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New Release
The Fairway Of Life
Simple Secrets To Playing Better Golf By Going With The Flow ~
Rand Scott Marquardt
Life & Mental Golf Performance Coach 
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FacebookThe Key to Manifesting Your Dream
First off, everything depends upon your concept of yourself. What you consent to be true and accept to be true is your self-concept. What you think, what you are giving your attention upon, what you are vibrationally feeling, and how you talk to yourself becomes your self-fulfilling prophecy – in life, so in golf. We become what we think.
Therefore, in order to change your current direction, you must change your consciousness within, which is the only reality, the first and only cause in the phenomena of life. Whatever appears in the mirror of your life; be it circumstances, conditions, or the way you play golf is a product of your own consciousness. In true essence, you and you alone are the creator, the “manifestor” of your own reality. For the unenlightened or sleepwalker, this may very well seem to be all fantasy, yet all progress comes from the great minds who did not take the accepted view, nor accepted the world as it is. At one point most thought the world was flat or the earth was the center of the Universe and everything revolved around it. Open your mind to new possibilities and it shall be given unto you. Close your mind to any new possibilities and it too shall be given unto you.
If you keep thinking the same thoughts, you’ll keep getting the same results. If you like the way your life and golf are evolving and progressing, then by all means keep on. If you would like to change the way you play golf, or for that matter anything else in your life, then you must intervene in order to alter the course of your future. Hence, your walk along the fairway of life is determined by what you give your imagination, visualization, focus, and attention upon and how you are responding to life itself.
The secret of the ages is always the same message. “As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he. (Proverbs 23:7). Socrates said, “Be as you wish to seem.” Others have said, ‘Act as if it is already so.’ And my new favorite line from the book, The Power of Awareness is, “The great secret of success is to focus the attention on the feeling of the wish fulfilled without permitting any distraction. All progress depends upon an increase of attention,” Neville Goddard. Develop this assumption of your wish fulfilled and you will walk along the fairway of life on even more solid ground than the earth beneath your feet.
Therefore, imagine that you are already experiencing your desire. Do so with wonderful excitement assuming the feeling as if it is already so, and then effortlessly the event will find you. Mere daydreaming without assuming and involving all your feelings and senses is simply a futile attempt to say that you have tried and “it” doesn’t work.
You can be, do, and have anything your heart desires within infinite possibilities and probable future events, being so, which are in alignment within your own imagination. “If you can imagine it, you can achieve it; if you can dream it, you can become it,” William Arthur Ward.
Conditioned Patterns of Behavior
Our subconscious brain runs everything in our life, including our golf game. Stated another way, we become conditioned to same or similar patterns of behavior time and time again, unless we don’t. Unless we break free and create new neurological pathways. In other words, if we keep thinking the same thoughts, we keep getting the same results. How we play, how we respond, how we score, how we react are all conditioned patterns of behavior. It’s almost like clockwork. Over time these conditioned patterns of behavior fall into the realm of being in our comfort zone. Anything on either side of this comes across as a miracle, a fluke, being on, being off, or sometimes an outright aberration. However, for most of us we continue to stay stuck in the confines of mediocrity; within a few shots either side of our comfort zone. Our actual comfort zone can actually be pin pointed to a single score.
Finding Your Comfort Zone – page 279
Our Comfort Zone is actually comprised of a single score, while our general Comfort Zone in golf may on the surface appear to be three or four strokes either side of our actual Comfort Zone. It’s easy to find this single score. Once we find this score, we acknowledge it, know longer are we disillusioned or in denial. Applying the Mental Edge Golf Technique (MEGT) to our Comfort Zone can be a very enlightening experience.
It’s important for you to know your own Comfort Zone, without any self-deception, in order to start the process of lowering it. I also suggest you complete this procedure on a daily or perhaps weekly basis. How much time you invest in your own mental game is a direct match to what you reap.
Imagine lowering your Comfort Zone by a few strokes, or even a single digit or two. In the world of professional golf, the difference between averaging 69.5 and 70 could very well be millions of dollars. For many it’s the difference between making the cut, or not?
Here’s how you find your Comfort Zone. For the actual process of lowering it, buy the book, or let me Coach you.
Step One: Pick a score that is several strokes higher than what you normally shoot on your home course. The idea being that the first time you finish the statement, you will feel confident; it will feel true for you.
