How to stay in the Zone – It can be done if you know how.
Golf Chats is a website to encourage discussions on various subjects relating to the game of golf. I am Mel Sole, Director of Instruction of the Mel Sole Golf School and SAPGA Master Professional. I invite you to enter into a discussion on this or any article on the golfchats.com website. The input is for the entire subscriber base to learn something new each time! Please post your comments below. Keep it clean and tasteful. We are here to learn from one another!
How to stay in the Zone – It can be done if you know how.
I use what is called a “Clear Key” in my teaching. This simple mechanism helps my students understand that to play at their maximum potential on the course, they have to allow the body to perform without any conscious thought. You have to learn motor skills as a beginner to perform the golf swing in a technically correct manner. But there comes a time when you need to allow the body to perform what it already knows without conscious thought. Thinking swing mechanics while you play hinders that process. Adam Young of Golfwrx explains in a little more detail how you can teach yourself to be a better player by getting out of your own way!
Most golfers work week in, week out on their swing techniques. They search for the perfect mechanics in the hope that, one day, things will fall into place and they will never miss a fairway again.
If you haven’t noticed already, this can’t and won’t happen. There are simply too many variables at play creating optimal performance — and one of the most overlooked areas is where you place your attention.
Example time
To understand this, I will use a relatable example. Imagine you are playing a round of golf, and you are going along pretty well. You are not really thinking of much, and the majority of shots are pretty decent. Then, out of the blue, you hit a stinker.
“YOU BENT YOUR LEFT ARM,” SHOUTS YOUR PLAYING PARTNER.
He’s a slightly lower-handicapper than you, so his expertise is obviously warranted (sarcasm). For the next few shots, you become highly aware of your left arm, and your game goes completely down the pan. What happened exactly? Your focus of attention changed.
Loci
While there are many subcategories of these, I will discuss five different types of attention that we could have. Each type of attention has been studied (motor learning science), and has been shown to have variable effects on both learning and performance.
Internal: An internal focus is one that deals with body parts.
Turn shoulders
Keep head still
Shift weight
Swing my hands to X
While the vast majority of studies show that these types of focus tend to decrease coordination, performance (and slow down learning), they can be of value when we desire a more direct technical change. So, at the right times, these can help to further our techniques — even if it is at the cost of our ability to coordinate movement fluidly.
Focusing on the body movement is more of an internal focus.
External Process:
The next type of focus is one that is outside of our body, but one which deals with the process of creating a good shot, or a task focus. More what to do thanhow to do it.
Making a divot in the right place
Striking the center of the club face
Creating a desired swing path/face angle
These focuses tend to be better at coordinating movement to a singular goal, which can dramatically improve shot performance. If a player is suffering from poor distance control, for example, an increased awareness/focus of ground strike quality can create dramatic improvements in results.
Just like focusing on picking up a glass of water (the task) as opposed to the hand/arm movement required, we can also focus on tasks such as divot position, etc.
These focuses tend to be better for handicap golfers and, in my experience, increase long-term skill development. In fact, world-renowned researcher Gabriel Wulf had this to say:
“Over the past 15 years, research on focus of attention has consistently demonstrated that an external focus (i.e., on the movement effect) enhances motor performance and learning relative to an internal focus (i.e., on body movements)”
A change in attitude can improve your game – Here’s how!
Golf Chats is a website to encourage discussions on various subjects relating to the game of golf. I am Mel Sole, Director of Instruction of the Mel Sole Golf School and SAPGA Master Professional. I invite you to enter into a discussion on this or any article on the golfchats.com website. The input is for the entire subscriber base to learn something new each time! Please post your comments below. Keep it clean and tasteful. We are here to learn from one another!
Top putting instructors Stan Utley and Mike Shannon know that unless a player believes he/she is a good putter, they will never become one. Belief has to come first, before ability. This article by Tom Stickney II for Golfwrx reminded me of one of the greatest lessons I learned on the golf course.
A Life-Changing Story.
I played a practice round at Kensington Golf Club in Johannesburg, South Africa, before the 1968 South African Masters, with Gary Player. The greens that year were far from perfect, and as we played along, I was complaining about the condition of the greens. “You know Mel, I am the best putter in the world on bad greens. I feel I am so good on these rough surfaces that I have a distinct advantage over the rest of the field. I think I can win this tournament!” He went on to win by a large margin.
