Let me give everybody a formula that I think could help on the golf course
and in life. E plus R equals oh. Because oftentimes we have an
event and say it's not a great event, all its license into the woods.
We have to remember there's a plus R before the outcome, and it's
how you respond, and if your response is in a more positive leading way,
things like I've got this, I can do this, well, how
can I best move forward? How can I still achieve the goals that I
want in this situation? What do I need to do? Here's an event
that affects so many people in golf. E slow play outcome oftentimes ruins my
tempo. My game fell apart. So we're blaming something outside of ourselves which
we have no control over on our game. Well, guess what happens the
next time you play slow play outcome, lose my tempo, there goes my
game. The R is the key. Hi. This is Bob Ferris from
Meridian, Idaho, and I play at Centennial Golf Course. This is Golf
Smarter number nine hundred three. The fastest and easiest way to consistency is through
flow state golf with Debbie O'Connell This is Golf Smarter, sharing stories, tips
and insights from great golf minds to help you lower your score and raise your
golf IQ. Here's your host, Fred Green. Welcome to the Golf Smarter
Podcast, Debbie, Fred, thank you so much. I'm excited to be
here with you. I love I have a natural tendency to be attracted to
overachievers, so you and I are going to be really good friends. We
thank you. You are you are. Reading your resume and everything you've done
just makes me want to ask a lot of questions. You're quite remarkable.
Well, thank you so much. I hope I can deliver for your audience
and help everybody learn some great things that they can implement in their lives.
Well, one of the things I've been saying about Golf Smarter since the very
beginning is that I really believe that if you have an understanding of strategy or
what we call a course management, and have a strong metal game, that
you can lower your scores faster than if you just work on your swing mechanics
and in reading your ebook, which I really enjoyed. Thank you. You
even say spending time on mindset is the fastest and easiest way to improve your
game. So we're already in sync. We are. And it's so true
because when you step up to any shot, and I think everybody would agree
with confidence, you increase your chances of hitting a better shot when you have
that belief in yourself, when you can visualize the shot so clearly the way
you want it, you will step up to it and perform measurably better than
if you don't. And what's great, Fred is you can improve every part
of your game with the mindset shift. So it's not like, Okay,
let's go work on mindset for putting and then we spend hours working on that,
and now let's go spend mindset on chipping. It's not We improve mindset
and every area of your game, and ultimately, truly your life will also
improve. So tell me and please give me long answers. I have no
problem with long answers. People think they need to give soundbites. You don't
need to do that here. But let's talk about what your ebook. Let's
share what it's all about, and what the flow state is and how to
get there. It's it's a fascinating state of mind. There is a researcher,
me Hi Chick sent me. High is his name. I think he
has every letter in the alphabet in his name. Back in nineteen in the
nineteen seventies, he went on this world tour and researched people who were really
happy and excelling in life, and excelling in terms of fulfillment and joy as
opposed to just success as sometimes we look at it in terms of maybe dollars
or homes or cars, but it was encompassing and those who were also excelling
in their hobbies and their sports. What he found was they would get to
this certain state of mind where pretty much the conscious mind shutdown and the unconscious
mind would take over, and all of the training that they put in would
automatically take over and they could play to their best ability. They could live
life in the present moment, which allowed them to feel the most fulfilled.
And after years of studying this, he found there were certain things that everyone
needed to do to invite flow state. Now here's the key with flow state.
You can't try to get into it. You can't force yourself to get
into it. You have to set yourself up to invite it, because,
after all, it is flow. So we want to have flow and you've
all been in flow state. Imagine the time that you were driving your car
and you arrived home and you just thought for a moment, oh my goodness,
I don't remember driving home at all. You can't even picture what you
were doing, what you were thinking, almost like you just drove the car.
Or you realize you were thinking about something else and you arrived tom or
you went on one of those automatics and left your driveway with an intention of
going one direction and then turned to the direction that you would naturally go,
the old habit. So you've all been in flow state because we can recognize
that. So what happened in that state, Your unconscious mind, which takes
in about eleven million bits of information every second, was literally watching and observing
and doing all the great techniques that you know and strategies to drive a car
as your conscious mind was somewhere else. And that is truly flow staked.
But so many golfers, recreational golfers. I don't want to talk about elite
level golfers because it's too hard to relate to them. I'm sorry, because
they're at that space that we're trying to find, and we watch TV and
think, oh, I can get there, But for the recreational golfer,
there's no trust in what they're doing. I mean, I play that's who
I am, that's who I play with, and you just you could just
see it and especially hear it. I've played with some people the other day
and after the first hole, I was like, Oh, this is gonna
be a long day. It's like, dude, give yourself a Break's that
triple bogeye is out of your system now, Okay, just let it go.
But how does the recreational golfer believe in themselves to let that go?
Such a great question. I remember I was a head golf professional for fifteen
years at a couple of different clubs, and the member would come in and
I'd say, hey, mister or miss whomever it was, how are you
today? Well, I don't know, I haven't hit a golf shot yet.
It was oftentimes the answer. And I would always think, oh my
gosh, if you would be in a happy, positive state and get ready
to have an amazing day, you probably will go out and play better rather
than having your golf game influence how you feel and what the rest of your
day is going to be like. So it truly is mindset, and there
are conscious strategies. And when you know, most golf professionals teach the mental
game of golf. It is basically conscious strategies, which I agree and I
teach it, and it is so appolutely empowering. One is your thoughts.
I also go deeper with my coaching as well, and we'll get to that.
