Latest / Golf Psycho Podcast / Why Golfers Always Blow Up On The Same Hole & How To Fix It

Transcript

Why Golfers Always Blow Up On The Same Hole & How To Fix It · Golf Psycho Podcast

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Today we're going to be going over why you mess up on the same hole over and over and over again and why you can't seem to do well on this hole.
• 0:08
  SPEAKER_00: This is a very, very common issue for most golfers.
• 0:10
  SPEAKER_00: I think every golfer has experienced a certain course, a certain hole where we just blow it each and every single time.
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_00: Perhaps it's the same OB shot, it's the same water shot.
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_00: It's a phenomenon that happens to all of us.
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_00: And today we're going to be going over three tips on how to fix this and make sure that when you approach that hole, you play it better than ever.
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome back, golf psychos, to the Golf Psycho Podcast for Golf Drives You Psycho or your Psycho for Golf.
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_00: I am joined today by Lori.
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_01: Hi there.
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_00: My wife and partner here at Golf Psycho.
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_00: And yeah, we're going to be going over why we have this tendency as golfers to blow it on the same hole over and over and over again.
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_00: As we mentioned in the intro, this is a very, very common thing that every single golfer experiences, whether it's a par four, whether it's a par five, whether it's that dreaded par three, it may be an OB shot, it may be a water shot, it may be, I often fat it.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_00: I I get I hit a thin shot here, regardless, whatever it is, maybe it's a three-put, a four-put.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_00: Whatever is going on on this hole for you, and I'm sure that you can just immediately, as soon as we said this, like I know exactly what course, what hole does this to me each and every single time.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_01: It definitely comes up about 90% of the time with coaching clients and or or just friends in general.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_01: There's this one hole.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_01: So that's exciting to talk about this.
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I think if you play with folks long enough and you go out to the same courses long enough, or you know, regardless of whether you do or not, you're going to hear a golfer that says, I always blank on this hole, right?
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_00: Fill it in, fill in the blank.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_00: It's a very, very, very common thing.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_00: And the reason it's a common thing is because our brains all work the same.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_00: And all we really need to know is that once we build a certain association with a certain hole, especially when it's a negative experience, it can be very easy to repeat these occurrences over and over and over again.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_00: And it's not that you're failing at succeeding at this hole.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_00: It's just that if there was a formula that if the if the goal was to lose it or to play poorly on this hole, we're succeeding at that formula, right?
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_00: And I often hear players when they are in their pre-shot routine or when they're standing behind the ball, and we often focus on what we don't want, right?
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_00: So it it can be very, very easy to lock yourself into this loop in your pre-shot routine of don't go in the water, don't go OB, don't this, don't that, don't this.
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_00: And we often design our shots based on what we don't want.
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_00: And the reason we don't want to do this is because the brain is incapable of understanding that don't, right?
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm about to bring up a topic to you right now that you have no idea in which I'm going to, you know, bring up.
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_00: And then suddenly you're not going to be able to stop thinking about it, despite the fact that I'm telling you not to.
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_00: So if I tell you something as silly as don't think about pepperoni pizza.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_01: Sounds good.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_00: And there we are, right?
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_00: Don't think about pepperoni pizza.
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_00: Don't think about pepperoni pizza.
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_00: Don't think about pepperoni pizza.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_00: You know, it's the first thing that you're going to think of, right?
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_00: And we're we're very when it comes to golf and the shots that we hit, they're heavily dictated by what we visualize, right?
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_00: So what we visualize up here tells the body intelligence what to do.
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_00: And if it's not that, it's it's definitely in the back of the mind, it's in your subconscious, uh, it's definitely guiding what outcome you are probably going to reap.
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 4:01
  SPEAKER_00: So the first tip will start with talking about visual rehearsals, right?
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_00: Visual rehearsals at home, visual rehearsals while you're there are very, very important.
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_00: Now the idea is that our brains don't understand the difference between what's a mental picture and what's actually happening, right?
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_00: So we can use that to our benefit, which is why when we visualize or when we create shots based off of what we don't want, that's why we create them so often.
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_01: That's why, you know, things like worry or anxiety, right?