The following week we played at Mowbray Golf Club in Cape Town, South Africa, and the greens were fast and smooth. I saw Gary just before the first round, and I asked him what he thought of these fast greens. “Mel, I’m the best putter in the world on fast greens. I feel I am so good that I have a distinct advantage over the rest of the field, and I have a good chance of winning!”
What I learned from those two encounters is that whatever the situation, if you believe that you are good, you will do well. Thanks, Gary, for a great lesson not only in golf but in life itself! So remember, you cannot change the situation. You can only change your attitude towards the situation. Attitude can improve your game!
Enjoy the article!
Your mind controls your golfing destiny, so stop segmenting your abilities
A change in attitude can improve your game – Here’s how!
While teaching at a corporate outing this week, I had an interesting conversation with Stan Utley and Mike Shannon, two of the world’s best putting instructors. The topic of the conversation was how the mind of a golfer works while putting.
Many golfers intrinsically understand that their attitude controls their destiny on the course, and can make or break them when their score counts, but it was interesting how insistent Utley and Shannon were that golfers must believe they are good putters regardless of their daily outcome. They reminded me of something in my own game that I’d like to discuss with you, and hopefully it will help you become a better putter in the process.
When discussing the belief system of the brain and body, I think back to a book I read when I was trying to play golf for a living called Psychocybernetics by Dr. Maxwell Maltz. He was a plastic surgeon who said the way you see yourself influences your actions and shapes your entire future.
Let me paraphrase a passage in his book that hit home with me.
A patient walked into his office with what she perceived to be a crooked nose, and that made her very insecure about her looks. Measuring the amount of the misalignment, Dr. Maltz noticed that it was hardly noticeable to the human eye, but in the mind of the patient it was huge. He went on to explain to the patient that what she wanted him to alter wasn’t worth the time and money, so he initially refused to do the surgery.
The patient was persistent, however, and he complied. What Maltz noticed over the course of her recovery was that her entire perception of herself changed, and she began to feel better about herself. He found that over time that her life began to improve; she was more successful in her personal life, and married a handsome husband years later.
Why?
Her perception of herself was better, and thus she became more open to allowing things to happen within her life. He concluded that a her perception of herself determined her path of your life, and more broadly, if you see yourself as beautiful you act beautiful, and so on.
Now, I am not suggesting that you can just think yourself into being a great golfer if you have terrible mechanics; however, I will say that if you took Brad Faxon or Brian Gay’s attitude regarding putting and put it into the brains of most PGA Tour players’ brain they would become instantly better with no mechanical change whatsoever.
Obviously, you need some type of mechanical competency in order for this to work, but after that I believe it is all about attitude and what you as the player allow yourself to come to believe as true. Let me give you a personal example that supports my thoughts.
Learn to play “No Fear Golf” with David MacKenzie!
Golf Chats is a website to encourage discussions on various subjects relating to the game of golf. I am Mel Sole, Director of Instruction of the Mel Sole Golf School and SAPGA Master Professional. I invite you to enter into a discussion on this or any article on the golfchats.com website. The input is for the entire subscriber base to learn something new each time! Please post your comments below. Keep it clean and tasteful. We are here to learn from one another!
David MacKenzie is one of the leading Sports Performance Mental Trainers in the world.
He owns Golf State of Mind, and I have featured him several times in my posts because I believe he is extremely knowledgeable of his craft, and we can all learn from him. Overcoming fear on the course is something that even great players struggle with. Just take a look at the short putt Dustin Johnson missed during the US Open at Chambers Bay last summer. Think the fear of failure caught up with him at the wrong time? Let David help you play no fear golf by managing your fear and thus becoming a better player!
You’ve had butterflies before your first tee shot, you’ve felt it.
And you’ve had trouble sleeping before an important round, you’ve felt it.
If you’ve ever started panicking during your warm-up because you think you’ve lost your swing, you’ve felt it.
Have you’ve ever “choked”, and felt it.
What is it? I’m talking about FEAR. Something that affects nearly every golfer that plays the game.
But what exactly is FEAR and why does it exist?
This article is going to take a look into the origin of fear, what the effects are, and how you can harness it to play your best golf.
10 Things you must know to succeed in golf – Love #8!
Golf Chats is a website to encourage discussions on various subjects relating to the game of golf. I am Mel Sole, Director of Instruction of the Mel Sole Golf School and SAPGA Master Professional. I invite you to enter into a discussion on this or any article on the golfchats.com website. The input is for the entire subscriber base to learn something new each time! Please post your comments below. Keep it clean and tasteful. We are here to learn from one another!
