I’ve been working and training as a mind coach for over 15 years and have been fortunate enough to witness many rapid transformations over that time. I’d like to continue to share with you the story so far of one of my most recent clients. He really is an inspiring example of what can be achieved when you get your mind on board! In Part 1 of this blog, I talked about his rapid rise to success, shooting under par to win a major club competition within just 3 months of starting to play golf!! We then how we worked on his routines to develop a consistent mental process, driving his scores down further. This is Part 2…

2. His Focus

Once his process was in place, our second key area of attention was his focus. He had previously been so focused on his score that it took him away from being present to the shot. He had started to focus on all sorts of things that were distracting him, such as swing thoughts and a collection of different possible outcomes that he didn’t want. He certainly was not Single Minded. To bring him back into now, we developed his peripheral awareness to imagine connecting the ball to a very specific target on the ground, right throughout the 3 phases of the shot. This brought his awareness over shots to notice the two dots on the ground (the ball and the target) AT THE SAME TIME, making the shot simply about joining the dots. By doing this he reduced his internal chatter and had a single minded, clear intention for his shot.

3. His Commitment

With his process and his focus set, the most recent piece of the jigsaw has been commitment. Rather than concern himself with score, Mark has been measuring himself on his single minded commitment to every shot. At the end of each hole he gives himself two scores, total shots and total shots he fully committed to. Fully committed means that he followed his routines, was fully ready and gave 100% to that one shot in his mind. If he changed his mind over the ball he didn’t get a point. For example, if he got a 4 but only committed to 3 of them, he writes down a 4 with a 3 next to it. At the end of his round, he then adds up his two scores and works out the percentage of shots he played with full commitment. When we first did this he scored 75% - not bad but plenty of room for improvement. As his commitment improves, so do his scores, recently shooting a three under 67 (when he scored 90% commitment), followed by a five under 67 the following day (when he scored 93% commitment). The more he shifts his focus towards committing to each shot, the less relevant his score becomes, and the lower he able to go. This is Single Minded Golf.

In order to raise his percentage score, he has had to make some changes to his shot selection. Previously he would have double bogeys out of nowhere due to him picking low percentage shots. As he was standing over the ball not being 100% confident in his ability to play it, he would lose his focus, not commit and mess up his shot. This means he now finds himself using 3 wood off the tee more, laying up on par 5’s more, and working with wind rather than fighting it – all in the name of commitment. He has also started keeping his own playing stats to measure his progress in each area, in order to improve his commitment on specific shots in his practice sessions.

As a result of working on these 3 areas of Process, Focus and Commitment, his game has been quickly progressing once more. In July 2011 Mark passed his PGA Playing Ability Test and in September 2011 completed the process of turning professional, just 18 months after picking up the game! His confidence has reached the stage where he can still shoot under par when he’s not playing well, his belief in his ability continues to grow, and his commitment is now averaging over 90%.

So what have been the keys to his rapid progress?

Mark’s greatest asset as a golfer is that he walks lightly. What do I mean by this? As I’ve become known for my ability to create transformational change, many clients come to see me to unburden themselves from their emotional baggage, such as fear, 1^st tee nerves, the yips, not being able to “cross the line”, anger, frustration, embarrassment, etc etc. Or they come to finally resolve their confidence issues resulting from lack of self belief. But not Mark. In fact when I met him I was wondering how I could help him! Mark’s greatest asset is his attitude of “I never thought much of it really” when he broke par after playing for only 3 months. Of course he likes to score well, but his biggest motivation, unlike most players, is not just to play well today. His biggest motivation is to learn from today to make tomorrow even better. Neither Mark or I know how far he can go, but one thing is certain. Unlike most of us, he will definitely find out!

If you’d like to find out how far you can go with your mind and your game, click here and make your game Single Minded!

Love every shot!

Adam Sprackling

Single Minded Golf