You Play Like You Think

Competitive golf is played mainly on a five-and-a-half-inch course: the space between your ears. -Bobby Jones

It All Begins With Thought
Most everything that I do with the players with whom I consult has as a foundational base the following simple, but important dynamic:

THINKING - FEELINGS - BEHAVIORS

In brief, what this implies is that what we do (behaviors) is influenced by our emotions (feelings) which is first impacted by our thoughts (thinking). A golf example to illustrate:

Imagine that you're standing over a four-foot putt. The putt breaks a little right to left, and you're committed to starting the ball on the right edge of the hole. The putt is a little uphill, so you know that you can hit the putt reasonably firmly. OK, let's pause here. If you're thinking exclusively about these factors in advance of striking the ball, you will likely be focused very much on the task of rolling the ball well toward your target (right edge of hole). If that's the case, you'll likely have feelings that are either somewhat neutral and/or feelings of confidence (perhaps preceded by thoughts of "I'm capable of rolling this ball on that line"). This thought/feeling process will likely elicit behavior of you executing a reasonably smooth stroke on the ball (assuming your technique is sound!) and giving yourself a good chance to get the ball in the hole.

Now let's make this a little more interesting. Back to where we paused earlier. While you're standing over the ball, you pay attention to the fact that this four-foot putt is for you to make birdie and record your lowest round total ever. In addition, you've missed similar birdie putts on two of the last three holes you've played. Does this change things? It completely depends on what you choose to emphasize in your thinking. If you're now thinking about the potential outcome ("I could break 80 for the first time"), or are thinking about your past efforts ("Don't miss another opportunity here"), you are likely to bring on emotions of excitement, doubt, worry, fear, or any number of emotions. These have the potential to influence your behavior such that you respond in ways that affect your tempo, your rhythm, your tension level, and your stroke. I assume it is obvious that you are more likely to get the ball in the hole in the first scenario than in the second. The point that is valuable in all of this is that what you're asking yourself to do did not change from the first scenario to the second! A four-foot putt is a four-foot putt, irrespective of how you choose to think about it. When a player says, "that putt scared the heck out of me", I typically will say something like, "what did it do to you? It seemed to me like it was just laying there!" The putt itself does not change things, but the change in your thinking has the potential to impact what you're paying attention to, and that can (ultimately) impact behaviors such that you start to associate the circumstance (four- foot putt for birdie) with a negative outcome ("I really struggle with those"). More accurately, most players do not "struggle" with four-foot putts. They instead struggle in their thinking about four-foot putts. This is why so many players lament "I can make these all day on the putting green, but can't make one on the course". In part, it is because the type and quality of their thoughts change when on the golf course, and in part, it is because they now label themselves as a player who struggles with particular things on the course.

When you as a player learn to be aware of and take responsibility for your thoughts, you are well on the way to learning how to greatly improve your approach to this game.

Changing your thinking on the course (or off!) is a very simple process¡­simple, but difficult for many. It is simple in that all you have to do is pay greater attention to the quality and types of thoughts, and change them to thoughts that are higher in quality and helpfulness. This is depicted below: