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!

Do you or your athletes need to “get out of your own way” when competing? You might be thinking: “What does it mean to get out of your own way?”

Allow me to answer this question in one moment…

What prompted me to write this post was an interview I saw after the 2008 Cox Classic, a Nationwide Tour event.

Ryan Hietala earned the title in a playoff. In an interview, he said he did not know how to define “Get out of your own way,” but his goal was to stay in the present and not put pressure on himself:

“I was just trying to stay in the present and not get ahead of myself. I’ve never been able to define ‘Get out of your own way.’ I don’t know what that means. I don’t understand that. I guess it means not to put pressure on yourself.” ~Ryan Hietala

In one sense, Ryan is correct about the pressure athletes place on themselves to win.

I have another definition of “get out of your own way.” When an athlete is unable to get out of his own way, the mind interferes with his physical talent.

In a general sense, your mind sabotages your well-learned physical skills. The mental game misfires.

But another specific definition is also appropriate when discussing getting out of your own way…

Most of the time, athletes who can’t “get out of your own way” try way too hard, force their game, think too much, or over analyze.

I’ve conducted a massive amount of research with athletes on performing in the zone. These athletes talk about how they were able to perform without the mental handcuffs of over analysis…

Many athletes described an experience in which they felt like observers (of their own performance) allowing their performance to just happen. As if they were performing on autopilot.

Thus if you over think or over analyze your game, try to force it on every play or shot, and don’t trust your performance, you are guilty of getting in your own way.

When you get out of your own way, you allow yourself to play freely without added pressure. You allow yourself to just do it and trust in your skills.

To help my students get out of their own way, I created “The Fearless Athlete” CD Program, which is the fourth addition to my popular Confident Athlete series.

The Fearless Athlete program is ideal mental preparation especially for perfectionist athletes who want to over-control and over think their performance.

You can read more about The Fearless Athlete and my students’ reaction.

Your Mental Game Coach,

Patrick J. Cohn, Ph.D.,

p.s. “The Fearless Athlete” program is so powerful it’s like having your own mental coach for a fraction of the cost to hire a personal mental coach

Do you or your athletes need a mental game overhaul or just a tune up? Allow me to explain….

I think you will agree that the mental game is critical to an athlete’s or team’s success….In fact, many of the top athletes in the world believe that a strong mental game unlocks their physical talent.

Truth be told, most all athletes know it’s important to their success, but do not know how to learn and apply sports psychology strategies.

Until now….

Since the introduction of our popular The Confident Athlete Series in 2005, we’ve added six programs in total. We have received overwhelming feedback from many athletes and coaches on how easy and simple mental training can be.

However, some people are confused. And here’s why… athletes want to know: Which program is right for me?”

I wanted to take a minute to help you understand exactly what each program promises. Every program in The Confident Athlete Series is designed to help you improve a specific mental game skill and overcome a mental game roadblock.

Let me just quickly recap the mission of each program to clear up any confusion…

(1) The Confident Athlete - Mission

• Used by athletes who struggle with self-doubt, lack of confidence, indecision, question ability, and have fragile self-confidence.
• Benefits include how to be proactive with confidence, have astable level of confidence, and cope with self-doubt.

(2) The Focused Athlete - Mission

•  Used by athletes who are easily distracted, focus on the wrong things, dwell on the past, and have a lot of internal (self-induced) distractions.
• Benefits include the ability to refocus quickly after distractions and how to focus on what’s really important.

(3) The Composed Athlete - Mission

• Used by athletes who lack of composure, dwell on mistakes, and are easily frustrated after errors.
• Benefits include the ability to stay composed under pressure, stay calm after mistakes, perform with poise, and mentally prepare for competitive challenges.

(4) The Fearless Athlete - Mission

• Used by athletes with fear of failure, perfectionism, and lack of trust.
• Benefits include the ability to take practice game to competition, perform more freely, manage perfectionism, and improve trust in skills

(5) The Relaxed Athlete - Mission

• Just right for athletes who experience pregame jitters, performance anxiety, worry, and who lack of pregame mental preparation or warm up routine.
• Benefits include improving mental preparation, turning pregame anxiety to positive jitters, performing with poise, and develop a systematic pregame routine.

(6) The Ultimate Sports Parent - Mission

• Perfect for sports kids who lack mental toughness, sports parents who lack confidence in their ability to support kids’ confidence and communicate with sports kids.
• Benefits include helping kids kick perfectionism in sports, improve kids’ mental skills including confidence, trust, focus, goal setting, mental preparation, composure. Also helps parents improve communication, positive support, and goal setting strategies.

One thing I want to stress is that many people have opted to get the full benefit of all the programs - even without having any noticeable mental game roadblocks.

Why would they do this?

I want you to keep in mind that mental training has a bigger purpose than just solving a specific mental game obstacle. I admit that solving problems is the biggest reason athletes work with me.

Please understand…mental training also can help athletes and teams that just want to sharpen their mental game or keep it sharp!

Each program in The Confident Athlete Series achieves this purpose. Want proof? You can read and listen to what athletes are saying about my new program here:

You can also listen to real-life success stories of athletes who have applied the powerful strategies they have learned from The Confident Athletes Series.