Example: I would pick 83 and begin there. If I were to play only 9 holes I would pick 42. Eighty-three, and forty-two is much higher than I normally shoot.
Step Two: Complete the following statement and then answer yes or no.
Statement: “I am confident I can consistently shoot _____ 83, answer (yes).
Step Three: Keep on repeating this process, one stroke at a time lower and you will get a feel for your own game. Keep on doing this until you get uncomfortable and you can no longer with 100 percent certainty say that you can consistently shoot that score.
Example: “I am confident that I can consistently shoot _____ 83 (yes), 82 (yes), 81 (yes), 80 (yes), 79 (yes), 78 (yes), 77 (yes), 76 (ah…no, can’t quite claim 76 consistently).” So, shooting 77 is my actual Comfort Zone number. The score just above where I could no longer say I can consistently shoot. Shooting a 76 (trombones) raised a doubt in my mind. I’ve just discovered my Comfort Zone. Have I shot 76 before, certainly! I also shot a few 70’s, 71’s, 72’s, 73,’s, 74’s, and 75’s. Besides my Comfort Zone limitation, shooting in the 60’s is also one of my self-limiting barriers that I wish to break through. I’ve only done it twice in my life.
Note: Disappointment is the understanding that we have settled for less than what we know we are capable of. Knowledge of this is critical to your ongoing and ultimate success. Most people want to think they are better than what their Comfort Zone tells them. It is okay to feel this disappointment. You’re supposed to feel slightly upset with yourself that you are not quite playing golf to your full potential. That’s what this book and my message is all about.
So, now that you know this what do you do to improve? One must change their internal programming in order to change what they get. It starts with your thoughts. You must create new thoughts that support your intention. What is your intention? What is your goal? What do you desire to experience yourself as? The MEGT will give you, your mind, body, and soul an opportunity to change and create new focus and beliefs.
In order to change, you’ve got to change your own internal paradigm. You’ve got to acquire new neurons and pathways to emerge from your new thoughts. You’ve got to believe it and practice it everyday. You’ve got to imagine the event happening already and it will find you. You’ve got to allow it to happen, and you cannot force it. You’ve got to feel it and actually become it before it has even happened. You’ve got to act as if it is already so. Then, the field of quantum mechanics and physics becomes a match to you.
My whole book can be summed up in one sentence – I’m gonna be a 5-handicap golfer…by July 4th. The time agenda need not be there either…I just didn’t want to procrastinate. Once I became a 5-handicap I set a new intention. “I’m gonna be a 2-handicap by the end of summer.” I ended that year at a 1.2 handicap index.
From this statement of intention, you don’t have to know how. Okay! Why, because that’s how The Universe works. The how’s will be shown to you when and only when you have fully committed. If you see the steps of how it’s unfolding, then that’s not it! Trust it, and it will unfold without your knowing of how. It will come even more wonderful than what you may have imagined. That’s exactly how the how’s started coming into my experience. The end result was even more incredible than I imagined it to be.
And – even before I set the intention, if I hadn’t done the internal work within myself, I wouldn’t have been able to get to the point to actually believe and trust the Universe / God in this process of creation. It would have been all woo woo kind of stuff, which most likely is for many of you. So, I get it…and each is on there own journey. There are plenty of paths, no one path better than another. I just share my message and what worked for me and believe me, I have dealt with plenty of demons and challenges and adversity on my way – and still do! It’s about keeping on!
Like I state in my book, The Fairway of Life, if you set an intention, or dream your dream and end up saying…but, or yeah but, or any number of negative statements, you end up killing the whole thing. I also give an in depth technique to lower our comfort zone. Like anything else, few will do it, some will only listen, and others will do nothing at all.
Life is like a circle. It is as simple, and as complex as that!
We reap what we sow
In golf, as in life
How much quality time are you putting into your golf? How much practice time? How much mental practice time? Are you aligning with the flow of Well-Being and letting it happen, or are you struggling against the grain? Are you having fun? Is becoming a better golfer really one of your hearts desire?
All my life I wanted to be a better golfer. I worked really, really hard at it. I beat balls until my hands were bloody. I wiped the sweat off my brow so I could hit some more balls. I kept hoping I would find that magic elixir, the Holy Grail of being able to be in the groove with just the right swing. Year after year I kept getting the same results…until I had a breakthrough.
