Now I'm really looking forward to some unconscious golf at Doral over the weekend, but I’m not sure what sort of spectacle it’s going to be with players like Mike Weir allegedly “going unconscious” on the advice of Bob Rotella - doesn’t sound like a lot of action there.
I talk a lot in my golf hypnosis work about the difference between the conscious and the unconscious mind in my work and I truly believe that better golf is played in the unconscious mind – by being in the zone, as it’s more commonly called.
There’s an important separation in the mind between planning a shot, a conscious process, and executing it. Have you noticed how when you hit a really good shot, you tend to think,” Wow, what happened there? What did I just do right?” The odd thing is that it usually happens when you didn’t have a thought, at least a conscious one, in your head. You certainly can’t remember what special move you made to get that result. You rarely get those special shots when you’re consciously thinking about all those things the pro told you to remember at your last lessen.
I know I’m always talking about being your own virtual caddy, but that idea also fits in well with this idea of unconscious golf. Just watch Tiger Woods consciously discussing his shot with his caddy and then seeming to glaze over as he unconsciously executes the shot. He’s getting the benefit of their collective experience in planning the shot and then trusting his unconscious swing memory to hit the shot. If you haven’t already, you can get your free download of my “Your Own Virtual Caddy” article and Golf Hypnosis mp3 by subscribing to my free Golf Hypnotist ezine. You’ll find a sign up box on the right of every page of my website.
It works in reverse too. I personally use a swing training device to groove my swing and I often take myself into self hypnosis before practicing on it. That way, all the feelings and muscle actions elicited by the swing trainer are going straight into my unconscious muscle memory without any interference from my critical factor – my conscious mind.
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 www.golf-hypnotist.com for information on how to get the most success, pleasure and enjoyment from the wonderful game of golf. More specifically, it's about how to improve your golf by working on the 90 percent of the game that's played in the 6 inches between your ears.`
Sign up for the free Golf Hypnotist ezine at www.golf-hypnotist.com and get your free 25-minute "Your Own Virtual Caddy" golf hypnosis MP3 programme.