Latest / Golf Psycho Podcast / How To Control Hole 1 Nerves In Golf Tournaments

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How To Control Hole 1 Nerves In Golf Tournaments · Golf Psycho Podcast

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Today, we're going to be going over one of the biggest problems that golfers go through on the golf course.
• 0:05
  SPEAKER_00: Starting the round, teeing off and managing those nerves, making sure that our nervous system is calm, cool, and collected before starting rounds is probably one of the number one things that golfers can do to ensure that their round starts off right.
• 0:21
  SPEAKER_00: I'll be giving you some advice and some tips on how to keep your nervous system calm before anything goes crazy on the course.
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_00: How to keep your nervous system cool, calm, and collected before you even tee off.
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_00: These tips are going to make sure that you play your best, stay focused, and get the job done on the course.
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_00: And as always, if you're interested in a mental game evaluation, be sure to reach out to thegolfpsycho.com to book your appointment, get your mental game in check, start beating your friends, and finally just clear out all those mental issues that you've been dealing with over the years.
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome back, golf psychos to the golf cycle podcast, where golf drives you psycho or your cycle for golf.
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_00: I'm back with my good buddy Raul.
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_00: What's up, brother?
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome back, bro.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you, man.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks for having me.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_00: And today we're going to be going over the recent tournament that you played here in Austin, Texas at the Firecracker, to be specific.
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, man.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_00: Let us know what went on.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_00: And I know that we're going to dive in and start with chatting over starting the tournament.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_00: I think this is something that a lot of golfers know intimately and know well that starting and not starting well is a notorious issue for golfers.
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_01: Dude, so how do you want me to you want me to start like from the beginning?
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_01: Well, going back to like high school golf, I love competing.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_01: And you you and I kind of know that because we kind of played in that arena in the valley.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_01: But that that's where I took the bite.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_01: And I always wanted, as I got older, I always wanted to play in mini tours.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_01: And I was like, man, but I don't have the money to travel.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_01: So I found out that the Firecracker is one of the biggest ones in Austin.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm like, let me just go to the biggest one in Austin, why not?
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_01: But so the tournament day, I haven't played competitively in like five, six, seven years, right?
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm like, let me just go, like you say, no expectations.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_01: Have a good time.
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_01: But I know I wanted to capture content.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_01: So I know with my experience in capturing that, I need a tripod, my battery's charged, the camera ready.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_01: So I had all that going in.
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_01: I have like an hour drive getting there.
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm already playing that in my head.
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_01: The problem was I know the city has issues with people recording.
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm like, all right, that was one of my main issues.
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_01: Like, all right, am I gonna experience this in tournament play?
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_01: So first thing I went in there, I was like, hey, tea time is at 12.
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_01: I got about an hour.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_01: I had the camera mic with me.
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_01: Nobody said anything.
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_01: I had the camera tripod ready.
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_01: Nobody said anything.
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_01: It's like, all right, let's just go.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_01: So I started playing.
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_01: Tea time was at 12.
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_01: First on the on the first uh T-box, you know, like Raul Gomez ready from Kyle, Texas, whatever.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_01: I was just like, oh my god, this is happening.
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_01: That's me, dead's me.
• 3:03
  SPEAKER_01: I was like, my heart was racing.
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_01: And and I but I like it, but I'm just so nervous, right?
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_01: So, first hole, those of you that know Lions or 10th hole, those of you that know Lions Muni, it it's a short part four.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_01: I played it, I don't know, a hundred times.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_01: It's either three wood, five wood, or driver.
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_01: And that day, for some reason, I went with the seven iron.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_01: I just like let me get a smooth seven iron to get in the fairway, and then you know, be good.
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_01: After that, had a little left.
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_01: I was in the mud, had a little issues trying to decide do I get relief or not.
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_01: Guy told me there, I was like, No, you don't.
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_01: So I was like, all right, let me just play.
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_01: But all that were on the car path.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_01: But when I asked the guy, the ball was kind of like in the mud, and I told him, I was like, Do I have relief off of this?
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_01: But I didn't specify.
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_01: I think in why he didn't say I see he said no.
• 3:52
  SPEAKER_01: So I didn't specify is it relief from the mud or relief from the car path?
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_01: But he just said, like, no, you're you don't, unless it was in the car path.
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_01: But I it just I don't know.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_01: That's kind of like where I was like, all right, fine, whatever.
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_01: So let me just hit my smooth little sandwich.
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_01: I freaking blade it over the green, over everything in the hazard.
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm just like, oh God, here we go.
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm getting the tripod, I'm getting everything ready.
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_01: I have a golf car with me, but I'm still like, all right, was the shot in focus?
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_01: Was the light kind of you know, not blown out?
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_01: I was just thinking all these things going on to my next shot, yeah, you know, and I'm just like okay, just focus.
• 4:27
  SPEAKER_01: What am I, where am I?
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, chip shot.
• 4:29
  SPEAKER_01: So I drop and I like my turn to hit, and I freaking shank it.
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm like, what is going on?
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_01: A chip shot.
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, a chip shot from like, I don't know, 10 yards.