You see…what it takes is really putting forth the energy – much more than just playing and practicing. Sure, just doing it a lot will get you better results. I was just doing it a lot and it got me to about a 3-6 handicap in my prime. When I didn’t play or practice all that much my handicap would sore up to a 10 or more; I could barely break 80 anymore. Then I decided to recommit myself. I decided to trust the Universe with the power of intention. I decided to delve into my inner demons and really get to the heart of my fears. Yes, it is fear that holds many back from achieving their full expression on the golf course.
Fear of any kind is the number-one enemy of all golfers, regardless of ball-striking and shot making capabilities.”
—Jack Nicklaus
Therefore, if fear is the number-one enemy of all golfers, and who wouldn’t believe the #1 golfer of all time? Then, wouldn’t logic tell us that it is our fear, our inner demons that need to be worked on?
Although I knew this deep down inside – that I played scared golf some of, well probably much of the time to be honest. It took me many years to really, really get it. I needed to own it. I needed to embrace it. I needed to really observe myself and “be with” my fears and simply notice them. For what you look at, disappears. This is one highly effective technique that I use whenever I can. Does it always work like a miracle? Of course not! Yet, the key is to get back in the game. When you commit – I mean fully commit to your desire to play better golf, miracles will happen and you will be shown how. I was practicing and searching for the how before going within myself. I learned you don’t need to know “how,” that it will be shown to you.
The rest of my program is really designed to keep adding more and more beneficial beliefs to our own subconscious mind, which runs everything in our life, including our golf game. Beneficial beliefs gradually squeeze out the negative ones. You really become a new you – if you so desire to invest in yourself. It takes daily commitment. And I know most are unwilling. For those willing to put forth the commitment to playing better golf I invite you to follow me on facebook and on my blog at www.golfissupposedtobefun.com and please interact and post your comments. Together we can!
Be as you wish to seem,
Rand Marquardt
Spiritual Life & Mental Golf Performance Coach
New program begins January 1, 2011
http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Rand-Marquardt-Spiritual-Life-Coach-Mental-Golf-Performance-Coach/130619568959
Behavior & Demeanor on the Golf Course
Unedited expression from Jack Zlotow
I’ve been able to incorporate into my golf thought process a couple of the principles in Rand’s book “The Fairway of Life.” I’m not playing a lot of golf this year. In fact, I’ve been on the course a total of six times. So - using his techniques in an effort to lower my handicap by a few strokes in one year wasn’t in the cards for me. I don’t know anybody who could pull that feat off by playing, on average, once a month or so. There are a couple of principles I’ve taken to heart that have increased my enjoyment of the game - and probably caused my golfing partners to enjoy playing with me more than they otherwise would have.
Let me back up a little. I’ve had a volcanic temper on the golf course since at least high school, when Rand and I would regularly play together - and regularly witness each other coughing up some titanic tantrums. I’d not only throw clubs - if I really lost it, I was famous for throwing my whole golf bag, clubs, balls, tees all flying. My playing partners were either disgusted by my behavior, or they’d try to stifle laughing at me behind my back. God help them if I actually saw them laughing at me . . .
That type of behavior on the course, unfortunately, stayed with me well into my adult life, finally moderating somewhat in the last couple of years. But - I’ve still had those moments that made me feel quite silly after I calmed down - if I calmed down - and made my playing partners uneasy being around me.
I finished reading “The Fairway of Life” early this summer. Shortly thereafter, I had occasion to play golf with three old friends I graduated high school with. Two of the three don’t play a lot of golf and aren’t accomplished golfers, but they’re a lot of fun to play with. The other plays a game close to mine, though I’ve played a lot more golf than him over the years and should beat head to head seven out of 10 times. The old Jack Zlotow would’ve been all keyed up on the first hole, intent on showing all three that I can still play like “the old days,” even though that was my third time on the course in 2010. I would’ve wound up, tried to smack it hard, and probably snap hooked it 160 or so yards - and maybe out of bounds. The day would likely have slid downhill from there. But this time something was different. On the way to the course, I was thinking over and over about one of Rand’s core principles -”Golf is Supposed to be Fun!” Here I was, on a picture perfect day, playing with three guys I’ve known for more than 35 years, and there was no way I was going to ruin it by trying to impress them that I could still play like I did in my 20s and 30s when I was playing four, five times a week. My plan was simple - I was going to enjoy the day, no matter how I played. “Golf is Supposed to be Fun.” And I enjoyed the round immensely, even though I shot 91, which is 10 - 15 shots worse than the scores I shot on that same course when I played it often and was at the top of my game.
