Every now and again you stand over the ball KNOWING that you are about to play the perfect shot. You know that whatever you do, however you play the shot, it WILL go perfectly – it has to, there is no other option, you couldn’t even play it badly if you tried! You might not know where this smile-inducing pre-cognition comes from – you might even think it comes and goes without any involvement from you, simply blessing you with it’s divine presence when it feels like it! Think again.

This “Zone” state doesn’t randomly come and go as it wants. It comes with CONGRUENCE and goes without it. Congruence is what YOU CREATE when your thoughts and feelings align with each other. In this state, your conscious desires and your unconscious beliefs work together in harmony for you to play with one focused mind. I call this Single Minded Golf.

The challenge is that most people don’t know how to actively create congruence – they passively experience it, merely enjoying it whilst it lasts then craving for it when it’s not! Yet becoming actively congruent is not as far out of reach as you might imagine. So HOW do you align your thoughts and feelings to create this feeling of congruence more of the time?

The first step is becoming aware. So consider this:

What’s it like when you absolutely KNOW that you’re about to play the exact shot you want? The kind of shot where there’s no doubt, only a warm inner glow of certainty. What’s that certainty like? Notice the intense clarity of the picture of your shot as you get deeper inside the feeling. Where in your body do you feel that feeling most? If that feeling had a shape, size and colour what would it be? How does the feeling move, rotate or vibrate? What temperature and weight does it have? Notice what happens if you turn up the intensity of the feeling – what happens to it?

The more aware of this feeling you become, the more power you give yourself to allow it to return for each shot you play. I say “allow” because this feeling of congruence is actually your natural state of being, it’s simply that we sometimes ignore or forget it.

Every time you step up to play, notice on a scale of 0-10 how intense the feeling is. If it’s less than 10, ask yourself, “What do I need to do to allow the feeling to be a 10?” You may be then inclined to change the percentage shot or club selection, or re-do your routine. Whatever you feel needs to be done in that moment – DO IT!! By acting on your instinct in this way, you are giving your unconscious a clear instruction that you are wanting to align your thoughts and feelings. The more you do this, the more congruent you will naturally become.

If you would like more help using golf psychology to transform your congruence, I’m giving away audio mental golf tips through a series of six free tipcasts to help you through the toughest parts of the game. Sign up for my newsletter now if you would like to receive these.

Love every shot!

Adam Sprackling

Mental Golf Coach