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm just like, man, something, something's not right.
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_01: And but again, after I hit it, okay, run to get the tripod, you know, and it's just I could tell like I was getting annoyed, but so many things had to happen one after the other, that just got me like not focused on the game.
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_01: It's just like, where am I at?
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_01: Right here, okay, plant, focus.
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_01: All right, what am I doing for maybe like 10 seconds?
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, so chip shot went on the green, the next one went on the green, and then three putted.
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm just like, I walk out of there with an eight on the part, the shortest part for it.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm just like, what is happening?
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_01: So that kind of flustered me a little bit, and then going into the next hole, I was like, all right, just tripod, same routine that I've done a hundred times coming, but this time I didn't have the mics with me.
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_01: And then I hit a nice drive in the left side of the fairway, and then second shot, pin seeker just rolled off the green a little bit, and then three putted.
• 5:31
  SPEAKER_01: First putt went way past the hole, second putt way short of the hole, and I was like, What?
• 5:35
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I was like, what's going on with me here?
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_01: So after that, going in from 11 to 12, if those of you that know Muni, there's a little drive, so you're not like like this, right?
• 5:45
  SPEAKER_01: So at that moment, I started, all right, let's relax, let's take it easy, let's start working on the breathing, right?
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_01: Because before I was just one thing after another, tripod, camera, light, you know, the shot, and it was just one thing after another, and it was just me.
• 5:59
  SPEAKER_01: And then going into whole 12, that's where I kind of hit like, all right, what I gotta do here, and then I bombed a nice drive, fairway, boom, second shot, almost on the green, right side, and had like I think a three or four footer for Bertie, and I missed it.
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_01: But opportunity started happening.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_01: And what I noticed the difference was was almost like a settle down kind of all right, let's get everything settled, but focus on just what you're doing.
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_01: And then people in my group started talking to me about stuff, so that kind of helped me get your mind off.
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it kind of helped me like reset, like, all right, you know, because I they talk about they're asking me stuff about YouTube, and I enjoy you know, YouTube, so I just I can talk forever about that.
• 6:35
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, you know YouTube?
• 6:36
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I know a little bit of YouTube, but like that that's initially, I I think kind of helped me all right, like take a step back, you know.
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_01: And then well, I don't know if to speed it up a little bit.
• 6:47
  SPEAKER_01: Then you showed up on the turn as my one of my caddy, and then that really helped a ton, dude.
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I couldn't film because they finally said, you know, not not uh oh, I wonder if it's a combination of not worrying about the camera and then you showing up.
• 7:01
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, a thousand because I started sinking some birdies.
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_01: Remember, I was like, dude, I was like, where's the camera at?
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_01: I can't capture this moment.
• 7:07
  SPEAKER_01: Worry about the camera, I will.
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_01: But yeah, I'll just say I think I shot it, I think I shot 80.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_01: But with looking at the scorecard, there was there was like five or six birdie opportunities, dude.
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, like a ton.
• 7:19
  SPEAKER_00: Really, really makeable three footers, four footers, and then of course the shots that we lost on the first hole.
• 7:26
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 7:26
  SPEAKER_01: I think if I didn't have the the four and the four the eight and the bogey, there's like seven shots sitting right there.
• 7:33
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I would have shot like uh one or two.
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_01: At least five.
• 7:35
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I would have made the cut.
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_01: What the guy was saying.
• 7:38
  SPEAKER_01: And I was just like, of course, that that's my game.
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_01: It's always something that like ends up messing me up or or whatever.
• 7:45
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm just like, and that's where I'm working like to work with you.
• 7:48
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I guess learning from this experience kind of thought of like, all right, next tournament, I need to have somebody to film.
• 7:54
  SPEAKER_01: You know, so I I can't be thinking about all this.
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so that we're not concerned with those things, and then, you know, we can place all of our focus because we've got enough decisions to make for the day just with golf alone.
• 8:03
  SPEAKER_00: And when we're adding all these other factors and uh it's a new event, we haven't competed in quite some time.
• 8:08
  SPEAKER_00: It's yeah, I'm not surprised by the system overload, you know, and I think it's we did exactly what you know what was expected, I think, when we add this kind of overwhelm to the beginning of a round.
• 8:21
  SPEAKER_00: Because I mean, most golfers just starting off are already very overwhelmed.
• 8:25
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, most of us don't have cameras and we're not we're not recording ourselves.
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_00: But you know, I I think that's a really, really great takeaway to move on and and and take moving forward so that what we know what to do what to do next time.
• 8:38
  SPEAKER_00: And I think we have a good game plan moving forward.
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_00: But like I said, this is something that a lot of golfers go through, right?
• 8:43
  SPEAKER_00: We start we start our rounds, and this is this is what most golfers feel on a casual round, and then it's amp, it's amplified even more so on on a tournament day.
• 8:53
  SPEAKER_00: So if we go back to some of the things that we've talked about in previous pods, I'd like to reiterate this.
• 9:00
  SPEAKER_00: So this becomes our first tip moving forward that I like to do, that I like to prescribe when starting rounds, when starting tournaments.