But it does start with your thoughts. Your thoughts influence your emotions and
then your body language. So if you know, I think many people have
heard about the power posing all right, if you just stand in a confident
way, you literally can start to shift the hormones in your body and feel
more confidently. I mean most people know about body language. The other way.
You can look at someone and see how their body reacted to their emotions.
Wells are also our emotions react to our bodies. So one is standing
more confidently thinking positive thoughts. I don't know if you remember the story about
Amy Brocker step She played the sixteenth hole at the Waste Management Golf Tournament and
Phoenix, Arizona, and during the practice round with Gary Woodland and Matt Coucher
was there as well, but Gary really Amy the sixteenth hole during the part
three the Yeah, so I imagine it wasn't completely packed during the practice round,
but there were still hundreds of people in the stands. And Amy has
down syndrome, but she is a golfer who has a nice golf swing,
plays a great game. She's been involved in LPGA programs for a long time,
so she had this opportunity. And when she started, the PGA put
a microphone on her so you hear her talking to her dad on the first
hole and he says, she got this. She said, I got this,
and you could tell she was back there picturing her shot. She hits
the t shot, it goes in the greenside bunker and Gary's you know,
saying, wow, what a great shot, because she really has an impressive
swing. And as she's walking, she's looking at everybody in their waving in
their clap and she's like, oh my gosh, they love me. You
know. She is so in the present moment. So everyone can learn from
this because imagine yourself in that situation and you have, you know, of
quite a few hundred people in this huge grandstand, you're playing with two tour
professionals. How many people would start to think and worry about what others are
going to think and don't embarrass herself. So think of that language and what
it does to then your performance compared to Amy in thinking I've got this.
So she goes and Gary says, do you want to hit out the bunker?
And she says yes, and so she proceeds to walk towards the monker,
is saying I've got this, I can do this, i can do
this, and she steps You're listening to her the whole time. You hear
her the whole time because she's miked up. It's I mean, it's a
tear jerker. So she hits it out of the monker to about ten feet.
The crowd goes crazy, Gary and the caddy they're high five and her
way to go, well, an awesome, Amy, You're awesome. This
is great, and she's like thank you. So she's just also, how
many of you out there don't accept compliments? Well, she says thank you
and she takes the compliment. Then she steps up. Gary had a little
right to left, and she says yes, and he says, you got
this, and she said I got this, and then you hear I can
do this, I've got this. I've got this. She steps up.
Now the crowd just quiets. Gary helped her read it. She's over the
pot, about a ten footer. She strokes, it breaks a little left
or right, goes in the cup. I mean, I have chills telling
you. The story goes crazy. Gary's like, oh my god, you're
amazing. You're amazing, and they're all high five and hugging Amy. Thank
you so much. This was great, all right, and it was just
so such a learning experience for everyone. The video went viral. Now Gary,
this is this is what is so neat. Gary then is playing later
that year in the US Open, never won a major. On the last
day, he kept saying, I got this, I can do this.
I've got this because he learned it from Amy, and he went and he
credited Amy with that last day that he was able to handle the nerves of
the day because of course, and everyone out there, you will get nervous
when you have an exciting opportunity that means a lot to you. You're about
to shoot your lowest score ever, you're about to win the club championship.
You start off your round and you're playing way better than you expect, and
you're on the sixth hole and you'll look and you're like, oh my gosh,
or someone says, wow, you're playing great today. If you start
to feel the nerves and you know it's okay because you're excited for the opportunity
and it means a lot. So that's what Gary was going through and he
ends up winning the US Open, and afterwards he did he credited Amy for
helping him get through that last day. And Fred, what brings this home
to me is Amy, who, as they said, has Down syndrome.
She went on to get a golf scholarship. She played first person with Down
syndrome to play in a national athletic competition, and they started a foundation called
You've Got This Foundation and she helps other people with Down syndrome and other emotional
disorders and helps them to empower them. And where I met Amy the first
time was in a program we have called the LPGA Leadership Academy. I actually
co wrote the curriculum and I was the lead instructor when Amy was in our
class in Phoenix, Arizona, and we talked about your thoughts and body language
and believing in yourself and what I taught her in the entire class that day
was you can say things like I've got this, and she took that and
ran with it and then impacted millions of people Gary Woodland personally and had helped
her to achieve all the success that she's achieved in her world. So it
starts with the mind for sure that yeah, but you know what they've got
this. This is time for a commercial break. We'll be right back,
Okay, I'm still recovering. Um. That was a phenomenal story. And
I actually, you know, I played I played tpc's Godsdale the week after
the waste management and the grand stands were still up and I'll never forget even
though they were empty, how intimidating it was to tee off at the sixteenth
ball. It was incredible, all right. But back to you know,
people not accepting it. You know, there's this acceptance that doesn't happen,
and that is so important in golf because even though you've made a good golf
swing, or maybe you didn't but got a good result, why do we
have to blame things versus just accepting Okay, that's what happens in golf.
How do you deal with it? Worry about the next shot, not what
just happened? Right, Well, Fred, That is such a great question.
And this is where my coaching takes the mental game of golf to a
whole different level called mindset, because it's all about the meaning that you put
to the shot. So when you hit a poor shot, what is the
meaning you put to it? And it goes actually back to unconscious beliefs.
