Golf Mind Skills for Tournament Play

I am an avid golfer, but I'm not actually a very competitive person by nature and so have not got a temperament naturally suited to pushing forwards in tournaments and playing golf with a primary goal of winning. I'm naturally more comfortable being part of a team or being second in line. That's just me and I am sure there are many other golfers who share this temperament. But once you have got the golf "bug" you also begin to want to win! The question then is how to reconcile this new and quite alien desire with your natural instincts.

I'm used to playing in one day competitions for individual play and enjoy those on a regular basis. I love playing in team events such as pro-ams. And so when I signed up for our three round individual stroke play club championship tournament I didn't actually do so with an expectation of winning. In fact, I only signed up because it was going to be three fun days of golf with some fabulous golf buddies. But, and this is a big but, I did want to play my best golf. I didn't want to come in last or have too bad a round amongst these great and consistent golfers.

And so I assessed my situation beforehand:-

1) I didn't know the course as well as the other golfers, but so what? I know it well enough.

2) I hadn't ever played in this type of tournament before, but again, so what? Everyone has to start somewhere, and it's still just a game of golf.

3) This course requires a slick short game and that's not my strongest point. The greens are way faster than I'm familiar with, the bunkers have different sand, the course is drier…and add to that a load of very tall trees lining almost every fairway. But again, I'm pretty adaptable to conditions, so I should be able to work it out.

4) The other golfers are better than me technically but I can pull it together most of the time. Humm. How do you get round that one? Could I pull it together for 54 holes? I decided that all I could do was to think carefully about each shot, choose my shot wisely and commit to it with clear focus.

Nobody can do more than that. You play golf with what you've got. You're not going to suddenly attain great technique overnight, and I've seen too many people "lose their swing" altogether when they embark on a so-called "swing change". I don't ever plan to go to that place of "complete no confidence". Golf is nothing if it is not a game of confidence; I don't plan to lose that bit if my game!

To my surprise I was in the lead after the first round. This I took as clear proof that my greatest strength in golf is my own mind and so I planned to continue to use it to my best advantage. Sticking to my game plan, I managed to find myself still in the lead after the second round. I was really very surprised. I was playing against three and five time winners and girls who play tournaments on a regular basis.

Kathy Craft, my golfing buddy who eventually won by just one stroke, has been a member of this club for nearly thirty years and knows every nuance of the course. She is a fabulous and extremely consistent golfer and truly deserved to win. She has worked on both her smooth technique and her mental game. Well done Kathy; this really has been your year.

I'm sure a lot of people were surprised at how I had managed to get my name anywhere on that leader board amongst that quality of golfing competition. I don't feel in any way that I lost. I very nearly won, and came in ahead of a lot of great golfers.

The moral of the story is that as the professionals say, good golf is 90% in your mind. To best utilize your mind golf hypnosis is an incredibly powerful tool. Golf hypnosis allows you to access your subconscious mind and thus your automatic thought processes. Golf hypnosis is used by amateurs and professional alike.

Golf hypnosis mp3s are a really quick and easy way of making a major impact upon your golf game, as is clearly demonstrated by my own experience in this recent tournament. Anyone can achieve this powerful golf mindset simply by listening to golf hypnosis cds or hypnosis mp3 downloads. That is all I did. I listened to my golf mind mp3s each night prior to the competition and committed to playing my best game possible.

Roseanna Leaton, avid golfer and specialist in golf hypnosis mp3s and author of the golferwithin golf mind training system.

P.S. Discover how to focus your golf mind with hypnosis. Grab a free putting mind mp3 from my website now.