• 9:08
  SPEAKER_00: This is super, super, super key.
• 9:11
  SPEAKER_00: It I like to start with intention building before the round.
• 9:17
  SPEAKER_00: For me, having an intention before I start the round is absolutely critical for me.
• 9:22
  SPEAKER_00: And those intentions will sound and look different to lots of different people.
• 9:27
  SPEAKER_00: Mine was always go out there and have fun.
• 9:31
  SPEAKER_00: It's incredibly generic, but it allowed me and it kept me in my lane.
• 9:38
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, I I can hear Lori, and I've I'm pretty sure we've talked about this before in a previous pod.
• 9:43
  SPEAKER_00: I we'd be pulling up to the golf course, pulling up to the to the parking lot, and Lori would usually turn to me and say, All right, what are your intentions for the day?
• 9:52
  SPEAKER_00: And those were basically like my safeguard, right?
• 9:55
  SPEAKER_00: My my bumpers like in bowling from preventing me from going in the gutter and or like a lane detection system on a car, right?
• 10:02
  SPEAKER_00: It's just gonna keep me in my lane.
• 10:03
  SPEAKER_00: I've made this intention to come out here and have fun.
• 10:05
  SPEAKER_00: So if I get flustered or pissed or something's happening that's the opposite of fun, I remember my intention and that keeps me in there.
• 10:14
  SPEAKER_00: The second thing that I do that pretty much nobody does is I warm up my breathing before I get to the golf course.
• 10:24
  SPEAKER_00: That's that's a good one.
• 10:25
  SPEAKER_00: If you warm up your body prior to hitting, why aren't we warming up our mind?
• 10:32
  SPEAKER_00: Because then the tendency is I'm not gonna get it going until something is wrong.
• 10:38
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 10:38
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 10:39
  SPEAKER_00: So that's why we're very big.
• 10:41
  SPEAKER_00: That's a good one, dude.
• 10:42
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's why we're very big on the breathing happening throughout the round, regardless of issues, regardless of problems.
• 10:51
  SPEAKER_00: So what does that look like?
• 10:53
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 10:53
  SPEAKER_00: What does that look like?
• 10:54
  SPEAKER_00: All right, well, let's just say my tea time is at nine in the morning and I'm getting up to be there maybe an hour prior.
• 11:02
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm up hours prior, you know, whatever time it is.
• 11:06
  SPEAKER_00: You're you're you're you're busy doing things two, two and a half hours prior to getting out of the house.
• 11:11
  SPEAKER_01: My own my tea time was noon.
• 11:12
  SPEAKER_01: So I had until 11 before I had to leave.
• 11:14
  SPEAKER_01: And I was doing like yard work.
• 11:15
  SPEAKER_01: I was doing all the stuff in the morning.
• 11:17
  SPEAKER_00: You know, do take care of life, do what you need to do.
• 11:19
  SPEAKER_00: And at some point before I leave, what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna sit down and I'm gonna have a good little meditation session, five minutes, 10 minutes.
• 11:28
  SPEAKER_00: It's just getting my brain used to doing that for the day.
• 11:32
  SPEAKER_00: It's so when I get out to the golf course, it's not the first time I'm doing it.
• 11:36
  SPEAKER_00: It's already been established.
• 11:38
  SPEAKER_00: Mind you, I've already been practicing this for weeks prior.
• 11:42
  SPEAKER_00: If your meditation practice is strong, like most golfers should have, it's a somewhat of a decent meditation if you're a golfer, right?
• 11:49
  SPEAKER_00: Because the mental game is a huge part.
• 11:51
  SPEAKER_00: And what is the mental game but focus and all of the things and all of the caveats that fall into that category, right?
• 11:59
  SPEAKER_00: So our meditation is strong.
• 12:00
  SPEAKER_00: We have a regular practice.
• 12:01
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe at worst, you know, we're we're doing something once a week for our mind or jumping into a meditation once a week.
• 12:07
  SPEAKER_00: We can talk about that another time.
• 12:08
  SPEAKER_00: But prior to going out to the round, I'm gonna sit down for five, 10 minutes and probably gonna go onto YouTube, find a guided meditation, and I'm gonna get that kind of going, right?
• 12:16
  SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna get that and wake that up.
• 12:18
  SPEAKER_00: So when I get to the golf course, it's not the first time I've done it.
• 12:21
  SPEAKER_00: And it's it's awake, it's it's there for me.
• 12:23
  SPEAKER_00: It's it's already warmed up.
• 12:25
  SPEAKER_00: And as I get there and I get to the range, I'm gonna go through a loading of the who process and I'm gonna make sure that it's warm again.
• 12:32
  SPEAKER_00: And then right prior to going out to the tea box before they call my name and I know all of that's gonna happen.
• 12:39
  SPEAKER_00: I'm engaged in a 4-4 breath or a 4-8 breath.
• 12:43
  SPEAKER_00: I'm already doing it, I'm already playing golf in my mind.
• 12:47
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not waiting to tee off and then, okay, my breathing is going to begin, right?