Think of a perfectionist who when they were a kid, if they got a
ninety nine on a test and brought their test home and their parents said,
well, what happened on the one you got wrong and never praised them for
the ninety nine questions they answered, well and got the right answer. What
happens is we start to develop a belief that I have to be perfect to
get recognized, to be to feel worthy, to feel good enough. And
so many people out there have that belief I'm not good enough, and then
the meaning they put to a poor golf shot goes to see I'm not good
enough or if I'm not perfect, they feel worse about it. Then,
Really, the golf shot warrants and what our brain doesn't really know the difference
between a bad golf shot and when they were maybe a kid, and they
felt unworthy or not cared for. They're like, oh no, what does
this mean? I didn't do it well? I do it perfectly. Your
brain works so fast and go boom. So I have other clients who hold
the club too tightly most people do, so loosen up your grip as great
advice I can give you. If you find that you can't, you want
to start to examine what is it about control? When how do I feel
if I let go of control? And many of my clients we get to
they feel unsafe and again, your brain doesn't recognize some out of control situation
from the path asked that made someone feel unsafe, or maybe a bunch of
fear came up to feeling an effortless golf swing where it's less control and it's
fluid. So it's to get into flow state. What I do, along
with my master certified coaches, is we go into the unconscious mind and figure
out, Okay, what is the meaning you put to that poor shot or
that triple bogie, or when you're on the first team people are watching and
you're all a sunna worried about what people think rather than focusing on your target,
What is the meaning you put to when they're slow play? I'll give
you an example. One of my clients would never step away from a shot,
even though her thoughts maybe went somewhere else, and she felt like she
had to hurry up and didn't want to make people wait, so when people
were behind her. It also influenced how she played. She's a single digit
handicap player, so she explained this one situation to me, and she said,
oh my god, Debbie, I was a dog leg right and I
couldn't hit driver because I'd hit it through the fairway. So I had a
hybrid in my hand, and I rushed the shot. I even take a
practice when because we were a little behind, and I get up there and
I could top it. And she said, I walked up to the next
shot without thinking because I didn't want to make my group wait or anyone else.
And I stepped up and I hit it. It was the wrong club.
I hit it through the fairway. And she said, I don't know
why. It always seems I'm aware of it, but I can't seem to
stop myself. Well, when we started digging and asking what's the meaning you
put to having people wait? You know, I asked her a bunch of
other questions to get to this. But we got to the meaning that she
put to it was really she was valued and unworthy because and not love.
Because when she was a kid, her parents were divorced and her dad would
say to her, if you're not here, if you're not outside when I'm
come to pick you up, I'm leaving you. So she could never make
her dad wait, and her brain, our unconscious mind doesn't know the difference.
So making people wait on the golf course compared to make in your dad
wait, it seems the same unconsciously. So she said, I am always
early for everything. I never make people wait because it represents that dad leaves,
I'm abandoned. Even so we go in and figure that out, we
release it. So there's nero linguistic programming, timeline therapy. We literally can
shift the belief on that. And now she was so funny. I was
talking to her. She said, I can't believe this. I'll even step
away into and start my pre shot routine over now if I'm out of sync
or if I if I'm distracted. So it's totally shifted the way she plays.
She's not a slow player in general at all, but now she can
actually a situation where maybe she hits a poor shot, she can take the
time and think through it, make sure she has the right club, take
a practice wing, and be in her own rhythm. Now that makes her
helps her to play her best golf. So it's fascinating. When I got
deeper into this, I was even more fascinated because for years I did the
conscious reframes. Now I do the unconscious work along with the conscious. It's
both. I work both side the conscious and unconscious mind, and I'm getting
the fastest, easiest results. And it also helps to welcome flow state because
when we're in flow state, we lose our self consciousness. We're not worried
at all what people think. Our ego is not there, you know,
we're just totally immersed in the present moment. Yeah you wrote that in the
book Conscious Mind Shuts Down. Yes, yeah, yeah. It's interesting because
mulligans are not encouraged, they're not legal. But I've always said you can
step away from the shot and take a mental mulligan and it doesn't on your
scorecard, and people will hopefully be understanding of like, wait, I need
to reframe this because but it's so hard to do because now all of a
sudden, Oh wait, my foot's in a divot here. I'm thinking,
that's all you're thinking about now is your foot, and you're not focused on
what you're there to do, and that distracks you away from making a good
golf shot. And most people think, oh, hit it anyway, right
right, I've done that. I used to do that. Oh just so
yeah, of course, Or some noise distracts you from your focus, or
right you feel off balance, something comes up, or all of a sudden
you doubt the club you have and then you're like, you're over the ball
in what we call the playbox and you're like, yeah, oh wow,
that wind. I don't know if this is right. Go now, this
is the right club, Go ahead and swank so instead of stepping away it
Really that does take someone you know, unconscious mind reframes possibly and conscious mind
awareness, and just start to do it. Do it once or twice,
and you'll start to develop a better habit. I now can literally be ready
to swing and I'll start my backswing and go nope, nope, nope,
and I just keep walking with it, and I'm gad to do this over
just because all of a sudden, I really recognize it. So it's that
awareness and if all of you could recognize your own thoughts and your own emotions
and then when they're not serving you shift them. So that's what you can
do while you play. While you play, shift things. And it starts
with awareness that, oh my gosh, I'm just everything I'm thinking is negative
right now, I'm totally criticizing myself. We have this voice called the inner
critic that comes out often and golf, and that inner critic is just nailing
you to recognize that and say no, I don't deserve that, and then
shift it. And then between rounds, get get with another coach, you
know, and you're all welcome to reach out to me. And I have
a team of master certified coaches you know where we can help. Go.
