In the pursuit of performance success on the golf course, I am frequently asked by my golf performance clients, "What's more important? My ability as a golfer ... Or, is it my attitude?"

Well, the answer to this question is very simple and can be confirmed over and over from many examples in the annals of golf history, as well as, in every other sport.  I will answer the question in this simple and direct way, "Attitude is Everything!" When it's all said and done, the golfer with the better attitude will always out-perform the golfer with a poor attitude - even if the poor attitude golfer has a relatively better natural ability to play the game.

Why is this true? 

Psychologists tell us that a major source of stress in our life is the "fear of rejection" or "fear of criticism". This fear of rejection manifests itself in an over-concern for the approval or disapproval from our parents, from our golf coach, from our teammates and/or peers. The fear of rejection is often learned in early childhood as the result of our parents, teachers or other authority figures in our lives giving us "conditional love." 

Rise Above the Need For Approval
Many parents make the mistake of giving love and approval to their child only when the child does something that they want them to do. Children who grow up with this kind of 'conditional' love, in turn, tend to seek unconditional approval from others all of their lives, and in everything that they do. When children with this 'learned' experience from their environment become adults, this need for approval from their parent is transferred to every other relationship and experience they have - including their interactions with their golf coaches and the mentors that make up their total golf performance team; golf-specific mental coach and fitness training specialist. The adult golfer can then become preoccupied with the opinion of their coaches. This preoccupation can lead to an obsession to perform to some undetermined high standard.

Avoid Type A Behavior
Doctors Rosenman and Friedman, two San Francisco heart specialists, have defined this obsession for performance as "Type A behavior." Experts have concluded that approximately 60% of men and as many as 30% of women are people with Type A behavior.

Don't Burn Yourself Out
This Type A behavior can vary from mild forms to extreme cases. Golfers who are what they call "true Type A's" usually put so much pressure on themselves to perform in order to please their parents, spouses, coaches, and teammates, for example, that they burn themselves out. Not only do they perform way below their true potential as golfers - regardless of their true talent level as golfers - but many end up 'hating' to play golf altogether and quit the game out of total frustration. Worse yet, some golfers, with extreme issues in this area, actually die of heart attacks before the age of 55! This Type A behavior, triggered by conditional love in childhood, is a very serious stress-related phenomenon in the American workplace, and in the world of high-level sports - including golf.

Action Exercises
Here are two things you can do, as a golfer, and in life, to immediately deal with the fear of rejection, criticism and disapproval ... and to improve your attitude for optimal performance both 'on' and 'off' the golf course.

1) Realize and accept that the opinions of others are not important enough for you to feel stressed, unhappy or over concerned about them. Even if they dislike you entirely, it has nothing to do with your own personal worth and value as a person. In other words, the reality is, your golf scores do not define who you really are and what your true value is as a person! Your true 'worth' and value comes from your chosen creator, and can never be determined by any human being - even your parents! 

2) Refuse to be over concerned about what you think people are thinking about you. The fact is that most people are not thinking about you at all. They are thinking about about themselves! Relax and get on with your life.

If you'd like to talk about any challenges, frustrations or stresses you are having with your golf game and would like a better attitude both on and off the golf course, please contact me for a FREE consultation by calling: 630-567-7572 or by email at: Paul@CallawayGolfFitness.com  

Why are some golfers more successful than others? Why do some golfers shoot lower scores more consistently, have more fun when they play, have fewer injuries, and accomplish much more on the golf course in the same number of years than the great majority?

I started out in life playing golf with no more golf talent than any one else, I did not play on my high school or college golf teams, and after college, I even quit playing golf for a while because I was so frustrated with my ridiculous slice!

And then I began asking, "Why are some golfers more successful than others?" This question changed my golf performance results forever!

Over the years, I have read hundreds of books and articles on the subjects of success and achievement - for success 'on' the golf course and 'off'. It seems that the reasons for these accomplishments have been discussed and written about for more than two thousand years, in every conceivable way. One quality that most philosophers, teachers and experts agree on is the importance of self-discipline. As Al Tomsik summarized it years ago, "Success is tons of discipline."

During a success training conference I attended many years ago, I asked the leader of the conference, Bob Proctor, "Of all the one thousand success principles that you have discovered, which do you think is the most important?"

He smiled at me with a twinkle in his eye, as if he had been asked this question many times, and replied, without hesitating, "The most important success principle of all was stated by Thomas Huxley many years ago. He said, "Do what you should do, when you should do it, whether you feel like it or not."

He went on to say, "There are 999 other success principles that I have found in my reading and experience, but without self-discipline, none of them work."

Self-discipline is the key to personal greatness on the golf course and in life. It is the magic quality that opens all doors for you, and makes everything else possible. With self-discipline, the average golfer can rise as far and as fast as his/her talents and intelligence can take him/her. But without self-discipline, a person with every blessing of background, education and opportunity will seldom rise above mediocrity.

If you'd like to learn more about the five areas of your total golf performance (golf fitness training, golf mental training, professional golf instruction, effective practice, equipment fitting) where the practice of self-discipline will be key to your success, please contact me right away at Paul@CallawayGolfFitness.com or by calling me directly for a FREE consultation at: 630-567-7572. Let me show you how you can make your golf dreams come true!

