Coaching Andrew Ruthkoski
Andrew is both hungry and humble and now wants to play on the PGA Tour more than ever. I invite him to keep dreaming his dream and visualizing upon the kind of golfer he desires to be. Be as you wish to seem. Act as if it is so. Paint the picture and gravitate towards that. Walk, talk, play, and carry yourself like the champion that you are…all the while lightening up and having fun along the fairway of life. Not to take anything too serious here either. Isn’t being spiritual a weird thing? I know Andrew belongs, now it’s just a matter for him to realize that, similar to Baggar Vance. What will Andrew chose to be next? What will Andrew chose to do next?
Andrew and I texted back and forth on the phone and spoke at length from his disappointing return from Q-School last night while returning from South Carolina. 71-70-69-69 is nothing to be ashamed about. This time he missed by two shots. He has made it to stage II before. For the most part from tee to green his game is pretty darn good. It’s his putting that got the best of him on this particular trip and occasionally he gets ahead of himself out of the present moment thinking he must birdie future holes he hasn’t played yet. I also invite Andrew to think of a lie as just a lie, no judgments, simply an observation. Then commit to the shot.
At Q-School his putting let him down and a few other minor lapses. Like all of us, Andrew occasionally sends mixed messages to himself prior to executing his shots. I call this “vibrational energy” we are feeling. On certain shots he may think where he doesn’t want the ball to go, he sometimes gets in the mindset of having to guide it, and then when it comes to putting and certain shots he, “Wants to lose the junk and mixed messages, a feeling that I want to get rid of.” He said he has played and putted extremely well for the last three months, “now I couldn’t read the grain.” He got into a funk on the green unless he stiffed his shots. Notice when he said he couldn’t…that’s the energy we get back in return, usually in the form of a missed putt. Jack Nicklaus never made a putt that he first didn’t already make in his mind, in how he was visualizing it. There’s a feeling of allowing it v ersus resisting it.
I explain to Andrew that this vibrational energy is about aligning to the Well-Being and allowing that in. It’s about creating more and more beneficial beliefs and not trying to get rid of anything. That’s how we change. With golf shots or anything else we are either allowing the Well-Being in, going with the flow, or we are resisting, kinking up the flow. Resistance comes in many forms. In golf we call them demons: fear, negative thoughts, mixed messages, a limited belief about ourselves, and other foolish self-sabotaging behaviors like; anger; frustration, trying to impress others; or wanting something so badly we end up pushing it further away.
This Well-Being is what golfers call being in The Zone, pure positive energy flowing to and through us in the present moment. We are either allowing this in, or we are resisting it. To be more mentally tough is creating a champions or winner’s self-image by depositing more and more beneficial beliefs into the treasury of our sub-conscious mind. I also provide more insights about these and other enlightening golf mindsets in my new book, The Fairway of Life: Simple Secrets To Playing Better Golf By Going With The Flow. Remember the shot produces the swing, not the other way around.
Andrew knows he has two choices, and one of them doesn’t count. He can either evolve forward becoming better tomorrow than he is today…through his new awareness, or he can quit? Champion’s all overcame adversity by keeping on! Andrew’s asking to become better…and The Universe is answering. You must ASK! Now it is up to Andrew to allow it in. As we send our positive vibes to Andrew they return back to us.
Keep on keeping on!
Be as you wish to seem,
“Coach” Marquardt
Life & Mental Golf Performance Coach
Sport & Athletic Administration, MA
Inspiring Excellence Within!
* The one who wins is always the one who is clearest about his wanting and is most expectant of it. Expectation lies in our vibrational energy and it never lies. It is law. It’s a belief and a feeling of confidence in ourselves, or not? I invite you to post your comments at: http://golfissupposedtobefun.com
The Secret is The Law of Attraction…
…And it works every time with everything, including our golf game. So…don’t settle for mediocrity, and don’t settle for less anymore.
First, you must ask for what you clearly want – set an intention, visualize your goal, have a dream… Clearly state your end result, whether it is to break 100, be a 7-handicap golfer by the end of summer, or as in the case of Andrew Ruthkoski from Muskegon, Michigan play on the PGA Tour and be top 10 in the world. Like Nick Faldo keeps repeating, we gravitate toward the picture we are painting. Act as if it is so. If you just pretend on a daily basis, no matter how far-fetched, or scary, or silly it may seem that “it” is yours for the taken. Stars will realign and Providence will move through you – you will be shown how, but not until you fully commit. Visualize your end result…stop…take a snapshot picture of what that looks like, notice where you are now…and then make the necessary changes one at a time.
Step two, the second you commit God / The Universe answers – what you really, really want you get. Likewise, what you really, really don’t want you get. Apply this principle to everything, including what you’re thinking with every shot. Yes, we always get what we ask for – even lack or where we don’t want to go. Wanting something and not having it is a lack mentality. “Ask wisely, with love, for everything you want,” Mark Victor Hansen. Simply let it be and give thanks.
Whenever negative thoughts come up begin shifting your attention and thinking to more and more beneficial thoughts and beliefs – gradually you will drown out the negative ones and one day you’ll wake up a new you, letting go of old foolish self-sabotaging behaviors…wondering how it used to be with a smile on your face appreciating becoming your new desire. There is a process in creating a champion’s self-image, which runs everything in our life, including our golf game.