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_01: Think about the future can feel so stressful to you physically, even though you may not be in that situation, right?
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_01: Or if you're thinking of anything that really stresses you out and you're not even there, it's not happening, you're safe at home, but you can feel those physiological symptoms in there in there because your brain doesn't know the difference.
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_01: So absolutely.
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's it's the the reason why we suffer, right?
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_00: Which is why depression can feel so so ugly and why anxiety can feel so ugly, right?
• 5:01
  SPEAKER_00: These are pictures in our minds, right?
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_00: That that that visualization, that that creation of that story, as we often say, the movies of our mind is a very vivid, a very vivid experience.
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_00: And when we're locked into those experiences, our bodies inherit those stories, right?
• 5:19
  SPEAKER_00: They inherit the poison or the toxicity of those stories that don't feel good.
• 5:24
  SPEAKER_00: So when it comes to our golf game and we're designing shots based off of what we don't want, well, it's no wonder we create these shots, right?
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_00: So we definitely want to create shots based off of what we do want, right?
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_00: So I want you to stop playing golf based on what you don't want, right?
• 5:45
  SPEAKER_00: That applies to life.
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_00: We don't go, I don't want to this, I don't want to that.
• 5:49
  SPEAKER_00: No, we we we design our life and make moves in life and make make moves in business and whatever it is that we're doing, we want to design it based on what we do want.
• 5:57
  SPEAKER_00: As a matter of fact, we want to feel as if it's already ours, right?
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_00: So, like I said, that first tip of visualize of uh visualizing what it is that we want is incredibly important and we can do that at home, right?
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_00: So uh if if there's a trouble hole that you have, not if I know there's one, I want you to play it at home.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_00: I want you to close your eyes.
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe after your meditation, we just completed a meditation, go back and check that out.
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe you've already listened to it.
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_00: And right after your meditation, when you've calmed your nervous system and you're already really in tune, is probably a really, really good time to start your visualization practice.
• 6:30
  SPEAKER_00: It doesn't take but maybe 60 seconds, two minutes, five minutes at most, to play that hole in your head and hit it the way you want it.
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_00: End up in that place that you want and do it over and over and over again.
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_00: Hit hit that fairway, hit that fairway, hit that green, hit that putt, whatever it is that troubles you, do it again and again.
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_00: Do it again and again and get very, very clear about this.
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_00: And in all likelihood, you you can draw up a very, very good picture in your mind and create a movie.
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_00: You know what it's like to be at this course, you can feel it, you can see the grass, you can hear the birds, you can feel the wind.
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_00: And really, really make that real for yourself and play it.
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_00: Play it as you want, play it as you would love to play it.
• 7:17
  SPEAKER_00: And that is creating neural lapses in your brain that tell us we can do it, right?
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_00: Because here's the problem.
• 7:25
  SPEAKER_00: When we start to associate, very much like a Pavlov, right?
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_00: Like the whole idea of ringing, teaching a dog that food is ready when we ring a bell, and they start to associate that the ringing of that bell with food time, right?
• 7:40
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, there's studies on this, right?
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_00: Where they they're they begin to salivate because they start to associate the ringing of that bell with food.
• 7:47
  SPEAKER_00: Well, this is a very, very similar experience for us as golfers.
• 7:50
  SPEAKER_00: We we step to that T or we ride up to that T, we walk up to that T, and we and we immediately start to associate whatever negative experience or whatever experience is heavily ingrained into our mind.
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_00: So starting to reverse that is a very, very important process.
• 8:07
  SPEAKER_00: This is a very important mental game tip in order to start overriding all of the experience that we have there, because we certainly don't want to keep that experience going there.
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_01: That's excellent.
• 8:19
  SPEAKER_01: It's a great way to empower ourselves and to use what we know about the brain and the way it works in a way that helps us become stronger, right?
• 8:27
  SPEAKER_01: Versus just following the typical path of negativity, like you said, or and following in those patterns that we know exist.
• 8:34
  SPEAKER_01: How can we use it against itself to help ourselves?
• 8:37
  SPEAKER_01: In this case with golf, but obviously you can also do it with life.
