Positive Golf

Masters Provides Plenty of Positive Golf Ideas

2011-04-19T22:25:00.000-07:00

This year's Masters provided plenty of splendid examples of positive physical and mental skills at work. We saw a marvelous display of a smooth, effortless swing from Schwartzel, as well as from Fred Couples and Adam Scott. Each of these players has a strong mindset of allowing the flow of the natural swing motion and it shows in the smooth flow of their respective swings which appear as effortless yet powerful. Watching each of them in action is a great reminder of the value of the simple but profound golf wisdom that tells us to avoid thinking about hitting at the ball and instead think about allowing the natural swing motion to happen. It is likely that the mindsets of these great players with the beautiful effortless swings, and other players with such great swings, is not filled with distracting thoughts about exertion and effort but rather thoughts that are focused on smoothness and flow, and also a great awareness of the feel of the swing in all parts of the body. Watching these players and thinking about the lessons learned in observing them reminded me of a remark made by Michael McTeague, PGA Teaching Professional in the book The Keys to the Effortless Golf Swing: "My teaching experience indicates that the hit impulse - the automatic tendency to strike at the ball - is the foremost reason why so few golfers break 80 in their lifetimes."

There were a few other mental golf ideas that stood out for me when watching the Masters coverage, including:

1. The incredible value of the mental skill of persistence, displayed quite notably by Charl Schwartzel, and also by Adam Scott and Jason Day. We heard about Schwartzel's persistence in his practice and preparation for the Masters and then we observed his persistence in action as he played with a quiet calmness, confidence, and consistency. He "stayed the course," so to speak, and persisted in his mental and physical approach to the game in the midst of intense pressure. The same can be said for Scott and Day, who both displayed admirable persistence to the very end.

2. The importance of "playing your own game" and not allowing yourself to be distracted by common beliefs like "it's a game for 'the kids'." There was a lot of talk about the younger players prevailing, with implications that they would dominate and "older" players would be surpassed. It was interesting how some of the "older" players, like Couples, Choi, and Woods stayed strong and "in the mix." While they each likely have some thoughts about age, they do not appear to have allowed it to dominate their mindsets to the extent that they are convinced they can't play as well as the younger players. The challenges experienced by McIlroy on the last day are a prime example that being a young player who can hit it a mile does not guarantee you will win. It is a blend of mental and physical skills that are applied persistently and consistently through thick and thin to the very end, whatever your "calendar age," that really makes the difference.

3. You've heard it said that it really helps when you allow yourself to enjoy the game, and I thought this was perfectly illustrated by Adam Scott and Jason Day. Each of them expressed afterward on Sunday how much they had truly enjoyed playing that day, and it showed in their respective games. It's really true that the sense of enjoyment helps to establish a positive, productive mental atmosphere that fosters the growth of additional positive mental attitudes and contributes to more relaxation and flow.

All in all, this year's Masters was a great celebration of golf and an inspiring display of physical and mental skills. The great thing is, the ideas and lessons gleaned from watching the coverage are skills that any player at any level can put to use to enrich and improve their own game.

Here's to great golf!

Rick Semple
Positive Golfer
TheHeartofGolf.com

What is Your Answer to This Fundamental Mental Golf Question?

2011-03-08T21:35:00.000-08:00

Whether you are a golfer preparing to get back to the course after a winter break or you're a year-round player with a renewed desire for change and improvement as spring approaches, your answer to a certain fundamental mental golf question will give you a good clue about your confidence and overall mental golf mindset.

The question is this: Do I believe in myself? Your belief in yourself and your abilities really sets the stage for all the thoughts and feelings that make up your mindset, which ultimately affects your game. If you do not believe in your abilities and your potential, doubt and fear will often fill your mind as you play, prompting tension, tightness, distraction, and over-effort, all of which detract from a smooth, effortless swing. On the other hand, if you do believe in your abilities and your potential, you are more likely to be relaxed and focused and open to the flow of productive thoughts that encourage a smooth swing and accurate shots.

These days, we are seeing an example of not believing in oneself with Tiger. His belief in himself, which at one time was strong and sure, is now at a low point, and that is powerfully reflected in his game. It shows that great ability does not necessarily reflect in playing great golf when it is not combined with a solid mindset, including a strong self-belief. Any player, though, from the top level to the novice, can strengthen their belief in themself. First it takes recognition of this mental factor and then continual mental practice to focus on your own strengths and your own game and letting go of self-criticism and dwelling on mistakes and weaknesses.

As you are practicing and preparing for your next trip to the course, take some time to ask and reflect on this fundamental mental golf question. Do I believe in myself? Really think about it and be honest with yourself. The answer may be surprising and the follow-up mental steps you take can do a lot to change your game.

Here's to great golf!

Rick Semple
Positive Golfer
TheHeartofGolf.com

The Lighter Side of Mental Golf

2011-01-03T22:20:00.000-08:00

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

Mental Golf Practice for the Off-Season

2010-11-14T21:50:00.001-08:00

It is often recommended, and wisely so, that golfers regularly practice drills in the off-season to maintain and enhance their physical game. The same wisdom applies to the mental golf game, although it generally gets less attention than it deserves. By regularly practicing some basic mental skills during the off-season, however, you can really build your mindset so it is primed, rather than "rusty," and ready to support a great game when you get back to the course. I know this has been true for me and those I have worked with. I didn't really believe in the effectiveness of these off-season mental exercises until I tried them myself.

The practices I am talking about here are not extensive, time-consuming, or deep thinking activities but rather practical, awareness-oriented mental exercises that can benefit your game as well as the rest of your life. One of these practices is what I like to think of as "de-cluttering." Some of the most valuable mental skills to use on the course are focus and concentration, and yet the common tendency for most golfers is to have lots of extra tips, suggestions, and swing thoughts filling and cluttering their mind and interfering with their focus and concentration. I know it's easy for this to happen when there are so many sources of good information available. In fact, in the off-season many golfers will often catch up on reading golf books, newsletters, and magazines and fill their minds even more. While the information in these resources is valuable and certainly worth the reading and reflection, there is something you can do to prevent the "too much information syndrome" that interferes with the mental focus and concentration that help your game. I like to think of it as a "de-cluttering" technique, and it has worked well for me. Your goal is to have just two or three key swing thoughts or tips that you keep repeating in your mind before and between shots. That's it - just two or three. More than that can be overwhelming and distracting.

To help you "pare down" or "clear out" and get to the point of working with just a few key ideas, you can write down all the ideas, suggestions, and tips that fill your mind as you play or think about the game, as well as the new ideas that you have gleaned from your reading and are trying to make yourself remember in addition to everything else. Write all of these down, then select the two or three that stand out as most important and helpful to you at this time. These are the ones you will take to the course with you. The other points on the list are for reviewing before and after rounds to further enhance your game. When you go to the course though, remember you want to keep it simple and minimize "clutter" and stick with the two or three key thoughts. This is a good exercise to do in the off-season to help streamline and strengthen your mindset in preparation for getting back to the course, and it's good to re-visit it periodically during the season as your game changes and your mind fills with new and different ideas. Making a conscious, mindful effort to "de-clutter" is a great step toward improving your focus and concentration.

Here's to great golf!

Rick Semple
Positive Golfer
http://www.TheHeartofGolf.com

Another Mental Golf Question to Ask Yourself

2010-09-14T21:51:00.000-07:00

It was great to see Dustin Johnson win the BMW Championship on Sunday. He has experienced a summer that some have called "catastrophic," scoring an 82 at Pebble Beach, blowing his chance at The Barclays three weeks ago, and then throwing away the PGA Championship last month after inadvertently grounding his club in a sand bunker, leading to a two-shot penalty on the last hole at Whistling Straits. Then after all this, he comes through at Cog Hill on Sunday and beats Paul Casey by a shot for the biggest win of his career. A strong mental golf mindset, with some changes and growth along the way, was certainly a key part of this victory. Johnson could have really crumbled and continued to beat himself up over those mistakes and losses, likely distracting his focus and confidence and finishing the season in a slump. Instead, he looked at these experiences in a more upbeat, productive way. He learned from them and moved on rather than dwelling in frustration and negativity. In an interview after the victory, Johnson said, "I've had some failures, but I don't know if I'd call them failures. I've had a few mishaps. Pebble taught me a lot. That's where I learned the most...I (have) learned to be patient and not rush things. I didn't rush any shot today. Just take things slow." Kudos to Johnson for getting himself back on track and finding something good and helpful in some challenging situations. In light of this healthy mental golf outlook, ask yourself this question: Am I handling my own errant shots or poor playing in a positive, productive way or a negative, limiting way? In essence, are you fueling more frustration and mistakes or cultivating something new and better? The answer can give you some great insight and direction for developing new mental practices that are more conducive to positive golf experiences and success rather than frustration and anxiety.

