By Wade Pearse

Mental Imagery & Your Performance - (Exercise follows article)

You will be able to monitor your improvement in measurable ways. Your performance will become more consistent and your desire to be placed in competitive, high demand situations will increase. Michael Jordan, of the NBA, always wanted the basketball in the last few seconds of a game. He wanted the last shot. Now keep in mind that when you take the last shot you can be the hero who won the game but you’re also the same person who loses the game when you miss! Not many players like this trade off and don’t actually want the final shot. He did.

Michael had a well oiled self image as a winner. Where did this come from? It came from rehearsing victory in his mind’s eye repeatedly and seeing the ball float through the air and drop smoothly into the basket. Hearing the crowd go crazy as they jump from their seats in excitement! Feeling that rush of exhilaration seeing the ball go in for the win, the clock counting down to zero and the team running towards him in celebration…

Many uninformed athletes might think this is just fantasizing or daydreaming. Don’t make this mistake. When you focus your mind, with a clear intent, toward experiencing yourself at your very best, in a multi-sensory way, you are sending clear messages to your subconscious that instruct it to produce higher levels of performance.

Every athlete, regardless of skill level, has experienced times when everything seems to work. Times and when it all feels so easy. These are the moments you want to recall, in vivid detail, and install deeply into your mindset.

Mental Rehearsal is Real Practice

There is no comparison between an athlete who simply practices the physical aspects of their sport and an athlete who does both. You give me a choice between two athletes where one has so called natural physical talent and seemingly doesn’t have to practice much. The other has to work hard at the physical aspects of their sport and also practices mentally everyday. He/she rehearses specific aspects of their game, experiencing themselves winning over and over again. I’ll take the second athlete every time.

If you truly desire to play your sport at the highest levels and tap the fullness of your potential, you’ll want to include mental imagery exercises into your practice regime right away and as often as possible.

Mental imagery, essentially, isn’t complicated or difficult to use. Here’s a simple exercise for you to try.

1.   Remember any moment where you performed well on the golf course.
2.   What were you seeing around you? Was it full color and vivid or was there something else that stands out visually about it? Notice the overall look of the experience. (Important: you must recall the memory like it is happening to you right now. So you’re not “thinking about it” you’re re-experiencing it again. Step fully inside the memory.)
3.   What are you hearing around you? And now, what are you saying to yourself inwardly in this memory. Take your time and recall how/if you talk to yourself in these moments where you perform well.
4.   Lastly I want you to pay attention to the feelings of this memory. How does it make you feel when you play as well as you know you can? How would you describe this feeling? Once you have a strong sense of these positive sensations, go inside and notice where in your body you feel these feelings. Some people feel light in their head; others feel warmth in their chest. The feeling might move through your body. Only you know. Just pay attention to the quality of the feelings and where they locate in your body.

I recommend doing the above exercise daily. Do this first with moments of personal excellence and then add in visual rehearsal of your golf swing. Go very slowly through your own swing and feel your way through impact. I did this every single night before going to sleep for years. It became a habit after only a couple weeks and then it was natural.

I went form a 26 handicap down to a 4 without golf lessons, using these simple methods. They are very effective. Do this along with your golf lessons and your performance and joy will increase while your scores go down…