There’s a danger we treat fear completely as a bad thing in golf psychology. Now I know this goes against a lot of what I’ve been saying, but I’m talking here about the thin end of fear - nervousness. For many people, nervousness is the buzz of competition, whether we’re competing with other people, ourselves or the golf course we happen to be playing.

For many people the buzz is part of the enjoyment. Perhaps that’s what Mark Twain was referring to when he wrote that “Golf is a good walk spoiled” and HRH Princess Anne meant when she said “Golf seems to be an arduous way to go for a walk. I prefer to take the dogs out.”

Personally, I feel that if I’m not nervously shaking when I get near the end of a seriously good scoring round or close game of match play then I might as well give up golf and go and do something else that excites and inspires me. Jack Nicklaus knew that if you didn’t feel nervous at the end of a tournament you’re trying to win then there’s something wrong with you - he thrived on it. It’s said that he stopped winning golf tournaments when he no longer got so nervous in competition. And you don’t have to be winning to get that feeling, just competing hard in some way. If you watched the duel between Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson during the last round of the 2009 Masters, you’ll know just what mean.

The important thing to remember is to channel that nervous energy into an enhanced state of focus using self hypnosis with deep breathing is one of the best ways I know for doing just that. Alternatively, you could follow the instructions in my article entitled Balance Your Golf Mind and Body for Better Golf - Focus on your Hara. Now anchor that feeling and add it to your unconscious golfing resources. Now you can access the great feeling, that Jack Nicklaus loves so much, whenever you want it or need it.

Like so many of the things I have learned as a golf psychologist, I do so wish I’d known about all this wonderful NLP and golf hypnosis a long time ago when I got so nervous at Hexham, playing with Tony Jacklin at Brookmans Park and whenever I seemed to be on the first tee anywhere!

Andrew Fogg, the Golf Hypnotist, is an enthusiastic golfer, hypnotherapist and NLP Master Practitioner. He is a practicing golf psychologist and author of a soon to be published book The Secrets of Hypnotic Golf and a series of golf hypnosis MP3 programmes.

Visit his website for information on how to get the most success, pleasure and enjoyment from the wonderful game of golf. More specifically, it is about how to improve your golf by working on the 90 percent of the game that is played in the 6 inches between your ears.

Sign up for the free Golf Hypnotist ezine at http://www.golf-hypnotist.com/ and get your free 25- minute Your Own Virtual Caddy golf hypnosis MP3 that goes with this article.

Article Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/golf-articles/channel-your-first-tee-nerves-into-unconscious-golf-resources-for-better-golf-1011127.html

I’ve been writing a lot lately about the negative and positive golf psychology of fear on the golf course. While I’ve been thinking all about golf fear consciously, it seems that my unconscious mind has been quietly working away on the question of how we actual do this “fear” thing in our golf minds. Using a post-shot routine was the answer - to the problem, not the question.

Now in NLP and golf hypnosis, we have many ways of managing a person’s fears. If it’s a full blown phobia, we can deal with that easily. If it’s a habit or belief that’s blown out of all proportion, we can help there too using techniques like the NLP Swish Pattern. If we need a skill that someone else has we can use modelling and Richard Bandler’s “Stealing a Skill” technique. If the fear is doubt related and, as we might say colloquially, there’s a part of me that wants to play a risky shot and another part that’s saying it’s too dangerous, then we’ve got the NLP Visual Squash parts integration technique. And there are many more NLP tools we can use before we even start looking at golf hypnosis.

So why not use one of these techniques to manage or eliminate fear? Well, you can use these techniques and if they are really deep-seated fears, you may need them. But what about nipping the fears in the bud, so that we don’t have to remember them every time we come to play a similar shot? After all, didn’t I read somewhere that Tiger Woods says about hitting bad shots, “I hit it and forget it?” You can’t go back in time and replay a shot, so just forget it and move on.” If there’s a way to forget our bad shots, then surely we don’t need to fear them.

Now that reminds me of a story I’ve used many times before about Jack Nicklaus genuinely only remembering the putts he holed, never the ones he missed. So has Jack ever missed from inside of six feet on the last hole of a major? Of course he has! Does he remember it? Not a chance. And do you think he cares that he can’t remember? Some people would probably say that Jack is deluded in his thinking, that it is not based on reality. Well, we all create our own realities and Jack’s seem pretty good to me! You can read the full story in my earlier article entitled Better Putting in Your Golf Mind.

So where is all this going, Andrew, I hear you ask. Well, we hear and read a lot about pre-shot routines and most of the people I know now use them diligently. But few if any use any sort of post-shot routine. They usually just replace any divot, put the club back in the bag - sometimes firmly, sometimes gently - and either, walk forward happily or trudge forward miserably. Of course some rant and rave, but we’ll ignore those for now - seems like good advice to me.

If you react positively after hitting a golf shot, your brain produces lots of happy chemicals and associates those good feelings to the shot you’ve just hit and to the hole you’ve just played. The next time you play that hole or a similar shot, you have the opportunity to unconsciously remember that feeling and the associated result. In NLP we call this anchoring. Something similar happens if you react badly after hitting a shot and that bad shot can get anchored too.

So my recommendation is to really enjoy your good shots - you want to remember them - and release the bad shots to the past without any emotion, like someone else hit that bad shot. You can’t go back in time and replay a shot, so just forget it and move on.