The Causes of Better Golf Scores
By: Dr. Paul Callaway

Never Worry About Your Golf Scores Again
You must aim to reach the point where you are playing golf and shooting scores at the level that you never have to worry about your scores again. The good news is that optimal golf performance is easier to achieve today than it has ever been before. We live in times where we have all the essential golf performance factors understood and available to us like never before. We are surrounded by more top golf performance and opportunity to improve than ever before. Your job is to get your fair share of better scoring and golf enjoyment too!

Golf Scoring Success Is Not An Accident
The Law of Cause and Effect applies to golf scores and total performance as much as to any other subject … finances, health and relationships. This law says that ‘lower scores’ is an effect. As such, it proceeds from certain, specific causes. When you identify these causes and implement them in your own life and activities, you will get the same effects that thousands of other golfers, who have applied these same principles, have already achieved. You can achieve whatever level of golf performance and lower scores you really want if you will just do what other golfers have done before you to achieve the same results. And if you don't, you won't. It is as simple as that. It’s the law!

Your Beliefs Determine Your Success
There is perhaps no other area where universal laws are more in evidence than in the acquiring and keeping of top golf performance.  In the golf world today, there are now 10’s of thousands men and women golfers who have started with very average or below average golf performance results and now are enjoying extraordinary levels of golf. Their attitudes and behaviors have been studied in great depth. We now know the keys to lower golf scores and reaching optimal performance levels with reduced stress and strain on your body than ever before. And what we know is that your most cherished beliefs on the subject of lower scores and total golf performance will be the primary determinants of how much better you get at your game and the performance levels you maintain as you continue to play throughout your lifetime.   

Your Primary Aim in Life
Your primary aim in life should be the achievement of your own happiness – both ‘on’ and ‘off’ the golf course. However, happiness is something that exists naturally in the absence of fears, doubts and negative emotions. One of the factors that most deprives you of happiness is worry about your golf scores. And, by the way, when we talk about golf scoring worries, we're not referring to your having scores that are too low. The problem is virtually always that people feel that their scores are too high and that their enjoyment for the game is suffering as a result.

Build a Golf Scoring Fortress
Perhaps the greatest single fear, the one that causes you more distress and unhappiness than anything else, is the fear of failure. In the area of golf scoring and performance, you experience this as the fear of embarrassment on the golf course when you play with other people, and the fear of loss. Since one of the deepest needs of human nature is to be recognized in a favorable way by our peers, any threat to your self-worth and/or identity, real or imaginary, can cause you tremendous stress.

You can only free yourself from the fears failure and embarrassment by achieving a specific level of scoring and golf performance and then by building a fortress around it so that you are safe and impregnable. This achievement of continuous improvement in golf is a key responsibility as a golfer. No one else will do it for you.

Action Exercises
Here are two ‘action’ exercises you can do immediately to implement the Law of Cause and Effect to start lowering your scores and achieve optimal golf performance and enjoyment in your game:

1) Begin today to implement the causes of optimal golf performance success in our society. This requires that you understand and implement the four essential golf performance factors … professional golf instruction, golf-specific fitness training, golf-specific mental training, and custom fit equipment … into your golf game plan right away!  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 There are '7' disciplines you must develop if you want to become the best golfer you can be. You can learn these disciplines through practice and repetition until they become automatic.

1) Goal Setting
Every morning, take 3 to 5 minutes to write out your top golf goals in the present tense. Get a spiral notebook for this purpose. By writing out at least 10 goals at the beginning of each day, you will program them deep into your subconscious mind.

This daily goal writing process will activate your mental powers. It will stimulate your mind and make you more alert. Throughout the day, you will see opportunities and possibilities to move more rapidly toward your goals.

2) Planning and Organizing
Take a few minutes, preferably the night before, to plan out every activity of the coming day specific to what is most needed and wanted to enhance your game. Always work from a list. Always think on paper. This is one of the most powerful and important disciplines of all for high golf performance.

3) Priority Setting
The essence of all time management, personal management, and life management is contained in your ability to set proper priorities and use of your time. This is also essential for enhanced golf performance.

4) Concentration on your Highest-Value Activities
Your ability to work single-mindedly on your most important golf performance task will contribute as much to your success as any other discipline you can develop.

5) Exercise and Proper Nutrition
When it comes to great golf performance, your golf-specific physical structure and conditioning is more important than anything else. By disciplining yourself to do your custom golf fitness training program regularly and to eat carefully, you will promote the highest possible levels of golf-specific health and fitness that will optimally support the realization of your performance goals. 

Learning and Growth
Your mind is like a muscle. If you don’t use it, you lose it. Continuous learning from your integrated golf performance team is the minimum requirement for success on the course. 

Time for Important People in your Life
Relationships are everything. Be sure that, in playing the game of enhanced golf performance, you continue to make time for your relationships every day, no matter how busy you get.  And, the relationships you choose to build are with people who have proper, positive attitudes.   

These 7 disciplines will ensure that you perform at the highest level and get the greatest satisfaction and results from everything you do both 'on' and 'off' the golf course. 

 

 

 

                                                          e-Book at

                              http://www.callawaygolffitness.com/Golf-Fitness-E-Books.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                                                        e-Book at

                                           http://www.callawaygolffitness.com/Golf-Fitness-E-Books.html