Here's to great golf!

Rick Semple
Positive Golfer
TheHeartofGolf.com

Ask Yourself This Fundamental Mental Golf Question

2010-08-30T22:41:00.000-07:00

A point that is frequently made in golf instruction is that the swing is all about flow and the movement of energy and you want to allow this flow to happen smoothly and naturally. Most of the time, this point is made in reference to the flow of physical movement. Much less frequently, however, is there a reference made to the flow of mental energy, yet this flow is of fundamental importance to the swing as well. The smooth flow of productive mental golf thoughts is essential to set the stage for a smooth swing. For many, many players, however, the smooth flow of thoughts is frequently inhibited by fear, frustration, judgement of performance, and other mental "stuff." This disruption of the flow of mental golf thoughts is a common source of physical swing problems that many players don't realize. Many potential positive golf experiences are blocked due to the interference of positive mental thinking.

I was reminded of this flow principle recently when watching my two year old daughter playing with a plastic golf club. She was swinging away at the golf ball (and many other things as well) and my initial reaction was, "She's swinging away without a care in the world." It dawned on me that this was a great reminder of the value of being free and clear in your mind when practicing and playing, without the interference of thoughts and emotions that get in the way of the flow of positive, productive, "golf enhancing" thoughts. As I watched, I thought of this fundamental golf question: "What are you thinking and feeling that is interfering with the free flow of positive golf thoughts and ultimately the smooth flow of an effortless swing?" In essence, what is keeping you from being free and clear in golf? The answer to this question gets to the heart of golf improvement. It's a question I ask those I work with and I periodically ask myself as well. I encourage every aspiring golfer to do the same. Think about it: What are you thinking and feeling that is holding back the flow in your game?

If there are some golf improvement goals you have been working on this summer where you haven't seen results, this question can offer you some helpful insight for changing your mindset and ultimately your game. Remember to "let it flow" in mind and body! As always, I welcome comments on your insight and experiences.

Here's to great golf!

Rick Semple
Positive Golfer
TheHeartofGolf.com

A Novel Approach to Learning About Mental Golf

2010-07-06T21:06:00.000-07:00

I recently read a book that I am enthusiastically recommending to my fellow Positive Golfers titled Straight Down the Middle, by Josh Karp. Having the complete title of Straight Down the Middle: Shivas Irons, Bagger Vance, and How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love My Golf Swing, the book is a first-hand account of a real-life golfer's quest to gain a greater understanding of positive mental principles and practices and then put them to use in order to transform his mindset, his game, and his life. The author, Karp, is a journalist and, at the beginning, an 18 handicap golfer who realizes there is great potential in the mental realm, and having a great desire to enrich his game and his life he is inspired to explore various mental philosophies and approaches. Karp becomes a mental golf guinea pig, in essence, and immerses himself in learning from various gurus and masters and applying their wisdom on (and off) the course. He shares his experiences in great detail so the reader gets a very clear picture of what is taking place. Along with the details, Karp is open and forthcoming about his thoughts and feelings throughout, so the reader can follow his deepening understanding and development (and sometimes drawbacks). Karp also has a keen sense of humor which makes the reading enjoyable as well as enlightening.

All in all, Straight Down the Middle is a memoir of a noteworthy quest to understand, evolve, and improve. Karp delivers great insight into lessons learned about golf, patience, letting go, and much more. He presents the scientific aspect of positive mental practices as well as the practical side. And he illustrates how to put it all into real-life practice out on the course, with his own mental and physical game as a proving ground. By the end of the book and the odyssey of discovery, Karp has indeed discovered the effortless swing and lowered his handicap. He has achieved a deeper understanding of the game and himself as well, all of which have enriched his golf experiences and his life. In his final comments he says, "Most importantly, my swing became a source of pleasure, which more often than not brought my scores closer to par."

Straight Down the Middle leaves the reader with plenty of ideas to think about and act upon in one's own quest for golf improvement. You will gain a greater awareness and understanding of the mental realm and likely be inspired to begin or expand your own efforts in that arena. As a Positive Golfer who believes in the value of the mental game and who continually strives to strengthen my own mental golf mindset, I gained some new understanding and useful tools myself, as well as some inspiration from Karp. I also enjoyed the book as an all-around good read. It was especially engaging because it was written by a "real-life golfer." On the book jacket, it refers to "a journey of a common man in search of an uncommon kingdom." I recommend Karp's book to anyone who wants to enjoy a more relaxed, fluid swing, a lower handicap, and more positive experiences in golf (and in life!). If you feel positive mental practices are too advanced or impractical, then this book is really for you! You'll see the mental game from a whole new perspective in Straight Down the Middle. Check it out this summer! You can find it at Amazon.com.

Here's to great golf!

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

Five Mental Golf Things You Can Do Right Now to Improve Your Game

2010-06-02T20:54:00.000-07:00

I often hear from people who have a golf outing or event coming up and they are feeling anxious because they haven't played in a while. They want a quick mental golf tip or two that they can start using right away to help their game. If you are in a similar situation, or are just interested in starting to beef up your mental game in general, I have put together a list of some mental golf fundamentals that you can start doing right now, wherever you are. A key idea behind all of these tips is one of changing mental habits that clutter your mind and distract your attention away from really focusing on your strategy and the shot at hand. These are things that I continually remind myself to do, especially if I am feeling "scattered" and off-track in my mindset and my game is reflecting that same thing. By starting these new mental practices right now and persisting with them, you will be headed in the right direction for building a stronger mindset and setting the stage for more Positive Golf experiences. Keep in mind, these things can (and should) be done both on and off the course, whenever you are playing or thinking about the game. These skills get more natural and effective with practice.

1. Let go of those bad shots. I know. I know. Easier said than done. But believe me, it makes a difference. Dwelling on missed putts and errant drives demands a lot of mental energy that distracts you from productive thoughts and better focus.

2. Don't dwell on fear. Here again, easier said than done. And here again, an enormous "consumer" of mental energy. Start by picking one thing you are really fearful about (i.e. missing short putts and looking bad in front of others) and consciously make an effort to "switch gears" to more productive thoughts (i.e. swing thoughts and your strategy) when this pops into your mind.

3. Let go of that blame. Like fear and holding on to bad shots, frequent blaming also consumes a lot of mental energy and distracts you. While blaming might help you justify things and help you feel better for a moment, it takes your thoughts away from the shot at hand and also from getting to the real cause of swing problems or other challenges. (Your clubs and the weather are not always at fault!) Make a concerted effort to tune in to your blaming tendencies and steer your thoughts in a more positive and productive direction.

4. Take the pressure off. It's a common practice to continually put pressure on yourself to hit farther, make more putts, and score better. Self-motivation is one thing, but persistent pressure can distract your focus and be counter-productive. Seriously, give yourself a break. When you notice those pressure-filled thoughts filling your mind, switch gears to swing thoughts and some self-encouragement.

5. Stop dwelling on "hitting." It's a very common tendency these days to think about hitting at the ball harder with more effort in order to achieve more distance. A lot of people spend a lot of mental energy dwelling on trying to figure out how to "hit harder," when the real solution is less effort and more allowing. Switch those hitting thoughts to more productive thoughts of feeling and allowing the smooth, natural swing. (For more insight and tips on this topic, check out my Goodbye Hit, Hello Swing e-book.)

Now, you're on your way to a mental golf mindset that is stronger and more aligned with the flow of productive thoughts and a smooth, effortless swing.

Here's to great golf!

