Every year peaksports members can join six live mental game classes. This fall, you can get live mental game coaching with myself as I cover three popular sports psychology topics…

Here is the kicker… It’s all done over the phone via Teleconference–called a Teleclass! Just phone in…

What is a Teleclass? Each class is about 50 minutes in length. I coach you and other like-minded athletes and coaches on a specific topics in sports psychology.

Participants just dial into a conference line (at a specified time) to be connected to the live class… from anywhere in the world!

Here is the schedule for the Fall 2008 Teleclass Series:

Class #1: November 11, 2008 (7:00 PM EST)

Fear of Injury: How to Overcome Your Fears & Perform Your Best

Class #2: November 18, 2008 (7:00 PM EST)

How to Motivate Young Athletes: Instill Positive Motivation without Pressure

Class #3: November 20, 2008 (7:00 PM EST)

Keep Your Head in the Game: How to Cope Better with Mistakes

In addition, we recorded all the past mental game teleclasses (30 and growing). We make these available for Peaksports Members too.

Become a member today and access six live Teleclasses per year and over 30 recorded Teleclasses. But that’s not all!

You’ll get exclusive access to hours and hours of audio and video programs that will take months to absorb:

• 550 pages of mental training strategies
• 8 Mental Training E-books
• 44 interviews with top athletes and coaches
• AMAQ online mental game assessment
• Sports psychology videos and podcasts
• And a ton of other perks!

Read more about the Fall 2008 Teleclass Programs:

http://www.peaksports.com/mental_toughness_classes.php

Become a peaksports member today and access of 30 recorded classes:

Online Mental Toughness and Sports Psychology Training

If you are already an exclusive peaksports network member, please visit the following page and login to access conference line for the Fall Teleclasses starting November 11:

http://www.peaksportsnetwork.com/members/department45.cfm

Your Mental Game Coach,

Dr. Patrick J. Cohn

p.s. Are you a Peaksports member? In addition to accessing 6 live and 30 recorded Teleclasses, you receive 30 percent off retail on the popular Confident Athlete CD programs. Become a member today and join us live in November for three one-hour Teleclasses:

http://www.peaksportsnetwork.com/public/10.cfm

OK, I just received an email from a frustrated player that I think applies to every athlete…

Playing sports is supposed to be fun, right. Some people think sports is an escape from the doldrums of life. We can immerse ourselves for a few precious moments or hours in an enjoyable diversion, right?

Sports can be a blast, especially when you win a tight match.

But there is just one small catch… What if your sport is causing more emotional pain than fun?

Here’s the email that I received from a golfer that applies to so many athletes I work with:

“I get extremely frustrated and angry when I hit a bad shot and it stresses me out. How can I release my anger and stress so I can enjoy my sport again?”

Heck, you work hard at your sport. Practice and prepare for hours. You even feel confident at the start of competition about performing well…

And wham! One costly mistake. You’re frozen in turmoil by your own negative emotions. You’re so upset you can’t see straight. You beat yourself up endlessly for the mistake. Your unrelenting anger causes you to blow the next play, shot, or pitch.

By this time, you start to hate the sport that is supposed to be fun.

But wait a minute… This athlete sounds as if he is a victim of his own anger and frustration… As if he has no control.

Now instead of being a victim, shouldn’t he win back control over his mental state, squashing the anger and bringing back the fun of playing a game?

Yes, but old habits are hard to break for many of my students.

And that’s the big battle within - can you break old habits of thinking and replace them with positive habits?

Let me tell you, there’s no better feeling you can have than being in control of your mental game and not being a puppet to your own frustration. That’s why I develop The Confident Athlete CD programs…

I produced the third program, “The Composed Athlete,” for the exact purpose of freeing you from the shackles of frustration and anger.

The Confident Athlete programs are so powerful it’s like having your own mental game coach (without the big cost). I have many testimonials from athletes and coaches who have used my new CD programs successfully.

Ready to get started? Do yourself (and your family) a favor and start enjoying your game again:

Boost Composure with The Composed Athlete

Your Confidence Coach,

Dr. Patrick Cohn

Fact is, I know two kinds of athletes: Those who feel victim to their own frustration and those who take action to get their heads in the game. The Composed Athlete teaches you step-by-step how to take action:

Boost Composure with The Composed Athlete  

US Ryder Cup team captain Paul Azinger poured his heart and soul into planning the 2008 Ryder Cup team. But the plan was not about redemption from past loses…

His plan was to develop teamwork, have a blast, and get the fans and players’ families involved…

“This is a group effort that required some team building and for these guys to bind to a concept,” said Azinger.

He took a team philosophy that required everyone’s involvement:

“My philosophy was to have this be a great experience for the players and their families; parents, cousins and uncles, whoever the heck, children and wives, and for my assistants; for it to be a great experience for them. That was my goal.”

