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Our special guest,
Dr.Bob Phillips "Golf
Psychologist" will be here exclusively every
month to reveal to you techniques used by top
level professional golfers to mentally prepare,
maintain focus, bring about their peak
performance and to help you improve your score!
MARCH 2002:
Why Mental Training Should Begin
on the First Day
Most parents want their children
to enjoy and be successful in sports. They spend
time and money in helping their child have the
best chance of becoming a good golfer.
Unfortunately they also spend a lot of time
either trying to be the child’s coach or
acting like the "practice police".
Parents can become very active and supportive in
the mental side of training.
It is almost always a mistake to
become either officially or unofficially the
child’s physical trainer or coach. This
usually a bad idea because first you probably are
not qualified to teach golf. Twenty years of
lessons is not the criteria for being your
child’s coach, nor is the fact that you have
won the club championship three times. It is much
better to be the child’s biggest fan and
supporter than it is to be his or her trainer.
You can help the child in the mental area of golf
by learning all you can about how the mental game
disrupts and also enhances physical performance.
While it is true that no amount of mental
training can make up for improper or incomplete
basic skills, it is also true that most golfers
add five to ten strokes to each and every round
because of mental errors.
The mental game begins with the
big picture. Golf is a game and should be played
for fun. Sometimes the fun is postpones while you
go through hours of practice and slow physical
improvement. But nevertheless, it is fun when you
have begun to master the physical skills and you
are improving in competition. Competition is the
reward for good practice and without good
practice, mental or physical, there will be no
payday and therefore a lot less fun. The process
of learning includes failure. As a friend of mine
likes to say, "When you fall on your face
you are still moving forward."
Most people, let alone children,
seem to not understand that it is not what
happens to you but how you respond that matters.
When a child learns golf it would be most helpful
for the child to also learn that making
themselves upset adds nothing good to the
situation and usually greatly reduces their
ability to play at their best. How marvelous it
would be to teach each child to not make things
worse than they are by thinking of it in the
worst possible way. There are few things as
important as controlling our thinking. In golf a
child can become very frustrated and even quit
the game because of how bad they make it when
they play poorly or compare themselves with other
more physically developed children. It is vital
to help the child accept themselves as they are
and enjoy getting better. This process has to
come from both the coach and the parents. This
attitude is not taught by telling the child what
to do. This attitude is taught by the parents and
coach acting like it is true and being consistent
about it. If your attitude says this is awful
then the child will learn that it must really be
awful. If you act like it is unpleasant, but not
a big deal then they will believe that that is
what it is. How good or bad sports are for a
child is determined by the adults around the
child.
Children have a natural tendency
to use imagination and imagery. This is perfect
for learning the proper ways of mental rehearsal
and preparation. The parents should read books on
how to use mental imagery and teach the child,
with the verbal support of the coach or trainer,
age appropriate ways of mentally preparing to
play comfortably and well. This imagery is also
used to prepare for the unusual and potentially
troublesome situations that can easily throw a
child’s game off. If you are prepared
mentally very little can force you off your best
game.
Learning the mental game, and how
to control your responses, will go a long way
toward eliminating the frustrations, hassles and
slumps that make it hard to keep going while
learning a complex game like golf. But once
mastered, there is little else that can help and
support the child’s mastery of this
wonderful game as much as mental training.
RETURN
TO DR SPORT MAIN MENU
Bob
Phillips, Ph.D.
Aspire
Training and Coaching Personal coaching for
success in sports, business and life. Helping you
achieve your goals. 748 Holcomb Bridge Rd.
Norcross, Ga. 30071 (770)729-0030 Fax
(770)449-5758
Ask Dr. Phillips about any
mental game of golf question or problem you have
and he will e-mail you an answer.
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Bob Phillips, Ph.D., has
been helping athletes, sales people and managers
perform at their best for over fifteen years. As
a leading performance psychologist and coach, he
has developed several methods of evaluating and
maximizing performance.
In this series of articles
Dr. Phillips gives golfers the information and
techniques used by top level athletes in all
sports -- especially golf -- to mentally
prepare, maintain focus and bring about their
peak performance. A number of articles will focus
on Junior Golf.
ONE-ON-ONE
COACHING
Now Available
- First Session Free -
Dr. Bob Phillips offers
one-on-one coaching by phone to home or office
for golfers who are "stuck" and want to
move up to the next level of play, taking 5-10
strokes off their game. For more information,
call Dr. Phillips at 770-729-0030 or e-mail him
below.
E-Mail
Dr. Phillips
"Check
out your mental game for FREE"
Visit
Dr. Phillips'
web site
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