Now I don’t like prescribing detailed pre-shot routines to people as it is far better to develop your own one from what works best for you. I think the same applies to a post shot routine, so I’ll just list these few simple pointers:

1. Identify a specific trigger for the post-shot routine, like seeing the ball stop moving
2. If it’s a good shot, then really feel good and replay the shot in your mind just as it felt when you hit it
3. If it’s not a shot to remember, then don’t react at all and just see it briefly as if you were watching someone else play the shot
4. Good or bad, consciously release the shot to the past and relax as you start walking forward to the next shot.

Andrew Fogg, the Golf Hypnotist, is an enthusiastic golfer, hypnotherapist and NLP Master Practitioner. He is a practicing golf psychologist and author of a soon to be published book The Secrets of Hypnotic Golf and a series of golf hypnosis MP3 programmes.

Visit his website for information on how to get the most success, pleasure and enjoyment from the wonderful game of golf. More specifically, it is about how to improve your golf by working on the 90 percent of the game that is played in the 6 inches between your ears.

Sign up for the free Golf Hypnotist ezine at http://www.golf-hypnotist.com/ and get your free 25- minute Your Own Virtual Caddy golf hypnosis MP3 that goes with this article.

Article Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/golf-articles/anchor-your-good-golf-shots-with-a-post-shot-routine-using-nlp-and-golf-hypnosis-1011132.html

Although I’m sure golf clothes  could be used to improve any game, or at least make the game more amusing for the spectators, this article is focused on potential ways to improve your golf game by choosing the correct clothes to suit the specific situation.  

I’m not sure how much effort you normally put into choosing what you’re going to wear to the golf course, but I’m assuming that there must be a certain amount involved due to the fairly strict etiquette surrounding what one can and cannot wear on the course.  Recently I got to wondering whether spending a little bit more time deciding what to wear might actually give you some huge advantages and maybe even improve your game – these were my thoughts.

The Shiny Shirt Approach

If you are a shy person, easily put off by having lots of people watching you tee-off, consider bedecking yourself in attire similar to that of Ian Poulter in this picture.  As long as it is a sunny day (which I accept is unlikely), the reflection of the sun in your shirt will blind the surrounding spectators, meaning that they cannot possibly watch you while you play.  A perfect tip for the stage-shy, I’m sure you’ll agree!

The Ball Trousers Approach

This clothing-technique is essentially a cheat for those who find teeing-off a bit of a problem.  Maybe a good option for the employee that is so desperate to get in with the boss that they agree to play a few holes, despite having never held a golf club their life.  The idea is to take a pair of ridiculous golfing trousers, like those modelled here by Payne Stewart, then fill the voluminous interior with golf balls.
When it is your turn to tee-off, step forwards and simply hit the ball as hard as you possibly can – way out into the rough where nobody could possibly have seen it land.  Cover yourself with a muffled curse including either the word “splice” or “hook” and trot off after your lost ball, making a big show about stomping around in the rough grass.  Once you have reached a respectable position, a quick snap of sock elastic will secretly magic a new ball out of nowhere!  After that it’s just a few simple whacks onto the green…

In this way, beginners can take advantage of silly golfing fashion trends and use them to overcome the embarrassment of losing a ball every time they tee-off .  Consider branding all the balls with the same distinctive logo beforehand to remove any suspicion that you may have accidently found somebody else’s ball.  Maybe even accessorise with some binoculars; hit the ball as hard as you possibly can, whip out the binos and then make a big show of watching the flight of the ball before running after it shouting “I’ve got it, don’t worry, I’ve got it!”  You won’t look cool, but you will get through the experience with a far more respectable score.

The Distraction Technique

It’s a very cheap tactic for sure but, if you dress cleverly enough, you can actually distract your opponent into playing badly.  Sure it doesn’t make your score any better but, when winning is on the agenda, it doesn’t matter how badly you play – as long as you the other person plays worse.  So, we’re looking for distracting things; shiny things that catch the sunlight, flapping things that distract the eye and jangling things that interrupt concentration…in other words, it might be best to dress like a Morris Dancer. ?

There are many other classic golf clothing techniques that you can implement, including the old “long spikes in the golf shoes used to “accidently” step on opponent’s foot” move and “aerodynamic clothing” for the intense golfer.  The general rule though is to experiment within the boundaries of golf clothing etiquette.  

Confident and skilful golfers probably won’t benefit massively from this guide, but even they should take some extra time getting dressed before their round to ensure their golf clothes aren’t an embarrassment.  There are lots of stylish golf clothes out there, including personal favourite of mine Greg Norman golf clothing and Nike golf clothing; there is no excuse for wearing the same old outdated nonsense every time.

Even if none of these techniques are for you, at least you can now detect a player’s type by the way they dress; shiny clothes probably means they’re secretly shy; baggy trousers suggests that they’re a beginner; too many accessories for take in at one time may imply that the player feels like the underdog.  Maybe this could apply to life as well as the golf course…

William Klimt manages the golf clothing outlet in the Chiltern Heights Golf Club. For more information about golf clothing, please visit http://www.easytigergolf.com/

Article Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/golf-articles/improve-your-game-using-clever-golf-clothes-1011582.html