Okay, what's coming up that you have a tendency to criticize yourself so much,
so do that work between on the golf course. Take charge of your
mental state, take charge of you know where your thoughts are. Here's here's
one of the greatest tips that everyone really pay attention to this because it will
help your golf game every round. Go to gratitude. You literally cannot be
stressed and thankful at the same time. So they've tested people and they put
them in the stressful situation and they're there, you know, all the electrodes
on, they've all the monitors and everything, and they say, okay,
now, think of things that you really appreciate, and they'd start going to
a gratitude, you know, think about family or people they love, or
that they can see, that they can walk. Imagine if you're out on
the course and it's like, wow, what a beautiful day I'm experienced.
Wow, how so thankful I can walk, I can see. I mean,
blind people play golf, so if you can see, you know,
people in wheelchairs play golf. So if you can walk, we can be
grateful. And if you can't, thankful for the chair or the cart that
allows you to play. You know, what can you be grateful for when
you're out on the golf course The beauty of golf, the game of golf,
that you're healthy enough to be out there golfing, and all of a
sudden, your stress, the negative emotions that that pit in your gut.
Sometimes right, we all feel that we're so frustrated and angry because Fred,
you asked, how do we get rid of that triple bogeye. Well,
as you're walking to the next whole, go to gratitude and it'll you'll I've
done it. It eases that angst that was there, and all of a
sudden, your shoulders can drop. Put a smile on your face. Number
two, put a smile on your face. Literally, you release your own
happy drug serotone and dopamine, and everything will shift physically and mentally for you,
and then you'll be able to get back to your own rhythm and tempo
and timing and get focused and play back to your ability use those things while
you're out on the golf course. So incredibly powerful, and you're in charge
of it. So when I teach this, I I remind people you are
in charge of how you feel. You are in charge, you know,
don't give in to that inner critic and the angst or the frustration, or
the anger you might feel, or the embarrassment, whatever comes up. Don't
give into it. Shift it, change your thoughts, change your body language.
Go to gratitude, put a smile on your face, and you will
notice a major shift in your body and you'll pay You'll get back to playing
great golf. It's hard to feel fill in the blank here, frustrated,
being a victim, feeling anxious, as long as you have gratitude. It's
something that well, we talked about a few weeks ago and my wife was
on the show and about her book, and let's take another time out and
we'll talk about that more. But we'll right back. The pressure of performance,
The pressure of a short put anytime, let alone on the eighteenth hole
when it means something is something we all have a sense of. M We
all understand the pressure. But you've had it in so many different sports.
You've really achieved such incredible things. What was harder that final strike bowling three
hundred, or a short put knowing that this could win, or any length
put that could win a tournament for you, You're you're amazing. But you've
achieved both, right, Yeah, And I've hit the free throw. I've
hit the free throw. And you were in the final four right in college?
Yeah, I've played in the final four. We actually had a game
when I was a freshman against Old Dominion in Rop Arena in Kentucky. I
went to Western Kentucky University, so the Red Tawel tradition and Diddal Arena.
We had a packed house over fifteen thousand people for a regular season women's basketball
game. We set the record in Kentucky for attendance for a women's game.
And I was a freshman and coming down the stretch, they it was a
very close game. They were fouling me because I was a freshman, So
I missed the first one, and then from then on every time they found
me. I made the rest of them down the stretch. And I tell
you, breathing is a key and then the focus on your target. So
yeah, that one. Those are good. But here's the difference. In
basketball. You're running around, so you don't really feel the nerves. You
know, all of a sudden you're in the situation, but your hearts pounding
because you've been running around anyway, and all that adrenaline that you get running
around and the neurochemicals that are released for exercise, they actually help you to
stay calm or calm or in that situation. Even though it's a pressure situation.
You know it and it's important, you know It's it's not as physically
noticeable. When I had eleven strikes in a row and I stepped on that
the lanes and everyone's behind me, no one else is bowling in the entire
place. No way, is this a competition or just some random It was
league. It was a league. It was league. Okay, so everybody
every every week's competition. For sure. I didn't need it for the competition.
It was just something that I desired for so long, and I kept
blowing it. And here's what, you know, how I talk about the
unconscious beliefs. I would get nerves. My heart would start pounding when I'd
get seven in a row, and if I was lucky enough to get the
eighth, it was really pounding. And I would start to focus on these
nerves and try not not to feel so nervous. Because when I was a
kid, I would watch wide world of sports. Do you re memor?
They thrill, the victory, the you know? So I would watch watching
on TV. We get Yeah, I'd watch these sports, and inevitably,
if an athlete had a pressure situation and they failed to in this situation,
the announcer would say, all the nerves got to them, the pressure really
got to them. And if they succeeded, I remember hearing, wow,
he or she has ice in their veins, you know. So I was
I had a belief that if you felt nervous, you couldn't perform just by
watching and taking that in and how the commentators would analyze the situation. I
didn't know that it's okay to feel nervous. You just had to switch your
focus instead of focusing on the nerves, let your body do what it's going
to do. It's natural to feel nervous in a situation where it's important to
you. So here I am. And now I went to a sports psychologist
because I kept failing, and all of a sudden, I was like,
maybe I get too nervous to have a three hundred game. I'll never have
one, okay, And I went no, I got to figure this out.
So and then I went to a sports psychologist. I was doing meditations.
She was a certified licensed hypnotherapist, and so I was doing meditation.
