As unique people we have a unique learnstyl.

Considering our five senses : seeing (visual), hearing (audio), touch (feeling), smell and taste we need to consider the first three as the most important during our golf learning and playing sessions.

However every person has a different degree of development when it comes to these senses and therefore it will help your instructor to know which senses you prefer to use while learning. According to that knowledge it will be very easy to draw from the vast learning materials of the Dr. Golf Academy and consider your personal learnstyl. Once we know how you prefer to receive and process information and what your action afterwards should be, fast learning with lots of fun is guaranteed.

During your motivation session you will have established your short, middle and long term goals, and committed to an allotted time for practicing and playing golf. Well done !

You have even checked with your instructor whether your goals can be achieved within the given time frame and your available time. This analysis is essential because exaggerated goals with insufficient practice time would lead to frustration or in the worst cases, giving up the game, by not achieving set goals. So set realistic and achievable goals!

Reward yourself for sticking to your practice sessions or after achieving a set goal.

Timetable your practice sessions

I assume that you are a very busy person and therefore it is absolutely essential that you timetable your practice sessions otherwise you will do only half of what is possible.

Considering that the day has 24 hours it is quite amazing how much time is available with good planning:

Ÿ  8 hours sleep

Ÿ  2 hours for meals

Ÿ  10 hours for work (and you will be a champion at work)

Ÿ  4 hours for leisure and family

Which shots need most attention?

Knowing that 60 % of all shots are made from 60 meters to the hole we should spend at least 60 % of all our practice time within this critical distance. Let’s consider the following percentages or as an example of 60 minutes practice time, for practicing the basic shots:

FEEDBACK Marbella golf mental coach

To have constant information on how you are doing time wise, to achieve your goals, you should use a FEEDBACK SYSTEM which will let us check whether your planning and practice sessions are reflecting the results you should expect. You should therefore fill in the following FEEDBACK CHARTS:

• Weekly Golf Planning Schedule

- planning of all practice sessions, golf games, competitions, golf tuition

• Weekly Golf Emotional Feedback

- after practice sessions, after each game, after golf fitness sessions

• Monthly Golf Practice Time

- amount of golf balls hit per training session :

- wood shots               7 to 1

- long irons                  4 to 1

- middle irons              5 to 7

- short irons                 8 to PW shorter than 60 m.

- short game                chipping, pitching, bunker shots

- putting                      putter

- all played holes during one day

- name of golf course you have played on      (golf course)

- condition of the course            (condi) fantastic   =     F   
                                                                    good        =    G
                                                        satisfactory  =    S

- par of course                         (par)

- kind of game                         (kind)  X      practice round
                                                      XX     club competition
                                                     XXX     inter club competition
                                                    XXXX    competition
                                                   XXXXX   national competition

- result of game                        (res)

• Monthly Golf Fitness Tests

- the scheduled fitness test will be completed once a month
to messure the degree of improvement

- times of Muscle Tension                                                   (MT)

- times on Lack of Concentration                                      (LC)

- times of Negative Thinking                                              (NT)

- times of Lack of Emotional control                                 (LE)

- total shots to the Right                                                     (R)

- total shots to the Left                                                        (L)

- total shots from 60 meters Short of hole                            (S)

- total shots from 60 meters Over the hole                           (O)

- hole at which I felt Stiff                                                        (ST)

- hole at which I felt Physical Fatigue                                 (PF)

- hole at which I felt Lack of Strength                                 (LS)

We have prepared all relevant schedules which you should remove from this Manual and create your own A 5 folder by doing the following:

• photocopy all pages
• keep the original as your master copy
• cut the pages where indicated
• insert them into your A 5 folder
• use it on a daily basis

All provided detailed information will help your instructor to analyze whether you are on the right track. Successful people keep records of all important business, which should apply to golf as well, especially if you have set challenging goals.

GAME ANALYSIS Marbella golf mental coach

A special card (GAME FEEDBACK CARD) will help you to receive feedback on the weakest part of each game. You need to monitor your mental state, your shot results and your physical feelings while playing.

