How to think

The way that you think on the golf course can have a dramatic effect on your performance.  Anyone with even a passing interest in the game will have seen countless examples of professional golfers with an apparently unassailable lead coming down the stretch, finding ways to inexplicably come back to the chasing pack.  I'm talking about Jean van der Velde at Carnoustie, about Rory Mcilroy at The Masters, Adam Scott at The Open, Greg Norman at the Masters.  More recently Martin Kaymer in Qatar. A few minutes thought and I'm sure you will be able to add to the list.

These are golfers who have come through the ranks and are or were at the top of their game, amongst the very best in the world.  How many times will they have stood over vital 4 foot putts and drained them?  Or in the case of Kaymer, for example holed one of the most pressure filled putts ever seen, to cap the amazing comeback of the European team at Medinah to win the Ryder Cup.

It's not just about winning tournaments, the way that you approach this wonderful sport in your Sunday morning four ball is just as important as it is for the top pros in their tournaments. If you can bring your best game to the course, find ways to get it round ugly, to accept your bad shots and to celebrate your good shots, you can find your way to develop an inner confidence in your game that can only help your performance on and off the course.  And yes, you absolutely can practice your mental game away from the course.  

I'm a professional life and business coach, an industry that owes it's origins to sports mind coach, Tim Galllwey, author of The Inner Game.  Much of business and life coaching is concerned with what is going on in our heads.  As a keen reader of the golfing thought gurus I enjoy the mental side of the game as much as the physical side of the game.  This has helped me to bring down my handicap by three shots over the last couple of years.

I'd like to share some of these ideas with you.