Latest / Golf Psycho Podcast / Your Brain Is Programmed To Play Bad Golf! Do THIS To Switch It Off!

Transcript

Your Brain Is Programmed To Play Bad Golf! Do THIS To Switch It Off! · Golf Psycho Podcast

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: You're programmed to play bad golf.
• 0:02
  SPEAKER_00: I can almost guarantee that in your brain, like a cell phone, you have a setting in there that says play bad golf.
• 0:10
  SPEAKER_00: By the time you're done with this episode, we're going to turn that setting off and get you playing some of the best golf you've ever played in your life with one simple switch.
• 0:18
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome back, golf psychos to the golf psycho podcast where golf drives you psycho or your psycho for golf.
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_00: I'm Carlos Benavides, mental game coach out of Austin, Texas.
• 0:25
  SPEAKER_00: And today we're going to be chatting about and fixing and updating a belief system that has a lot of golfers playing the worst golf of their life.
• 0:32
  SPEAKER_00: Or, like I said, a uh we treat belief systems or the things that we believe around golf very similar to a program does to a computer, right?
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_00: A program is programmed and it has its limitations around what it can do.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_00: And belief systems are exactly the same thing, right?
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_00: So if we have a belief system about our game or certain beliefs about our game, we're going to fulfill them very, very similar to that of a program and a computer.
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_00: The belief system that we're going to talk about today is one that I can almost guarantee that 99% of golfers have.
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_00: And that is the belief system that says that we're not allowed to hit bad shots and we're not allowed to have blow-up holes.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_00: And today we're going to flip that on its head and question this belief system that often tells golfers they cannot go OB, they cannot go in the water, they cannot hit bad shots.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_00: And it's this belief system that holds golfers back tremendously.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_00: It is this belief system that adds a lot of taboo to bad shots.
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_00: It causes golfers to overreact to bad shots.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_00: And it's this belief system that also keeps golfers in this loop of hitting bad shots.
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_00: Because as we've discussed in previous pods, golfers tend to design their shots based off of what they don't want.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_00: So essentially what that's telling us is that in our brain, what's dominating is what we don't want.
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_00: So we've we've talked about this in prior pods where we walk up to a hole and instantly we start designing our shot and our pre-shot routine and what it should look like based on what we don't want, right?
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_00: Don't go in the water, don't do this, don't do this.
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_00: That is fed by a belief system that says, I can't do that.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_00: I can't go in the water.
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_00: I can't go OB.
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_00: I can't hit bad shots.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_00: I can't allow my score to balloon.
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_00: I can't this, I can't that.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_00: And it's that system that creates this taboo around bad shots.
• 2:25
  SPEAKER_00: It makes us sort of hyper aware of them.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_00: We hyper-fixate on them.
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_00: And then we design based on them.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_00: And what we need to understand as golfers, especially as amateur golfers, is that not only should bad shots and bad holes be allowed, but they're guaranteed to happen.
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_00: So this idea of resisting them is where golfers get in trouble.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe you've heard of the expression, what we resist persists, right?
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_00: And in our efforts to play better golf, we create a tremendous amount of resistance around bad shots.
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_00: Again, we have this belief system in our brain, around our game, that says, I cannot do that.
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_00: Now, I don't need to tell you the basic psychology around being told you cannot do something, right?
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_00: The more we taboo it, the more we say we cannot do it, the more our subconscious or sometimes even our conscious mind wants to do these things, right?
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_00: Someone tells you, puts you in a room and says, Don't press the red button, it's going to drive you crazy, right?
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_00: So as we remove this or question this belief system that says we cannot hit bad shots, we cannot go in the water here, we cannot do this.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_00: As we allow ourselves to do these things and we start telling ourselves, I'm allowed to do this in the game.
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_00: It says it's it's simply a penalty.
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_00: I take my drop and I move on.
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_00: Adopting this sort of carefree, this is allowed, I'm allowed to hit every single bad shot that I want.
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_00: In doing so, we we were we release the resistance towards bad shots.
• 4:11
  SPEAKER_00: And as the saying goes, what we resist persists, right?
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_00: So if we resist bad shots, if we resist obese shots, if we resist going in the water, having blow up holes, if we resist that, then it persists.
• 4:25
  SPEAKER_00: It dominates our mind, it dominates the forefront of our thinking.
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_00: And as I mentioned earlier, it dominates the way we design our shots.
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_00: And I would argue, at least for me personally, maybe other golfers will feel the same, and undoubtedly many golfers will feel the same.
• 4:43
  SPEAKER_00: The idea of bad shots not being allowed can take a tremendous amount of energy and it can create a lot of worry and it can take up a lot of space in our thinking, especially in a game that heavily relies on us to be present, heavily relies on us to be focused on the task at hand and how to complete these tasks depending on shot to shot as we navigate the course.
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_00: So removing this taboo and removing this tremendous amount of energy that goes towards this basically this unneeded system that's constantly running in the background frees up a golfer to not worry.
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_00: And as we mentioned in in previous pods, worry as we describe here is the mind completely consumed in future thoughts.
• 5:41
  SPEAKER_00: And on the course, that looks like I'm on hole seven.
