Visualising how you want to play and perform both physically, like swinging with great rhythm, and mentally, like playing in a calm and confident manner, totally in The Zone, can achieve phenomenal results on the course.
Structured mental practice routines are now commonly used by top performers in every field of endeavour, from business to sports.
If you aren't doing it then you are missing a magical way to practice and achieve real results without physically having to practice.
Are you a doubter that you can practice a physical thing by merely running it in your mind and actually achieve substantial improvement in the actual physical application? Can one really imagine swinging in a certain way and imagine playing with a great mindset and then magically have this start to happen on the course? You better believe it! But don't Take My Word For It, or do, it's up to you but here is a true story that is now repeated all over the world by top athletes.
Many years ago a study was undertaken to try and verify whether performance could be measurably improved by using purely visualisation techniques.
A group of basket ball players were chosen and split into three groups.
Group One - was asked to practice their free throwing by actually shooting balls at the hoop.
In other words doing the real live practice and not bothering with any "Mental" visualisation at all.
Group Two - were made to remain at home and only visualise throwing successful free throws with no physical practice at all.
Group Three - was instructed to split their practice time in half and practice both live free throws half the time and mentally visualise the other half.
The test ran for only one week, a relatively short time in terms of practicing any technique for improvement.
At the end of the week the groups were brought together to throw hoops and see what results if any could be measured.
You may be surprised to learn that the group who showed the best improvement was group three who split their time equally between physical and mental practice.
Perhaps even more surprising is the fact that group two, who ONLY visualised came in second and the group that only relied on physical practice came in last.
Are you too busy to physically go and practice as much as you think you might need to? Do you feel that you cannot achieve your true potential because you do not have the time away from work or family to spend the hours down at the practice ground? Well guess what? If you spend just thirty minutes a day running visualisation programs of how you want to perform both physically and mentally on the course, IT WILL BEGIN TO HAPPEN - FACT.
And don't worry if you are not sure what or how to visualise.
There are some great guided visualisation programs that you can use to simply put the headphones on, sit back in your lunch hour and Improve Your On Course Play! After you have used guided programs you will soon learn how to visualise properly on your own although guided sessions are always going to be very beneficial.
As with any technique the longer you do it for the more benefit you get and the better the results on the field of play will be.
Best times to visualise are first thing in the morning when you first wake up as this sets your unconscious "Thinking" and "Working" on your desired play all day.
At night before you go to sleep is another peak time as your unconscious then works all night while you sleep restfully.
A quick boost at lunch will work wonders and the relaxation will set you up for an energy filled afternoon.
Be choosy as poorly devised programs will give you little or no benefit resulting in real disappointment but get something good and you will be amazed at what creative visualisation of performance will deliver for your game.
Your secret weapon in the quest to wipe the floor with your golfing buddies! Have fun.