Positive Golf Improvement Project for 2008

Last January, I posted my Positive Golf Improvement Project for the year, and I am doing the same thing this January. While I practice using mental golf techniques and other Positive Golf ideas in all aspects of my game, blended with my physical approach, I have picked one area for particular focus as my Positive Golf Improvement Project for 2008. My wife, a beginning golfer, has picked on as well. Here they are:

- My project is to increase the repeatability of my swing by more consistently accessing the feeling of my positive golf swing motion.
- My wife's project is to develop a smooth, repeatable chip shot and consistently chip the ball within ten feet of the hole.

As part of our blended mental/physical positive approach to these projects, we will be incorporating the practice of our "primary positive mental habits" that we chose for particular focus this year (see posting from January 1, 2008). We will be sharing updates on our progress and the mental ideas and physical techniques we use along the way.

We encourage other golfers to pick a Positive Golf Improvement Project for the year. Here is a reprint of the article that we posted along with the announcement of our Improvement Projects last year. It gives some insight and tips that can help you with your golf improvement goals and efforts this year...

Positive Golf Tip - Pick One Thing to Improve

Any golfer with the desire to improve knows that there are dozens of aspects to the game. And there are hundreds, even thousands, more tips and ideas that can help to improve each of these areas. It is easy to feel overwhelmed, particularly if you are new to golf or just learning about a new concept like mental golf or the mental approach to the game. Feeling overwhelmed generally leads to negativity, which does not help your game. To help make your approach to golf improvement more positive, and ultimately more successful, it helps to pick one thing to improve and focus on that.

When I first tried out mental golf concepts, I started with curing my slice rather than trying to change my entire game all at once. I began by identifying and changing a couple of habitual negative thought patterns related to my slice, like I fear hitting out of bounds on this hole, or I can't seem to change this slice motion no matter how hard I try. Instead of the negative talk, I made a conscious effort to practice saying, feeling, and believing that I am learning to draw the ball, and I am enjoying that sweet draw feeling. By blending this simple mental golf techniqaue with my physical practice, I began to see positive changes in my swing and I did learn to more consistently draw the ball. I found the simple, focused approach to be really do-able so I could get comfortable with the new ideas and experience success rather than feel overloaded and burned out with trying to fix everything at once. As you think of the season ahead, pick one thing that you can improve by applying affirmations and other positive golf ideas along with your physical practice.

I'll keep you posted on the progress of our Positive Golf Improvement Projects for 2008 and welcome hearing about the progress of yours...

Here's to great golf in 2008!

Rick Semple
Positive Golfer
Co-Founder, TheHeartofGolf.com
http://www.TheHeartofGolf.com