Gio Valiante is a leading sports psychologist with several players on the PGA Tour. These players face tough mental stress day in and day out. Gio is there to guide them through the process and make them better players. Follow these 10 proven steps that Gio shares with Guy Yocom of Golf Digest, and you will also know what it takes to succeed in golf!
Gio Valiante.
1.
See the positive in a setback.
For Matt Kuchar, the 2009 BMW Championship was a crushing experience. We thought a top-5 finish would get him into the Tour Championship in Atlanta — a “home game” because he lives nearby. When he finished with a 75, he was very disappointed. But he asked himself, What can I learn from this? Matt thought he played too conservatively on Sunday, so he resolved to have a more aggressive mind-set. Three weeks later, he shot a final-round 69 at Turning Stone and won. The positives are always there if you make the effort to find them.
2.
Allow success to find you.
Coming into the Barclays this past August, Matt had nine top 10s on the year but no wins. The tendency here is to press. But we agreed that rather than make any changes, he just needed to keep getting in position. Players often get impatient and make a swing change or shift in strategy, when all they need is perseverance. That’s what Matt had, and he got his win that week.
3.
Don’t think golf owes you.
Camilo Villegas missed a three-footer to win his semifinal match against Paul Casey in the Accenture Match Play in February. He went on to lose in sudden death. Camilo’s reaction was interesting: “I made a lot of putts this past week. Even great putters miss putts sometimes.”
A week later he flew to his home country of Colombia to support the first Nationwide Tour event played there. Camilo returned for the Honda Classic with a feeling of gratitude for all that he has in life. He had a bounce in his step and a free stroke with the putter. Putting the best he had in a long time. Camilo had 28 putts on Sunday and won by five. The lesson: We are entitled to nothing in golf. Playing the game, with appreciation and in good health — those are gifts. That realization can have a major effect on you.
4.
The game sends messages.
In 2009, Stuart Appleby finished 137th on the money list. His swing was good; more than anything, he seemed unmotivated. I thought the game was telling him he needed to rediscover his passion. We talked about it, and he responded, working very hard. Last August he wound up an 11-week run by shooting 59 to win at The Greenbrier. How did he celebrate? By playing five of the next six weeks. The game speaks to us, tells us why we’re underperforming. Listen up.
5.
Play with a fearless edge.
The Sunday before the Barclays in 2009, it looked like Heath Slocum was going to miss out on the FedEx Cup playoffs. When he just squeaked in, he felt like it was all a bonus and decided to play without fear. Mind you, he didn’t play reckless, but gone was any feeling of restraint. That freedom produced great results and a one-shot win over Tiger Woods.
What you need to Improve your golf is Deliberate Practice!
Golf Chats is a website to encourage discussions on various subjects relating to the game of golf. I am Mel Sole, Director of Instruction of the Mel Sole Golf School and SAPGA Master Professional. I invite you to enter into a discussion on this or any article on the golfchats.com website. The input is for the entire subscriber base to learn something new each time! Please post your comments below. Keep it clean and tasteful. We are here to learn from one another!
I have often heard the saying, “Practice does not make perfect. Practice makes permanent.
Only perfect practice makes perfect!” David MacKenzie of Golf State of Mind and guest contributor Matthew Cooke take that one step further to “Only Deliberate practice makes perfect!” This “deliberate practice” is being used in several sports with huge success, time for you to try it in your game!
In this book he introduces us to “the 10,000-hour rule”, a concept that is believed to have come from a 1993 research paper written by Dr. Anders Ericsson, Cognitive Faculty Director at Florida State University, called “The Role of Deliberate Practice in the Acquisition of Expert Performance”.
Mr Gladwell has created a perception that expert performance is achievable after 10,000 hours of practice, which I believe to be untrue.
The magic 10,000 hour number was never actually mentioned by Dr. K Anders Ericsson. It is Mr Gladwell’s incorrect interpretation of the research paper. The acquisition of expert performance is different for everybody in every domain you could think of. What Dr. Ericsson and his team of researchers did discover, is that expertise and expert performance came to those who had spent more than 10,000 hours engaged in deliberate practice, which usually took around 10 years. Some domains took 9 thousand, some domains took 11 thousand etc.
So what is it, for us folk that don’t eat research papers, journal studies and spend 15 hours a day on Ted Talk’s YouTube channel?