Rick Semple
Positive Golfer
http://www.TheHeartofGolf.com

A Tip for Building Confidence

2010-03-31T21:28:00.000-07:00

When talking to people about positive mental golf, one of the most frequently asked questions I hear is, "How can I develop more confidence?" There's no doubt about it that confidence is the anchor of a strong mindset that supports a great game. What a lot of people don't realize is that there are a lot of facets to confidence. In other words, it is affected by numerous other mental skills and practices. One of these practices is the tendency to focus on what is right or what is wrong with your game. The frequent attention on what you are doing wrong with your swing or other aspects of your game can be distracting and actually interfere with the confidence you so desire. While a desire for change and improvement is good, a strong and frequent orientation on what is wrong will actually interfere with the flow and development of confidence. On the road to improvement, it's helpful to keep thoughts oriented on the positive, i.e. what you are doing right, so that you can think and build upon this. To get started, think of five key things that you do well in relation to your swing and your game. When you are playing, remind yourself of these things, especially before a pressure shot or after making a poor swing or a mistake (or when stuck in a prolonged "rut" of poor playing). Do this practice of reminding yourself of your strengths on a regular basis, blending in periodic thoughts of what would be helpful to improve. This is actually a practice that is beneficial for any golfer to do, not just those getting started in using mental golf. It is something that I continue to do to keep me on track (or to get me back on track if I have veered off in the midst of some less-than-desirable playing). Here's an example of the points that are part of my mental "go to" list for building and maintaining confidence:

- I have good talent on and around the green.
- I am a focused competitor.
- I know to always return to my basic swing keys.
- I allow myself to swing the club (not force with extra effort)
- I am a very good iron player

If you don't have a mental "go to" list for supporting your confidence, it's a good idea to put one together now and start referring to it regularly. It's another tool in your mental golf "toolbox" that will help to strengthen your mindset and your game.

Here's to great golf!

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

Try Renewal Rather Than Resolutions for Golf Improvement

2010-01-07T20:25:00.000-08:00

Traditionally, this is the time of year when people develop resolutions for making changes and improvements in various areas of their life, including golf. The idea of resolutions is a good one, but as we know, all too often we loose steam after a month or so and the desired results don't come to pass. What often happens is that we set resolutions that are exceptionally lofty or difficult. While a motivating challenge is good, excessive goals can cause frustration and burnout. When it comes to our golf game, it's common for our resolultions to "bypass" core skills or exceed our abilities, including our mental ones. What happens is that we strive to do something better without having to strengthen the core skills that are needed for the change to successfully occur. With this in mind, an exercise that I have started as part of my positive golf approach, instead of traditional "resolutions," is the renewal of my focus on certain key core skills for the year. These are skills, both mental and physical, that I feel are especially important for yielding improvements and more positive experiences in my particular game. I have listed the ones here that I have chosen for 2010. I encourage others to do this same exercise and share your comments here on the blog about how it has helped your game. One of the benefits you will notice is that this exercise helps you get more comfortable and adept at developing positive habits. Picking three core skills for renewed focus throughout the year gets you used to doing something positive on a regular basis. The format of this exercise, with frequent attention to core skills, is also more conducive to success rather than burnout or frustration that may come from resolutions that are excessive or difficult.

So, here's to your renewed focus and success in 2010!

Core Skills for My Renewed Focus and Practice in 2010:

1. Forget past mistakes and poor shots. I still have a tendency to dwell on mistakes and poor shots long after they occur and it distracts my focus away from more productive thinking. It is a mental tendency of mine that deserves more attention and change.

2. Cultivate and use a greater sense of feel in my putting. I have tuned in and developed this skill with great success for my full swing (and written about it in my ebooks), and now I plan to use this practice to a greater degree with my putting.

3. Strengthen my patience and persistence. Patience and persistence are two skills that are enormously valuable to long-term improvement in golf, or anything for that matter. It takes continued mental discipline to practice patience and persistence and stick with new mental and physical techniques to see them through to fruition. I still get impatient and want to see results more quickly and sometimes feel like "throwing in the towel" when changes don't occur fast enough, so I am going to give renewed attention to strengthening my patience and persistence this year.

Here's to positive changes and great golf in 2010!

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

Recap of Positive Golf Improvement Project

2009-12-03T22:56:00.001-08:00

As the unseasonably warm weather turns cold and snowy in the Northeast, I leave the course for a little while and reflect back on this past season and the Positive Golf Improvement Project for the year. My Positive Golf Improvement Project for 2009 - achieving better balance (see original posting on April 4, 2009) - came about as a result of my inability as a weekend golfer to consistently "time" my weight shift with my swing motion, a fault which often led to off-balance, off-course golf shots. Over the years, my standard antidote for this nagging problem has been to practice "punch shots" - a process which involves moving the ball back, keeping my weight forward, shortening the swing, and driving down through the ball with a lower finish. A common term for this general techniqaue is "trapping the ball," and I was often amazed how it seemed to instantly deliver more solid contact and a beautiful (albeit lower) right to left ball flight along with a balanced finish. Thus, the punch shot aproach was my starting point, and my intention was to gradually build my full swing around it. My goal was to eliminate or at least greatly lessen the need for "timing" by significantly reducing lateral body motion during my swing. The substitute for lateral motion was better rotational motion.

Over the year my quest proved to be quite challenging. Retraining one's mind and body seldom happen overnight. My success has come about gradually, with patience and persistence. Like most recreational golfers, I have limited time to practice, and the truth is that I've done the greatest part of my work at home - two minutes here and two minutes there - ingraining the feeling of what it's like to swing on balanced footing. I'm working with a number of ideas, the overall concept from mind to body is as follows:

With a relaxed lower body and steady left foot weight pressure, swing the club with the hands and arms and let the natural body rotation follow.

I've made good progress so far and plan to achieve further gains in 2010 following both the mental and physical elements of the Positive Plan that I put together. I will also develop a Positive Plan for improvement of another facet of my game. Have you planned a Positive Golf Improvement Project for 2010? I invite you to share your plans with other Positive Golfers right here.

Here's to great golf in 2010!

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

Tips for a Consistent Game

2009-10-04T19:42:00.000-07:00

With Tiger's win of the FedEx Cup title, there has been a lot of talk this past week about the value of consistency in playing the game. It's important to remember that at the heart of playing consistently is a consistent mental game, which includes the consistent use of positive mental practices. This is a fact that is simple in its truth, but not easy in its application. Even Tiger has had some "blips" in using his positive mental practices now and then, which is reflected in his game, but the key is that he gets himself on track again and gets back on the road of consistent good thinking and playing.

The question from a lot of recreational golfers who are still building their "mental muscle" to support their physical game is this: What can I do to build a consistent mental golf mindset that inspires consistency on the course? There are a few key practices that can help you with this by getting you in the mode of doing some positive things regularly and naturally. Here they are:

1. Practice a positive mental pre-shot routine for every shot. Do this for every shot in every round, not sporadically when you feel pressure, are trying to make a difficult shot, or are trying not to be angry or frustrated.

2. Regularly use a positive "mantra." This is a short phrase or affirmation that you regularly repeat silently to yourself that helps you think affirmatively about a certain aspect of your game. An example is "light is right" regarding grip pressure. (See my blog posting from July 17, 2009 for more details.)

3. Regularly use one or two key swing thoughts. Stick with one or two swing thoughts, rather than bombarding yourself with too many and then getting overwhelmed or burned out from trying to remember too much. Repeat these swing thoughts to yourself regularly throughout each round.

4. Practice the regular use of one or two key positive words. Pick one or two positive words, such as "can" and "will," to incorporate into your positive golf language, and practice the regular, consistent use of these throughout each round.

5. Regularly remind yourself to focus on the target and the shot at hand. Do this by asking yourself before every shot, "What is my target?" and "What is my strategy to reach that target?" This can get you to habitually orient your thinking away from distractions and toward the target and the shot at hand. This is an essential element of the laser-like focus Tiger is famous for and it is something that every golfer, from weekend player to professional, can do.

Following regular practices like these helps build "mental muscle" and gets your mindset "warmed up" and "conditioned" for additional positive, productive thinking that supports a consistent game.

Here's to great golf!

Rick Semple
Positive Golfer and
Co-founder
TheHeartofGolf.com
http://www.TheHeartofGolf.com

Another Mental Golf Question to Improve Your Game

2009-09-06T19:50:00.001-07:00

As a follow-up to my previous post on 4 Questions to Improve Your Mental Game, I am inspired to add another question to that list. The thing that inspired me were some remarks made by Tiger Woods regarding his putting at The Barclays. In his remarks, he wanted to make it very clear that it was those tricked-up greens that led to his near miss in Jersey City last week, and certainly not the player holding the putter in his hands. "Not too many golf courses that you misread putts that badly," he said, adding, "This course is one." Steve Politi, the sports columnist for the Newark Star-Ledger pointed out that Woods "sounded like a shortstop blaming the infield grass for an E-6 or a goalie blaming the Zamboni for a bad goal." He went on to say that "Tiger is forgetting the simplest truth about golf: Everyone in the field plays the same course. And everyone else - or at least the ones on the leaderboard - seemed to handle the greens just fine."