The other principle I’ve embraced, and certainly embraced that day, is accepting the shot - great shots, good shots, lousy shots. It takes a while to learn to embrace bad golf shots, but you can do it. You let your mind wander a little, you’re not focused on the present, and you bungle a shot - skull it out of the bunker, push it 30 yards right of target. I certainly make those kind of shots, but instead of steaming on my way to the ball to make the next shot, I accept the result and do my best to recover. I’ve been able to calm myself down, and it’s helped me stay in the moment. It’s helped me stay on track and not ruin my whole round because I’ve made one or two bad shots.
Maybe next year I’ll be in position to play a lot of golf again, and if I am, I’ll apply Rand’s principles in a different fashion. For this year, these principles have allowed me to enjoy the game and keep from being uptight, and that’s more than enough for me.
I’m out protecting a score
Once you make the commitment to play better golf I guarantee you everything within you will rise to the top – both your brilliance and your demons.
I recently had this conversation with my fellow golfing partner Chris Shepler who is a big fan of The Fairway of Life. He recently played in a “big” tournament – The Northern Michigan Open at Cheboygan CC. Sheppy opened with a 75, one of his best tournament rounds of his career. He wanted to let me know of all the “big time” players in the field, including Golf Professional Brian O’Neill who also opened with a first round 75, and closed with a 71.
Needless to say in round two Chris shot an 85. He tells me, “I completely lost my focus to having fun. I was out there protecting a score and I couldn’t get my mind to hit the ball harder while putting. (Classic deceleration when you are nervous). I was tentative and forgot all about having fun. I let the event to become bigger than it is. I was proud of my 75 in competitive golf and I was out there trying to protect a score. My mind went from here to there; from present – to - I gotta have it. I noticed it, but did not work to get myself back there…I stayed there (meaning I stayed in the abyss of the grind, getting ahead of myself, and not having fun). I also noticed extra frustration building whenever my drives would end up a shorter distance, which meant I would have to hit a longer iron to the green than the day before. I let this irritation translate into ‘it’s going to be tougher to make par versus just playing the shot.’ I know now after the fact that it doesn’t matter what club I am hitting (a five iron or a four iron) - it’s all the same. I did have a good confident thought process early in my second round then when things got away all I could think was I gotta have it. I gotta have a par. And if I don’t have it then I’m screwed (I won’t break 80). And I never made a putt on the second day. I couldn’t figure it out during my round until I got to the 18th tee box, and I finally got up and down because it didn’t matter anymore. Finally, I got up and down. I saw it and I did it.”
I asked Chris, what else happened? He said, “It all boils down to that demon, that devil protecting a score…I gotta have it. Instead of enjoying, I got to have it. I can’t go 3 over right now. Instead of acknowledging the day, I was concerned about my score. The next thing ya know I three-putted for bogey, then at that point I got livid and impatient. I needed it to stay under 80 and have a chance. How stupid is that.” Coach Marquardt, “Then what happened?” Chris, “I couldn’t let it go and went double bogey, double bogey. Then I finally got my s**t together talking to myself on hole #10 and birdied it. Then I pulled hooked a 2-wood on #11 and noticed I cracked the face of my club and went on a bogey train.”
Coach Marquardt, “So Chris, what do you take from this, what did you learn?” Chris, “I learned that I need to focus on being more patient (I’ve never shot a 75 in a golf tournament before) – the more times I’m in this position the better I will become at these situations. It was all a learning experience and I’m okay with it.”
Take from Chris Shepler’s experience on the golf course, as you will. We are all evolving as golfers and human beings to become our very best. I invite you to remember that golf is a great game and it’s all about the enjoying; the scoring will take care of it self. It’s just another round of golf, one stroke at a time. Stay present – play golf in the now. Visualize, visualize, visualize. See it. Also, having to have something in the future takes you out of your present. Wanting something so badly pushes it away. On a side note, I think that’s what happened to Nick Watney in the PGA – he thought about wanting it so badly. I know he believes in having fun. I remind you all – just let it happen. By the way, nothing wrong with a little nervous anxiety, just never let the event to become bigger than it really is. It’s a game of golf. Have fun. Golf is supposed to be fun – and when you get that you can drop the “supposed to” – golf is fun! Remember that – most won’t and they’ll keep repeating the same self-sabotaging behaviors over and over again, until they don’t.
