Better Golf Academy: Strategy to Awesome Golf

In this episode of the Better Golf Academy, I discuss how the motivation works and why after a certain point, or when it gets too hard, or when we start losing steam, drive, and motivation...we slowly fade out and even quit. But what keeps us motivated to continue to pursue our goals?

Dr. Tali Sharot, a neuroscientist with her research focusing on how motivation influences our decisions. And She talks about these 3 foundational principles that help motivate us.

1. Progress Monitoring. The brain does a good job processing positive effects. And as you progress, it helps you to stay focused and going after your goal. As you know, I always talk about my Engineering days...and the famous quote “If you can’t measure it, you can’t improve it”. There’s definitely some truth in that.
2. Social Incentive. We are social people. We really care what other people are doing. We want to do the same and we want to do it better. Example: 9 out of 10 people pay their taxes in time enhanced compliance in that group by 15% bringing in 5.6 billion pounds. Highlighting what other people are doing is a very strong incentive. I truly believe this, one of the most effective results-driven workout concepts out there is still CrossFit. Because of their philosophy of this Social Incentive. It’s brilliant creating a small community of people to encourage each other, compete with one another and keep each other accountable. Social Incentive.
3. Immediate Rewards. True that! We are impatient, some of us have ADD (me) and we need immediate feedback, immediate incentive and lots of immediate rewards...in whatever form that we can get it in.

I think we can all agree that improving our golf game is a long, and ambitious goal. We need more inspiration than hey, you suck, you need to go practice and get better. We need to intentionally put steps in place to guide us day to day and keep us motivated to get there. And, I think this is a great science that is backed up by research.

Here are the 3 action steps for you:

• #1, set specific goals, remember to go to bettergolfacademy.com/9 to download the performance report to help you set your specific goals.
• #2, Don’t be a loner. Play together, bet, create competitive situations to push you, care about each other’s performances and improvements. This will create an incentive to work harder and improve. And...
• #3, Make turn your goals into tiny habits. Reward yourself often and see your simple progress and celebrate.

I am still so still inspired by the quote by Jacob Riis “...I go and look at a stonecutter hammering away at his rock, perhaps a hundred times without as much as a crack showing in it. Yet at the hundred and first blow, it will split in two, and I know it was not that last blow that did it—but all that had gone before.”

Let’s keep hammering away. Hundred, thousand, 10 thousand, 100 thousand balls hit, putts hit, chips hit, every club in your bag hit, pursuing excellence, setting goals, achieving them and celebrating the small victories!! I am here celebrating it with you. And hoping for a huge breakthrough in your game, the rock splitting in two moments in your golf journey.

In the meantime, thank you so much for listening to Better Golf Academy, let’s get better together. Yeah? Cool. Love you guys, bye for now.

In this episode of the Better Golf Academy, I talk about how average golfers like us play the par 5s. We just want to hit the ball as far as we can on each shot. We think if we hit first 2 shots long and straight on a par 5, we are home free to a birdie. But, the truth is, those 2 longs perfect shots are hard to come by. In fact, this idea might be the reason why your score is blowing up on these Par 5s. I believe there’s a better way.

We should have a different mindset when it comes to playing the par 5s. We should be strategic in setting yourself up for a shot that you’ve been working on to perfect. Give yourself a chance to hit that shot every time so that you can execute what you’ve worked on to do.

You will walk away with a different mindset knowing that this game of golf didn’t control you this time, you controlled golf. And that’s a great feeling.

Oh, and here's the link to the youtube video I was talking about. LOL.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JJmqCKtJnxM

To sum up, let me tell you what I did with my putting. I got rid of the lines. I got rid of the technical and robotic thoughts of how I am going to make a stroke. It’s been a month and I have to tell you, I made 5 birdie putts last week. And, I wanted to talk about that entire process and why I did what I did by doing some background research and seeing if the results I’ve experienced are actually legit.

I just stand behind the ball, visualize the line that my ball will travel to the cup, take a breath, line up and make the putt. Easy...breezy. And guess what? More putts are going in. More than I’ve ever imagined. 5 birdies in one round...that is my personal record.

Do you know what I just did for you in this episode? I simplified your life. I simplified the mental aspect of your game and I made it super easy for you to be awesome...I mean...even awesomer...because you are already awesome. So....you’re welcome.

In summary, the focus is necessary, but you have to focus on the right things. So...

1. Focus on the external, not the internal.
2. Learn to distract yourself, especially in pressure situations.
3. Rely on your subconscious...it’s way smarter than you.

Okay, that’s it for our podcast on FOCUS today, I hope it was insightful for you and I hope that you can implement that in your game and shave a ton of strokes off your game.

Resources:

• Oh, if you are interested, here's the link to the Focus attention research. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/271992035_Attentional_focus_and_motor_learning_A_review_of_15_years

Links:

• Say hi. https://bettergolfacademy.com/hello
• Give for clean water: https://bettergolfacademy.com/give
• Check out our website: https://bettergolfacademy.com

So...when you ask any golfer - beginner, to intermediate to pro...what do you think is required for you to have to play great golf, you know what their answer is? Well, let’s try it out. Let me ask you, what do you think is the number one thing that you think you’ll need to have to play great golf. And I don’t mean things like...a great swing, or an ability to read the putts well or be able to hit it long or having the latest and the greatest equipment...what I mean is what you’ll need to possess as a player. Like a characteristic, emotion or a feeling that will elevate your game and help you play your best. One word. CONFIDENCE. I don’t think anyone will disagree with any sports or even anything in life...that confidence is a good thing and sometimes, it’s really a game-changer. So, I want to spend some time talking about what I think it is, and how we can implement and grow it within us so that we can be at our best.

