That Powerful Mind

This all started yesterday when my wife and I went to a Mexican restaurant for dinner in Estes Park, Colorado. We were seated with menus and began to discuss what we would order. She mentioned to me that a Cherry Pepsi sounded good to which I agreed.

Fast forward a few minutes and the server is table side taking our orders. She orders her meal and at the last minute changes her drink order to root beer. I think nothing of it and place my dinner order along with iced tea. Another few minutes pass and my wife feels the need to wash up before eating. She gets up from the table and I start eyeing her drink that looks oh so delicious. Mmmmm, I haven’t had Cherry Pepsi in a long time I think to myself and proceed to take a drink. That was some of the best Cherry Pepsi I have ever tasted. But remember, it’s not Cherry Pepsi, it’s root beer.

Fast forward another 15 minutes and her drink is almost gone. The server walks by and says, “another root beer ma’am?” I just about cracked up as the light bulb went off in my head. I drank root beer and tasted Cherry Pepsi.

So what do carbonated beverages have to do with golf?

Carbonated beverages don’t have anything to do with golf. However, they did reveal to me yet again just how powerful our minds can be which is exactly why we must learn to control them on the golf course.

I drank root beer but my mind expected Cherry Pepsi and so Cherry Pepsi is what I tasted. Isn’t that incredible? I’m sure most of you have had a similar experience. Our brains gather up pre-concieved notions and then do everything in their power to make reality align with what we expect. Do you see how this can be dangerous?

What do you expect to shoot before you tee it up? If you don’t expect to break 100, your mind will do everything it can to make sure that doesn’t happen. This is why golfers at every level must work on the mental side of the game as well as the physical.

The scores you post on a consistent basis will never outpace what the mind believes you should shoot. Let me explain. Take a golfer who shoots right around 95 pretty consistently. They go out this afternoon and everything is working right. Scores are totaled at the end and it’s their best round ever, an 86! If this player doesn’t believe they can consistently shoot 86, they will call it luck and go right back to shooting 95. Ever had this happen? I’m guessing we all have. The subconscious part of our brain always works towards “NORMAL.” What we have to do is learn to control and change normal.

Remember back to the best round you’ve ever played. If you can do it once, you can do it again. You just have to believe it can happen. The process to changing “normal” all starts between your ears. You have to think differently than you have before and you have to talk differently than you have before. Changes to the subconscious don’t happen over night but they can happen.

Please check in tomorrow and we’ll go over a few techniques for changing your current ”normal”.

Thanks for your time. Don’t forget to bookmark our page.

Mike Snyder