Deliberate practice for golf
“Deliberate practice for golf is the amount of Game-Like repetitions a player gets during practice.” – Matthew Cooke
My reincarnation of Dr. K Anders Ericsson’s pioneering work runs right in line with his original.
Which is:
“Deliberate practice is the engagement with full concentration in a training activity designed to improve a particular aspect of performance with immediate feedback, opportunities for gradual refinement by repetition and problem solving.”
Clear, concise and relatively easy to understand. Let’s go through it step by step. First off we’ll go into how to make it “Game like”.
“Game like” training for golf
It doesn’t matter what level golfer you are. I will categorize three very distinct levels that are hard to argue with (us golf coaches like to do that, argue): beginner, intermediate and advanced. Decipher the numerical value in your own time as it’s all relative. First we mustrecreate, then we must simulate and finally we regulate, which gives us opportunities tochunk. These are the principles to follow. There are differences in the specific design of practice tasks, but all are in bold!
How can a beginner have the same principles that an advanced golfer has? Here is how:
How his Pre-Shot Routine improved Brandt Snedeker’s putting!
Golf Chats is a website to encourage discussions on various subjects relating to the game of golf. I am Mel Sole, Director of Instruction of the Mel Sole Golf School and SAPGA Master Professional. I invite you to enter into a discussion on this or any article on the golfchats.com website. The input is for the entire subscriber base to learn something new each time! Please post your comments below. Keep it clean and tasteful. We are here to learn from one another!
A Pre-Shot routine in golf helps in 3 ways. One, it sets the body into a consistent rhythm just before you hit the shot. Two, it allows you to gather all thoughts relative to the shot at hand, and three, it removes all other distractions so you can execute the shot without any negative thoughts or feelings that might influence the shot. Watch a tennis player before they serve. They bounce the ball a certain number of times, throw the ball overhead, and serve. This bouncing of the ball helps them focus and get into a good rhythm before the serve.
If you watched The Sony Open last week, you will have no doubt seen the quality of Brandt Snedeker’s putting.
For me, as mental game coach, a major factor in the strength of his putting is how deliberate and consistent his pre-putt routine is.
Why is the pre-putt routine so important?
Where you put your focus before a putt (or any shot for that matter) has a big influence on the fluidity of the stroke. If you’re not following a proper sequence, your mind can wander onto things such as the importance of the outcome and the technical aspects of your stroke. Any doubt or hesitation about the line, how good your stroke is, or what making or missing means, makes for a tentative and inconsistent stroke, and inconsistent results.
Putting is about feel and trust; the more you can take conscious thinking out of it and just use your eyes and trust yourself to hit the ball the correct distance, the better. It needs to be “reactive”, not “proactive” when you are over the ball. Clearly your conscious mind is active when making decisions about the line and speed, but once that is decided upon, the best thing you can do is put faith in your process and trust your stroke.
Self Confidence – How to attain it at a competitive level!
Golf Chats is a website to encourage discussions on various subjects relating to the game of golf. I am Mel Sole, Director of Instruction of the Mel Sole Golf School and SAPGA Master Professional. I invite you to enter into a discussion on this or any article on the golfchats.com website. The input is for the entire subscriber base to learn something new each time! Please post your comments below. Keep it clean and tasteful. We are here to learn from one another!
Self Confidence is something we all admire in a person.
A self-confident person walks into a room and seems to light it up. Their personality immediately brightens the mood of any gathering. When I first met Gary Player, this was a trait he had in bucket loads. His attitude was one of total belief in himself. How does someone acquire this trait? The folks at mindmasterygolf.com have the answers for you. Read on!
Many of my clients and students developed their physical gifts earlier than many of their fellow competitors.
They were rarely challenged to a point were they lost. This gave them great confidence in their ability to win. As they moved into high school, college, and some times to the professional ranks they competed with fewer and fewer golfers who were far less capable than themselves.
Because of their physical prowess and past record their confidence remained high even though the opportunity to lose now loomed over every match and tournament. Too many things could go wrong that would spell defeat. Competitors could play better than they had in the past or get some lucky bounces. Bad weather, poor luck on their part, or unfamiliar courses could affect their ability to score, increasing the chances for a loss.
The more often they were tested and lost, the more the thought of losing remained high, even at a subconscious level. Even with greater uncertainty in the outcome of any match, their belief in their ability remains intact. By and large they possess great self confidence even with some self-doubt.
Self-doubt is not the problem. It’s what to do with it when it strikes.