The third step in this process is that you align with this Well-Being, this pure positive energy and allow it in. This is what golfers call being in The Zone…and you can be there more often than ever before. Just take the next logical step. It’s dream plus action, which equals how plus manifestation. The how’s will be clearly shown once you fully commit. Pretty soon…you’re living the life of your dreams. Be patient and embrace the process – growth can be, and usually is messy. Most will want to quit, run away, or crawl back into their shell – or worse blame others and come up with all kinds of excuses. Take responsibility for being the creator of your life and you will be well on your way. You are God’s greatest creation, and you are meant to win!
I emphasis all of this again and again – because most will fail to set such a lofty goal for several negative based reasons, and many will die with the music still in them. Many have “wishful thinking” thoughts waiting to be ready. Summers pass and years go by. The time is now…and you will not have to think but for one second why you received this message today. Most will think they are undeserving or unworthy. Few will trust in the power of intentions and live the life of their dreams.
Remember challenges, adversity, and obstacles are what builds and strengthens our internal fortitude. We are both challenged in this life and blessed with amazing gifts.
For a deeper understanding of these amazing life principles be sure to pick up a copy of my new book, The Fairway of Life: Simple Secrets To Playing Better Golf By Going With The Flow ~.
Namaste,
Rand Marquardt
Life & Mental Golf Performance Coach
Inspiring Excellence Within!
P.S. Remember: Life & Golf are supposed to be fun
Divine Feelings in 2009 - Part I
Okay, so you’ve got your vision or New Years golf resolution picture clearly painted in your minds eye, and you’ve declared out loud in front of others what you truly desire to be as a golfer this coming year; a lower handicap, more free to express yourself, break 90 on a consistent basis, a better putter, or world’s #1. You have haven’t you? Declaring out loud in front of another sets this whole process (commitment) of Providence (divine inspiration) into motion. Without a direction we become like the ship without a rudder. Reflect upon the wisdom of Albert Einstein, “Imagine your ideal future. Your imagination is your preview to life’s coming attractions.” You will become what you think about. You will gravitate towards the desire of your highest ambition. The mystery is solved when you decide to choose these things rather than waiting to someday discover them by chance. Remember the ending of this quote largely attributed to Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, “…Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it. Begin it now.”
Kenny Perry, a PGA Tour veteran even surprised himself with doing some goal setting in 2008 by achieving his goal of being on the Ryder Cup team, saying something to the affect (paraphrasing), ‘Perhaps there is something here, something more to take a look at…’ Yes Kenny, you achieved because you put your mind and commitment upon this intention and believed it to be so. What’s new for 2009?
You see this first step is what keeps so many stuck in the same comfort zone rut year after year. While this concept seems so simple most golfers have no idea where they are going with their golf game, yet alone where they are going in life and the evolution and agenda of their soul. Most golfers think struggle and hard work on the range and body position is the key to a good golf game. I agree that practice and range work is part of this process, however I would replace the concept of struggle with allowing it to be. I also invite my students to first set an intention or a New Years golf resolution first. For a current review of creating a New Years golf resolution please read my last blog dated 12/30/08 to get yourself up to speed with this vital first step…then you will begin your journey by taking action and life will unfold as easily and as logically as Spock might say, ‘My calculations tell me that if you just take the next logical step you will 100% achieve the results you desire.’ All life is asking and all you are asking of yourself is just taking the next logical step. And when we do this we naturally allow the process to unfold in perfect timing. This is The Secret of the universe. It’s called The Law of Attraction – that which is likened unto it self is drawn. We Become What We Think.
The Secret (or the answer and wisdom) lies within you. It is the alignment with who you really are. It is the connection with Source Energy that allows the flow of Well-Being. It is this alignment and connection that is sought after by all. It is these expressions of alignment of Well-Being and this connection with life that we all desire to experience. It is the key to our peace, happiness, and joy within. Success is actually the amount of joy that we feel. What is it that you wish to be and feel? What state of beingness most inspires you? Go straight into being and feeling that both in life and on the golf course.
Another way to describe this alignment and connection is what are these feelings or expressions do you most desire to align with? What divine feeling do you want to explore or align with this coming year? What is the feeling, the frequency, or vibration? What is this energy that most resonates within your soul? Please take a moment to reflect and journal about this energy and this feeling.
What is this feeling? How will this feeling serve to make the dream (your dream) of the sacred universe come true? How does this feeling serve the greater whole?
* Help those around you?
* Heal your own heart?
* Make me a better me?
* Stretch beyond your comfort zone? Take risks? Color outside the box?
* Play golf & life like it is meant to be – for FUN!
* Step into the calling and next highest demonstration of your soul?
* Listen to the agenda of your soul. What the soul is after is the highest expression of who you really are. Feelings are the language of the soul. What is this feeling?
* How will this or these feeling(s) allow you to recreate yourself anew? And…
* “Become the grandest version of the greatest vision ever you have held about who you really are,” Neale Donald Walsch?
We all have these feelings, these levels of consciousness and connection with All That Is, this vibrational energy when we align with the frequency that resonates within our soul right inside us all the time. You see frustration and anxiety comes from not listening to one’s soul. Our job, therefore, is to align with our higher Self and these divine feelings and activate them. Think of it as a wake up call. Many of us have been going through life in a slumber sleep walk being tossed and reacting to life here and there as it unfolds as if it is by default, now I am asking you and reminding you to simply wake up again and choose to create intentionally. Wake up to the highest most divine expression of who you really are. Your soul has brought you to what you are being right now. Jesus described it this way, “Once I was lost and now I am found.” What is the divine feeling of being found?
…Stay tuned for the second half of this story