The remarks by Woods are a classic example of using blame when one is experiencing less-than-desirable results in the game. The thing about blame is that it might help you justify the situation and feel better about it for a while, but in actuality it distracts you from focusing on the real reason for your golf problem. Spending mental time and energy on blame takes you away from spending that time and energy on the actual cause of the problem - what you are doing wrong - and thereby hinders you from correcting it and preventing it from happening again. Using blame is like a "crutch" and is not a practice that ultimately leads to positive golf experiences.

Tiger's remarks show that blame is a practice that even a player with a highly refined mental game can fall into without keeping it in check. It's a good reminder for any player to ask themselves the question: Am I using blame as a "crutch" in my mental game? Tune in to your own thoughts and remarks as you are playing and see if this is a mental practice you are prone to. If so, stop the blaming and start making some mental and physical changes. Go beyond the blame and get to the heart of what is really causing your golf problem and make the appropriate mechanical changes in your game. This "blame-free" approach is more certain to lead to better results and more satisfaction in the long run.

Here's to great golf!

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

4 Questions to Improve Your Mental Game

2009-08-09T19:10:00.000-07:00

When mental golf practices don't seem to be helping your game, the tendency is to stop using them and chalk it up to mental golf not being right for you or mental golf not working at all. Before you throw in the towel and decide to stop developing and applying these skills, however, ask yourself these four questions:

1. Do I really believe mental golf practices work and can help my game?

2. Am I utilizing these skills consistently throughout each round (not just when the "going gets tough")?

3. Am I overwhelming myself by trying to change too many mental practices at once?

4. Am I putting too much pressure on myself to master these practices and get "instant results"? (This was one of my main tendencies when I was beginning the development of my mental game.)

Your answer to these questions can give you some very good clues as to why the application of mental golf skills isn't working for you. An answer of "no" to the first two questions and "yes" to the second two indicates some things that are blocking the success of using positive mental practices in your game. If you have been trying to develop your mental golf mindset this summer (or at any time) and have not experienced any improvement in your game, take a moment to reflect on these questions and the answers. It can be time well spent that gets you past the threshold of quitting and onto a new and more effective path. Changing your approach in any of these four areas (and certainly in all of them) can help to make a difference in your evolution as a successful positive golfer!

Here's to great golf!

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

A Mantra for Your Mental Golf

2009-07-17T19:53:00.000-07:00

At first, a mantra doesn't sound like something that could be helpful to your golf game, but the more I study and practice mental golf the more I realize the value of tools like this. In its basic form, a mantra is a sentence or phrase that is repeated verbally or mentally to help focus the mind on an idea. This concept can easily be applied to your golf game and can in fact be quite helpful to your mental golf mindset in a number of ways. For one, it's a good way to develop the skill of being focused rather than having "scattered" thinking that is prone to distraction. Using a mantra can help to get you in the habit of consistently staying on track in productive mental golf thinking rather than frequently "switching gears" back and forth from productive, helpful thinking to distracting, unproductive thinking. Overall, using a mantra gives you some good practice in using a mental tool, which is a great way to get started with or expand on the use of mental golf practices.

I want to point out that the idea of using a mantra in your mental golf practice is something different than having swing thoughts. The concept of the mantra in this particular application os to help change a mental habit, like fear, and establish a better way of thinking, whereas swing thoughts are generally related to the physical mechanics of your swing. Also, when it comes to using a mantra for your mental golf, I'm not talking about "mindless" or rote repetition of a phrase, but thoughtful or "mindful" repetition with awareness and sincerity.

A couple of examples of this concept in practice will help it make more sense. One example is a mantra that my wife has used to help her game. As a beginning golfer, a challenge she was facing was a lot of tension, which led to a lot of problems with her swing. This tension was rooted in her over-concern for what people were thinking regarding her swing and her abilities. It would almost paralyze her on certain holes and in certain situations. To address the problem and help her focus on more helpful thoughts, she used the phrase from a popular quote, "what other people think of me is none of my business" as a mantra, repeating it to herself frequently throughout a round. Here again, it wasn't mindless or forced repetition but thoughtful repetition done with sincerity and focus. It proved to be very helpful in re-orienting her thoughts and diffusing her concerns and ultimately reducing the tension that wreaked havoc with her swing. Another example of an area where I know this mantra tool has been used with success is in helping to change the habit of hanging on to thoughts of poor shots and other mistakes and developing the habit of letting go and staying in the present. A mantra that has worked for other golfers in this situation is, "It's all about this shot and this moment," repeated in the mind over and over with increasing belief and conviction.

A mantra is another tool that I recommend adding to your mental golf "bag of tricks." It's something you can get started with right away. You have to be sure to stick with it though. Just like any of the mental golf tools, being persistent and consistent pays off. Here are some other areas where using a mantra can help get you on the road to making some changes in your mind and your game:

- changing the habit of frequent anger about your game
- changing the habit of ongoing self-doubt about your abilities
- changing the habit of using over-effort and trying too hard
- changing the habit of putting pressure on yourself
- changing the habit of regularly using "what if" thinking and dwelling on worst-case scenarios while playing

One more tip: When choosing a mantra to use, pick something that is succinct, has good flow, and makes good sense to you about the issue at hand. It may even be a popular quote or a catch phrase. Avoid using "not" phrases, such as "I am not angry. I am not angry..." as this actually puts more focus on the problem at hand rather than away from it.

This idea of a mantra can be put to use right away to change and strengthen your mental golf mindset. Try it out, and give it a chance to "sink in" and work (practice it in multiple rounds, not just one time). I welcome comments about your experience.

Here's to great golf!

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

How Long Does It Take For Mental Golf Techniques to Work?

2009-06-03T22:30:00.000-07:00

In my work with Positive Golf, I get a lot of questions about the hows and whys and the nuts and bolts of using positive mental techniques for golf improvement. It's great to receive these questions because it tells me that a person is taking an extra step to get insight and guidance into techniques that can help their game. We have started to include coverage of these questions in our Positive Golf newsletter in a periodic column titled "Positive Golf Q & A." When we started running this column, even more questions started pouring in! Occasionally, I will include some of these questions and answers in this blog because the topics are universal to so many players and so vital to success with the mental game. If you would like the benefit of seeing Positive Golf questions and answers more often, as well as other real-life insight, tips, and drills to promote positive golf improvement, then check out the details about our free Positive Golf Newsletter. I also invite you to submit a question by posting it on this blog or sending me an email through our website at TheHeartofGolf.com. In the meantime, here's a question from a golfer in Illinois who voices what a lot of other players have wondered about:

Q: Last summer, I started working on my mental game by trying visualization, but it didn't work. How long should it take for mental game techniques to make a difference in improving my game?

A. The short answer to this question is that it takes as long as it takes. It is going to be different for everyone because everyone's mindset, with all of its habits and tendencies, is different. Everyone's belief and acceptance of new ideas and techniques is also different, and this will also affect the speed and effectiveness of change. The good news is that it is possible for positive change in your physical game to begin with just a few rounds of using new mental game techniques. You may start to experience more consistency, better tempo, less frequent slicing of the ball, or better putting, for example, with continual game improvement as you continue to practice new mental techniques more consistently and effectively.

It may be the case, however, that improvement in your physical game is slow to occur or does not seem to happen at all as a result of changing your mental practices, leading you to think that the mental techniques don't work or that mental golf is "just not for you." A delay or total lack of results with mental techniques like visualization doesn't mean they don't work, but it does mean that something is interfering or getting in the way of their effectiveness. Some common things that get in the way of mental golf techniques "doing their job" and producing results include the following:

1. Inconsistency in using the techniques, i.e. trying them here and there, such as just when "the going gets tough," OR using one technique such as visualization in a positive way while at the same time using another technique such as self-talk in a negative way.

2. Incorrectly using the techniques, i.e. visualizing the results you do want to experience while also still mixing in visualizing the results you do not want to experience. (Even if you don't mean to do this or aren't doing it "on purpose," it still has an impact.)

3. Impatience at not experiencing better or faster results, thereby leading to mental tension, frustration, or even anger.

4. Lack of total belief or trust in the potential benefits of mental golf practices, thus sowing the seeds of doubt that detract from the effectiveness of such practices.

5. Doing too much at once, i.e. trying too hard to boost your mental game by changing or improving too many mental golf practices all at once which can dilute their effectiveness compared to improving them step-by-step one or two at a time.