But first, what is confidence? Well, I think it’s a belief. It’s a belief in yourself that you have the ability to do what is set before you and the ability to do it well. And that you have a pretty realistic sense of that and you feel very secure in that knowledge.

So, is this a born trait? Some people just have it and some people don’t? Or, is this related to some type of childhood upbringing or trauma? You have a parent or coach that told you that you are beyond talented and that you can do anything, vs you grew up everyone telling you that you suck and you’ll never measure up?

Is confidence innate or is it learned? Well, thanks for asking...such a great question you guys. I think we fundamentally misunderstand it. I think most of us think that it’s a personality trait.

The students’ self-perceived ability was a significant predictor of achievement. It was even more important than their IQ. So, this is huge!! Especially when we apply this in golf. Our perceived ability...let’s go back to our original definition of confidence, confidence is your belief in yourself that you have the ability to do what is set before you and the ability to do it well. And that you have a pretty realistic sense of that you feel very secure in that knowledge...that trumps our IQ. It doesn’t matter how smart you really are...it doesn’t matter how great and talented you are...it’s the fact that you believe in yourself that you have the ability to do it. That’s what matters most when it comes to performance.

So, what does that mean? It means that when you are faced with a shot that you know how to do, the “how-to” is not as important as you believing that you can do it. Mind blown.

So, as I said before, you might be blessed with awesome genetics of confidence...you are just a confident person and it comes easy to you. Which is awesome, you can step up and sink a clutch putt and pull crazy shots out of the bag at opportune moments...it’s just within your DNA...and trust me, I know athletes like this. But, if you are that person, it’s still good for you to recognize and continue to work on building your confidence in other aspects of your game. And for the rest of us, I included, I need some help on how to level up my confidence now knowing that it’s a key to my golf....my golf success.

So, I did some more study and research and I’ve listed 3 best ways to improve your confidence.

Duh, this sounds so logical and simple yet a lot of people miss this. Someone will say, man, I am having a lot of challenges with my chipping. I am duffing it a lot and I feel so much uncertainty when I am addressing the ball for a chip. Instead of trying to think just happy thoughts before the chip thinking that will solve your problem, how about you spend an hour hitting chips over and over again? Gain experience hit 10, 20, 30. 100 in a row without duffing it. You will naturally gain confidence. You will start to program your mind that the next shot will go the same as your last 30 shots. Keep building that by creating an experience. Create experience by repeating.

Also, I want you to listen to episode 5 on the secret sauce to awesome practice. I talk about this deep research on what repetitive practice can do. It’s awesome!! It has something to do with Myelin and your neural pathway. It will really help you gain perspective on what “experience” can do for your game.

I really like this because a lot of sports psychology talks about confidence like it’s just a state of mind. Think and act confident and you will become confident. Look at yourself in the mirror every day and say...”I’m good enough, I’m smart enough, and doggone it, people like me” and people will start liking you. Lol. I think there’s a bit of truth in that but also I think we are smarter than we think. Meaning, we can’t fool ourselves. Our confidence has to be authentic. If we suck at something, we can’t all of a sudden switch our minds to t...

In this episode of the Better Golf Academy, I help prepare those that are thinking about playing golf this year to figure out what to work on to be ready to tee it up for the first time and also go over proper etiquette to make your first round a huge success.

So, from spending a lot of time on the driving range preparing to someday get on the golf course, how do I know when I am ready to play? For me, there were 4 key components that happened on the practice range that gave us enough confidence to say, okay I am ready and eventually step out on the golf course.

1. I made contact with the golf ball 100% of the time with every club. If this is not you, don’t venture out yet...it might frustrate others and you certainly don’t want to do that. I know people will say things like, “hey, who cares what others think, just go and have a good time”. Well...I was taught to always think about others, and you do not want to be a burden or to ruin someone else’s fun. When you are whiffing the ball and hitting it all over the place, they will never invite you back...trust me.
2. When I make contact with the ball, it goes where I expected it to go....most of the time. You know what army golf is? When your ball goes...LEFT, RIGHT, LEFT, RIGHT...lol. You’ll waste a lot of your time and everyone else’s if you cannot somewhat control where the ball is going. You’ll hit it in the hazard and end up with your group being the search party. No fun for anyone...not even you. And those golf balls are expensive!!
3. I understand the distance control. Meaning, if I am close to the green, I know enough to hit the ball softer and use a more lofted club. I have a pretty good concept of chipping that can get my ball closer, not overshooting it way past and there’s a component of me being a danger to others.
4. I have a decent feel around the green when it comes to putting. That it doesn’t take me more than 3 putts to get the ball in the hole. 4 putts are okay for long long distance putting but let’s stick to 3 as a goal for now.

I say when you can consistently do the 4 points that I just talked about, you are almost ready to get on the course. But not completely ready. You know why? Because I think this is where a lot of people get stuck. There’s a deep fear or intimidation or something that keeps them from just taking the first step to tee it up. I really think it stems from lack of knowledge and not really knowing what to expect or even what to do...there are so many rules and etiquettes. So I will attempt to try to keep your mind at ease and prepare you to go out there and have a great, fun and enjoyable first round.