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_00: So it's great.
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_00: You know, visually rehearsing that.
• 8:42
  SPEAKER_00: And then of course, when you step to the T, you take that visual rehearsal and uh it's it's really gonna benefit us, right?
• 8:47
  SPEAKER_00: We are offered, we've already been practicing at home.
• 8:49
  SPEAKER_00: I've I've got this experience.
• 8:50
  SPEAKER_00: And, you know, this doesn't guarantee that it's going to happen, but it certainly increases the chances that it's going to happen.
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_00: I think a lot of what we do here is that we set conditions, right?
• 8:59
  SPEAKER_00: We don't guarantee that things are going to happen because that's just not how life and golf works.
• 9:03
  SPEAKER_00: But if we were looking to do something that increases those percentages of getting what we want, that's a fantastic, fantastic place to start.
• 9:11
  SPEAKER_00: So your visualizations, whether at home or once you're behind the T, ideally both.
• 9:16
  SPEAKER_00: Ideally both, right?
• 9:17
  SPEAKER_00: Because if we're doing it at home, when we get to the T, it's going to be that much stronger.
• 9:22
  SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
• 9:23
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 9:23
  SPEAKER_00: It's going to be that much stronger.
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_00: So once again, design based on what you do want.
• 9:29
  SPEAKER_00: Get very specific about what you do want.
• 9:31
  SPEAKER_00: Where do you want this?
• 9:32
  SPEAKER_00: And be specific.
• 9:33
  SPEAKER_00: Be specific.
• 9:34
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes fairway isn't enough.
• 9:35
  SPEAKER_00: Fairway can mean on the left, fairway can mean on the right.
• 9:38
  SPEAKER_00: Where?
• 9:39
  SPEAKER_00: Get specific, right?
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_00: Our body intelligence can take over.
• 9:42
  SPEAKER_00: And it's very important to be very clear about what it is that you do want.
• 9:48
  SPEAKER_00: And that moves us on to tip number two.
• 9:55
  SPEAKER_00: And that moves us on to tip number two.
• 9:57
  SPEAKER_00: What is the shot required here?
• 10:00
  SPEAKER_00: I think sometimes we as golfers, we look at a hole and we get very, very, very intimidated by what we see, right?
• 10:06
  SPEAKER_00: We're very, very visual, as I as we've been talking about today.
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_00: We're very, very visual and we immediately, because we have a negative bias brain, spot all the danger.
• 10:17
  SPEAKER_00: And that floats to the forefront of our consciousness.
• 10:21
  SPEAKER_00: And we see the tight fairway, we see the water, we see the woods, we see the trees, we see everything but where we want, right?
• 10:28
  SPEAKER_00: Because we've been so trained to design our shots based on what we don't want, right?
• 10:34
  SPEAKER_00: So I don't want this, I don't want that.
• 10:35
  SPEAKER_00: And it's that's all we see.
• 10:37
  SPEAKER_00: And is it no question why we find it, right?
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_01: So very, very pepperoni pizza.
• 10:43
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, exactly.
• 10:44
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 10:44
  SPEAKER_00: So uh that's uh a huge, huge part of of this, uh, of this puzzle is being focused on what you do want.
• 10:54
  SPEAKER_00: And just a better way to say this in tip two is what is the shot required?
• 11:01
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 11:02
  SPEAKER_00: What is the shot required?
• 11:04
  SPEAKER_00: Remove what you see, remove the intimidation.
• 11:08
  SPEAKER_00: Is this a straight ball?
• 11:10
  SPEAKER_00: Is this a cut?
• 11:11
  SPEAKER_00: Is this a draw?
• 11:12
  SPEAKER_00: And maybe we don't have those shots available to us, but what is it that I need to do here?
• 11:17
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 11:18
  SPEAKER_00: It's it's again very easy to focus on everything that we don't want.
• 11:22
  SPEAKER_00: But if we can think of it in terms of what is the shot required, it's a straight ball, it's a cut.
• 11:28
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe we have a natural draw, maybe we have this, and maybe it doesn't favor the whole.