• 12:52
  SPEAKER_00: So, as we've mentioned in prior pods, we have our our uh pre-shot routine, which involves breathing, and then we have our post-shot routine, which involves breathing.
• 13:01
  SPEAKER_00: And if we do that right, the breathing is happening all round long, right?
• 13:07
  SPEAKER_00: Just to make sure that my nervous system doesn't go berserk, which is what we felt and what you experienced on that first whole thing.
• 13:14
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, because I didn't even think about, I know you've you we've already talked about it with me a lot about breathing, but I've noticed with me, it doesn't hit me to do it until something drastically happens to my like that.
• 13:25
  SPEAKER_01: Where going in, I finally had some time to think about like, oh, wait, what are you doing?
• 13:28
  SPEAKER_01: Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait.
• 13:29
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 13:29
  SPEAKER_01: Like what I had to like go back and like think about all right, what is my like pre-shot?
• 13:33
  SPEAKER_01: What is my thinking of before the next shot?
• 13:36
  SPEAKER_01: And it's like, oh, the breathing, I freaking forgot about the great breathing.
• 13:38
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, you know, so but I I know it's on me because I want to document the content, and I was thinking, all right, let me just get out there.
• 13:45
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I was I kept the no expectations because I knew my old me was you've been shooting 80s or or mid-70s, like all the last five months.
• 13:54
  SPEAKER_01: You know this course, you can do that, go out there.
• 13:56
  SPEAKER_01: And if I would have hit I hit that eight with that mindset, I would have like, shit, I gotta do like four more birds.
• 14:02
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I started thinking getting in the future the second hole, yeah.
• 14:05
  SPEAKER_01: That's my old way of thinking.
• 14:07
  SPEAKER_01: And then as I keep spiraling down, I keep putting more pressure on myself, thinking, I need more birdies, I need to get an eagle in this next hole because it's short part five, because I need to get back in contention.
• 14:16
  SPEAKER_01: Future thoughts, future thoughts.
• 14:17
  SPEAKER_01: I got it, I got it.
• 14:18
  SPEAKER_01: But I didn't I didn't think about that.
• 14:19
  SPEAKER_01: This this go around, obviously, because I had a lot of like the camera and tripod, but with you there reminding me of like the 4-8 breathing was huge, yeah, because you can tell, and then we couldn't tell because we couldn't record it, but like my body, I was telling them, like, I felt kind of just like it was oh, like, you know, like, all right, what are we doing here?
• 14:38
  SPEAKER_01: You know, and we talked a little bit, you know, between the shots, but that I think was massive.
• 14:44
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm like, oh, I need to repeat this, I need to practice this.
• 14:46
  SPEAKER_01: And going to what you were saying throughout my entire like career in golf, I always thought the mental game was like, you need to get um a uh what do you call them?
• 14:56
  SPEAKER_01: A psych.
• 14:57
  SPEAKER_01: A psych, yeah, and just talk about your feelings or whatever.
• 15:00
  SPEAKER_01: And that's what I thought it was.
• 15:01
  SPEAKER_01: That's what I thought it was, dude.
• 15:02
  SPEAKER_01: I did.
• 15:02
  SPEAKER_01: I was like, oh, you're you're using drama to your golf course or whatever.
• 15:05
  SPEAKER_01: That's what I was like, I'm good.
• 15:07
  SPEAKER_01: But it's all evolved around the breathing, the nervous system.
• 15:11
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you know, the nervous system that that getting getting that under control, under pressure, I think, like the pros and stuff do.
• 15:18
  SPEAKER_01: I think that's huge.
• 15:18
  SPEAKER_01: And it's and I saw that on the second half.
• 15:20
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you know, and I wish I were found a way to record it, but I think repeating that, like you said, the practice.
• 15:26
  SPEAKER_01: I already know I did it in contention and I saw a difference.
• 15:30
  SPEAKER_01: I think a lot of golfers listening that maybe have never done it before are thinking of trying it.
• 15:34
  SPEAKER_01: What am I looking for?
• 15:35
  SPEAKER_01: I'm breathing.
• 15:36
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, now what?
• 15:37
  SPEAKER_01: You know, there's no like relief, you know, like you practice, you make a birdie.
• 15:40
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, I practice that shot to get the birdie, right?
• 15:42
  SPEAKER_01: But breathing is like, all right, breath, I'm good.
• 15:44
  SPEAKER_01: I'm like, what should they be?
• 15:46
  SPEAKER_01: I guess any signs in the body or anything in their mind that they can say, oh, I've been working on the Fourier breathing because of, and then it resulted in this, you know.
• 15:54
  SPEAKER_01: Is there anything that somebody listen can kind of benefit from or like understand, like, oh, my breathing's been working because it did X, you know?
• 16:02
  SPEAKER_00: Does that make sense?
• 16:03
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I mean, well to get, you know, let me address the one of the things that I wanted to address earlier is that we forget.
• 16:10
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 16:10
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 16:11
  SPEAKER_00: We forget.
• 16:11
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 16:12
  SPEAKER_01: And that's where there's so much stuff's going on, you know.