So I was worried reframing my unconscious mind beliefs as well as learning consciously what
to do in that situation. I also took bowling lessons from Nelson Burton Junior,
who was a PBA Hall of Famer. So between asking him those questions
my sports psychologist, the meditations, I was ready for this moment, didn't
me and I didn't feel nervous. I was shaking everywhere. I wasn't even
sure I could walk. I mean, my heart was pounding. I got
up, I took the breath, and I just said, me in my
spot. I'm a spot bowler. I had a spot in the lanes and
fred I threw as good a ball on that twelve ball as I did the
first one. I actually threw twelve that were so it flows state exactly the
same rhythm temp bow timing. It felt so good coming off my hand,
and I'm doing one of these, and I'm like, oh my gosh,
Oh my gosh. And I watched to go in and I just jumped up
and down because you know, all of you remember this. Sometimes the more
challenging it is to succeed in the goal, the more meaningful the goal will
be when you finally achieve it. And I cried, and I just it
was an incredible moment. But that you know, and you can all do
that. Just make sure you focus on the result, that you won't imagine
that, and then in the moment, breathe and have a very narrow focus
and stay present. Because it's different than anxiety, which is fear of the
future. I wasn't afraid if I didn't get it. It was just important
to me. So I was nervous to get it, but I was in
the present moment. And that's a huge key for all of you to succeed
in the situation now in golf, I actually a lot of times will put
a smile on my face when I'm about to put so I'm in that pressure
situation. I look down, I get it. I feel my heart pounding,
I take my breath, I have the picture of the hole in my
mind as I look at the ball. I've literally smiled because and then I
just had that little extra between the breath and the smile. My body just
got relaxed enough to perform it. And it keeps you from clenching your jaw
and adding that tension right that might be in your shoulders and your jaw and
your neck. Smiling is going to release all that, right well, absolutely,
And a great drill for everybody is take a potato chip when you're practicing.
Put it between your teeth so you like this Tata chip, and swing
and don't break that chip. So that means you're swinging effortless. Because so
many people have power less efforts, and what you want in the golf swing
is effortless power. You know that swing where you swing you're like, I
didn't feel like I did anything, and it went better than ever. It's
because you used your entire body, used and you were in perfect rhythm temper
timing. That's what golf is. It's a dance. Just get your rhythm
and tempo in timing. Let the ball get in the way of your beautiful
move. Um the pre shot routine. Well, I eat peanut butter pretzels
when I play, so I'm definitely gonna put one door in my mouth next
time I take a drive and see if I crush it and leave crumbs all
over the place. But the drive, fred crush the drive, don't crush
the peanut butter pretzel. Don't. Yes, we'll do We'll do. Um
a pre shot routine. We talk about it a lot and the importance of
it and the people. I don't know if everyone understands the value of it.
You must have an incredible pre shot routine. I would think for bowling
as well, because it'll get you into a place where you're like, I
need to be comfortable here, So preshot routine will do that. Even shooting
free throws. Now, obviously can have a pre shot routine when you're in
the flow of a basketball game and everything's reactionary. But I would think that
those three spots, golf, bowling and free throws a pre shot routine is
critically important one hundred percent, and not enough amateurs put enough time into this.
Your brain loves familiarity, and that's why sometimes we stay in places in
our world that are familiar that may not be the best, because our brain's
like, no, at least, this is familiar. It may not be
the best, but it's familiar. So when you get into a preshot routine,
it doesn't matter the situation, whether it's high pressure or not. You
start your preshot routine, your unconscious mind is like, oh, this is
familiar. Oh yeah, this is what we do. This is our routine,
and there's a calming effect to that, and it helps you get into
the present moment. You watch any sport on TV. You know, tennis
players will bounce the ball the same amount of times. Do the same move
basketball players on a free throw, Like you said, well, do the
same thing. I would bounce the ball three times, take it up and
then I'd shoot. So that was my routine. I mean, I know
I haven't played, you know, I've graduated college a while ago, but
so I had that routine. There is a colleague of mine told me a
story about Jack Nicholas and his routines. His putting routine never changed. And
he actually saw a video of Jack early in his career and late in his
career, and they started two videos at the same exact moment they hit play,
and then occasionally they would hit pause on both of them, and he
was in the exact position if he was taking a step and his right leg
was in the air three inches on the one video, it was the right
leg in the air three inches on the other. That's how precise Jack Nicholas
was. So that leads me to believe that we can all get better.
So many people say, yeah, I stand behind the ball, I take
my practice swaying, and then I set up, I look at the target
and I swing. Well, how many steps do you actually take between the
time you take your practice swing and walk into what we call the playbox.
So if you start like do it take the right, right, left,
right? Do you turn? Then do you have your feet together and step
out left right? How many wiggles do you do? You know, if
you get more precise with it, it's actually going to help you stay in
a flow state or get into a flow state. Welcome the flow state.
It will help you in pressure situations to just get into your routine and then
get focused in the present moment. It is so powerful, and I encourage
every one of you to make sure you have appreciat routine and then literally practice.
And I'm not say you have to be as good as Jack Nicholas tomorrow.
What I'm saying is start to have one and then say, okay,
then start to notice how far back you stand, how many steps does it
take me? Okay, I'm really comfortable with this event like it's a process.
It's a process. Take your time, but have one, and it
may be different. Mine is different for putting and different for chipping than it
is for my full swing because in putting and chipping I like to stand right
next to the ball and feel the pace. In my full swing, I
stand behind it and I like to swing down the line. So I don't
stand next to the ball. But you choose for you what works that I
do encourage a point in your practicing where you visualize the shot, because the
more clear you are with your outcome and the intention you have for the shot,
the more your brain can help you achieve it. So I encourage that.