• 11:33
  SPEAKER_00: But leaning on, at least for me in my game, that's been incredibly, incredibly helpful to kind of tell myself, you know, what side of the T box do I need to be on to accomplish this?
• 11:44
  SPEAKER_00: And when it comes down to just removing what it is, it's like if I'm on the range, what is the shot required here?
• 11:50
  SPEAKER_00: Is it a straight ball?
• 11:51
  SPEAKER_00: Is it a fade or a draw?
• 11:53
  SPEAKER_00: And, you know, a lot of the times when we think of it in terms of just what is the shot required here?
• 11:59
  SPEAKER_00: I don't care about the visual.
• 12:01
  SPEAKER_00: I don't care about what I'm intimidated by, what's the shot required here?
• 12:05
  SPEAKER_00: And a lot of the times that removes a lot of the weight that we're feeling off of our shoulders and just it gives us a single goal to stay focused on.
• 12:15
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 12:16
  SPEAKER_00: And I can think of a specific hole right now here in Austin, Texas, Jimmy Clay, hole number three.
• 12:22
  SPEAKER_00: I think a lot of my fellow friends here in Austin, my fellow Austinites in golf, can relate to hole three at Jimmy Clay.
• 12:30
  SPEAKER_00: And the T box is like this, and the fairway is like this, you know, and they're almost completely perpendicular to each themselves.
• 12:38
  SPEAKER_00: And for me, I have to hit this big swooping, almost slice into the fairway.
• 12:44
  SPEAKER_00: And if it goes too straight, it ends up in the woods.
• 12:47
  SPEAKER_00: And if I hit a draw, it's in the woods.
• 12:49
  SPEAKER_00: And, you know, for for quite some time before my mental game got to where it needed to be, this was my that was the hole.
• 12:59
  SPEAKER_00: I always blank on this hole, right?
• 13:01
  SPEAKER_00: That was my the my the my hole, and that's just where I did that, right?
• 13:06
  SPEAKER_01: You've been in the woods, yeah.
• 13:07
  SPEAKER_00: I've been on the woods on the left.
• 13:08
  SPEAKER_00: I think every Austinite can relate to that.
• 13:10
  SPEAKER_00: And I've hit it too far to the right and and been on the woods on the right.
• 13:13
  SPEAKER_00: Or, you know, it's it's it's just when you look at it visually from the T, you're just like, oh my gosh, like how do I hit this fair way?
• 13:23
  SPEAKER_00: You know, it's it can be very intimidating.
• 13:26
  SPEAKER_00: And before we get to whole three tip three, which always was a huge one for helping me override all this, just understanding what do I need to hit here?
• 13:35
  SPEAKER_00: What do I need to hit here?
• 13:36
  SPEAKER_00: In my game, currently, I I have I have a slice available to me.
• 13:42
  SPEAKER_00: I I know how to hit it or I know how to hit a big cut.
• 13:45
  SPEAKER_00: And can I can pull cut it, I can pull um, pull slice it if I need to.
• 13:50
  SPEAKER_00: And I have that available in my game.
• 13:52
  SPEAKER_00: And I and I know not everybody does, but maybe you already, you know, for most people, already know how to play this.
• 13:58
  SPEAKER_00: If you're lefty, I hope you have a draw.
• 14:00
  SPEAKER_00: You know, uh, I know that, you know, we're all in different places with our with our game, but at least for me, and maybe, maybe you can relate to this, but I I I have that available to me.
• 14:10
  SPEAKER_00: And I think being on the range and being experimental and understanding, you know, how do I hit a huge slice, a banana slice?
• 14:17
  SPEAKER_00: How do I hit a good, a good cut?
• 14:20
  SPEAKER_00: And for me approaching hole three and just thinking to myself, it's just a cut.
• 14:25
  SPEAKER_00: Hit the cut and you'll be fine.
• 14:28
  SPEAKER_00: Forget what you see out there.
• 14:30
  SPEAKER_00: This is where it needs to start, and this is what the ball needs to do.
• 14:33
  SPEAKER_00: And just being singularly focused on that and and only having that task on me has really freed up a lot of CPU, so to speak, and allows me to go out there and just do it.