• 16:15
  SPEAKER_00: There's a lot of stuff going on, right?
• 16:16
  SPEAKER_00: So we've already discussed, you know, in the future we're gonna take a different approach to, you know, filming the content so that you're not involved in that.
• 16:24
  SPEAKER_00: You get to just play golf.
• 16:26
  SPEAKER_00: We don't need to be concerned with that, right?
• 16:27
  SPEAKER_00: So that's already boom, we're taking care of that.
• 16:30
  SPEAKER_00: And then I think that for forgetting is a huge, huge part when the the mental game or the techniques that we prescribe still aren't well practiced.
• 16:41
  SPEAKER_00: So it's good to analyze our rounds like in chats like this and go, oh, I'm still in the I forget stage, right?
• 16:50
  SPEAKER_00: Because as we're developing this skill, again, we're very, very behavior-based, right?
• 16:57
  SPEAKER_00: So I wouldn't be much of a behaviorist or much of a coach if I didn't acknowledge that developing this skill is a habit.
• 17:06
  SPEAKER_00: And you have more time not doing it than doing it.
• 17:09
  SPEAKER_00: So in the beginning, you're gonna forget and you're gonna notice.
• 17:14
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, I forgot.
• 17:15
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, I forgot, oh, I didn't start.
• 17:16
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, the breathe- oh, you know, so to even see the full benefits of all of it, we have to get to a place where we don't forget anymore.
• 17:26
  SPEAKER_00: It's like a habit.
• 17:27
  SPEAKER_00: But you're going to feel the benefits just starting, right?
• 17:32
  SPEAKER_00: Much less getting used to doing it in tournament play.
• 17:36
  SPEAKER_00: That's a whole other thing too, right?
• 17:38
  SPEAKER_00: It's just golf.
• 17:39
  SPEAKER_00: It's it's a tournament, it's just another round of golf.
• 17:42
  SPEAKER_00: But to our minds, we can turn it into something else.
• 17:45
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, it's a it's this, it's that, it's this and that.
• 17:48
  SPEAKER_00: But if I can get you to understand, and if I can get most golfers to understand it, aside from the announcements and the lights and this and that, lights, so to speak, but it's just another round of golf.
• 18:00
  SPEAKER_00: And I think some of the best golfers in the world can treat a tournament like just any other casual round.
• 18:08
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, yes, of course, we're you can't you can't ignore, or it's it's very, very difficult or damn near impossible to be like, oh, this isn't a tournament.
• 18:17
  SPEAKER_00: No, it's a tournament.
• 18:18
  SPEAKER_00: But how do we get past those those issues that we have when it comes to tournaments or the extra nerves that we feel?
• 18:25
  SPEAKER_00: We have to play lots of tournaments.
• 18:27
  SPEAKER_00: We got to expose again and again and again until it starts feeling like no big deal.
• 18:32
  SPEAKER_00: And we also have to believe that it's not a big deal.
• 18:35
  SPEAKER_00: Because if we do, and if we have a belief system, that's where that's one where I'll be like, no, we need to update that.
• 18:40
  SPEAKER_00: I don't want us to think of tournaments as, as you mentioned earlier, oh, tournament's a different beast, a tournament's a different beast.
• 18:46
  SPEAKER_00: And my answer, my question is, well, why?
• 18:48
  SPEAKER_00: What changes?
• 18:50
  SPEAKER_00: If it's a different beast, could it be because there's more attachment to the outcome?
• 18:55
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, could it be because in your experience things fall apart more because of that attachment?
• 19:01
  SPEAKER_00: So the tournament must be a different beast, but in reality, is it really?
• 19:08
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you know, is it really?
• 19:11
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 19:11
  SPEAKER_00: So between understanding all of these and kind of changing our belief systems, because again, belief systems, what we believe around certain aspects of the game is a huge part of the mental game.
• 19:21
  SPEAKER_00: And if we've got areas in our in our belief systems that could, you know, use some questioning or let's update that, or why do I believe that, or do I need to be believing that?
• 19:30
  SPEAKER_00: And while there is some truth, while there is a tremendous amount of truth to, yeah, tournaments are different, it's coming from me.
• 19:38
  SPEAKER_00: That change or that difference is coming from me.
• 19:41
  SPEAKER_00: It's not because it's actually different.
• 19:43
  SPEAKER_00: I'm I'm playing a round of golf like any other time.
• 19:45
  SPEAKER_00: I'm the one that's deciding whether that's different.
• 19:48
  SPEAKER_00: And is that helping or benefiting my game?
• 19:50
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 19:50
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 19:51
  SPEAKER_00: So between understanding that and arriving at our tournaments and at our rounds and practicing doing it prior with our mind warmed up, with the meditation warmed up, that's where I say, try this, give it a go.
• 20:07
  SPEAKER_00: But the breathing is definitely one of those things that's incredibly important to keep you grounded, to keep the nervous system grounded.
• 20:14
  SPEAKER_00: And that's why I always say that when we're when we're doing our breathing, I want you to also focus on your hands when you're breathing, because that's when the funny stuff happens, right?