What did Azinger do that created a team atmosphere? He divided the team into small groups of four players each.

“I’ve had this idea for about five years, if I was ever the captain, how I would try to approach the team. You know, we just decided to come together in small groups, that was it,” said Azinger.

He picked four players that would gel and have the most fun playing together:

“We put four guys together in practice rounds and they played together every day, and they were the four guys that stayed together the whole week and they were never going to come out of their little group. That’s the way I did it,” said Azinger.

Azinger’s approach was not to be a baby-sitter. His goal was to get every player to buy into his team concept.

“They embraced a concept, they embraced the pressure and they embraced this crowd, and they did it, not me. They did it,” said Azinger.

Azinger’s philosophy worked well, especially for Kenny Perry who had the experience of his life:

“I birdied four holes right out of the gate, 2, 3, 4 and 5, and I had the putting touch of Tiger Woods or Jack Nicklaus. I was in a zone. I had such a calm and coolness about me, and the fans here are just unbelievable,” said Perry after the US Ryder Cup win.

Team captain Azinger got a little help from a special guest: Lou Holtz. Holtz came with a special message to help the team focus under adversity:

“Holtz came in with a great message. One of the messages was ‘what’s important now.’ We stuck to that message… If they got in trouble, I brought it up; remember Lou Holtz talked about what’s important now, and let’s forget what’s behind us,” said Azinger.

Focus on what’s important now, teamwork, positive emotion, fun, and embrace the pressure. Sounds like a wining formula to me.

Your Golf Confidence Coach,

Dr. Patrick Cohn

p.s. A premium option I have for a winning mental game formula is my Confident Athlete series CD programs. Just as powerful as having your own personal mental coach, my new programs improve confidence, focus, composure, and trust in your skills:

 Boost Confidence with The Confident Athlete Series 

Let’s face it: Golf is a huge mental game… When playing with a lot of confidence, golf is easy, fun, and feels effortless for most players.

When playing with no confidence because of mistakes or poor play, a strong mental game is needed most.

Your biggest challenge is to stay positive (and keep confidence) when not playing up to your expectations. Your own mental gremlins want to punish you for not performing well…

 ”I should never make bogey on that easy hole.”

 ”I need to find another sport to play after missing yet another three-footer.”

 ”I’ll probably dump this ball in the water because I’m hitting the ball so poorly today.”

PGA Tour player Tim Simpson was asked: “What’s the hardest thing to do in sports?”

He said to play relaxed and keep the mind quiet is the hardest thing to do in sports:

 ”To play totally relaxed. I’ve talked to Michael Jordan, Larry Bird and Mike Schmidt about it. Any athlete performs at his best when the mind is the quietest. That’s all sports psychology is — trying to quiet the mind to let your body play instinctively.”

~Tim Simpson

I agree with Tim - at least for some players. A quiet mind is essential for peak performance especially for golfers who over analyze and over control their performance.

However, I can think of many layers of a quiet mind…

One layer of a quiet mind is coping with poor shots or poor play. I recently published a CD program called *The Relaxed Athlete* to help players perform with a calm mind.

I think the hardest thing to do in golf is remain confident, composed, and not let your inner gremlins win when you under perform.

Fragile confidence can block any talented golfer from realizing his talent. If you have fragile confidence, you ride the confidence roller-coaster.

With fragile confidence, confidence decreases after one bad shot! When confidence wanes after poor shots, you can’t play with a quiet mind….

 Doubt can overtake your thoughts. When working with my students, I make sure we address how to overcome doubt. This is a must if you want to ride a steady wave of confidence.

You might be unaware when doubt strikes. Your doubt may be just a tough habit to break. Or your doubt might even be a form of self-punishment after mistakes.

In any case, you must cap doubt quickly before it erodes confidence. Your first step is to recognize when your negative thoughts are over active.

To learn all my confidence-boosting strategies I teach my personal coaching students, I highly suggest you join my new confidence coaching program: Golfer’s Mental Edge course.

During my new course, I assess your mental game, give you a prescription to improve, coach you for eight weeks, and give you 365 days of continuing education.

Get all the details here:

Golfer’s Mental Edge Program 

 Your Golf Confidence Coach,

 Dr. Patrick Cohn

 p.s. The Golfer’s Mental Edge Program  coaching program starts this week. The last day to enroll is Tuesday, September 16 because we begin on Thursday this week. This is the most comprehensive golf psychology course I have ever given:

Golfer’s Mental Edge Program

What are the top signs your mental game is getting in the way of shooting low golf scores?

