Golf Books - Mental Side - Hypnosis??

[jgozza]

I was browsing amazon and some books came up for helping with the mental side of golf. I read the reviews which did seem to help people. Has anyone read these sort of books regarding the mental side or tried a bit of self golf hypnosis if so did it work for you??

 

[Curls]

I read Joseph Parents Zen Golf a while back and I can't imagine anyone not taking something away from it. There's a fair bit of Buddhism which may or may not suit everyone's tastes (I thought it was great), but some really great practical advice too for anyone to take away, if only I could put it into practice! Personally I could use a few more structured lessons, the ones he gives are great, the rest of the book is conveying a concept and it will take me quite a while and a few dozen more reads before it all sinks in, if ever. If you could understand and apply the Zen approach you'd float around the course with serene focus but in reality when you hit a tree with a hooked drive the last thing you're thinking about is your inner Buddha, for me my mind is too crowded with technique to apply enough of this (he explains this in chapter one, but I can't switch off!). A lot of examples of successful application of the book are pro or near-pro standard golfers. I get that, if you didn't have to think too much about technique this really would help you focus, but I lose track of the lessons when I'm concentrating on a particular shot, that's one of my many flaws and not the fault of the book! Having said that it did iron out a couple of nasty habits I had, so by way of example:

Hitting an "Anyway". He explains how sometimes we set up over the ball and think something isn't right. Either we've changed our mind about how we want to play the shot, realise we have the wrong club etc. Anything that makes you think - okay, its not right, but I'll hit it anyway. Its very often a poor result. Once you realise what you're doing you kind of hear him say - "its an anyway", and step back and reassess the shot. Most of the time ;-) Its a good lesson, he talks about how it takes the mind about 10 seconds to change track, so if you're about to hit a flop shot and at the last second think no I'll dink it, its not enough to change the openness of the blade, you need to step back, think about/visualise the new shot for 10 seconds and then hit it (if not change club).

Another good one was about staying in the present, I used to have an awful habit of thinking about that dropped shot 3 holes ago or (if things were going well) thinking about how great it would be to tell everyone how great I played, followed by the inevitable collapse. He gives a technique for cutting down and eventually eradicating these moments when you're stuck in the past of future, because all that matters is now (the shot you're about to play). That stuff is gold, if I could apply it all I know I'd be a better golfer, but I'll keep reading it hoping more will sink in. Worth the price of a sleeve of shiney golf balls any day.