• 20:22
  SPEAKER_00: The heart of our swing is our hands connecting to that club.
• 20:25
  SPEAKER_00: And that's where like on whole one are you expensive.
• 20:27
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I I shanked the chip.
• 20:29
  SPEAKER_00: Dude.
• 20:30
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, because those hands shot, I was like, what?
• 20:32
  SPEAKER_01: What?
• 20:33
  SPEAKER_01: What why?
• 20:35
  SPEAKER_01: It was cool.
• 20:36
  SPEAKER_01: It was a simple chip, there's no rough, like I'm like, and I had so much green to work with.
• 20:40
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's a simple, just chip, let it roll out.
• 20:42
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 20:42
  SPEAKER_01: And then when I saw it, I was it was one of those like, where did that come from?
• 20:46
  SPEAKER_00: You know, when that nervous system is going crazy, one of the first things you notice is how funny the club feels in your hands, and the extra adrenaline that's running through your body, you don't even realize that you're gripping the car the club tighter.
• 21:01
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 21:02
  SPEAKER_00: You may pull it back and in in a way that you don't normally do.
• 21:04
  SPEAKER_00: You come through in a way that you don't normally do.
• 21:07
  SPEAKER_00: It doesn't feel as heavy now.
• 21:08
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like, man, it this just feels real light.
• 21:11
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's because it's like adrenaline.
• 21:13
  SPEAKER_00: So it's like sweating.
• 21:14
  SPEAKER_00: You struggle to feel your body in space when you're pissed.
• 21:19
  SPEAKER_00: You ever seen a UFC fighter when he goes in and the adrenaline is kicking?
• 21:23
  SPEAKER_00: It's round one during the first 20 seconds, and he throws a kick and his leg comes out from underneath him because he threw it so much harder than he usually throws.
• 21:32
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 21:33
  SPEAKER_00: And and wow, you know, like whoa, whoa, whoa.
• 21:35
  SPEAKER_00: Perfect example.
• 21:36
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I've seen Gaichey too throw a kick and you fall.
• 21:40
  SPEAKER_00: And I I've seen lots of fighters, and it's the same thing, dude.
• 21:43
  SPEAKER_00: You you just you do things a little bit jerkier, a little bit funnier, a little bit rougher, not as smooth.
• 21:48
  SPEAKER_00: You don't feel the club in space, you don't feel your body in space.
• 21:52
  SPEAKER_00: So if you don't feel your body in space, how are you gonna feel your club in space?
• 21:55
  SPEAKER_00: You know, so you know, the I think this is a really, really good place.
• 21:59
  SPEAKER_00: There's a lot of different things.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_00: That we can do as far as starting the round, but this is the these are the number one things that I can prescribe or that we wanted to at least discuss and send you off with to try out.
• 22:12
  SPEAKER_00: And again, we want to have that meditation practice warmed up before we go out.
• 22:17
  SPEAKER_00: And then a loading of the who, if you haven't seen that, go back to our old videos, go back to our old podcast and old episodes to check out loading of the who and see what that means.
• 22:26
  SPEAKER_00: But yeah, we don't wanna we don't want to end up in problems and then these skills initiate.
• 22:33
  SPEAKER_01: That's what I was kind of saying.
• 22:34
  SPEAKER_01: Like I noticed my habit was I wasn't practicing it 4-8 breathing before.
• 22:39
  SPEAKER_01: And and it's only when something bad happens when I'm like, oh, I need to do the 4-A breathing to get out of the bad thing when I should have been doing the 4-A breathing to not be able to do that.
• 22:46
  SPEAKER_01: It should be the beginning, yeah.
• 22:48
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 22:48
  SPEAKER_01: So that's kind of where I'm like, oh, and to those of you that are listening, if you're anything like me where it's like, why do I need to breathe early stages?
• 22:54
  SPEAKER_01: I was like, why do I need to breathe?
• 22:56
  SPEAKER_01: I focus on the breathing.
• 22:57
  SPEAKER_01: I need to focus on my game, short game, putting, whatever.
• 23:00
  SPEAKER_01: And you do, but this was a good example to see, like, oh, when I didn't focus on my breathing meditation, I had a blow-up hole.
• 23:06
  SPEAKER_01: And only after that I did the breathing.
• 23:08
  SPEAKER_01: And I didn't have any blow-up holes.
• 23:10
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, yes.
• 23:10
  SPEAKER_00: And I love that you mentioned that, right?
• 23:12
  SPEAKER_00: Because you may have a lot of folks out there, like, exactly.
• 23:14
  SPEAKER_00: Well, if I'm focusing on my breathing, how am I not focusing on golf?
• 23:17
  SPEAKER_00: And it's just like, well, we've we've discussed that and we've gone through it.
• 23:20
  SPEAKER_00: We've gone through what the pre-shot looks like, we've gone through what the post-shot looks like, and we'll have another episode where we break, we break all that down again, you know.
• 23:27
  SPEAKER_00: But please, again, I I uh I recommend go back to listen to it's important.
• 23:32
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 23:32
  SPEAKER_00: And that's gonna help you catch up.