Trying to build one’s confidence may not solve the problem. My students and clients are already highly confident. Self-doubt doesn’t mean you lack confidence.
Self-doubt is a natural part of the human experience, especially for anyone who competes. We make mistakes and lose or don’t perform to our potential all the time. Not just in golf, but in all areas of life. This knowledge is always with us, usually at a subconscious level and normally doesn’t affect us.
But what do you do with it when it does? Do you try to boost your confidence level? Competitors who are playing at the top of their game don’t focus on their confidence. They focus on the task at hand. Do you lack confidence and spend time, while competing, on building your confidence? You are not focused on the task at hand and will perform poorly anyway.
If you can’t play well except when you feel confident, then confidence is a crutch.
Don’t blame your poor performance on your lack of confidence. Then self-doubt becomes an excuse for your poor play.
When you experience self-doubt or aren’t playing up to your potential requires a different strategy to improve your play. You must address the core issue which is your fight-or-flight reflex. This powerful, instinctive, and primitive response is designed to save our lives when we are physically threatened.
Because our nervous system doesn’t differentiate between threats to our lives and threats to our golf expectations, goals, and dreams, it floods our bloodstream with the same powerful chemicals in either case.
Tiger Woods is one of the most confident players on the PGA Tour!
Success on the Golf Course mimics Success in Life!
Golf Chats is a website to encourage discussions on various subjects relating to the game of golf. I am Mel Sole, Director of Instruction of the Mel Sole Golf School and SAPGA Master Professional. I invite you to enter into a discussion on this or any article on the golfchats.com website. The input is for the entire subscriber base to learn something new each time! Please post your comments below. Keep it clean and tasteful. We are here to learn from one another!
Although this article is not about golf per se, all of the traits of successful people translate to golfers wishing to take their game to a higher level!
I have known Dr. Paul Schempp for several years now. I never miss an opportunity to listen to his lectures each January at the PGA Merchandise Show in Orlando, FL. He is certainly a world expert in his field, and it is a privilege to call him a friend. This article will not only improve your golf but your life skills as well!
True Grit: Turning Setbacks into Success
In 1869, the English anthropologist Francis Galton reported the findings from his study of successful individuals. He found high achievers vigorously exercised three traits. Ability combined with zeal and with capacity for hard labour. Catherine Cox repeated the study in 1926 with 301 distinguished creators and leaders and concluded that traits evident in childhood could predict lifetime achievement. “Persistence of motive and effort, confidence in their abilities, and great strength or force of character”
We often don’t look at ‘old science’ for fresh ideas.
But it seems Galton and Cox were on to something that modern day scientists are just beginning to rediscover. Success in any human endeavor is predicated on a great deal more than inherent qualities.
In a more recent study, the researchers found this. “Across 6 studies, individual differences in grit accounted for significant incremental variance in success outcomes. Over and beyond that explained by IQ and personality traits”.
If grit is a powerful player in the success game, what is it and how do you use it?
Additionally, they found grittier individuals attained higher levels of education, earned higher GPAs despite having lower SAT scores. And made fewer career changes. They outranked less gritty competitors at a national spelling bee and predicted cadet retention rates at West Point. Research, new and old, clearly appears to identify grit as a major ingredient for any success formula.
Millennials in Golf – as Business Owners!
If you do not have these traits in your everyday life, it will be difficult to attain success in golf.
Simply defined, grit is maintaining “perseverance and passion for long-term goals.” It is the gritty individual that maintains their effort, interest and passion over months and years. Despite recurring defeats, painful adversity, constant challenges and progress plateaus. Their strength is in their stamina and they see achievement as a marathon, not a sprint. Despite setbacks, disappointment, boredom, and delayed gratification, those with grit stay the course long after others have abandoned their efforts and quit.
What is Mental Toughness – and How Do You Achieve It?
Golf Chats is a website to encourage discussions on various subjects relating to the game of golf. I am Mel Sole, Director of Instruction of the Mel Sole Golf School and SAPGA Master Professional. I invite you to enter into a discussion on this or any article on the golfchats.com website. The input is for the entire subscriber base to learn something new each time! Please post your comments below. Keep it clean and tasteful. We are here to learn from one another!
Tiger Woods has one of the toughest mental games on the PGA Tour.
Mental Toughness has been defined by Wikipedia as “A collection of attributes that allow a person to persevere through difficult circumstances (such as difficult training or difficult competitive situations in games) and emerge without losing confidence. In recent decades, coaches, sports psychologists, sports commentators, and business leaders.”