Tuning in to your tendency to do one or more of these practices can help you nip some things in the bud and get you on a mental golf pathway that is more positive and productive in yielding the changes in your physical game that you have been hoping to see.

Here's to great golf!

Rick Semple
Positive Golfer and
Co-Founder
TheHeartofGolf.com

A New Book to Boost Your Golf Improvement

2009-04-23T20:48:00.000-07:00

Two things that are key to successfully building a strong mental game and realizing consistent golf improvement are organization and persistence. Organization refers to an organized approach in setting your positive goals and the positive plans to achieve those goals (see blog post from April 4, 2009 for more on positive goals and plans) as well as organization in your practice to make it a more effective "smart practice" or "positive practice." Persistence refers to the stick-to-itiveness to stay with your plans and practice, day after day and week after week. These are the "nuts and bolts" that are at the core of productive change for players at any level. While seemingly basic and simple, they can truly make the difference in whether or not you achieve success. Many a desire for golf improvement has been "lost in the shuffle" of inconsistent thinking and efforts and the lure of the easier path of giving up.

I have learned about a handy new tool to help you stay on track with your organization and persistence and help increase the likelihood of your success in golf improvement. It's called The 20th Hole, Stat Book and Log for Golfers, by Matt Gullo, USGTF Teaching Professional. This recently published book is designed to help you in the analysis and development of your overall game, from statistics to swing thoughts and strategies. Matt's background as a teacher and a player dedicated to golf improvement really show through in this book. It's packed with practical charts and forms to fill out with scores and notes about your lessons, practice sessions and rounds. For example, the Practice Session/Lesson Notes pages provide sections to fill in your notes on parts of the game you worked on, tips to remember, drills to remember, and swing thoughts to remember. These sections act as "prompts" to get you on your toes and keep you on your toes in thinking about these crucial subjects. Anyone who has done training or teaching knows that the act of writing things down helps to reinforce the ideas and keep them fresh in your mind. Having the forms all ready for you in this book makes it even easier for you to do this. The Statistics Pages are also set up in a convenient format for recording your score as well as the number of putts, fairways and greens you hit, and up and down and sand save opportunities. Plus there is an area to record strengths this round, areas for improvement, swing thoughts for the next round, strategies next time you play the course, and what to practice most before the next round. This gets you to think about a lot more than your score and helps give you detailed insight into both your physical and mental tendencies, which is a productive and effective way to improve your game. Another tool in the book which will help your game is the Set and Achieve Your Golf Goals Pages, with sections to write your goals, your plan of attack, the date to be accomplished, and the outcome. Here again, it keeps you on your toes and on-track. The book also offers some good practical tips on swing thoughts, course management, pre-shot routine, how to practice more effectively, and golf in the off-season.

Altogether, this is a practical, insightful and highly usable book that is a great tool for effectively identifying strengths, weaknesses, and trends in your game, which is a critical step in golf improvement that is often glazed over or even overlooked. It also helps with the critical step of looking ahead and developing both mental and physical game strategies, all of which increases the likelihood you will achieve your goals. As an advocate of the "blended" (mental and physical), mindful, organized Positive Golf approach to the game, I give this book a thumbs up for format, content, and usability and encourage other Positive Golfers to consider it for helping with organization and persistence in your golf improvement. You will be more aware of your tendencies and more tuned in to your game! For more details, check it out at www.the20thhole.com.

Here's to great golf!

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

Positive Golf Improvement Project for 2009

2009-04-04T21:25:00.000-07:00

While I continually practice using mental golf techniques and other Positive Golf ideas in all aspects of my game, I also pick one area for particular focus as my Positive Golf Improvement Project for the year. This practice gives structure and focus to my improvement efforts and helps to keep me from getting overwhelmed and "scattered" with too many improvement activities. It also helps me to stick with it and stay on track throughout the season. My wife, a beginning golfer, also picks a Positive Golf Improvement Project for particular focus each season as well. You can read about our previous projects in the archives of this blog. This approach has helped both of us experience more success in achieving our desired changes and improvements to our games than when we took a less formal approach of just saying what we wanted to improve but not having any structure to it. I have referred to the term "smart practice" in this blog before, which is practice with structure and purpose; a similar term of "smart improvement" can be applied to the approach of using a Positive Golf Improvement Project.

As we have chosen and carried out these golf improvement projects eash season in recent years, the format has evolved into an approach that incorporates all the key elements of Positive Golf that assure more effectiveness and success, including Positive Goals and a Positive Plan that incorporates both mental and physical elements. You can download a template for this approach by CLICKING HERE. Here are the Positive Golf Improvement Projects for 2009 put together by my wife Christy and me using this template. I will post updates on our progress throughout the season and include any new insights and ideas we have learned along the way. We encourage other golfers to use this approach as well and we invite you to share your feedback and experiences on this blog. When you implement a Positive Golf Improvement Project for one key area of your game, you are sure to see the "ripple effect" of positive improvements showing up in other areas of your game as well!

My Positive Golf Improvement Project for 2009:

Positive Goal:

To achieve a greater degree of balance throughout my golf swing so that I have more solid impact.

Positive Plan:

Physical Elements---

- Practice using better posture in the address position, with straighter, cleaner angles.
- Practice placing the ball a couple of inches back in my stance, so that my hands are more ahead of the clubhead.
- Practice feeling a consistent level of weight pressure on my left foot during my swing.
- Practice moving more weight to my left side by shifting my head, upper body, and hips (as a unit) an inch or two to the left so that I feel an increse of weight pressure directly over my left foot.
- Practice the "rotation drill" to get the feel of the preferred motion that promotes balance.
- Practice the high right hip/right leg "stability post" position by first swinging in slow motion. Strive to feel like my midsection is rotating up to the hip rather than on to the leg.
- Practice in front of a mirror to compare what I'm feeling with what I'm seeing.

Mental Elements---

- Continue to practice letting go of the idea that I need to use extra effort to hit at the ball.
- Practice tuning in to the feeling of a stable lower body foundation as I swing down to impact.
- Practice using the mental image of a totally connected elastic body.
- Remind myself that all motion is primarily rotational in nature, as opposed to lateral or sideways.

Affirmations---
- I tune in to feeling the movement of my hips and legs.
- I allow myself to rotate my weight as I follow through in the swing.
- I trust that my swing is held on a set track that is in harmony with my body rotation.
- I tune in to feeling a stable lower body foundation.

Positive Golf Improvement Project for 2009 for my wife, a beginning golfer:

Positive Goal:

To develop a tempo in my swing that is smooth and consistent, versus a jerky hitting at the ball that results from trying too hard.

Positive Plan:

Physical Elements---

- Practice swinging in slow motion.
- Pratice the "playground swing drill" to get the feel of an effortless swing rhythm.
- Check the grip pressure before each swing and tune in to keeping it consistent without extra tightening.
- Practice the "gravity drill" of letting the hands and arms drop down from the backswing with no extra effort and no extra grip pressure.
- Practice using a consistent pre-shot routine that includes one or two relaxed practice swings.

Mental Elements---

- Practice reducing self-doubt and putting "distance pressure" on myself.
- Practice letting go of the idea that I need to try to hit the ball with extra effort and focus instead on the idea of allowing the natural swing to happen.
- Practice tuning in my awareness to noticing and remembering the feel of the effortless swing motion.
- Before swinging, think "relax, slow down, swing smooth."

Affirmations---

- I release the need to control the club.
- I release the idea that more physical effort alone creates more power.
- I release the belief that I must keep trying harder to hit the ball farther.
- I am tuned in to a greater awareness of a natural swinging motion.
- I relax, let go, and let it flow.

Here's to great golf improvement!

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

Getting Rid of the "Demons"

2009-02-25T19:31:00.000-08:00

Mental Golf Tidbit: The road to meltdowns is usually filled with mental "demons," and the road to hard-fought success is usually filled with the battles of conquering these demons.

It was great to see Phil pull through and win the Northern Trust Open at Riviera over the weekend. More than one report pointed out that he had to "bury some demons" along the way in order to achieve his success. One of these demons was, of course, the meltdown two years ago when he had a one-shot lead until making a sloppy bogey on 18 and then losing in a playoff. There have been other demons along the way as well, including other unfortunate scenarios and some powerful mental golf challenges like self-doubt that eroded his mindset and his physical game.

