Monday, January 03, 2011

The Lighter Side of Mental Golf

While it's helpful to continue doing some mental exercises in the off-season or between rounds during the main season in order to keep your mental golf mindset strong and productive, it's also helpful to allow yourself to lighten up now and then with a bit of golf humor. Humor helps you look at things from a different perspective and can steer you away from dwelling on your golf faults and fix-its. It gets the flow of positive, upbeat energy going that eases tension and negativity. Altogether, a good dose of golf humor is helpful in developing and maintaining a strong positive golf mindset.

A fun resource for golf humor that I have recently learned about is the book How to Line Up Your Fourth Putt and the recently released sequel When to Regrip Your Ball Retriever, both by Bobby Rusher. These two books are clever parodies of more serious golf instructional manuals. They are set up in a similar fashion, with one key idea or point per a chapter of one or two pages. Each point is presented in a clever, sometimes offbeat, way that will bring a chuckle to new and seasoned players alike. In the first book, there are ideas like "How to Achieve the Flawless Swing Without Injuring Yourself or a Loved One," "How to Relax When You're Hitting 'Five Off the Tee,'" and "What to do When the Divot Weighs 1.5 Pounds, has Travelled 25 Yards, and Your Ball Has Not Moved." In When to Regrip Your Ball Retriever, you'll find, among many others, "What to do If You Hit the Ground Before You Hit the Ball," "When to Point Out That Nonchalant Putts Count the Same as Chalant Putts," "How to Obtain Golf 'Handicap Permits'", and even "Hyphenated Insults to Use in Tense Situations." There are plenty of "wise" ideas on all aspects of the game in these two books which are sure to give plenty of chuckles and even a few practical tips to take to the course. They are each an easy, entertaining read that are like a breath of fresh air for your mental golf mindset. Interestingly, there are testimonials for these books from noteworthy people who play the game, including President George H.W. Bush and Donald Trump. Check out their testimonials and additional book details, as well as the author's (who also happens to be a musician) colorful CD, Music to Shank By, at www.4putt.com.

As we approach the spring season when many are thinking about what you need to work on in preparing to go back to the course, remember to keep your mental game balanced with some humor and joy to help prevent frustration, tension, and burnout.

Here's to great golf!

Rick Semple
Positive Golfer
TheHeartofGolf.com

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