I encourage a practice swing because our club's way different things. They have
different lengths, so you want to just feel and let your body know here's
the club I have in my hand. So I do encourage those two things
for sure somewhere, but develop your own And about that visualizing, here's what
I tell people with visualizing shot, Visualize it like it means the world.
Be precise on a chip shot, how high is it going to fly?
Where is it landing? How much is rolling? On your full swing shots?
See what kind of shape is it going to be? Where is it
landing? See it rolling your put see it rolling down the line as precise
as you can get. And then when you get into what we call the
playbox, now swing like you don't care where it goes. And that's the
tricky part of golf, because now you have to release the outcome, get
in the present moment, and then let your talents take over. All right,
another time out, Let's find out what's happening on golf Smarter Mulligans this
Week. This Week on Golf, Smarter Mulligans is the first of two consecutive
episodes from twenty eleven that made such an impact on me that twelve years later
I still consciously incorporated into my swing today. I've even tried to get this
guy or his son on the show for the last few years for an update,
but they've kind of disappeared from the internet, even though the book and
the app are still available. Our guest is John Novicel, who created two
ur Tempo after years of talking about the importance of the three to one swing
tempo. His theories were picked up and confirmed by researchers at Yale University.
But the more I looked at swings, good players came out to this three
to one. And how we did it was by frame counts. As you
watched video on your TV, there are thirty still frames per second of video,
so when you're off a couple of frames, it can really mess up
your swing. And our best example of that ever is Tiger Woods and the
two thousand and two opened at Bethpage that he won by a mile. He
was consistently twenty four eight on all his full swing it's just twenty four,
twenty four eight, twenty four eight, just kept doing it. And guess
what if you read our article in Sports Illustrated about Tiger that we put out
in September, and it's also the first chapter of the new book. Is
now Tiger's the most screwed up of anybody on the tour. For Tempo,
that's Golf Smarter Mulligan's episode two hundred nineteen, the first of two featuring John
Novisel of Tour Tempo, in an episode we call why you Don't Swing like
a Pro and how to Change It. Please subscribe for free to both of
our golf podcasts, Golf Smarter, published every Tuesday since two thousand and five,
and our sister podcast that revisits the best of the Golf Smarter podcasts that's
just no longer available anywhere else. It's called Golf Smarter Mulligans, being released
every Friday from wherever you're listening right now. You mentioned multiple times the playbox,
the shot the thought box. I always called it the thought box in
the shot box. But it all comes from Vision fifty four, Lynn Marriott,
Pia Neilson, who are amazing teachers and get referred to almost as much
as Manolo, but it's a different conversation. Tell me about your preshot routine
and your use of the thought box in the playbox, Oh absolutely, And
it even goes to right brain, left brain right, So our left brain
that thinking brain right, So it goes from checking out the lie looking at
the wind, so you're literally thinking and analyzing and choosing your club. Now,
something that I teach you know, when I'm working with professional athletes with
I do a lot of work in corporate America as well and executives. I
help people, you know, in preparation of their day in their round.
So I think pre shot starts pre round and with a meditation to invite your
intuition to be your loudest voice, because I think when you're making those decisions
in the conscious way, your intuition can also help you because how often do
you hit the right club with the right yardage and you just blasted over the
green, It's because your adrenaline was going. So I encourage and that's why
I was certified and hypnosis and I do meditations because I so believe in inviting
that intuition rather than the inner critic, to be your loudest voice and literally
help you in those decisions. So there you are in there, and there
are times that I will literally put my hand on the club and I was
the intuition, is this the right club? Because I'm between clubs or the
wind or it's uphill and I'm deciding and your intuition is right. Then that's
that you all know your intuition. It's that voice that that one day said
take the umbrella and you looked at side. You're thinking it's sunny skies and
the weather. I don't see a prediction of rain. And then about five
o'clock you're like, darn, I knew something told me I needed to bring
my umbrella today. Well, that was your intuition. And it does it
either it's a feeling inside or a little voice in your mind that tells you.
Sometimes it's it's that time you said I should have done I knew I
should have I knew something told me. And that that that's a voice to
listen to on the golf course. So pre round, I encourage I have
a pre pre golf meditation that I have all my clients use and it truly
does help them to get in a great mental state. Before the round,
and then the think box that's when you make all those decisions. And then
you step over what we call the decision line, you know, blend and
be a great friends of mine and colleagues and love learning from them. And
then I'm sharing with them what I'm doing on the unconscious mind and they're loving
what I'm doing as well. So it's a it's a great it's great to
have those colleagues that we can have these conversations with whom we can. So
then you step into the playbox and now it's time to play. You want
to go right brain, you want to be that creative mind and just visualize
the target and get yourself in that present moment, totally immersed in that moment,
and it's you in that golf ball and like I said, in that
thing box, visualize a shot like it means the world. And now you
step in and let yourself perform. You know, Mickey Wright, this has
one of the best had one of the best golf swings ever. She was
back in the nineteen fifties early on in the LPGA, had over eighty two
wins on the tour. Many say she's well, I think her a Anica
probably the two best players. She retired a little bit young, like Anica,
and people would ask her. The reporters would say, Mickey, it's
amazing we watch you play and the ball seems to go at your target every
time. What is your secret? She said, I don't care where it
goes. That's how I hit it where I want it. I don't care
where it goes. So it's again, instead of getting ahead of yourself and
being fearful of the outcome of that water, of the bunker or where the
ball might go. Now you're ahead of yourself, and that can cause anxiety
because you're fearing this outcome, or you're trying to force the outcome. You
picture it, so you tell your brain what you want and then you let
it go and you get back to the present moment. I had a student
one time who he hit the greatest shot he'd ever hit in his life,
and he's like, oh my gosh. The next shot it was one of
his worst. And I said to him, I said, did you try
to hit that shot again? He said, yeah, I loved it.