Thanks Chris – next time we’ll here from golf lover Jack Zlotow and what he has taken to the course from The Fairway of Life. Please send any stories you would like to share with the readers. What I find is that others line up right behind the one who steps out and expresses their truth – and we all benefit.
Three Key Elements To Your Golf Game
Tom Lehman reiterates and confirms once again what you and I already know.
- See it
- Feel it
- Trust it
See the shot, feel the shot, trust the shot…
When Lehman asked Pavin in the Ryder Cup years ago how to handle the pressure of nerves, Pavin told him point blankly to commit to the shot.
I invite you to be and do the same!
Acknowledge it!
Whatever you are experiencing on or off the golf course simply observe it…and acknowledge it…and BE with it. Can you be with it? What you resist, persists.
Competitive Spirit & Temper
Competitive Spirit & Temper
Even Tiger Woods can do “better”…
I’ve been, wanting to write about this apparent insidious dichotomy for quite some time. For most of us having a competitive driven spirit with a burning desire to be our best almost seems to go hand in hand with short outbursts of temper tantrums whenever we hit what we consider a bad shot, or we at least give it some internal muttering. Does it have to be this way? Do you have a choice to be angry or not? What I have come to understand is to take the high road whenever I can when it comes to this apparent catch-22. Is it a perfect science, absolutely not! Like all of life, it’s an eternal process to become better than you used to be. You want to get so mad at yourself then finally you decide not too. That’s a big change and a big adjustment in most of our set patterns of behavior. And it is possible to do this WITHOUT losing one ounce of competitive fire, only to gain a “better” golf game in the long run! Is it possible to not lose your temper after a “bad” golf shot and still play your best from here on out? ABSOLUTELY! What do you think?
Geoff Ogilvy came to this understanding of taking the high road several years ago. Now look at his demeanor, without losing one ounce of his competitive fire. In an interview with John Huggan from Golf Digest after winning the 2006 US Open, Ogilvy shared some enlightening insights that he has come to understand with his golf game.
Q: As a young player, were you impatient on the golf course?
A: Oh, yeah. I was horrendous. I could hit five good shots in a row, then one bad one. I’m sure I was a nightmare when I was 16 or 17, as many at that age are.
Q: What sort of stuff did you do?
A: I’d throw clubs around. I broke a few. I used a lot of four-letter words. The temper stuff is easy to fix psychologically. You either get angry or you don’t get angry; you have a choice.
A: I realize now that I was getting angry for everyone else around me, not for me. When you get that, that’s the day you fix it. When you play by yourself, you never smack the bag with the club, or get angry…ever…because there’s no audience. That’s my theory, anyway. After you hit a shot you get angry because you want the person you’re trying to impress to think that you’re better than this. I think that’s the root of it for nine out of ten people. The other one is purely psycho.
Which one are you? Which one am I? Which one is Tiger?
Tiger Woods is still in the process of working through his own self-criticism and impatient issues. He gets mad at himself and drops some four-letter words, or uses the Lord’s name in vain, which I think is just a habit of attraction, not an intentional jab at God or Jesus. He’s stubborn, like many of us, as the day is long. He still thinks he has to get mad at himself whenever he hits a less than desirable shot to keep his fire and competitive spirit, which, by the way, I am certainly not judging. I am merely observing. I have been there most of my adult life.
Tiger states it this way after his comeback tied for 4th place finish in The Masters, “I received some criticism for bad language, which I apologized for immediately after Saturday’s round,” Woods said on his blog. “It’s tough when you’re in a competitive environment and in the flow of a tournament. I’m not perfect. All I can say is I’m trying to do everything I can without losing my fire and competitive spirit.”
The world’s most mentally tough athlete and golfer still struggles with his anger and foul language – perhaps it’s a habitual patterned response? He later apologizes as he seeks to work through this negative perception he is giving the public as a most recognized role model.
The real question is can one control, manage, or “be with” their apparent disgust of their “bad” golf shot while still keeping every bit of their competitive juices flowing? I say absolutely a resounding YES, but I invite you to experiment and experience it on your own. I shared some of this talk with the Petoskey High School golf team recently. Now I share it with a wider audience. These concepts and more are mentioned in my book, The Fairway of Life. Please visit me at http://golfissupposedtobefun.com and sign up for my free newsletter too!