• 14:46
  SPEAKER_00: And it went from a hole that was a notorious issue to now I'm just used to hitting the fairway.
• 14:52
  SPEAKER_01: It's fun.
• 14:53
  SPEAKER_00: It's fun and I'm excited for the challenge.
• 14:56
  SPEAKER_00: And the nerves, I don't get all riled up on that hole anymore.
• 14:59
  SPEAKER_00: And it's it's it's hole three.
• 15:00
  SPEAKER_00: It's like at the beginning of the round, and I I would be plagued with thoughts of like, you know, am I gonna ruin my score this early in the round with with a hole like this?
• 15:09
  SPEAKER_00: And yeah, just just sticking to what shot do I need to hit here was a major, major move in the right direction.
• 15:20
  SPEAKER_01: That's great.
• 15:20
  SPEAKER_01: So it's almost like uh you could fill in the blank.
• 15:23
  SPEAKER_01: The shot that is required with my current skill set is, and then fill in the blank.
• 15:27
  SPEAKER_00: And just do that.
• 15:28
  SPEAKER_01: That's great.
• 15:29
  SPEAKER_00: And just do that, you know, just really simplify the equation down to I just need to do this.
• 15:35
  SPEAKER_00: You know, and if you don't have a shot shape available to you for a while there, I would take a seven-iron and I would put it a seven-iron distance out in front of me.
• 15:44
  SPEAKER_00: And yeah, maybe I have 250 into the hole after that, but you know what?
• 15:48
  SPEAKER_00: I'm safe.
• 15:49
  SPEAKER_00: And what it started to do for me was that it started to teach me that, or it started to teach my brain to associate the hole with being safe.
• 15:58
  SPEAKER_00: I stopped losing shots, I stopped sending the ball into the hazards.
• 16:04
  SPEAKER_00: And even though it wasn't the best shot, but it started to train my brain that I could be safe on this hole.
• 16:12
  SPEAKER_00: I I could put it into play.
• 16:14
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, maybe it's not the most ideal second shot in, but that wasn't necessarily the goal.
• 16:21
  SPEAKER_00: The goal was to start changing my association, like I said, very similar to that of the ringing bell and the salivating dog.
• 16:28
  SPEAKER_00: Started changing that association that I had already grooved from so many experiences of hitting the ball out and hitting the ball out and being in an OB or in the hazards, and replacing it with, oh, no, no, no, I I can stay safe.
• 16:44
  SPEAKER_00: And in time, that would go on from a seven-iron to a six to a five to my two-iron to a three-wood, and then eventually ripping a you know, basically a huge slice driver and being okay with with trying this and just going, what is the shot that I need in order to do this?
• 17:03
  SPEAKER_00: And that changed a lot.
• 17:04
  SPEAKER_00: That changed a lot.
• 17:05
  SPEAKER_01: Awesome.
• 17:06
  SPEAKER_01: So I like that.
• 17:09
  SPEAKER_01: Just what is it that you this this shot requires with your current skill set?
• 17:14
  SPEAKER_01: And I really like the safety aspect because that's all what this is about is making sure that you feel safe so you can play to your potential at this time.
• 17:23
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 17:23
  SPEAKER_00: And with that being said, the the biggest goal here is that you may have more experiences, thus more neural pathways that have been grooved with a negative experience.
• 17:36
  SPEAKER_00: Let's say I've got 20 negative experiences to two negative experiences, right?
• 17:43
  SPEAKER_00: So naturally, because of that, the tendency is going to be.
• 17:49
  SPEAKER_01: Wait, what do you mean?
• 17:49
  SPEAKER_01: 20 negative experiences versus two, like two different people.
• 17:52
  SPEAKER_00: So maybe I've gone, no, no, no.
• 17:53
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe I've hit the ball out of bounds 20 times here and I've only put the ball in play twice.
• 17:59
  unknown: Okay.
• 17:59
  SPEAKER_01: So just as an FI, you said 20 negative and two negative.
• 18:02
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, sorry.
• 18:02
  SPEAKER_01: So just want to run that background.
• 18:04
  SPEAKER_00: Gotcha.