It was great, And these were the words I said to him. I
said, here's the key. Don't try to do what you did just do
what you did? And I said, does that make any sense? And
he was a lawyer and he was great with words, and he said,
I think what you're saying is repeat the process, don't try to repeat the
outcome. Is how many stories have you heard about someone having the lowest round
ever, their greatest or even the best front nine ever, and now they
try to repeat it, or the next time they play that course, they're
like, oh, yeah, I made birdie on this, let me make
that birdie again. So they're trying to repeat the outcome instead of just doing
what they did. Do the process. Stay in the present moment, make
your shot, and then wherever it goes, now go find it and hit
it again. So that's the key, and I think that's probably one of
the most challenging things for people to do because we want to visualize the shot.
You want to have that outcome, but then when you're about to hit
it, you've got to release that outcome, get in the present moment and
allow your skills to take over. Wow, repeat the process, don't try
to repeat the outcome. That's pretty amazing. Whoam tell me about? You
know, one of the most incredible things about your ebook seven principles of lowering
your handicap with flow state Golf is the subtitle, which is the key for
every golfer, the fastest and easiest way to play consistent golf. Consistent everybody's
trying to find. And you know, I played with the guy the other
day. I said, hey, you know, you're very consistent today.
He goes, I was terrible. I said, you shot a fifty seven.
Fifty seven. That seems consistent to me. You know, there's a
couple obviously, there's things you have to work on, but you're you're you
know, you're not all over the map, right like you're you're you're the
lawyer who were playing with who had the two different shots. We call it.
You know that's Ray Ray golf, right, you know Ray Ray Golf.
Let's Ray Ray golf. Rid the first shot you hit like Ray Floyd
and the next one you hit like Ray Charles. Oh, yes, that's
right. I love it. That is great. Let's talk about consistent consistency.
Is it a myth? Is it real? Uh? Well, here's
the thing. One you you're correct. Everyone wants to be consistent and they
want to be consistent. This is the part they don't clarify all the time
with the best shot they've ever hit, so you're but absolutely good, but
it wasn't. He's like what but if he hit if he was consistent with
two low rounds, and then he'd be like, yes, I was consistent
with my best shot. So people will say this to me, what are
your goals for or a lesson today? I want to be more consistent and
I said, well, with the best shot you've ever hit, and they're
like, oh yeah, yeah, with that shot, I want to hit
it well more often and more consistently. So that's when it comes out.
I believe it's possible. And the key though is mindset and the unconscious mind
in particular, So it's it comes down to allowing yourself to get out of
your own way. People would ask me for years, what is your philosophy
and teaching golf? I said, basically, I help people get out of
their own way. So when it's just the pure physical components and performance skills,
getting people more relaxed, letting the tension allow them to trust gravity centrifugal
force to get out of the way of what will help them play their best
physically as well get them in a really good setup and get them started to
create a great backswing, to allow the swing to happen, to allow the
techniques, and then mentally, it's getting out of your own way, because
I believe, if you can hit that one great shot, why can't you
repeat it? Why can't you what's different? Something's different in your mindset,
which maybe creates a little more attension, creates a little lack of focus.
But if we start to train that part and we get rid of the self
consciousness by getting rid of those unconscious limiting beliefs, and we get rid of
major negative emotions, because even negative emotions, it's like what they call a
gastalt in psychology, where it builds, Like if you have a lot of
anger from your life, it's not surprising that you may overreact and have more
anger in a golf shot than really that it warrants. So if you literally
release the anger and then start with a clean slate, now your anger will
just be warranted for life situations. And really, how angry should you get
at a golf shot? You just want to say to people all the time,
you know you're not that good to get that angry shots? Right?
Why? Yeah? Why? You know if you didn't train it. You
know, it take someone like Tiger Woods and and he he trained unconsciously.
His dad took him to a hip hypnosis. Hip learned hypnosis from self hypnosis
from Navy seals a buddy of his, and they would literally hypnotize Tiger and
then have him go play golf and then take him out of the hypnotic state.
So he literally learned how to be to get and flow state through hypnosis
in a in a way. And I saw a great interview a Tiger and
he said, I don't actually remember many of the greatest shots I've ever hit.
I don't remember hitting it because what he would do, he'd be in
his think box and he'd choose his club. He said, I remember picking
the club out of the bag, and then the next thing I literally can
remember consciously is watching the ball fly to the hole. So what would happen
His unconscious mind would take over. And if we could get ourselves in that
flow state more often, welcome it. Now, I say, get ourselves
fall into flow state, flow into it more often than we can do it.
And it does take that unconscious mind, those beliefs. Also knowing you
know the mental game strategies that we learned the breath, the target, and
the think box playbox, and then your post shot reaction is also a key.
How you react to the shot will influence the next shot as well,
and you want to be neutral or positive. So everybody remember that how you
react. Let me give everybody a formula FRED that I think could help on
the golf course and in life. E plus R equals O. Everybody write
that down. E plus our equals OZ because oftentimes we have an event and
say it's not a great event. It all goes, you know, slices
into the woods, or a world pandemic comes along. There's an event and
we're like, oh, and then we think that's the outcome, it's going
to be negative. We have to remember there's a plus r before the outcome,
and it's how you respond. And if your response is in a more
positive leading way, things like I've got this, I can do this well,
how can I best move forward? How can I still achieve the goals
that I want in this situation? What do I need to do? You
know, here's an event that affects so many people in golf. E slow
play outcome oftentime is ruins my tempo, my game fell apart. So we're
blaming something outside of ourselves which we have no control over on our game.