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_00: If I par eight, nine, I shoot this for the front nine.
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_00: I'm on hole twelve, if I do this, this, and this, then I can shoot that.
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_00: Or I'm on hole six and I'm very, very concerned about hole nine because that's my trouble hole.
• 5:59
  SPEAKER_00: This is what worry and anxiety looks like to golfers.
• 6:03
  SPEAKER_00: So that's just one of many or few of many examples of what anxiety can look like, or a very future-based mind looks like on the course.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_00: So as we remove this worry, as we remove this rule that says that we can't do this, we open up space for everything that we do want.
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_00: And just removing that taboo, for many golfers, you're gonna feel and instantly feel a sense of freedom.
• 6:30
  SPEAKER_00: You're gonna instantly feel a little looser.
• 6:33
  SPEAKER_00: And that's exactly what we need in order to play good golf, right?
• 6:35
  SPEAKER_00: We need to stay loose.
• 6:37
  SPEAKER_00: We need to stay carefree.
• 6:39
  SPEAKER_00: And carefree doesn't mean that we're not intentional, we're not moving with intention, we're not designing with intention.
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_00: But this is definitely a move towards more intentionality in our game.
• 6:50
  SPEAKER_00: We're questioning belief systems in our game and we're asking ourselves, you know, though, though this belief system that says don't hit bad shots may be good and well intended, right?
• 7:01
  SPEAKER_00: The the idea of it is well intended, right?
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_00: Well, if I if I don't hit bad shots, I play better golf, sure.
• 7:07
  SPEAKER_00: But what is this belief system really doing in the long run?
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_00: And is it realistic to be telling myself I can't hit bad shots?
• 7:17
  SPEAKER_00: Knowing full well, knowing full well they're going to happen.
• 7:21
  SPEAKER_00: They happen to the best golfers in the world.
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_00: And it becomes about responding to bad shots rather than reacting.
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_00: So I would argue that a huge step in every golfer's evolution and becoming a better golfer involves the way you respond to adversity.
• 7:42
  SPEAKER_00: Now, this is where we're talking about this new belief system coming in to essentially override everything that we've been believing in the past, right?
• 7:55
  SPEAKER_00: So if if we can get past this, and I and I think it's really interesting where if we were to sit and chat and we were to ask most golfers, if I was to ask you, are bad shots allowed?
• 8:08
  SPEAKER_00: Many of us would say, yes, they're allowed, or yes, I can do this, or yes, I can have blow-up holes.
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_00: And while we may know this, it doesn't mean that while we're on the course, we're responding as if we actually believe that.
• 8:21
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 8:22
  SPEAKER_00: So we we may say it.
• 8:24
  SPEAKER_00: It's very easy to say, oh yeah, yeah, no, I completely understand that bad shots are allowed, or I'm gonna have blow up holes.
• 8:33
  SPEAKER_00: But we may not actually be living that life, right?
• 8:36
  SPEAKER_00: We may not actually be living that belief system that truly, truly believes that.
• 8:41
  SPEAKER_00: And that's where I ask every golfer listening to this right now, really question this, really question this.
• 8:47
  SPEAKER_00: Do you truly, truly believe that bad shots and blow-up holes are allowed in your game?
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_00: And if there's a little bit of an adjustment that we need to make, then we can make it.
• 9:00
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm glad that we tuned into this pod because it's these little micro decisions, it's these minor that could turn into major belief systems that are playing a factor in your game and you don't even know it.
• 9:16
  SPEAKER_00: Because we're responding, or should I say, we're having these reactions on the course to bad holes.
• 9:23
  SPEAKER_00: And that often leads for many golfers to the spirals that ends up, you know, costing two or three holes.
• 9:28
  SPEAKER_00: And then maybe after a few holes, you get your wits back again, you know, back and in and you're back to playing some decent golf, but it costs you three, four holes of time in order to do so because we threw a fit over going OB, or we got upset over going in the water, or we didn't play a hole the way we wanted to, and we're having a full-blown reaction rather than a response, right?
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_00: So here at Psycho, we we tend to think that reactions are very autopilot.
• 9:55
  SPEAKER_00: They're very just the brain is just a wild horse and a response is a very, very intentional driver behind the wheel, so to speak, moment where we grab brains and we really have control over our mind and our emotions moving forward after bad shots.
• 10:12
  SPEAKER_00: So if this is you, this is a very simple but profound update to make, to question and actually spend time thinking about this.
• 10:22
  SPEAKER_00: And even though, like I said, you may, you may believe that and understand that that bad shots are allowed, but in in in actual life and in and on the course, we're not responding that way.
• 10:35
  SPEAKER_00: So this gives us an opportunity to kind of sit and go, okay, you know, do do am I just saying this or do I really believe this?
• 10:43
  SPEAKER_00: Does my mind really believe this?
• 10:46
  SPEAKER_00: And if the answer is no, then we can kind of, like I said, take a moment to really put this into practice and understand what a golfer that believes that bad shots, a golfer that believes that bad shots are okay or that blow-up holes are okay or they're allowed, what does that golfer look like when they respond to adversity?
• 11:07
  SPEAKER_00: What do they look like when they respond to bad shows?
