The 8 Traits Of Champion Golfers: How To Develop The Mental Game Of A Pro

The 8 Traits Of Champion Golfers: How To Develop The Mental Game Of A Pro

Do you swing too fast, try too hard, lose concentration, lack confidence, get angry, putt poorly under pressure, finish exhausted, or suffer for hours after a hard game? The most valuable tool a golfer can bring to the course is a strong mental game. Yet many golfers and instructors take this for granted, focusing almost entirely on grip, stance, or swing technique. The 8 Traits of Champion Golfers is a unique and persuasive approach to becoming a better golfer. Leading sports psychologist Dr. Deborah Graham and Jon Stabler identify the eight crucial personality traits that separate true champions from the rest and give you easy-to-follow steps for improving your game and making it more enjoyable. Using their unique GolfPsych® program, Graham and Stabler challenge you to explore the crucial elements of your personality and measure them against the traits of such successful golfers as Lee Janzen, Dave Stockton, Michelle McGann, and Gary McCord, all of whom have worked with Dr. Graham. With player examples and a careful explanation of why each trait is important to the game of golf, Graham discusses: Focus and Concentration - Abstract Thinking - Emotional Stability - Dominance and Competitiveness - Tough-Mindedness - Self-Assurance - Self-Sufficiency - Optimum Arousal and Managing Tension Complete with charts, self-tests, and playing tips, The 8 Traits of Champion Golfers is the only research-based, tour-proven guide to the mental game of golf, making it possible for every golfer to find their "zone" and play like a champ. Dave Stockton In 1993, my second year on the Senior PGA Tour, I won five tournaments and $1,175,944, was leading money-winner, and named Player of the Year. The main reason I had a year that for me was unbelievable is that I worked hard on the mental side of my game. Two years earlier I had begun working with Dr. Deborah Graham and with her help worked very hard to improve the mental deficiencies that were keeping me from playing my best. Lee Janzen I value sports psychology more than swing mechanics because sports psychologists teach you how to tap into your own self-improvement. After working with Dr. Deborah Graham, I started trying to forget about analyzing my swing after a bad shot, and concentrate much more on feeling my swing. Now I don't take any of those analytical [practice] swings. Dr. Deborah Graham is a Licensed Counseling Psychologist specializing in golf. She and her husband, Jon Stabler, are the founders of GolfPsych® and have worked with more than 300 pros from the PGA, Senior PGA, LPGA, and Nike Tours. They live in Tapatio Springs Golf Resort near Boerne, Texas. Chapter One: Focus "To play any golf shot correctly requires an unwavering concentration. The most perfect swing in the world needs direction, and plenty of it, and when its possessor begins to do a little mental daisy picking, something always goes wrong." Bobby Jones, Bobby Jones on Golf You might be surprised to discover that the most common mental problem we encounter when profiling professional and amateur golfers is "focus" -- or rather, an inability to focus. Yet being able to focus is the foundation of your mental game. All golfers appreciate the enormous mental discipline required to play the game well, yet so many obstacles and challenges interfere. The irony is that, while these challenges render the game frustrating and difficult, they also provide the stimulation and allure that attract so many people to the game in the first place -- not to mention keeping those already playing in constant search of excellence and improvement. Conquering golf is to the golfer what the unclimbed mountain is to the mountaineer. GOLF'S INHERENT CHALLENGES Golf is particularly hard on the mind for several reasons. 1. Golf Is Inert The ball just sits there, waiting for you to make the first move. In momentum sports, such as tennis, you react quickly to the action of a competitor or a ball, and often both. In tennis, your reactive response is to move to the ball and hit it to where your opponent is not. It's much easier to focus when you have to react than when you have time to deliberate. Golf provides no such momentum to help you narrow your focus. You are left entirely to your own devices to cope with internal and external distractions. If you start thinking about swing mechanics, your score, how other players are playing, how they're scoring, who might be watching you and what they think of your game, you won't give yourself a chance of focusing. Unfortunately, you are left to your own devices to develop the mental skills necessary to "react" to a stationary ball. 2. Golf Has Too Much "Down Time" Even when played fast, in four hours or less, golf allows much time between shots for contemplating the game. For many, this is more than enough time to mentally sabotage themselves. Consider the tennis player again, who has little time to do more than react to the next rapidly approaching