Well, guess what happens the next time you play slow play outcome lose my
tempo? There goes my game. Right, So the r is the key,
and you want to take that responsibility and empower yourself to say, okay,
slow play, What can I do to maintain my tempo? Can I
go to gratitude? Can I have more conversations with my playing partners? Can
I just ignore them? And then when it's my turn taken extra practice,
wing, take more breaths? How can I keep my rhythm, timing and
tempo going even though this event is happening that used to impact me? So
that's called being in cause that's you causing the next moment of your life by
taking the responsibility on you. Because too many people in golf blame they're poor
golf on things outside of them. Well, the ranger came along, he's
following me again. What's the meaning you put to the ranger? Oh,
he probably thinks we're playing slow, right, If that's the meaning you put,
maybe he just likes your golf swing and he wants to see you play
and he happened to be head and by you he stopped. You know,
so what are the meanings you put to things? Is one, and take
the responsibility event plus how you respond truly is how you get the outcome,
So that is really important. I don't remember your initial question. I know
I went on ATEN just so I wanted to make sure I served everybody as
best I can today and then deliver as much as I can tell people they
I gotta say the e book is quick, it's direct, it's the sinct,
it's worth reading, it's not a tough read at all, and tell
people how they can get a hold of it. Oh, absolutely, thank
you for asking. I want to give it to all of your listeners for
for full account, to just give it to everybody, because I love sharing
this. I've and I've been that struggling athlete who never felt like she was
reaching her full potential. And it was fresh, and I'd say, am
I afraid of success? Am I afraid of failure? What's going on?
And I would be frustrated that I wasn't getting there and I felt like and
I felt short of my potential. So I've dug so deep. I'm obsessed
with our brains and how they work and how they influence our daily performance and
our lives for sure. So I want to give this to everybody, and
here's the text number. You just have to text flow to this number seven
two seven three three nine zero one zero six seven two seven three three nine
zero one zero six text the word flow flow and you will get a link
to then download the free copy of the book. And I hope you really
enjoy it. I hope it serves you well. There's some stories in there.
I love to teach in stories. I love to learn in stories myself,
So there's some stories from which everyone can learn. And wishing all of
you just amazing golf, consistently playing your best. It's possible, believe it.
You can do it. Absolutely. That number and the word will be
in the show notes. So if you didn't write it down, I have
and I'll give it to you. Debbie, this has really been an inspiration.
I truly appreciate sharing this time with you. Thank you, Yay.
I'm so glad to hear it. I just I love to share I've created
a masterclassic. If you can give everybody my website to look forward keys to
being a champion on my website. I do that course about four times a
year, so watch for the next upcoming course for you. What is the
website? Tell us, Oh, it's Debbie D E B B I E.
Hyphen O'Connell O C O N N E L L dot com. So
Debbie hyphen O'Connell dot com. And then look under Golf Positive Courses, Keys
to being a Champion and uh and I'd love to serve you and help you
play your best golf. I hope you enjoyed that conversation. We've got some
pretty interesting guests coming up over this summer. Next week, John LaGG Ericson
he's been on the show before, a former PGA Tour winner and purveyor of
Advanced Ballstriking dot com, will be joining us for a long discussion on many
topics, including why he doesn't think we need to grow the game, just
sustain it. We'll get to hear all about a new book called Learning the
Golf Swing through Physics with June Shen Wang, and a conversation I'll be recording
next week with both doctor Bob Jones, the fourth grandson of Bobby Jones,
and another doctor I introduced him too recently, doctor Joseph Parent, author of
Zen Golf, not exactly sure which direction that interview will go, but if
you have any specific questions or topics you want to make sure that we cover,
please let me know before July twenty first, when we're recording that conversation.
And you may have noticed in the last month that we have really increased
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say. Just right to golf Smarter podcast at gmail dot com or visit Goolfsmarter
dot com and click on the Hey Fred button. One more quick story.
This weekend, I went out to play and it was the first time with
a new golf bag. I did a lot of research before deciding on which
one to get. Is for years, I've had a bag that was actually
it was wearing out. It needed to be replaced. And since I walk
with a pushcart and never carry my bag because of the pressure and strain it
puts on my back, I got a bag that works well on either a
driving cart or the pushcart. Now I'm still trying to decide where to position
each club because this bag has fourteen separate slots because I did it that way
because I really do not like the sound of clubs banging against one another.
One. I'm when I'm walking along the road the course, and wouldn't you
know it, around the fifteenth hole, I realized that my seven iron was
missing. Now that does not happen to me. I don't remember ever going
ah, I can't find my club. No, it does not happen.
And I asked the three groups behind me if they found it, and the
Marshal nope, no luck. So after the round, I grabbed a cart
from the pro shop started driving around the course, starting at eighteen and working
backwards. Luckily, a nice guy picked it up and was waiting for me
to arrive. Moral of the story. If you carry an extra club to
the green or to your next shot, make sure if you put it on
the ground that you do so between you and your bag, not behind you.
If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions for upcoming episodes,
I'm open to hear from you. Please click on the hay Fred button when
you visit golf smarter dot com