36 Secrets: How to Get into the Zone And Stay There
This is a primer on how to get to the Zone and stay there.
- Play one shot at a time or be in the present moment. Take care of the process and the outcome will take care of itself. “History is in the past, the future is a mystery; enjoy your present of this moment” — J. Parent
- Clarity of thought leads to success.
- Awareness is curative in itself. Be mindful and aware.
- Your best shots always appear in the presence of mental clarity and the absence of mental interference.
- Build unconditional confidence that is not based on having to play perfect golf. This allows you to commit to and trust every shot.
- Every shot, every round has the same value. There is no such thing as the biggest shot or round in your life. The ball does not know pressure situation. Hit every shot on the range and practice rounds like it was in a tournament. Pressure is internally generated with thoughts. Control your thoughts.
- Do not entertain the win or worthless dichotomy. Your self worth is not based on one shot, one round, or one season.
- Leading up to and during a competition, any expectation triggers judgments and fears. Replace expectations with “Let’s see what happens”. Knowing full well that whatever happens, you are prepared to scramble and handle any outcome.
- The only thing that is a guarantee is that your play will be different from how you armed up and your play yesterday.
- In warm-up, develop the ‘feel de jour’. Do not ‘chase’ yesterday’s feel. Focusing on repeating a particular feel is a distraction.
- Prior to playing a round, spend the last 5-10 minutes on the range, virtually playing the first 3 holes of the course or your home course. Execute the pre-shot routine and the post shot routine. Switch clubs. Even take out your putter and put a good motion on a ball that bumps into the stack of balls.
- Fears, anger, doubt, and worry cause your swing to be shorter and quicker. The shorter/quicker enemy makes you too steep on the way down causing a lift and flip and poor timing. On each shot, remember to complete the back turn and smooth the transition.
- Properly manage potential distractions with your mental game toolkit.
- When coping with potential verbal distractions from opponents, fans, or officials: just hear words or sounds. Do pay much attention to the sentences or intention.
- With ANY distraction, merely acknowledge to yourself that there is a potential distraction, let associated thoughts pass like a floating cloud, and then re-load with where is the exact target and how are you going to get there with a freedom of swing and take dead aim with trust. Period. Keep these process-related thoughts looping though you mind- this allows the zone to appear.
- The more deep breaths you take on the course, the better your golf will be. Taking one in your pre-shot routine is a good start to breathing your way to better scores.
- Pay just once for an error. Do not penalize yourself over the remaining holes and paying again and again.
- Eliminate the No-No’s: no fear, no doubt, no judgments, and no worries. These are thought-based. You can control your thoughts with learned techniques.
- When playing, do not allow (mental game or swing) technique thoughts to be a distraction.
- Prior to competition, daily practice mental game techniques with pure focus on all practice shots as well as in meditation and/or breath counting.
- When ‘it hits the fan’ on the course: take a ‘mental vacation’, deep breathe, loosen your jaw, do a swimmer’s warm-up shake-out of the hands and feet. Do your favorite drill without a ball and your eyes shut until you generate a feel that you can trust. Then re-load with “where is the target and how you are going to get there with a freedom of swing”.
- If you hit a bad shot or two, it is what it is (IIWII or I-Why). It could cost you 1-2 strokes. Big deal- it can be made up with 1-2 birdies later in the round. If it feels like it is bigger than one bad shot (like “here I go again”, “I always choke in these situations”, “man, this is embarrassing”, etc.), you are just adding baggage to the situation that will cost more than the 1-2 strokes.
- Pre-accept any outcome for a particular shot. It takes the pressure off. If you cannot pre-accept an outcome, then hit a shot with less risk.
- Pay only once for a bad shot. Do not carry the shot the rest of the round where you pay over and over for one bad shot.
- After you hit a loose shot, focus on what you want and not on what you don’t want to do. You have not forgot how to swing- just mental clutter got in your way. Do not focus on changing your technique on the course- attend to this after the round.
- Patience pays.
- Never say that you choked or imploded on the course. A more accurate description is that your were a bit distracted and your priority shifted from the process at hand. It is easier to fix a mere distraction problem than a nebulously vast emotional problem. Missing a shot does NOT reflect a deep rooted, unsolvable problem. It merely means that you did not properly manage a potential distraction and your priority and focus was shifted for an instant. This is all thought based- you can control your thoughts.
- You are, how you prepare.
- “If you think you can or think you cannot- you are correct.” –Henry Ford.
30 “WIN- What is Important Now” – Lou Holtz. Or be in the moment.
- Fire the inner critic.
- When all else fails, perform like an actor in a movie and always hold your follow-through.
- “Nothing special, nothing extra”—Dr. Joe Parent.
- “You produce what you fear”—Dr. Joe Parent.
- “Give up control, to gain control” – Dr. Joe Parent.
- “Do not ‘should’ all over yourself”—Dr. Joe Parent.