Becoming a Champion
“The one who wins is always the one who wants it the most and is most expectant of it,” Abraham. And it’s not who you are that holds you back, it’s who you think you’re not. One essential ingredient in becoming a champion is to set the intention to become one. Like dreams, if we just willy nilly dance around them without ever fully committing, then nothing truly magical ever happens. You’ve got to make the commitment and stay in the process. Because the moment you think this doesn’t work, it won’t. It takes courage to keep on. It takes courage to dream and begin taking action steps beyond your normal way of being. It takes courage to step outside your current comfort zone. It takes courage to get your self up to speed with whom you say you wish to be. Maybe the reason you are where you are is because you’re scared to even set the intention for fear of failure? Maybe you’re afraid of success? Perhaps you’re afraid of what might be asked of you? Perhaps you just not willing to put in the time or you think money is the obstacle. Your greatest obstacle in your process is fear and doubt, and those are the culprits that kill many a dream and keep many golfers at mediocrity. Whereas, champion’s rise to the occasion.
“Fear of any kind is the number-one enemy of all golfers, regardless of ball-striking and shot making capabilities.”
—Jack Nicklaus
“I refuse to give into fear, real or imagined, or to be afraid either consciously or unconsciously of anything or anyone. I smile at my obstacles.”
—Tiger Woods
You can choose to keep on or fold like an accordion, yet all great champions overcame adversity and conquered their demons within. Everyone throws up all over themselves several times on their journey to becoming. It’s how you wish to perceive these growing pains. Every champion attributes their success to the adversity they overcame. They looked fear straight in the eye. Fear is your number one obstacle that must be dealt with in order to make it to the other side. Rather than be afraid of your fears, run away from them, I invite you to be with your fears. The more you become aware of them, the more you really look at them, the more you able to be with your fears, the more they disappear. For what FEARS really are is Fantasy Experienced As Real. Turn your fantasy into an awareness that is so powerful that you will thrive beyond your wildest dreams. You are Gods greatest creation and you are meant to win.
I looked “fear” in the eye and said, you come to me with confusion and darkness and failure…but I come to you in the light and strength of my being. I am in alignment with myself and you cannot stand against me.
In order to become the champion within you, you must first have the courage to deal with you fears – it is the biggest obstacle that lies between where you are right now and where it is you say you wish to be. Dealing with your fears is an eternal process. The alternative is where you are right now. One of the best ways to support you in living the life of your dreams on the golf course is to keep on feeding yourself more and more beneficial beliefs that uplift and inspire the true champion within you. “The game of golf is played mainly on a five-inch course, in a space between your ears,” Bobby Jones.
* More later about feeding our subconscious mind in a series of Creating a Champion’s Self-Image CD recordings to listen to over and over again.
You see, in order to become and begin developing the champion within you, you have got to become a match to you. What do you want? What does it take to become a match to what I want? Where do I begin? You must first ask yourselves a series of questions and then answer them. The best place to begin is exactly where you are right now. Once you begin to fully commit and set the intention to become, notice and become fully aware of what comes up for you, because without the commitment, there is not another level of awareness. Without the commitment there is not another level of growth, which is often messy. If you keep thinking what you’ve always thought, you’re going to keep getting what you’ve always gotten. My intention here is to wake you up, so you can choose and decide; to break you free from the grasp of mediocrity. “Champions give their best effort all the time,” Mike Krzyzewski. In order to fight through the mediocrity, you must first fight through your own demons of adversity, because they come first. Once you announce and declare yourself to be something, the exact opposite enters your experience first. Many will quit when the going gets tough. What will you do? With ease and grace, with humility, I invite you to keep on.
How do you see the game of golf?
For the most part I saw the game of golf as something scary, something I wanted to play so well at, yet I was afraid much of the time. Oh sure, I had my moments when I felt that everything was clicking. Golf was fun and I was caught up in the moment. However, the next day would come around and it felt like I was starting over with all my same old fears. If only I could start where I left off from the day before? I saw the game of golf as a sport I loved to hate – unless I was playing well. Slowly I am changing my tune (my self-image) to appreciate golf developing an attitude of gratitude. I am becoming more of the champion that lies within me! Do I still have nervous energy creep up before a round, and sometimes in the heat of the battle – you betcha. I’m just better prepared to handle such a monster. I am becoming my own coach, or an objective detective in my own process better equipped mentally to handle the task at hand. How do you see the game of golf?
