?
University of California at Los Angeles research shows the average person only uses 2% of his brainpower. The rest is stored in your subconscious mind. By understanding how your subconscious mind works you can access the other 98%. The subconscious, by the way, is the part of your mind that controls the physical movements of your golf swing, just as it has control of your breathing, heartbeat and other internal functions.

Since golf is mostly a mental game, how can you access this part that controls your body?
Through the use of hypnotic suggestion you can communicate with your subconscious mind and program new ideas in your golf game for success. These new ideas must include positive self-talk, belief in your potential and goal, and visualization of superior performance in accomplishing your goal.

What is hypnosis?
Hypnosis is a universal way for reaching the subconscious mind with messages. It involves a process of persuading yourself that you can change and achieve your desired goals by freeing yourself of distraction and doubt. Once a mental habit is formed it becomes easier to follow and more difficult to break.

Hypnosis has been around since 3500 A.D. In Eqypt people were put into sleep chambers for several days and given messages while they slept. In Russia in 1935, Prof. Emanuel Orlick introduced sports hypnosis to thousands of world-class athletes and hundreds of coaches from every country in the world who were gathered there in opposition to Hitler's 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin. The Russians were excluded from the Games and did not participate until 1952, but showed up at the 1956 Melbourne Olympic Games with eleven sports hypnotists. They dominated the Games until the break-up of the Soviet Union. At the 1972 Munich Olympics, the East German women dominated their events through highly developed mental and psychological preparation built around relaxation and suggestion.

We have entered a new age in golf where our superstars have been programmed from their early years to believe in themselves and their golf abilities.

Jack Nicklaus has been quoted as saying his mind was his strongest weapon in making him a champion.

Tiger Woods mental coach, Jay Brunza hypnotized him to block out distractions and focus on the golf course.

Phil Michelson is another superstar who was nurtured and affirmed as a child and programmed by his mental coach and hypnotist Dean Reinmuth.

Chuck Hogan, PGA Professional changed his golf schools to incorporate more mental training and hypnosis than swing training. He is a coach to over 60 PGA, LPGA and Senior Tour players.

Many other sports are using hypnosis techniques to elicit better physical success. Bob Reese, the head trainer and hypnotherapist of the New York Jets used relaxation and visualization techniques to reprogram his players' subconscious minds.

In 1978 Jimmy Connors used hypnosis to win the Austrailian Indoor Tennis Championship.

Muhammed Ali used self-hypnotism when he proclaimed ,"I am the greatest" and "Float like a butterfly. Sting like a bee!"

How does hypnosis work?
Hypnosis is a natural state of life. During a normal waking day we go in and out of a trance-like state many times. Some of the natural states of trance we encounter are; highway trance, electronic trance (TV and computer), movie trance, reading trance, eating trance, doing two things at the same time, watching the sunset or ocean, daydreaming, boredom or looking at a holographic picture.

In hypnosis, positive suggestions are introduced while in a trance-like state. Contrary to popular belief, you are not asleep. Your mind is actually in a heightened state of awareness while the physical body is relaxed. In this state the conscious mind is bypassed and positive suggestions are given directly to the subconscious mind. By this process, a new habit of mental programming is established and can be accessed without interference from the conscious mind which analyzes, criticizes and rationalizes.

Your subconscious mind is like a computer. A computer can only operate with the programming that is put into it. It has no choice. It has to operate on that programming.

If you tell yourself "You are so stupid!" when you miss a two-foot putt, your conscious mind is criticizing your performance and sending a powerful message of programming to be recorded into your subconscious mind. In the future when you have a two-footer your subconscious will bring up the program to feel the emotion of being stupid and missing the putt.

Through the use of golf hypnosis these self-imposed programs of sabotage can be transformed into trust, focus, concentration, confidence, relaxation, consistently lower scores and more fun. Since golf is a unique game, it is important to find a qualified hypnotist who knows golf so you can receive relevant programming.

Article Source: http://www.bettergolfarticles.com

Joan King, BCH is the founder and President of POSITIVE MENTAL IMAGERY, a mental sports consulting service dedicated to helping golfers achieve their peak performances. Since 1992 she has given workshops and individual mental coaching to amateur and professional golfers internationally. Joan has produced seven self-hypnosis audiotapes and CDs for golfers for mental golf reinforcement. www.mastermindgolf.com

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