It's really motivating to see a pro like Phil, or any player for that matter, achieve success after sticking with it and working through their "mental stuff." I was fortunate to be at the 2004 Masters, right there on the approach to 18 when Phil sunk his putt and leaped into the air in absolute relief and joy at burying some long-time demons and making the way for the thoughts, feelings, and actions that took him to the pinnacle of the success of winning the Masters.

Every player has "demons," and every player can overcome them. In either case, you don't have to be a player on the Tour. Phil is a great example but not an exception that shows it only happens with the elite players. Every player reading this post (and the one writing it) has one (usually more) "demons" that interfere with the effective mental and physical flow that supports your game. There is no doubt - "demons" interfere with your game - they distract you, they hold you back, and they keep you from playing your best. The "demons" may be a chronic negative mental habit or a negative golf experience you can't let go of. Below is a list of some common "demons." Look it over and see if anything sounds familiar or reminds you of something else not on the list. Then, go "tackle" this demon with a new awareness and clear it out of your mind. Be persistent and stick with it, and you too can be smiling like Phil at moving past some "stuff" and enjoying some great positive golf experiences.

Some "Demons" That Interfere With Your Game:

1. Hanging on to (dwelling on) previous poor shots.
2. Hanging on to (dwelling on) previous meltdowns/collapses/bad rounds.
3. Habitual and persistent self-doubt.
4. Freezing up on the first tee out of fear others are watching and judging you and you might hit a poor shot.
5. Freezing up on pressure shots out of fear others are watching and judging you and your might miss it.
6. Getting angry at poor shots and holding on to that anger for additional holes or even throughout your rounds.
7. Habitually comparing yourself to others and how your game measures up to theirs.
8. Habitually trying to hard and using "overeffort" to hit better and play better.
9. Habitually distracted with judgement - judging how you are playing and/or wondering how others are judging your playing.
10. Habitually thinking you are too old, too inflexible, too..., etc. to play a decent game.

For some more tips on identifying and conquering these "demons" that intefere with your game, check out the soon-to-be-released Positive Golf Handbook. It will help you "clear out the clutter" in your mind and play the game more effectively. Here's to getting rid of those "demons" and having a lot more positive golf experiences!

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

Positive Golf Kudos to a Great Golf Ambassador

2009-01-31T20:45:00.000-08:00

One of the Positive Golf practices that I regularly recommend to new and experienced players alike is to have a Positive Golf mentor - someone who exhibits strong mental golf skills, smart practice and playing, and an enthusiasm and respect for the game. It may be a playing partner, someone you regularly observe at the course, or a Tour pro that you follow online and on television. In my case, I have been very fortunate to have relatives that have been shining examples of Positive Golf thinking and playing. They have inspired me in my approach to the game and also inspired the attitudes and techniques that I pass along through our books, blog, and website. One of these great mentors, my aunt, Phyllis Semple, passed away recently at age 87. Her impact on me and on literally hundreds of people in the local, regional, and national golf community has been so profound that I am moved to write this Positive Golf kudos to her. I hope it inspires those who read it to find their own Positive Golf mentors and strive to be fully aware and appreciative of their wisdom.

Phyllis Semple was known as "the first lady of golf" in Western Pennsylvania. Her passion was profound and her activities and accomplishments were many. Among her golf titles, she won the Western Pennsylvania Championship six times, the Pennsylvania State Senior Championship twice, a North and South Senior Championship, 16 club championships at Allegheny Country Club, the United States Senior Championship and was captain of the Women's U.S. Amateur team that competed in Portugal in 1976. Additionally, she served with the Women's Golf Association of Western Pennsylvania, was President of the Pennsylvania State Golf Association, was on the board of the Women's Eastern Golf Association and the Women's Western Golf Association. She also was a member of the USGA's Women's Committee for fifteen years and on the USGA's Museum Committee for ten years.

In the midst of these myriad golf activities and accomplishments, what Phyllis Semple was known for on a "day to day" basis was her positive mental attitude and approach. She consistently practiced it for herself and regularly passed it along to others. These are some of the things that really stand out:

1. Her Can-Do Attitude: Phyllis Semple was often heard to say on the practice range and the course, "I can do it." One of the especially great examples of this was two years ago when she made two holes-in-one in the same round (at age 85!) at the St. Andrews Club, a par-3 course in Delray Beach, FL. After the first one, she said to her daughter who was playing with her, "I can do it again." And sure enough, she did! Whenever Phyllis said, "I can do it," she really meant it and she believed it. She also passed this attitude along to others. Many golfers she has known can recount a story when Phyllis inspired them by saying, "I know you can do it," when they were feeling doubtful about an aspect of their game.

2. Her "No Excuses" Approach: Phyllis Semple did not use excuses about anything regarding her practicing and playing - not the weather, age, health, equipment - not anything. She battled lupus for 35 years and did not use that as an excuse in her practicing or playing. When something was off in her game, she took responsibility for it and set out to get to the source of the problem. And when the weather was hot or cool or drizzly and lots of folks stayed home, she would still be at the range or the course (yes, when she was in her eighties). It always made me smile on "inclement" days like that when I drove to the club to practice or play and I would see her car parked there with its "TEERUP" license plate. It was not unusual on those less-than-perfect weather days for she and I to be the only ones at the practice range. And practice we did - no standing around and making excuses about the weather!

3. Her "Always Keep Improving" Approach: Phyllis Semple was perenially dedicated to improving her game. Each year, she had a key element she was working on. Several years ago, when she was about eighty, she was "testing" different grips like "the claw" as she was working on improving her putting. One year it was her drives and another her short game. And she worked on this improvement all year, not just a "burst" at the beginning. Every day she practiced her latest "project" with focus, dedication, and determination. She kept me and others on our toes too. "What are you working on?" she would ask. "Stick with it," she would say later in the season.

Yes indeed, there is no doubt that the attitudes and the games of many golfers in Western Pennsylvania and beyond, myself included, have been enriched by Phyllis Semple. The ripple effects from her positivity will be felt for years to come. I give Positive Golf kudos in abundance to this great golf golf ambassador and great lady.

Here's to great mentors and great golf!

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

A Golf Improvement Question to Ask Yourself - Are You Using "Positive Practice?"

2009-01-20T11:54:00.000-08:00

"Positive Practice" is an excellent concept that has helped me experience greater success in my golf improvement. Positive Practice is practice that is organized and focused on specific golf improvement goals rather than just "hitting balls" for an hour or two. What sets it apart is that it has action and direction, like drills and techniques, specifically related to certain goals. Whereas unfocused practice doesn't always lead to change and can actually reinforce incorrect technique, Positive Pracice is more productive and conducive to improvement in the specific areas it is focused upon. You may have heard the term "smart practice" or "practice with a purpose" from prominent teachers like Pia Nilsson and Lynn Marriott and others. In fact, in their book, "Every Shot Must Have a Purpose," Nilsson and Marriott emphasize that great play begins with thoughtful practice. What I have done is put a positive twist on the "smart practice" idea and incorporated Positive Golf ideas into the practice time to make it mentally focused as well as physically focused. So, along with mechanical drills, I am also tuning in to and tuning up my focus, awareness, confidence, and sense of feel. These are the kinds of things that help make practice time more efficient and effective so you are really making the most of your time on the range and not getting the frustrated feeling later on of "all that practice and I'm still not hitting any better."

My suggestion to you is to ask yourself, "Am I using Positive Practice?" As described in the previous paragraph, this is much more than practicing with a positive attitude. Here are some things to consider when evaluating your practice time and determining if you are indeed using Positive Practice, or "practice with a purpose":

1. When you go to the practice range, do you focus primarily on hitting buckets of balls and strive to slam them as far as you can, OR do you practice different kinds of shots with different clubs, aiming for specific targets?

2. Do you go to the range with the plan of hitting balls for an hour or to keep hitting until you make three perfect shots in a row, OR do you go with the plan to focus on one or two areas of improvement with specific drills for these areas?

3. At the range, do you keep hitting away with the same kind of shots, OR do you challenge yourself to mimic different scenarios out on the course and utilize different shots for each?

The first half of each question indicates a more unfocused approach to practice and the second half indicates a Positive Practice approach. As we begin a new year and in colder climates approach a time of renewed practice activity, I encourage you to take a look at your practice habits and develop a Positive Practice approach. You will gain a lot more from your time at the range, which will help lead to more Positive Golf experiences on the course. For more tips on Positive Practice, you can subscribe to our Positive Golf newsletter - in the last issue we provided a Positive Practice tip for improving balance and solid ball contact. To view archives of our back issues and sign up to receive future issues, just CLICK HERE.