Do you see the game of golf as a harsh, cruel, and frustrating sport? Or do you see it as an outrageously fun and enjoyable experience? Is it a grind and a struggle, or is it a pleasant stroll in the park? Do you remain open or are afraid to express your inner talents? Are you going with the flow or paddling against it? You see, how you perceive the game of golf will become an exact match every time to your experience. Whatever and wherever you give your focus, you will experience.
There’s no better feeling in the world on the golf course when everything just “clicks.” It’s a feeling of just knowing where the stream of Well-Being abounds. It’s as if God is flowing to and through us. We’ve transcended the self-imposed limit we have set. Champion’s expect to play well, and they do. Champion’s find them selves playing golf more often in The Zone. Sometimes we find ourselves in this Zone experience because we just temporarily forget about our fears. Almost out of nowhere it just happens for a spell. Yet, what if I told you that you could find yourself in this state of being more often? What would you say? Probably you’d say something along the lines of a BIG YES, of course, I would love to play golf more often in The Zone! Believe it and you will see it. Yet most have their doubts and will end up finishing their thought or conversation with a “yeah but.” Yeah but, I’ve got to swing a certain way. Yeah but, I don’t have enough time. Yeah but, my swing sucks…yeah but, yeah but, yeah but. Before your dream even begins to take root The Realist in us often compromises it, or squashes it. I guarantee you if you end your thoughts with a “yeah but;” then that will be what you’ll get. If The Realist takes over, you also get that. If you don’t believe any of this, you won’t. Most will say show me and I will believe it. What if I said the magic formula is believe it and you will see it?
Do you know why some golfers succeed consistently, and others don’t? Well, I do, and it’s all in how they perceive their world and what they allow to filter into the depths of their personal self-image, which is lodged deeply within their subconscious mind, which runs everything in their life, including their golf game. It’s called mental toughness in the golf world. Fortunately for some, like a Tiger Woods or Trevor Immelman, they have been trained from a young age with conscious parenting to become champions. For most of us, we must change our current programming; otherwise we remain stuck and acclimated to our miserable patterns of negative, fearful, and other foolish self-sabotaging behaviors and their mediocre results. To become a champion, you must act and play like one. You must believe in yourself. Arnold Palmer is doing his best in passing this kind of mental understanding onto his grandson, Sam Saunders. And he knows it’s up to Sam to grasp it.
Now on the other hand if everything is just clicking along and you’ve mastered the mental game of golf…then by all means keep on. Congratulations you’re one of a kind. But, if not, then we’ve got to start telling ourselves a new story, one that supports our new vision in being our best. The first place to begin is to start talking, acting, and playing like a champion. Acting as if it is already so. These new beneficial beliefs begin taking root into the treasury of our subconscious minds. At first it may seem like there are two of us playing this game, one who wants to have a new, more empowering self-image, and another who regresses back to our old fearful patterns of behavior. Be patient through this process of becoming and the relief of better feeling thoughts will be drawn unto you. The power and wisdom lies within you.
Therefore, let your new dominant intent to feel joy while you are playing this wonderful game and the freedom to express yourself, to grow in the process, and have more fun will come quickly and easily into alignment. See your golf as one of an enjoyable experience – even if you are well over par in the beginning of your round. Just keep asking for the alignment with the stream of Well-Being. You are God’s greatest creation and you are a creator of your own joyful golf experience. This is your mission. This is your quest. This is what you have been asking for – the freedom to fully express yourself feeling outrageous joy along the fairway of life. “Be as you wish to seem,” Socrates. Act as if it is already so.
Enjoy The Masters! Notice how Champion’s carry themselves.
Dreams
What are your dreams and intention for your golf this season and beyond? What are you expecting?
I am inviting you to get really clear about what you want. I am inviting you to get really clear about playing full out 100%, making the commitment, and taking action - one action step at a time. What action step can you take today, this week? It all begins with a thought and we always get what we expect. Reach for the best feeling thought.
Remember this: the one who wins is always the one who is clearest about their wanting and is most expectant of it.
Once you make that commitment to play full out The Universe will open up new perspectives, Providence will move through you, and the how’s will begin showing up. You will just know. There is no better feeling in golf or life when everything Clicks. And for me, it clicks a lot more than ever before. Why? Because I align with myself and allow it in. Because it’s my expectation…which always delivers a match to what I expect.
It’s how I became a low single digit handicap.
What are you expecting this year?
Clicking along…
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