• 18:04
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know, moving on to tip three, the goal is to basically start to replace these negative experiences with positive ones, right?
• 18:16
  SPEAKER_00: So maybe on this particular hole, we've knocked it out of bounds, or we've had the problem shot 20 times and we've had a positive experience maybe once or twice, right?
• 18:27
  SPEAKER_00: So zero.
• 18:28
  SPEAKER_00: Or zero.
• 18:28
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe we've just never, I never hit this fairway, right?
• 18:31
  SPEAKER_00: I can hear golfers saying that.
• 18:33
  SPEAKER_00: I never put on the green, I always go on the water, I always go OB.
• 18:38
  SPEAKER_00: And we we've grooved this, these neural pathways that say, this is what we do here.
• 18:44
  SPEAKER_00: This is what we do here, right?
• 18:46
  SPEAKER_00: And because of that understanding of how the brain works, we've increased the chances that we're going to do that, right?
• 18:52
  SPEAKER_00: We've set the conditions to keep that cycle just spinning.
• 18:56
  SPEAKER_00: And it's no surprise why we do this, right?
• 18:58
  SPEAKER_00: So back to my whole three experience at Jimmy Clay here in Austin.
• 19:02
  SPEAKER_00: One of the things that I allowed myself to do because I was also one of these golfers that, like, once I'm playing, I'm playing and no mulligans and no this and no grace and just play it as it lies.
• 19:12
  SPEAKER_00: But I began to understand that there was a difference between going out and playing rounds where I'm looking to see what I can shoot today.
• 19:19
  SPEAKER_00: And then there's practice rounds.
• 19:21
  SPEAKER_00: There's practice where, you know, where I'm out there, I'm experiencing, I'm I'm experimenting, I'm trying out new things.
• 19:26
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe I'm playing two-ball and I'm giving myself multiple chances at certain things.
• 19:31
  SPEAKER_00: I understand maybe you know, you've got groups behind you and you need to keep pace of play.
• 19:35
  SPEAKER_00: But I was out there plenty of times where I'm out there on the course and nobody's behind me, nobody's in front of me.
• 19:40
  SPEAKER_00: It's just Lori and myself.
• 19:41
  SPEAKER_00: And I get I get to the problem hole and I go, I'm gonna hit four shots today.
• 19:47
  SPEAKER_00: I can.
• 19:48
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not bothering anybody.
• 19:50
  SPEAKER_00: It's okay.
• 19:51
  SPEAKER_00: And it might look like boom, there goes the water, and boom, there goes the water, and hey, fairway, boom, hey, fairway.
• 19:57
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, I can do this.
• 19:58
  SPEAKER_00: And then we go and we play, you know, from that fairway shot so that we can start changing this association that we have with this hole, right?
• 20:05
  SPEAKER_00: We we need to turn this association that we have with this problem hole upside down.
• 20:11
  SPEAKER_00: And we need to start grooving neural pathways that say, I do hit this, I do hit this, I do hit this fairway, I do hit this screen.
• 20:18
  SPEAKER_00: So we have to kind of use this science against itself.
• 20:21
  SPEAKER_00: We need to take what we know about these associations that we have with this and the the pathways that we've built that are very, very strong.
• 20:28
  SPEAKER_00: And when I refer to pathways, I often talk about them as like walking through a meadow.
• 20:33
  SPEAKER_00: And you've walked through this meadow many, many, many times and you start to groove a path, right?
• 20:38
  SPEAKER_00: And at the beginning, one walkthrough doesn't create a path in this meadow or through the grass.
• 20:45
  SPEAKER_00: But when we do it over and over and over and over again, then we start to groove this path.
• 20:51
  SPEAKER_00: And that's what we need to start doing with the outcomes that we do want, because we've grooved paths that we don't, and it's very, very easy to follow those paths.
• 21:00
  SPEAKER_00: And it's very easy to revert back to memories when we sprayed it or we went in the water, whatever it is that happens on that hole.
• 21:07
  SPEAKER_00: It becomes very easy with those associations to visually rehearse what we don't want.
• 21:13
  SPEAKER_00: And that's where body intelligence takes over and we keep this cycle growing.