Mental Feedback Marbella golf mental coach

Half of each block is used to record the mental condition before or during each shot. Make a record only if a weakness occurred:

Muscle Tension                              = MT

Lack of Concentration                  = LC

Negative Thinking                          = NT

Lack of Emotional Control            = LE

Remedy : after summarizing the total of each mental component (MT, LC, NT, LE) the component with the highest number is your problem area.

Shot Execution Feedback Marbella golf mental coach

After summarizing all shots to the:

right = R                           or        left = L

short of target = S         or       over target = O

you will receive feedback on your shot tendency.

Should you need to repeat shots with the same club on the same hole, you need to use the same block allocated for that particular hole.

Hitting long or short shots to your target could be a swing problem (fat or thin shots) but should you hit clean shots, you need to hit 10 shots on an even piece of ground with each club to identify the longest carry of each club in your bag. Then measure the distances on the golf course and you will then be able to select the correct club for each distance.

Fitness Feedback Marbella golf fitness coach

You might experience some fitness problems during a game. Monitor where the following occurs:

Stiffness                       = ST

Physical Fatigue        = PF

Lack of Strength         = LS

MONTHLY SUMMARY OF GAME FEEDBACK CARD

- Times of Muscle Tension                                          (MT)

- Times of Lack of Concentration                                (LC)

- Times of Negative Thinking                                       (NT)

- Times of Lack of Emotional control                           (LE)

- total shots to the Right                                             (R)

- total shots to the Left                                                (L)

- total shots from 60 meters Short of hole                   (S)

- total shots from 60 meters Over the hole                  (O)

- Hole at which I felt Stiff                                            (ST)

- Hole at which I felt Physical Fatigue                        (PF)

- Hole at which I felt Lack of Strength                        (LS)

MONTHLY SUMMARY OF GAME FEEDBACK CARD               

Month: ..........

Transfer from each GAME FEEDBACK CARD!

CONFIDENCE Marbella golf mental coach

Most people are confident until something goes wrong. To achieve a successful golf shot you need to have a realistic assessment that you can do it and that you have done it before. When it really counts, it is best to play shots you can rely on. Remember a similar situation of play, combine it with "positive self talk" and then behave in the same manner in which you achieved the successful shot before.

Your own affirmation:

...............................................................................................................................................

...............................................................................................................................................

Head up, chin up, eyes forward, shoulders back, arms swinging, put a bounce in
your step or become loose by walking like a puppet on a string or simply walk on
clouds in your mind.

"Whenever you see something negative, something positive is not very far away."

Please, sign the following personal commitment:

Signature : ................................................   Date : .............................

EMOTIONS Marbella golf mental coach

Successful players are highly motivated, concentrate well (by sticking to their routines), show confidence via their body-language and have balanced emotions.

Good players play : “cool happy” and “cool mad”!”

Close your eyes and think of a situation on the golf course or at your work, where you have handled your anger (too high emotions) very successfully. Write down this situation and how you handled it.

Situation of too high emotions: .........................................................................

......................................................................................................................

How did you handle too high emotions successfully ?

I ......................................................................................................................

.......................................................................................................................

Close your eyes again and think of a situation on the golf course or at your work, where you did not feel able to continue the task (too low emotions) but succeeded in the end. Write down this situation and let us know your success recipe for this particular situation.

Situation of too low emotions: ............................................................ .............

.......................................................................................................................

How did you handle too low emotions successfully?

I ....................................................................................................................

......................................................................................................................

COURSE MANAGEMENT (Practical Tips) Marbella golf mental coach

During my warm-up session I will find out my playing ability for today and choose my shot selection accordingly (uncomfortable feeling = more defensive shot selection).
 

• I will only risk a difficult shot if I can save one shot with it.

• I will play the holes I like more aggressively and the ones I respect more defensively.

• I will curve the ball away from trouble or stay short of it.

• I will accept that each day I will feel different, can execute shots differently and therefore have to adapt my thinking pattern.
  
  

• I will place shots on areas of the course from which my strength will come into play.
  