Today I want to share with you the top 8 signs your mental game is backfiring and not allowing you to play to your potential…

See if you identify with any of these 8 signs:

(1) You perform much better on the range than on the golf course in tournaments. Your swing is tighter and feels jerkier on the course compared to the practice range. This is the number one
reason golfers contact me!

(2) Your preround jitters do not go away after the first hole. You continue to feel anxious, tight, or have a knot in your stomach well into the start of the round.

(3) You worry too much about making mistakes and where not it hit the ball. Fear of failure causes you to try and avoid making bogeys or hitting bad shots. Standing over your shot, all you can see or think about is the trouble.

(4) One bad shot or score on a hole and your confidence crumbles. Your high expectations get in the way because you get frustrated quickly or lose confidence after bad shots.

(5) Your swing feels controlled because you focus too much on technique or how to make a perfect swing. You over-control your swing because you want to win or beat others so badly.

(6) You get easily frustrated when not playing up to your expectations or start to protect your score when playing well. Your comfort zone causes your mind misfire when playing better than or worse than expected.

(7) You have trouble concentrating in the moment because your mind is too occupied with results. You fail to focus on one shot at a time because you are over concerned with your score.

(8) You worry too much about what others think about your game and can’t focus fully on execution. Your self-esteem (how you feel about yourself) waivers when you think you are not getting approval from others.

_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/
Golf Confidence Coach Course Update:

Only five days remain to register for the
Golfer’s Mental Edge 8-Week coaching program.

Last day to enroll:
September 16, 2008 at 6:00 Eastern Time

Golfer’s Mental Edge Coaching Program
_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/

Do you identify with any of the above signs your mental game is misfiring? If so, you have two options:

(1) Do nothing and hope your mental game boo boos magically disappear, or (2) Take action to improve your mental game.

As a mental game coach, I hope you choose option 2 and take action…

My new live golf confidence coaching course, “Golfer’s Mental Edge Program,” helps you overcome all these challenges and many more.

I have never done anything like this in my 20 years as a mental game coaching professional…

The Golfer’s Mental Edge program is the most complete coaching program I’ll teach at this point in my career. It includes:

• Eight 50-minute live mental coaching sessions with myself
• An 8-part workbook complete with weekly exercises
• Access to MP3 audio recordings of each live session
• My Golfer’s Mental Aptitude Profile assessment
• One year access to PeaksportsNetwork membership
• Other bonuses to reinforce good thinking on the course

My new course is a complete brain dump of everything I know about how to improve your scores using powerful mental game strategies.

And to boot, you get 365 days of continuing education via my online mental training program!

I only have a few spots available in the course. Take action with your mental game today.

Golfer’s Mental Edge Coaching Program

Your Golf Confidence Coach,

Dr. Patrick Cohn

p.s. Don’t let your mental game ruin your enjoyment of playing up to your potential anymore. Get the details of how you can stop being bullied by lack of a strong mental game:

Golfer’s Mental Edge Coaching Program

What do golfers overlook in their preshot routines?

I think they overlook the mental strategies that are critical to a good preshot routine. Every golfer uses a physical routine to help them set up to a shot - golfers must do this to aim and set up to a target.

 However, many golfers go through the physical motions without mental focus…

 They skip the most important part of the preshot routine: pre-swing decision-making.

 I’m not just talking about club selection. I’m referring to target selection, shot selection, and programming your body to hit a good shot with powerful images.

 I call this phase of the routine the “planning and programming” part of the routine. The planning sets up the entire shot especially your confidence and trust in your ability to hit the shot.

 If you pick a difficult target, are unsure of your plan, or second-guess club selection, you will make an indecisive swing in the best case. You can’t stand over the ball with confidence and trust when your are wavering with your plan.

I encourage golfers to pretend they are on-deck (like a baseball player) behind the ball. You should do all the planning while in the on-deck circle. Once you leave the circle, you commit to the plan and don’t second-guess your approach.

Your mind is then in position to carry out the procedure (over the ball) and execute the shot because you are sending clear signals - not mixed messages - to your body. Your confidence and trust can then flourish.

Do you want to find out about other mistakes you or your players might be making with their preshot routines?

I just published a complementary report to help you improve your preshot routine. It’s called *Six ‘Costly’ Mental Game Mistakes Golfers Make During Their Preshot Routines.*

I suggest you get a copy before I pull it down and put it in the member area. While you are there, you can watch my new Golf Confidence video series.

 Here’s the link:

Watch Golf Confidence Videos Now!

 Your Mental Game Coach,

 Dr. Patrick Cohn

 p.s. In addition to being an expert on preshot routines, I wrote the book on how to go low when you are playing well - literally - it’s called “Going Low.” Download my free report and I’ll email when my next Golf Confidence video on going low is posted:

Watch Golf Confidence Videos Now!