• 21:18
  SPEAKER_01: It's really seeing the long game, you know, allowing yourself, you know, uh when you were saying earlier, okay, I did it with the previous one, you know, seven, seven iron and then six, you know, and continuing.
• 21:28
  SPEAKER_01: And then this same thing too, having practice rounds to allow yourself to improve in these areas, to build up those associations and like you said, using the brain, but really seeing the long game of I am committed to improving my golf game.
• 21:41
  SPEAKER_01: That's what I want to do, and this is what it takes.
• 21:42
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that's pretty good.
• 21:43
  SPEAKER_00: And I think we've seen it in uh, let's say, like Tin Cop, right, hole 18 US Open, three days in the water, and there he is pulling, you know, his three wood on that fourth day.
• 21:52
  SPEAKER_00: And yes, this is film, yes, this is cinema, you know, but a very, very common issue where yeah, we're we're used to doing that, we're used to doing.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_00: That here earlier in the movie, he's 250 out and he puts it on the green.
• 22:04
  SPEAKER_00: No problem when he's when he's playing with Don Johnson and he's catting for him and takes out a three-wood cold, no warm-up, and and throws one on the green from about 250 out and goes out to the US Open.
• 22:16
  SPEAKER_00: This shot that he should have that he's done many, many times, but he's got this association with doing it here and putting it in the water and putting it in the water.
• 22:24
  SPEAKER_00: So just a little tidbit I had to throw in there as a Tin Cup fan.
• 22:27
  SPEAKER_00: I'm sure there's a lot of Tin Cup fans out there that absolutely love that movie as much as I do.
• 22:31
  SPEAKER_00: But yeah, it's you know, to kind of you know wrap things up here on this episode, it's a very, very common issue, but this is the mental game route around things, right?
• 22:40
  SPEAKER_00: This is how we use it against itself and what we understand around how our brains work and the associations that we build around specific holes.
• 22:48
  SPEAKER_00: And we we just we have to reverse it.
• 22:50
  SPEAKER_00: We we in order to heal this, we we need to start planting the opposite in there and uh and give ourselves grace on these rounds to be able to try again and and until we start going, oh, I I can do this.
• 23:02
  SPEAKER_00: And and once you start to do it, it becomes easier and easier to do it, just the way it works, you know, when for shots that you don't want, right?
• 23:11
  SPEAKER_00: It becomes very easy to start thinking about the negative and and all of that stuff.
• 23:15
  SPEAKER_00: So just understand that we have a negative bias.
• 23:17
  SPEAKER_00: So our our brains and our minds want to focus on the negative more than the positive, which is why when you finish around, you you focus on all everything that went bad.
• 23:25
  SPEAKER_00: And it's it, you we don't often look at everything that went well.
• 23:29
  SPEAKER_01: An upcoming podcast.
• 23:30
  SPEAKER_00: An upcoming podcast.
• 23:31
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, we'll definitely go through that as well.
• 23:33
  SPEAKER_00: But if this is you, I I hope you take value from this, these tips and go out there and see it as fun, see it as a challenge to go to your problem hole and and do something different, right?
• 23:44
  SPEAKER_00: Take these tips, go out there, visualize them at home, use your meditation and start uh start building those.
• 23:50
  SPEAKER_00: You know, it's probably one of the coolest things that you can do at home for free because as we mentioned, the the mind doesn't know the difference between a visualization and real life.
• 23:59
  SPEAKER_00: You know, we've had uh Olympians that use visual uh meditations and visual rehearsals in order to create the outcomes that they want, right?
• 24:08
  SPEAKER_00: Because again, we're creating a lapse, we're we're creating uh a path in that meadow just from the visualizations that we have when we when we sit and we and we think about it, you know, and uh maybe we come home and we we think about the bad, we think about how it went and that just further keeps that cycle going, right?
• 24:26
  SPEAKER_00: So I urge you to kind of use it against itself, visualize what it is that you want, see it clearly and and bring that to the course.
• 24:34
  SPEAKER_00: You're uh maybe on the range.
• 24:36
  SPEAKER_00: That's another great place to sort of visualize the shot and pretend that you're on that hole and back to hole.