Here's to great golf!

Rick Semple
Positive Golfer
http://www.TheHeartofGolf.com

An Exceptional Example of a Positive Mental Attitude

2009-01-07T20:11:00.000-08:00

I like to pass along inspiring stories, videos, and quotes that give a motivational "boost," especially at the beginning of a new year. This clip is about a fellow with an exceptional example of a positive mental attitude. He takes "can-do" to a whole new level and sheds light on the wise old saying, "fall down five times, stand up six." Watch this clip all the way to the very end for a profound perspective on life and golf. It is sure to inspire your own can-do attitude. Remember - something is a limitation only if you believe it is a limitation. It is you choice to rise above it or let it hold you back.

CLICK HERE for some profound inspiration.

Here's to great golf!

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

Must-Read Mental Golf Books

2008-12-18T07:52:00.000-08:00

"What are the best books to read on mental golf?" I get asked this question a lot, and it's a good one. It tells me that a person is receptive to new ideas and a greater understanding, which are good qualities for a Positive Golfer. You can get mental golf ideas a lot of places (blogs and websites are certainly two of them!), but I still encourage the use of books as a primary source, whether printed or digital, so you can read and re-read the ideas, let them sink in, and then easily go back to them. This reflection and re-visiting are helpful when learning about so many aspects of the game, including the mental side. Books are a great way to build the initial foundation of an understanding of the key concepts of mental golf, and also to expand and enrich this understanding as you progress in your development. Improvement of the mental game, along with the physical game, is a continual evolution whatever your level of experience and achievement. Books were enormously valuable in my early study of the mental game, and they continue to help deepen my understanding, heighten my awareness, and learn new insights and approaches to this day. Here are some of my favorite mental books which I consider "must-reads" for anyone seeking to improve their mental and physical games. There is a good mix of classics and newer titles. I still go back to these for periodic refreshers and reminders:

- The Inner Game of Golf, by W. Timothy Gallwey
- Fearless Golf: Conquering the Mental Game, by Dr. Gio Valiante
- Extraordinary Golf: The Art of the Possible, by Fred Shoemaker and Pete Shoemaker
- The Golfer's Mind: Play to Play Great, by Bob Rotella
- The Game Before the Game: The Perfect 30-Minute Practice, by Lynn Marriott and Pia Nilsson
- Zen Golf: Mastering the Mental Game, by Joseph Parent

In the near future, I look forward to adding our soon-to-be-released book on the mental game to this list - The Positive Golf Handbook: 101 Tips, Exercises, and Techniques to Improve Your Outlook, Your Game, and Your Life. It is a how-to, hands-on, honest-to-goodness handbook to help you put the mental game concepts you have read about in the books into real-life practice. In the meantime, keep reading the mental golf books and staying receptive to new ideas!

Here's to great golf!

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

Positive Mental Golf Practices for the "Off-Season"

2008-12-03T18:13:00.001-08:00

One of the great things about the mental game is that you can easily practice skills to strengthen it, even when you aren't on the course, including during the days, weeks, or even months between rounds, which may be the case right now for some people in colder climates. The real key, however, is not just that it is fairly easy to do this mental practice in the "off-season," but it is also essential if you want your mental game, and in fact your entire game, to be in good form when you get back to the course. Having your mental game strong and tuned up is also essential if you desire any kind of golf improvement. Positive changes in your mindset are at the root of positive changes in your game. You're not going to get consistent improvement in your putting, for example, if you don't pave the way with a mindset free from excess pressure and over-effort and consisting of strong focus, positive expectations, and a keen awareness tuned in to the "feel" of the body and motion. These skills don't just conveniently "show up" at the moment you need them, no matter how much you want them to. Trying to call upon a mental skill "out of the blue" that is "rusty" from infrequent use is not the most effective approach. These skills need to be cultivated and practiced beforehand so they are natural, consistent, and well-developed. The best way to achieve this is to continually practice them on and off the course, including the "off-season" when you might not be playing for a while. This practice is more than reading or occasionally thinking about mental golf! There are some things you can do in your mind during this time to build and strengthen your Positive Golf mindset, and ultimately your entire game. Here are some key activities that will help:

1. Remember the good shots. Recalling and dwelling upon poor shots reinforces what you did wrong and what you think you "can't" do - it doesn't help you to move forward to new and better shots. Instead, practice remembering and "seeing" (in your mind) the good shots you have made in the recent past, and it will help to strengthen your confidence and "can do" attitude.

2. Stop comparing yourself to others. Here again, when you compare yourself to others, you often end up reminding yourself of what you can't do or what you should be doing and aren't doing. You end up feeling inferior and eroding your sense of confidence. While you may have a passing thought of comparing your abilities and results with others, especially when you read golf magazines or talk golf with other players, strive to focus on your own abilities, goals, and developments and the progress you are making compared to yourself. Remember, it's a game between you and the course!

3. Take note of how you "label" yourself. How you think and speak about yourself as a golfer, either in your mind or out loud in conversation with others, has an impact on how you end up playing. It's the old "self-fulfilling prophecy" concept. If you continually think of and speak of yourself as "just a hacker," "a lousy putter," or "a chronic slicer," this focus and mental energy can't help but continually show up in your physical game. Practice thinking and speaking of yourself and your game in a more positive way that is oriented to your potential rather than your shortcomings. As an example, you aren't "just a hacker," your are a golfer who loves the game, and right now you are focused on fine-tuning your tempo.

4. Tune in to the sense of feel. Effectively using the sense of "feel" is absolutely critical to playing your best golf, and it is touted by the best teachers and players. A lot of recreational players still overlook this valuable skill, however, choosing instead to focus on pounding it or sinking it, rather than the finer mental points of how to actually achieve that. Developing and using the sense of feel takes mental awareness and focus. You can use off-course time to remind yourself to take note of tuning in to the physical feeling in your hands, arms, shoulders, and legs when doing everyday activities. This will help to make it much more natural and easy to tune into feel when you are holding a club and striving to use it in a positive and effective way to achieve positive and desirable results.

The dedicated and regular practice of these mental activities in the "off-season" is sure to pay off in a stronger mindset, better preparation, and better playing when you get back to the course. As always, I invite you to share your thoughts and experiences with us here on the Positive Golf Blog.

Here's to great golf!

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

Positive Golf Kudos

2008-11-10T05:17:00.000-08:00

This week, I am inspired to give Positive Golf Kudos to my cousin Carol Semple Thompson. On Monday, November 10, Carol is going to be inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in the Lifetime Achievement Category. I am truly bursting with pride at this recognition, not only because she is my cousin but because she is such an exceptional example of a supreme golfer and a fine human being. She truly shines both on and off the course. Her accomplishments are many and include competing in 109 USGA events (winning seven of them), qualifying for 32 U.S. Women's Opens, winning two Mid-Am titles, winning four Senior Amateur titles in a row, competing on a record 12 Curtis Cup squads, and becoming one of only 11 women to win both the U.S. Women's Amateur and British Ladie's Open Amateur. Most recently, she captained her second consecutive Curtis Cup team to victory over Great Britain and Ireland in May 2008 at the Old Course at St. Andrews. Off the course, Carol has served as a member of the Executive Committee of the USGA and was the recipient of the 2003 Bob Jones Award, which is the highest honor given by the USGA in recognition of distinguished sportsmanship in golf.

Whether Carol is on the practice range or in the midst of a competition, she truly embodies the qualities of a Positive Golfer. She has long been a believer and practitioner of positive mental golf, regularly using the skills of relaxation, visualization, and positive expectation. Her focus is superb, her senses of feel and awareness are fine-tuned, and her tempo is smooth and consistent - there is no forced trying and over-effort in her swing. She exhibits a great respect for herself and other players, and it is a true joy to play a round with her. Many people, myself included, are inspired with a renewed can-do attitude after such a round.

Monday, November 10 is a great day for the game of golf and the principles of Positive Golf that we strive to practice and pass along, which are expressed so greatly by my cousin Carol Semple Thompson. I encourage you to watch the Induction Ceremony live on the Golf Channel from 9:00 to 11:00 PM on that date. Carol will be inducted at that time, along with other inductees in the class of 2008, including Bob Charles, Pete Dye, Herbert Warren Wind, Craig Wood, and Denny Shute. It's quite a group, and quite an opportunity to honor them and honor all aspects of the game. CLICK HERE for more details.