Reading mental Toughness books can help you understand exactly what you need to do!
Mental Toughness is evident when I see golfers play their very best, no matter what the circumstances or distractions. People like Ben Hogan, Gary Player, Raymond Floyd, Tiger Woods, and Jack Nicklaus come to mind.
The aim of mental coaching.
The aim of mental game coaching is to help players gain better access to the skills they’ve developed in practice, whatever the situation.
That’s what mental toughness is all about.
Getting over the ball and having a quiet, but focused, mind and a feeling of confidence in what is about to happen.
Trusting your swing mechanics so you don’t have to think about them.
It’s all subconscious.
Your swing becomes a reaction to what’s in front of you, not a series of technical thoughts.
That little coach inside your head is no longer needed and has disappeared.
As a mental game coach, if I can get my players into this state of mind over every shot, I’ve done a good job.
But how do you achieve this?
From my experience coaching the mental game of golf, there are 3 phases of improvement:
Learning skills Consciously
Learning to swing Subconsciously
Building a strong Self Image
Learning how to achieve a better mental game is about working on the last 2 areas.
Meditation is part and parcel of getting to the correct mental state!
Taking your game from the range to the course
We’ve all been there. You find something on the range and your swing just clicks. Every ball, arrow straight or with a little draw. You’ve cracked it.
Scratch golf awaits… But on the course, that same swing is nowhere to be found. Unfortunately, the golf course is not like the driving range.
There are consequences. There are other players. There’s pressure. It’s not as easy to access that free flowing swing.
But this is where mental game training comes in.
How you access your best swings is through a good process, a blueprint if you will. Having a plan will give you more confidence right off the bat.
Your “Process” is like building layers, with each one you get closer to the state of mind you need to be in at the moment you take the club away from the ball.
You need the conscious thought in order to access the subconscious control.
Do you need a Sports Psychologist to play good golf?
Golf Chats is a website to encourage discussions on various subjects relating to the game of golf. I am Mel Sole, Director of Instruction of the Mel Sole Golf School and SAPGA Master Professional. I invite you to enter into a discussion on this or any article on the golfchats.com website. The input is for the entire subscriber base to learn something new each time! Please post your comments below. Keep it clean and tasteful. We are here to learn from one another!
Two Sports Psychologists have influenced my golf and my teaching. First, Bob Rotella, who wrote Golf is not a Game of Perfect and Golf, is a Confidence Game. I read both those books, and they helped me a lot. And I use some of Bob’s examples in his books to try and help my students with their mental preparation. The second, and more recent, is Karl Morris, who owns The Mind Factor. Karl had a big impact on my own game and my teaching.
Thanks to Sports Psychologist Gregory Daubney via LinkedIn for sharing a subject every amateur who wants to improve should read!
This is a modern-day age-old question on which I hope to shine a little light.
There is no trickery or magic applied by sport psychologists when working with sports people. As with all skill development, hard work and commitment are key to progression. Essentially, sport psychologists remove barriers that prevent a sports person’s development and progress within their sport – irrespective of skill level.
The means by which they do this are varied and qualified sport psychologists have commonly spent between 6 and 8 years learning rigorous techniques to achieve this end. That means they have spent 6-8 years studying how the mind works most effectively in sporting situations, how the mind influences performance and how skill is developed. In addition, they have been continuously supervised and scrutinised throughout their training.
There are lots of well written, informative posts about the techniques used by sport psychologists and I do not seek to reiterate them here. The list would be too long. Fundamentally, sportspeople (or their support network) ask themselves ‘what would a sport psychologist do for me?’
But surely my coach knows this stuff already?
And the answer is that we would enhance and increase your existing skill set to ultimately ensure that you reach your goals. Then, once you have reached your goals, we help you identify what you want to achieve next and, crucially, how you want to achieve it.
The role of the sport psychologist can be singular or as part of a sportsperson’s team. If appropriate, he/she will work with your coaches, your support network and your colleagues/friends to ensure that his/her techniques enhance the coaching and practice you are receiving already.
So why bother going to a sport psychologist if it sounds so easy?
The simple answer is because he/she is the expert in the mental approach to the game – that is what all those years of study are for. Coaches in all sports have some understanding of mental skills but the sport psychologist has access to skills that enable you to take your game to another level – whether that be of performance or enjoyment.