• 24:41
  SPEAKER_00: A tip two, you know, what is the shot required?
• 24:43
  SPEAKER_00: Just that.
• 24:44
  SPEAKER_00: Remove the intimidation.
• 24:45
  SPEAKER_00: I I think it's it's kind of like you know, an opponent on the other side of the ring and they they can look visually intimidating, but maybe I have more skills, maybe I'm a better fighter, maybe I am better than you.
• 24:55
  SPEAKER_00: Forget what it looks like and just get back to what is the shot required, you know.
• 25:01
  SPEAKER_00: So between giving yourself that grace on in tip three of, you know, giving yourself an attempt to finally hit that fairway and try until you do, if it allows that day on the course to visually rehearsing and trying it out on the range, you know.
• 25:14
  SPEAKER_00: So there's lots that we can do to reverse this.
• 25:17
  SPEAKER_00: If you have any questions, let us know.
• 25:18
  SPEAKER_00: If you've liked this episode, be sure to like and subscribe.
• 25:21
  SPEAKER_00: And if you're ready for your game to go to another level, golfpsycho.com to book your evaluation, do something a little different.
• 25:27
  SPEAKER_00: We uh are always excited to meet new golfers and help you out with your game, get you playing the best golf of your life, clean this guy up and see what kind of uh how much of your potential that you can unveil because it's just sitting there.
• 25:40
  SPEAKER_00: So we have so many different issues in golf that are keeping us when it comes to this guy that are keeping us from playing to our potential, right?
• 25:49
  SPEAKER_00: So golfpsycho.com, if you ever are curious enough to unveil the full potential of your game while keeping your swing exactly the way it is.
• 25:57
  SPEAKER_00: But we thank you for tuning in.
• 25:58
  SPEAKER_00: Lori, any Lori, any parting thoughts?
• 26:03
  SPEAKER_01: No.
• 26:09
  SPEAKER_01: No, and I I guess one little thing.
• 26:11
  SPEAKER_01: If it does feel like, oh, I don't know if I want to do this, that's normal.
• 26:14
  SPEAKER_01: But it it does sound like to me, you know, what does a shot require?
• 26:18
  SPEAKER_01: Visualize that and you know, have fun.
• 26:20
  SPEAKER_01: Go practice.
• 26:20
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 26:21
  SPEAKER_01: Be gentle with yourself.
• 26:22
  SPEAKER_00: No, you're not alone.
• 26:23
  SPEAKER_00: No, you're not alone.
• 26:23
  SPEAKER_00: There's a lot of golfers that have this issue.
• 26:25
  SPEAKER_00: And but that this is specifically what I did to to change those associations that I had with all of those negative, those negative associations that I had with courses all over town, right?
• 26:35
  SPEAKER_00: I I could name a hole at every single and sometimes two at each course that I play here in Austin.
• 26:42
  SPEAKER_00: And it felt really good to go back in there and conquer them.
• 26:44
  SPEAKER_00: That's also a very, very interesting personal victory to go in there and change those associations with those holes and actually look forward to them and not fear them.
• 26:53
  SPEAKER_00: Because yeah, the last thing you need to do is be walking up to a tier with more nerves or or fear of what you see because of what you constantly do there.
• 27:01
  SPEAKER_00: So best of luck, psycho.
• 27:03
  SPEAKER_00: Go out there and have some fun, change that association, play that hole better than you ever have.
• 27:08
  SPEAKER_00: We're here to support you.
• 27:09
  SPEAKER_00: Be sure to like and comment.
• 27:10
  SPEAKER_00: I would love to hear what your experiences are.
• 27:13
  SPEAKER_00: If this you know connects to you, if this is uh relates to you.
• 27:18
  SPEAKER_00: And tell me about tell me about the course, tell me about the whole, tell me about your experience.
• 27:22
  SPEAKER_00: I would love to hear it.
• 27:22
  SPEAKER_00: We'll chat about it.
• 27:23
  SPEAKER_00: And until then, we'll catch you on the next episode.
• 27:27
  SPEAKER_00: Peace.
• 27:28
  SPEAKER_01: Bye.