How To Prepare To Have A Great Game Of Golf

Are you ready to change the way you play the game so that you can actually drive your scores down? I promise you that this takes no time; only a decision to make the effort is needed here. I write on and on about mental game info from the pros, psychologists, and other golf experts that fits in this section but I’ll give you the most important here for us very busy people who have little time to work on their game.

It all starts right here: The object of the game is to eliminate balloon scores every chance you get. It’s not to go for birdies…those just happen.

I’ve got a ton of info here and so I’m just going to dive in and start with a quote from my friend Michael Anthony in his book: The mental keys to improve your golf:

“We spend hundreds of dollars on equipment, lessons and clothes and then we go out and play with a ten-cent head.”

So what do we do? We work on the 10% physical…We take lessons, we bang balls, we get swing videos.

Is that us or what?

Let’s begin with the ride to the golf course.

Putting yourself in the best state for playing your best game of golf is what you need to pay attention to here, don’t overlook it. Our most useful tool is music, especially if you are by yourself on the way to the course. If your biggest problem, especially at the beginning of the round, is to be tense and uptight, then use some relaxing music. If you tend to get fearful or anxious during a round, then play some music that makes you feel POWERFUL and UNSTOPPABLE. What you need to do either way, is have some music that you REALLY REALLY like that I want you to listen to on the way to the course.

It’s going to be different for everyone. I want you to pay attention the next time you are listening to some music you REALLY enjoy, away from the course. Ask yourself if it puts you in a resourceful state and makes you feel like you can do anything. If it does, throw it in your car or music player for the ride to the course on your next round.

If there is one song in particular on a CD, that really does it for you, then make sure that that is the last song you hear before stepping out of the car to go onto the course so that it keeps playing in your head. I have used this very successfully except for one problem. I have to periodically change the music as it seems to lose it’s emotional kick over a few rounds if I overuse it.

You know when you find some brand new music (brand new to you as it could have been written a long time ago and you just discover it) and you listen to it about the third, or maybe even the first time and you go “Wow” this is good stuff and you want to hear it again and again for a period of time? But then somewhere down the road, you totally burn out on it and it loses its punch. It’s like a drug, and in all actuality, it is. It’s your own body’s natural chemical releases as part of the mind/body communication system. I’ve got to talk about this for a minute so you understand how powerful this is as it will set up the rest of this book and help explain some of the mental concepts to come.

Ok, where to begin.

Let’s see, let’s start with the fact that every cell in our body has what are called receptors. These are like keyholes awaiting a key to unlock an action that the cell can take. The keys are called ligands. Ligands are nothing more than molecules or chemicals natural or man-made (you might call those drugs), that when they bind to the cells in the receptor, it causes the cell to react in some way. The first type of ligands is called neurotransmitters. They are mostly made in the brain to carry information across the synaptic gap from one neuron to the next. A neuron is a nerve cell and we used to think that this process, was how all action happens from the brain to the body. It’s like how we send electricity over a network of wires. The wires are like the neurons, the transformers connect the wires together as the neurotransmitters do. And electricity flows through each of these systems causing a reaction at the other end.

The second type of ligands are steroids which include hormones. It’s important for our golf to know that under this category are chemicals secreted all over the body during periods of stress which gets our body ready for fight or flight. We know that that is an absolute killer of our golf game right?

The third type of ligand are the peptides. These are strings of amino acids and the bottom line to all of this is that they are what regulate a huge part of our living processes. The big news here is that they are also produced throughout the body, not just the brain, and cause our cells to react in certain ways, productive and unproductive and it all starts from what we call “emotions” or “feelings.”

Why do I explain all of that?

Because it is useful for you to be aware that how you interpret your experiences ends up resulting in a flood of what are called the molecules of emotion. Your feelings are actual chemicals that move about the body and cause it to act in a certain way. Your thoughts create your feelings and your feelings determine your performance. The scary thing is, these chemicals that get secreted are very similar to artificial drugs that we can also get addicted to and require more of to have the same effect.

So if your power music starts to lose it’s emotional high for you, and it will, just go find another one. You want to keep those good emotions always flowing good chemicals. I’m always on the lookout for new music that does this for me and pestering my musician friend Glen Hansen to give me something new and excellent since he knows the kind of music I like. I’m telling you that this simple little idea is worth more to your score than another set of lessons, DO IT for your next round!

About the author: This is article is just a snippet from the great product called Break 80 Without Practice by Craig Sigl. For years Craig struggled to break 80 like so many amateur golfers. After throwing his clubs in the corner of his garage and giving up, he discovered golf’s secrets that changed his life and renewed his game. A year later he scored 77 on a championship course. He then went on to drive his handicap down to a 5, make a hole in one, and record his first under par round…all without practicing. He is now a mental toughness trainer and teaches his methods to golfers worldwide. To learn more about breaking 80 without practice go here now.