Golf Hypnotist

The answer is often in the pre-shot routine. Use all of your conscious awareness to decide on the shot, visualise the shot and you hitting the shot, rehearse it and then step into the ball and hit it just as soon as you can, keeping those visualisations in mind. Have you noticed how little time the likes of Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson take from the moment they take the club out of the bag to hitting the ball - just a matter of seconds? I'd say no swing thoughts is best, one is OK if it's about the shot rather than the swing and more than one spells disaster!

I'm a fanatical golfer, author of a book "The Secrets of Hypnotic Golf", golf psychologist, clinical hypnotherapist, NLP Master Practitioner and creator of recorded golf hypnosis audio programs. I love to help people to get the most success, pleasure and enjoyment from the wonderful game of golf - "The Greatest Game of All" to quote my golfing hero, Jack Nicklaus.

Personally, I feel that if I’m not nervously shaking when I get near the end of a seriously good scoring round or close game of match play then I might as well give up golf and go and do something else that excites and inspires me. Jack Nicklaus knew that if you didn’t feel nervous at the end of a tournament you’re trying to win then there’s something wrong with you – he thrived on it. It’s said that he stopped winning golf tournaments when he no longer got so nervous in competition. And you don’t have to be winning to get that feeling, just competing hard in some way. If you watched the duel between Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson during the last round of the 2009 Masters, you’ll know just what mean. The important thing to remember is to channel that nervous energy into an enhanced state of focus. Using self-hypnosis or simply just breathing deeply a few times will certainly help.

I certainly agree with ks8829 about the importance of shot routines for consistent golf. However, if you are feeling tense and nervous about your game it' can be difficult to remember to use your routines. For me, the key is to be able to relax on the golf course and enjoy yourself out there. One way to achieve that is through the use of relaxation techniques like self-hypnosis. I've written on my blog about one really weird technique called "finger-breathing" that seems to work for me and the people I play with and coach. You can read about it at http://ow.ly/1uCsE

I think that depends on the caddy. One of the things I teach my clients is to become their own virtual caddy and automatically do for themselves all the things top caddy would. And that's not just carrying the bag and handing them the right club. They should provide for themselves all the support, persuasion and calmness that a good caddy would give them. That way the voice in their heads will be talking positively rather than providing a commentary of doubt and self-criticism. For a top amateur that's probably worth a couple of shots per round. For a regular 90-shooter, it could be worth 5-7 shots a round.