• 23:34
  SPEAKER_00: If you're this is the first episode that you're listening to, I highly recommend please do yourself a favor.
• 23:38
  SPEAKER_00: Please do yourself a favor, go back and check out those uh those episodes in the beginning.
• 23:42
  SPEAKER_00: Episodes one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, you know, give those a listen and uh you know go.
• 23:47
  SPEAKER_01: Give them the drive-in range, play them while you're driving in traffic.
• 23:49
  SPEAKER_01: Just that's what I do a lot sometimes.
• 23:51
  SPEAKER_01: So play and just repeat.
• 23:52
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 23:52
  SPEAKER_00: But again, in a you know, just to summarize it, if this is the first time you're hearing this and you're hearing me say breathe, breathe, breathe, breathe, breathe, it's because our breath is tied to our nervous system and our nervous system is going to do it's gonna go into a fight or flight, or it's gonna stay calm depending on what our breath does.
• 24:09
  SPEAKER_00: And when we are nervous, our breath goes.
• 24:12
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 24:13
  SPEAKER_00: Or we're going.
• 24:16
  SPEAKER_00: And our brain and our nervous system picks up on the breath being different, and it goes, oh, I'm perceiving a threat.
• 24:24
  SPEAKER_00: This human being must be under threat right now.
• 24:26
  SPEAKER_00: Let's engage the fight or flight system.
• 24:29
  SPEAKER_00: Let's add adrenaline to his system.
• 24:32
  SPEAKER_00: Why?
• 24:33
  SPEAKER_00: Because it thinks we're under threat.
• 24:35
  SPEAKER_00: It doesn't know that we're playing golf, it just thinks here's a human being that's under a threat.
• 24:40
  SPEAKER_00: So I need to provide this human with extra adrenaline for evading and fighting.
• 24:46
  SPEAKER_00: And that's the last thing that we need involved, right?
• 24:49
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, when we're we're dealing with very fine moves, we're dealing with millimeters here.
• 24:54
  SPEAKER_00: The last thing that we need is to have a nervous system that's going berserk.
• 24:59
  SPEAKER_00: And when you're a golfer like Raul that's been playing for the better half of 25 years and you shank a shot, you know that's not you.
• 25:09
  SPEAKER_00: Could it be that my nervous system is completely going haywire right now and it's making me do funny things?
• 25:16
  SPEAKER_00: It we've seen the pros do it, right?
• 25:18
  SPEAKER_00: When the funny stuff starts to happen that you're like, I should not be doing this anymore.
• 25:25
  SPEAKER_00: Your nervous system has something else to say.
• 25:27
  SPEAKER_00: You know, and then of course, you know, before we conclude this episode, I want to say that the fact that we were able to take our skills at the end of the day, or you took your skills that you've learned and you reeled it in, and then we didn't have any more blow up holes.
• 25:40
  SPEAKER_00: We go on to miss some birdie puts and some stuff, more opportunities.
• 25:44
  SPEAKER_00: But for the most part, the blowup stopped on hole one round.
• 25:48
  SPEAKER_00: Well, that's a huge, huge deal.
• 25:50
  SPEAKER_00: Because for the from for a lot of golfers, that's where the spiral just begins and it just keeps going.
• 25:56
  SPEAKER_00: So you kept yourself out of it, and that's a huge deal.
• 26:00
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you know.
• 26:00
  SPEAKER_00: So for this episode where we're talking about how to get around started, I think this is a really good place to start.
• 26:08
  SPEAKER_00: Let us know in the comments what you think.
• 26:10
  SPEAKER_00: Let us know if you've used this before.
• 26:12
  SPEAKER_00: Let us know if this is foreign to you, you've never heard anything like this.
• 26:15
  SPEAKER_00: But if you got questions, yeah, if you've got questions, please, yes, let us know.
• 26:19
  SPEAKER_00: But this is a fantastic way to start your round off.
• 26:22
  SPEAKER_00: Raul, anything you want to mention before we go on to the next one.
• 26:24
  SPEAKER_01: I just appreciate you, bro, because from that round, when you when you showed up, it's just a complete 180.
• 26:29
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 26:30
  SPEAKER_01: Bro, and I'm just like, as I'm playing, I'm like, why did I just start with this?
• 26:33
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 26:33
  SPEAKER_01: Like, why did I just start with it?
• 26:34
  SPEAKER_01: And I think as we're talking about it, I'm like, I think I need to include the maybe the podcast in my play.
• 26:42
  SPEAKER_01: Because I had an hour on the on the road getting there.
• 26:44
  SPEAKER_01: So I could have just played an episode.
• 26:46
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 26:46
  SPEAKER_01: Like, like a pre like if you just have one saved, like this is my playlist before I play around.
• 26:51
  SPEAKER_01: And have you in there us talking about the breathing?
• 26:54
  SPEAKER_01: It has me exercises of to do the breathing.
• 26:57
  SPEAKER_01: So whether I'm in the car, I'm on the parking lot, I'm in the restroom, wherever, I'm constantly doing it.