• 11:09
  SPEAKER_00: What what what are they doing?
• 11:10
  SPEAKER_00: Are they reverting to their breathing?
• 11:12
  SPEAKER_00: Are they are they blowing up?
• 11:13
  SPEAKER_00: Are they having an emotional breakdown?
• 11:15
  SPEAKER_00: Are they getting upset?
• 11:17
  SPEAKER_00: And this, like I said, is single-handedly probably one of the easiest updates that we can make as golfers in order to start playing better golf.
• 11:29
  SPEAKER_00: Because, like I said, if we can remove the taboo, we're gonna create less of them.
• 11:33
  SPEAKER_00: We're not resisting them, we're gonna create less bad shots, or we're gonna hit more shots on our terms.
• 11:40
  SPEAKER_00: So, again, if this is you, let me know in the comments how you feel about this.
• 11:45
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe you disagree, but the moment that I removed this idea that, or the moment that should I say the better, better said is the moment I noticed that I was playing golf as if bad shots weren't allowed, that blow-up holes weren't gonna happen.
• 12:00
  SPEAKER_00: The moment I noticed that I was playing that way, I realized that I was fighting an uphill battle.
• 12:06
  SPEAKER_00: Because as you look at everyone's game, you could look at the best in the world, you could look at Tiger, you can look at Rory, you can look at the best players in the world.
• 12:15
  SPEAKER_00: And a lot of the times winners are winning tournaments uh with bad rounds.
• 12:21
  SPEAKER_00: I've seen Tiger take home wins and and barely hit a fairway that day.
• 12:27
  SPEAKER_00: So it's it's definitely something that we need to question within ourselves, change and remove that as soon as possible.
• 12:37
  SPEAKER_00: Again, the idea is just that this is a taboo that we've built up.
• 12:41
  SPEAKER_00: The moment we can remove it, then the idea of what we resist, persist is gone.
• 12:46
  SPEAKER_00: We're no longer resisting it, and the bad shots persist, or should I say, don't persist anymore.
• 12:53
  SPEAKER_00: So this is a really, really quick update that we can all make as golfers.
• 12:57
  SPEAKER_00: Once again, let me know what you think in the comments.
• 12:59
  SPEAKER_00: I think this is a, like I said, one that goes a long way.
• 13:02
  SPEAKER_00: A lot of juice for the squeeze.
• 13:04
  SPEAKER_00: And let me know if you've made this update in the past or if you've caught yourself sort of looking at your game or looking at bad shots as if they weren't allowed, looking at blow up holes as if they weren't allowed.
• 13:13
  SPEAKER_00: Now, obviously, when I say that they're allowed, that doesn't mean that we're encouraging them.
• 13:17
  SPEAKER_00: No, we're actually doing quite the opposite by by removing the taboo as I mentioned.
• 13:22
  SPEAKER_00: And I'll just keep saying it over and over again, and you're gonna hear me repeat these things because they I really want them to land.
• 13:27
  SPEAKER_00: But the removent, the moment we remove that taboo, the moment we stop resisting them is when they, that that persistence of them will dissipate.
• 13:34
  SPEAKER_00: So let me know if this uh if this applies to you, and it's gonna definitely help you play better golf.
• 13:39
  SPEAKER_00: It's gonna get you out of that funk.
• 13:40
  SPEAKER_00: It's really gonna open up a lot of uh brain brain um brain energy for other things, for creativity, for showing up on the course and being present and bloating your who and making sure that your breathing is happening.
• 13:52
  SPEAKER_00: And I cannot tell you the amount of energy that you save by just not being worried about bad shots.
• 13:58
  SPEAKER_00: And but before we go, what responding to a bad shot looks like.
• 14:03
  SPEAKER_00: I wouldn't be much of a coach if I didn't talk about that right here before we go.
• 14:06
  SPEAKER_00: Really, really quickly, every golfer knows this.
• 14:09
  SPEAKER_00: Let's say on the first hole, bad shot happens.
• 14:12
  SPEAKER_00: We go in the water, we go OB, you know, typical breakfast ball idea.
• 14:17
  SPEAKER_00: And uh it it's as simple as being very black and white with it.
• 14:22
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I want us to sort of go, the the rules of golf make allowance for this.
• 14:27
  SPEAKER_00: All it says is that I have to take a penalty stroke in order to move forward, but I'm allowed to move forward.
• 14:32
  SPEAKER_00: It doesn't mean that the game is over, right?
• 14:34
  SPEAKER_00: This isn't a I win an OB, it's over.
• 14:36
  SPEAKER_00: No, the rules of the game just simply say we drop a ball, we move on, we move forward.
• 14:41
  SPEAKER_00: And if we can look at it like that, no less, no more, black and white, not good, not bad, not left, not right, not up, not down, just very, very matter of fact golf.
• 14:53
  SPEAKER_00: This is what happens.
• 14:54
  SPEAKER_00: This is where I drop, we move on.
• 14:56
  SPEAKER_00: Catch you guys on the next one.
• 14:58
  SPEAKER_00: Enjoy the update.
• 14:59
  SPEAKER_00: We'll see you on the next one.