    I will donate one dollar to my favorite charity for every putt I play short.

WINNING Marbella golf mental coach

Everybody wants to become a winner that is why there is so much competition. We have seen and experienced that most victories happen as a big surprise. If you want to win too badly you have preset high expectations which could lead to extra pressure and in worse cases to anxiety. Different levels of anxiety will lead to either getting nervous or to total black outs so that the fine coordination necessary for a good golf swing is severely disturbed and bad to terrible shots are executed. To avoid that sort of frustration on the golf course I will give you some hints to get mentally prepared before, during and after the competition.

with your instructor, develop a detailed program to get ready in time for the competition.

practice your relaxation routines on a daily basis which will help you to calm down when the heat is on.

if you need to compete on an unknown golf course, make sure that you play some practice rounds during which you can measure distances to the green and get an overall impression of the course. Some professionals practice shots they particularly need for that golf course many days in advance.

play on the golf course rather than practicing on the driving range before an important competition. You will be more in the playing mood which will help you to    manufacture shots out of your vast shot making reservoir.

during the warm - up session you should not work on your swing, instead hit theballs purely according to your feeling.

try to find a good caddie, who is not only helpful but also talks to you in a verypositive manner.

should you not like the golf course try to find out all the positive aspects about it, write them down and repeat these many times until you start enjoying being there and playing on it. You will have a great advantage over your fellow competitors if you radiate a positive feeling for your task; which is to play the best you can, even under difficult circumstances.

after you have experienced the course, play it in your mind’s eye (with closed
eyes) hole by hole with intelligent club selection where you play only perfect shots. The more you repeat this exercise the more confident you will be on the course during the competition.

plan at least one hour digestion time after your last meal before you start warming up.

plan to arrive on the golf course 90 minutes ahead of your tee off time. You want to do everything in a relaxed manner. Don’t do anything in a hurry on your competition day because being relaxed and not rushed during your game will be one key to success.

stick to your pre - shot routine even during your warm - up session.

should you get nervous before your first tee shot, exercise some deep breathing which will calm you down and then stick to your pre - shot routine for the first shot.

 stick to your pre - shot routine for each shot, no matter what your shot results are like.

play only shots you have done before with a high percentage of success.

go only for risky shots if you can save one by taking the extra risk.

play within your own ability.

don’t try to copy fellow competitors, especially if they are much more experienced and have a better shot repertoire.

stay cool, calm and composed even if your shots are not as expected.

do positive selftalk and use the affirmation from your Feedback Card.

enjoy being on the golf course and playing the game.

by laughing about a really bad shot, you will relax and have a better chance to execute the next one with a more relaxed movement.

if you feel you have a chance of winning the competition and only a few holes are left to play, it is most important to stick to your pre - shot routine.

never think of winning before you have finished the last hole. You might forget to stick to the task at hand which means sticking to your pre - shot routine.

always play shot after shot without worrying about past and future ones. Golf should be played in the present tense.

on hot days you need to drink lots of mineral water, but if you need an extra energy boost towards the end of the round you might go for a coke.

try to avoid eating while playing, your blood needs to be in your brain and muscles and not in your intestines.

if you get really hungry, eat a banana or an energy bar. It should be something light with fast delivery of energy.

should you experience a bad start don’t give in because it really doesn’t matter where the bad shots happen. Just keep going!

if you can say to yourself, after the game, that you went for each shot to the best of your ability and with full concentration, you have already won the biggest battle, which is the battle against oneself.

the more often you can state that you haven’t wasted one shot with the wrong mental attitude, the closer you will get to become a real champion.

analyze the weakness of your game with the help of the Game Feedback Card.

  have a good meal to refill your energy reservoirs.

discuss with your instructor your weakness in the competition and sort out problem areas with his help

should you have severe swing problems you might need a video analysis.

treat yourself to something you enjoy doing besides golf, especially after a good performance.

discuss new training schedules with your instructor.

accept that becoming a winner sometimes takes a long time which means

enjoying the path towards it is absolutely vital.