Be Still: No Fear, But a Spirit of Power

Описание: 2 Timothy 1:7 encourages all of us not to be fearful but to live in a spirit of power, love, and self discipline. When we are on the golf course, we face times of fear and anxiety. It’s odd because we know we are just playing a game yet our mind acts as if it’s a life or death situation. When this happens, our body and mind loses control and it becomes next to impossible to perform the task at hand.

We have to understand that nervousness and difficult situations are a part of the game of golf and instead of dreading them, embrace them. Often times being nervous on the golf course or in a competition means you have opportunities for success. So embrace that feeling and opportunity. After all you “love” this game. The best players in the world love this feeling and it puts them at an advantage. And it allows them to play for a position “spirit” of power.

If your nervousness originates from fear and anxiety, then you need to learn some “self discipline.” Most players I know or have coaches, me included, have used the dreaded “what-if” statements on the golf course. What if I miss this putt. What if I hit this shot out of bounds, in a penalty area, or worse. What if I blade this shot over the great. See how the what if statements can be a hinderance. But it’s just a phrase so why is it so instrumental in killing our ability to succeed or to hit a specific shot? It’s because that what if statement acts as a game plan for what your brain needs to communicate to your body to perform the shot. If you say to yourself, what if I blade this chip across the green, or even think prior to the shot about blading the ball across the green then you’re painting a mental image to your brain. Then your brains function is to get the rest of the body to perform the motor skills necessary to blade the chip across the green. I had an old friend who played in the NFL tell me, “that’s just stinking thinking.” So if that math adds up for poor shots when we think about them, how about we flip the script. This is where the self discipline comes in. Practice affirmative statements before each shot. Tell yourself what you want to do. How you want to hit the shot. Be as specific as you can be because the more vivid you are with the details, the better the image your brain sees and then can get your body to perform the motor functions necessary to pull off the shot. This visualization and affirmative statements before each shot are giving you the best chance to succeed, but more importantly your mind will be so active thinking about the right things that the negative outcomes down have time nor space to creep in. You’re literally filling you mind so nothing else can penetrate it for that moment. If you have the self discipline to do this on each shot, you begin to hit the shots you prefer more often and the outcome of the score at the end of the day will be much better.