I hope this clears up any confusion about my programs and what they accomplish for competitive athletes.

Your Mental Game Coach,

 Patrick J. Cohn, Ph.D.

 p.s After you read more about The Confident Athlete Series, you should consider becoming a member of peaksports network and receive 30 percent off every program in the series. And have access to over 500 pages of powerful mental game strategies to boot:

 http://www.peaksportsnetwork.com/

Most athletes would agree that “pressure” does not help you perform better. However, some athletes handle pressure positively than others, and use it to win.

After winning the 2008 US Open Tiger Woods said that pressure and feeling nervous is a good thing…

How you personally interpret pressure makes all the difference in the world. Some athletes love the challenge of scoring a goal with one minute left in the game or needing to sink a free throw to win.

However, other athletes tighten up, get anxious, and worry too much about losing a game when their backs are against the wall and they feel under pressure.

After Tiger Woods won the US Open in dramatic style, a reporter asked if he felt pressure to make up a shot to tie Rocco in the last two holes of the tournament:

“Well, it’s pressure, there’s no doubt. I was nervous and that’s a good thing. That means you care. You can try and use that energy as best you can to heighten your focus and then get into the right situation and it worked out great for me this week.”

~Tiger Woods

What a revelation… Pressure is a good thing. It means you care about your sport. Pressure gives you the added adrenalin to focus your best. Wow, most athletes would cower under pressure and want to run away.

Tiger Woods’ interpretation of pressure makes all the difference. He relishes the moments that he has to sink a long putt to stay in the tournament or hit a tough shot from the rough to make birdie.

Another great athlete, Michael Jordan, said something similar to Woods. He stated that he feels nervous before a big basketball game, but once the game starts his confidence and instinct take over and he is no longer nervous at tip off.

We use many terms to describe how pressure feels such as nervous, anxious, tense, and worried about results. But most athletes do not interpret pressure the way Tiger does.

He thinks of pressure as concern, excitement, a boost of adrenalin, and enhanced focus to perform your best.

If you want to learn more about how to interpret pregame pressure as helpful to your performance and perform with a calm mind, I suggest you check out “The Relaxed Athlete,” my latest CD program:

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

Your Mental Game Coach,

Patrick J. Cohn, Ph.D.,
Master Mental Game Coach

p.s. After you run over to peaksports.com to read more about “The Relaxed Athlete,” you should consider becoming a member of peaksports network and receive 30% off every program in The Confident Athlete Series:

http://www.peaksportsnetwork.com/

I love the satisfaction of helping athletes get the most out of their ability using slump-busting strategies and mental game coaching, especially athletes from across the globe who may be in a performance slump…

Cypress National shooter Mario Kapodistrias was in a performance slump with his shooting for a couple years. His under performance punished his self-confidence in trap shooting.

He was self-destructing on the shooting pad and he knew it. His self-doubt caused him to miss targets. He was in a slump mentally and his scores showed it.

In 2007, he needed to qualify in the top six to once again compete for his national team. After finishing “The Confident and The Focused Athlete” programs, he made huge improvements in his confidence and it showed in his performance quickly!

He learned that missing a target was OK as long as he did not panic and remained focused in the present! He learned to shoot each and every target like it’s the only target.

Listen to how Mario’s improved mental attitude and slump-busting strategies helped him qualify for the Cypress National Shooting Team:

http://www.peaksports.com/success_story3.php

Then I suggest you read more about how to improve your pregame mental attitude with my new program, “The Relaxed Athlete:”

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

Your Mental Preparation Coach,

Patrick J. Cohn, Ph.D., Master Mental Game Coach

p.s. Only One day left to 20 bills on my new program, “The Relaxed Athlete.” I also want you on my “wall of mental game success” stories. Go grab your copy of “The Relaxed Athlete” - one day left!

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

NCAA Division I Shortstop Tylor Prudhomm worried too much about how not to strike out at the plate. He struggled with his batting in baseball. He could not deal with getting a hit 1 in 4 attempts, a typical success rate at the plate. He was not satisfied with anything less than perfectionism. This caused him to try too hard in the batters box and lose his mental toughness at the plate…

He mindset was to avoid striking out, especially when he had one strike out already in the game. All this thinking resulted in a loss of “pop” and indecisive swing. After completing The Confident Athlete mental toughness programs, he started to improve his consistency. His confidence skyrocketed.

He focused on the things he could control during an at-bat. He let go of the things that he could not control. Even his coaches could see greater confidence in his play and asked him what he was doing because he looked like an entirely different player!

The biggest change was an improvement in his consistency from game to game. Listen to Tylor’s batting success story for yourself:

http://www.peaksports.com/success_story2.php

Then go check out my brand new mental toughness program in the series, “The Relaxed Athlete,” to help you focus on what you can control-your mental attitude:

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

Your Mental Preparation Coach,

Patrick J. Cohn, Ph.D., Master Mental Game Coach

p.s. Only 2 days left to secure you discounted copy of my new program, “The Relaxed Athlete.” I also want you on my “wall of mental game success” stories. Go grab your copy of “The Relaxed Athlete” on sale for only 2 more days!

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