• 27:02
  SPEAKER_01: So hopefully that doesn't trigger a blow-up hole, you know, and I it triggers like my actual game.
• 27:07
  SPEAKER_01: You know what I mean?
• 27:08
  SPEAKER_01: I don't have a blow-up hole.
• 27:09
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 27:10
  SPEAKER_00: Before we go, I want to do a quick 4-4 with you and the listeners and viewers so that you understand what that looks like because there's a lot of common mistakes, and I want to send you off, making sure that you have a very clear understanding of what this breathing looks like, right?
• 27:24
  SPEAKER_00: So if you're new to 4-4 breathing or if you're new to 4-8 breathing, this is what it sounds like.
• 27:30
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm going to quickly go over some of the common mistakes, right?
• 27:32
  SPEAKER_00: So on the chorus, let's say I'm carrying my bag, breathing, inhaling for four seconds and exhaling for eight isn't always possible.
• 27:43
  SPEAKER_00: I've noticed this if I'm walking that day.
• 27:45
  SPEAKER_00: The eight you're laughing, because it needs to be very, very controlled.
• 27:49
  SPEAKER_00: So if we're walking, I'm reverting to four, four or two, two, or three, three, something else, as long as my mind is focused on the breathing and it's calming my nervous system.
• 28:02
  SPEAKER_00: Because if my if my nervous system, viewers and listeners, if it detects that my breathing is calm and controlled, fight or flight stays off or it turns off.
• 28:13
  SPEAKER_00: It goes, oh, okay, breathing is now normal.
• 28:16
  SPEAKER_00: I guess the threat is gone.
• 28:18
  SPEAKER_00: They're okay.
• 28:19
  SPEAKER_00: Fight or flight, you may turn off.
• 28:21
  SPEAKER_00: And it takes about two minutes of that breathing for the brain to pick up on, okay, that threat is gone.
• 28:28
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 28:28
  SPEAKER_00: So if I'm on a T-box or if I haven't started and I'm and I've got my, you know, my lungs on me and I'm still good.
• 28:35
  SPEAKER_00: This is what a 4-8 will sound like.
• 28:38
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm gonna get up against the mic so that you can hear it.
• 28:41
  SPEAKER_00: So common mistakes?
• 28:43
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 28:44
  SPEAKER_00: No, no, no.
• 28:45
  SPEAKER_00: That's me.
• 28:46
  SPEAKER_00: No sucking air.
• 28:47
  SPEAKER_00: No sucking air, right?
• 28:48
  SPEAKER_00: So and and if you want to in the beginning, or if it feels like you have to, that just goes to show how dysregulated your breath is.
• 28:55
  SPEAKER_00: That's a good point.
• 28:56
  SPEAKER_00: That just goes to show how dysregulated your breath is.
• 28:59
  SPEAKER_00: If it's if it's a struggle for you to do this, we're hearing the burps and everything, ladies and gentlemen.
• 29:37
  SPEAKER_01: Sorry, that came out of nowhere.
• 29:38
  SPEAKER_00: But that's what the breathing should do.
• 29:43
  SPEAKER_01: It's it's a big difference.
• 29:44
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 29:44
  SPEAKER_00: You'll feel it like on the back of your neck, that your shoulders kind of just like you just feel like we're gonna be like and speaking again, right before we go, you know, to the well, if I'm focusing on this, I'm not focusing on golf.
• 29:56
  SPEAKER_00: Wrong.
• 29:56
  SPEAKER_00: For a lot of golfers, the our ideas of focusing on golf are built around anxiety.
• 30:02
  SPEAKER_00: So I gotta do this, I need to do this, I need to do this.
• 30:04
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm doing this again, I'm doing this a little bit in pre-shot, and then I'm focusing on my shot, and then in post-shot, I'm going back to my breath as I arrive to the next shot.
• 30:12
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not in the fairway going, what do I need to do?
• 30:15
  SPEAKER_00: What's gonna happen?
• 30:16
  SPEAKER_00: Uh am I about 170?
• 30:18
  SPEAKER_00: Where's my ball?
• 30:19
  SPEAKER_00: You know, all of those things are spinning stories and just another potential or another chance for you to go into fight or flight again, filled with worry and anxiety.
• 30:27
  SPEAKER_00: But I'll tell you what, if you're focused on your breath and you're doing this on arrival to your shots or prior, then the one thing you're not thinking about are things that you need to be worried about.
• 30:37
  SPEAKER_00: So this is just keeping you in your lane.
• 30:40
  SPEAKER_00: So give it a shot.
• 30:41
  SPEAKER_00: Let us know what you think, and we're gonna continue on the next episode discussing Raul's round.
• 30:47
  SPEAKER_00: We're gonna be going over, we're gonna be going over putting.
• 30:51
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, dude.
• 30:52
  SPEAKER_00: And the mental game around putting, especially in a tournament.
• 30:55
  SPEAKER_00: So catches that on the next episode.
• 30:57
  SPEAKER_00: But thank you so much for tuning in, my friends.
• 30:59
  SPEAKER_00: We'll catch you all on the next episode.
• 31:01
  SPEAKER_01: Peace.