Be Positive - The Third "P" |
Learn from the past, prepare for the future, and perform in the present
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| by Jeff Troesch |
 There is a psychological theory out there
that stipulates that all of our behavior can
be put into two basic categories. We either
behave to get something we want or we act in
order to avoid something that we don’t want.
A prominent psychologist called this the
pleasure/pain principle. We seek pleasure
and stay away from pain, whether or not we’re
conscious of this motivation. This theory,
applied to golf psychology, has very real
application to you as a player. The players
who think the best in the game are those who
have a picture in their mind of the type of
shot they want to hit. “I want to hit a
draw, starting on a line toward that tree
through the fairway” “I’m going to roll this
downhill putt so that it dies right in the
hole” “I’m going slow my tempo down so that I
can put a smooth swing on the ball” Those who
think less well, often fill their mind with
pictures or words describing what they’re
trying to avoid. “Don’t hit it left
here” “Don’t blow this by the hole or you
might be looking at a three-putt” “Don’t
start the club so far inside” “Stop swinging
so darned fast” While avoidance motivation
can be very powerful, it has fear as its
primary influence. Peak performing when
confronted with fears is a difficult task to
achieve on a consistent basis, no matter what
the talent or skill of the player. The
challenge for all of us in golf (and life!)
is to keep our thoughts and pictures in our
minds on the things that we desire. This
motivation is healthier for the psyche,
easier on the blood pressure, and more likely
to produce the results over time that we’re
working toward.
Another important element of being as
positive as possible is for a player to learn
to be as kind to himself as possible after
each shot. Most players, if they were
caddying for another player would never be
critical, judgmental and negative toward that
player if he miscalculated a shot, hit a shot
poorly, or missed a putt. In fact, most
would typically respond with something
like, “you’re OK, let’s get the next one”
or “no problem, let’s get up and down from
there”. On the other hand, most player’s
internal dialogue if they hit that same poor
shot or missed that same putt, is typically
not nearly as kind or positive! Think about
what you say to yourself after you hit a poor
shot. I suspect it is very different than
your response if you were caddying for
someone! In fact, if you hired a caddy and
he spoke to you like you spoke to yourself,
you’d fire that guy on the spot! Here’s the
point- train yourself to speak as positively
and constructively to yourself as you’d speak
to others. This will go a long way towards
keeping your mind on the positive.
The above column was reprinted with
permission from the e-book “Fitness Secrets
of Championship Golfers”. Jeff Troesch and
Susan Hill contributed several chapters to
this 212 page e-book, along with Kai Fusser
(Annika Sorenstam’s trainer) and several
other well-known experts on the physical,
mental, and technical aspects of golf
training. This e-book can be purchased on-
line at www.golffitnessexperts.com.
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