Today’s golf moment is all about the swing and stroke. Anyone who golfs, whether as a hobby or as a career, understands the importance of the swing and stroke. Both can make or break your score. So today, you will focus on this easy affirmation: “My swing and my putting stroke are easy, smooth & natural.” I have written about confidence in golf before, but honestly, confidence in any arena, in any sport is a huge part of your ability. If you don’t have confidence (and please don’t mistake this for ego) your overall performance suffers. So today, If you are not yet a confident golfer, I urge you to look back over my golf blogs and practice the affirmations on confidence before proceeding. If you are self-assured and confident, you can move onto the swing and stroke. You want your swing to feel natural. You want your stroke to be easy. These things take time and practice. Even though these are mechanics of your golf game, the swing and stroke outcome happen in your mind. The mental side has the ability to take over and inhibit your performance, especially if your thoughts are laced with doubt, aggression, fear, or indecisiveness. You have experienced this any time you have hesitated on the course during a swing or putting stroke. It feels unnatural, forced, like it’s wrong.
The cool thing about these affirmations are that they are interchangeable. Decisive behavior comes from a place of clarity. You have a confidence to make a split-second decision about your job, or your family, or your friendship. The same clarity can be used in your golf game. But you often get bogged-down with all these other outside things and then your swing and your putting stroke suffers. You come away defeated. Sound familiar, right?
The first step is to realize that your confidence in life can carry into your golf game. Your ability to make instant decisions can help you in your game. Concise mental thoughts will bring positive swings and strokes. Your perceptions manage your thoughts. Your thoughts manage your skills. So even though you know you can putt, even though you know you can swing, your mind can bring it all down in an instant. That is why it is so important to practice mental training with these affirmations that I give you. You want your swing to be natural. You want your putting stroke to be easy. You want it to feel like you’ve done it perfectly a million times over. The only way to do it is to practice. Practice your skills, practice your mental game.
A lot of golfers have limited exposure to the mental side of golf. I don’t know why. Golf is a mental game. That’s no secret. So why is it so hard for golfers to realize the importance of practicing your mental strategies? Take these mental skills that I am teaching you through these blogs and really focus on applying them to your life. I know this can help you in each facet of your life. Mental training is almost as important as breathing for some people. Once you learn how it works and you practice it, you’ll see your life in a whole new light.
Look at the confidence levels you have throughout your life. There is your family, your business, your game. DO they all share the same level of confidence? If not, diligently work on each level to bring it up to the highest level. Your swing and putting stroke is just the tip of the iceberg. This training actually programs your subconscious so that at the deepest level of your mind, you are confident in your swing and putting stroke.
Suggestions are given to you all day long. The ones you pay attention to are the ones in which you have already developed as a belief pattern in your mind. All the other ones go in one ear and out the other, so to speak. That is why sometimes the affirmation take time to implement. If you know your swing is good, then repeating this affirmation is going to seem like a cakewalk. However, if you are not confident in your swing, then you will have a difficult time training your brain to accept the new belief that your swing is easy and natural. There is so much evidence on the validity of this. If, when you were young, someone repeated to you on a daily basis that you were kind, then it would stick with you. You would grow to be kind and show kindness. However, if someone told you (again, on a daily basis) that you were ugly, you would grow up with that mentality. And one day someone would stop you on the street and tell you how beautiful you are. Would you believe him or her? Absolutely not. Because your mind was conditioned to believe the opposite.
Your belief system is made up in your mind. It can be changed through mental training. On a conscious level, you can enforce these affirmations and by practicing it, it will form in your subconscious and your mind will learn to accept it. Your swing and putting stroke will go from feeling forced to feeling easy and natural. Engaging in the suggestion will empower you in your performance. You will feel confident. Your swing and putting stroke will be easy and natural. Thanks for reading. InJoy your day!