Here's to great golf!

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

What Is the "Secret" to More Distance?

2008-10-01T13:59:00.000-07:00

With the writing and publication of my new e-book, Goodbye Hit, Hello Swing, Part III, "Swing Power," The Stress-Free Solution for More Distance, I have been really tuned in to ideas and practices related to speed, acceleration, and distance. The concept of "gradual acceleration," which is at the heart of speed and distance, can be a hard one to explain and understand. But believe me, it makes a tremendous difference (as opposed to trying to produce speed with a sudden burst or jolt). Here is a good metaphor I recently came across in the interesting little book called "Golffirmations" by Hugh O'Neill. Keep this idea in mind the next time you go to the practice range or the course. And for more guidance, check out my book by CLICKING HERE.

Try working this automotive metaphor into your golf consciousness, and it can help you start the downswing with ease. This idea is courtesy of Mickey Wright, who won 82 times on the LPGA tour, including an astonishing 50 victories over 5 years:

You can't take a car from a dead stop and put it immediately up to 70 miles per hour. No matter how powerful your engine, you must have a gradual acceleration of speed. So it is in a golf swing.

So, the "secret" is the concept of "gradual." Plant this idea in your mind and work with it in your physical game and watch what develops...

Here's to a great swing!

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

What Is Interfering With Your Swing?

2008-09-15T08:10:00.000-07:00

Is improving your swing at the top of your "golf improvement list?" Did you spend a lot of time and effort this summer trying to improve your swing and are still hoping that will happen? It's likely there are some things "getting in the way" of your optimum swing that you didn't realize...

Recently, I published a post about "What Are You Holding On To That Is Holding Back Your Game," with the main point being that it is a common mental practice (although not usually realized by the individuals) for golfers to hang on to bad shots, bad golf moments, and general negativity which has the unfortunate consequences of weighing you down, holding you back, and leading to less-than-positive golf experiences. All of those "could haves," "should haves," and "if onlys" literally take away from mental energy that could otherwise be put to good use on constructive thoughts that will help your game. There is a lot of mental energy you can be putting to good use!

In the same way, there are a lot of things we do, both mentally and physically, that interferes with our swing. It is a fact that the natural motion and path of the swing is literally "at our fingertips" and is ready to repeat itself smoothly, easily, and effortlessly, but all too often we disrupt the ideal motion by what we think and do. I understand this because I have experienced it myself first-hand. Fortunately, I was able to get to the heart of the problem and figure out what I was thinking and doing to interfere with the ideal, natural swing. The results were so outstanding - including more power and distance - that I wrote a book about it which was just published called GOODBYE HIT, HELLO SWING, PART III - "Swing Power," The Stress-Free Solution for More Distance. The ideas, insight, and drills in the book are practical, do-able, and effective. For starters, here are ten common mental and physical game tendencies (we are usually doing without our realization) that interfere with the natural swing motion, causing errant shots and other problems, even when we think we are doing "all the right things." Read over the list and see if any of these practices are familiar to you. This could be the "clue" you need to "get over the hump" and really make a difference in your swing improvement. Feel free to add a comment about your own experiences with recognizing and "stopping the interference" and enjoying the freedom and satisfaction of the flow of your natural swing motion.

Common Mental and Physical Tendencies That Interfere With The Natural Swing Motion:

1. The mistaken mental belief that you need to use more physical "doing" to achieve more distance.
2. The resulting physical practice of attempting to gain more speed and more distance by using more effort.
3. The physical techniques of trying to "power it out there," "muscle" the shots with your upper body, or "goose it" early on in the downward motion.
4. The physical techniques of deliberately attempting to force more speed toward the ball or trying to power the clubhead at the ball in order to "hit it far."
5. The mistaken mental belief that you are the source of power, or that you have to "create" power.
6. The mistaken mental idea that speed is something that must be produced in a sudden fashion with a sudden " burst" or "jolt."
7. The practice of interfering with the clubhead swinging down on a tilted arc by trying too hard to "make" it happen "right."
8. The practice of trying too hard to groove the "timing" of a perfect release.
9. The practice of focusing so much on effort, trying, and timing that you aren't tuned in to awareness and the feel of the natural swinging action.
10. The practice of not trusting gravity and thus forcing rather than allowing your hands (and arms) to drop by means of the power of gravity (versus your forced "effort).

Rather than continuing to think and practice the effort-oriented approach to trying and trying to power it out there, open up to the idea that these are the mental and physical tendencies you need to address to achieve real swing improvement and more positive golf experiences. Remember - trying harder often means interfering more and actually achieving less (distance).

Here's to a stress-free approach!

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

Top 5 Ways The Olympics Have Helped My Golf Game

2008-08-26T08:09:00.000-07:00

Like so many people, I have enjoyed watching the Olympic Games for the past 17 days. I have enjoyed viewing them for many reasons, with a primary one being that it helps my golf game. Even though golf is not part of the Olympics at this time, there are still a lot of beneficial things to be learned from a mental and athletic standpoint that can be applied to golf. The ideas and inspiration from athletes in a variety of sports can successfully be applied to golf, and many other aspects of life for that matter. Here are the top five ideas that stood out for me in the past couple of weeks and served as valuable reminders and motivators for my mental golf mindset and golf improvement activities:

1. Look forward, not backward. Let go of misses and mistakes and look forward to positive possibilities and outcomes. Don't dwell on what went wrong because that will hold you back. The past is the past, period.

2. Take responsibility - don't blame. It comes down to you on the course, the court, the track, the pool, or wherever. Blaming mistakes or poor performance on other people or conditions (i.e. heat) does not help anything, because while you are blaming and complaining other competitors are not - they are focusing on things that help their performance instead, and it shows.

3. Don't get affected by limiting ideas about "age." Don't buy into common ideas and beliefs that you can't do certain things once you reach a "certain age." There were several shining examples of athletes past what is traditionally considered "prime competitive age" who blew people out of the water (no pun intended) with their attitudes and performances. These athletes weren't "superhuman," but they each had a super attitude that did not focus on what are "supposed" to be the "limitations" of age (i.e. You're old and stiff and "over-the-hill" past 40.) They really get the idea that "You're as old as you think."

4. Believe that you can do it. Time and again, the athletes who surprised with their performances, did the seemingly "impossible," or just stuck with it and went on to win expressed this can-do attitude in follow-up interviews. They showed us the supreme value of believing in yourself and knowing that, yes, you can do what you put your mind to when you absolutely believe in yourself. This applies just as much to achieving a goal in golf as it does to achieving an Olympics medal.

5. Always strive to improve. Here again, those shining stars on the court, the track, and in the pool make frequent reference to their continual efforts to improve, whether it be their form, their time, or their strength. Their years of preparation, out of the public eye of the Olympics, are filled with days and days of dedication to improvement. And they fully embrace the idea of improvement - watching videos, seeking feedback, building their bodies and their minds. They strive for practice that is positive and productive, not merely repetition. And yes, this approach is just as beneficial for golf improvement for the recreational golfer as it is for the Olympic athlete! Take the open, receptive, and persistent approach to improvement and stick with it!

These are the "Olympic ideas" that have re-charged me and my game. I would like to learn about the ideas that helped others. Feel free to add a comment to the blog...

Here's to great golf!

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

The Path to a Repeatable Swing

2008-08-14T16:40:00.001-07:00

Starting in January, I have been making posts about my Positive Golf Improvement Projects for 2008 for both the physical and mental aspects of my game. For the physical game, I have chosen to focus on "increasing the repeatability of my swing by more consistently accessing the feeling of my positive golf swing motion."

Ah yes, the repeatable swing. What a lot of people don't realize is that the successful path to a repeatable golf swing is not just filled with hitting buckets and buckets of balls while trying every mechanical swing tip in the book. It actually starts with letting go of some old beliefs and thoughts about the golf swing, as well as some negative habits and tendencies, all of which block the smooth, natural flow of what really helps lead to a repeatable swing. And what is that? Here are a couple of remarks from the great teacher Fred Shoemaker in his book Extraordinary Golf that will give you a clue: "The ability to experience - to be aware and to feel - is what creates trust"..."You can never really trust your swing if you can't feel it." In the same way that awareness and feeling are essential to building trust, they are also essential to developing a repeatable swing. How? By enabling you to tune in to the instincts, images, and motions that are natural and dependable and essentially "want" to repeat themselves.

A pure, unrestricted swinging motion wants to repeat time after time. You just need to "get out of the way" of this natural, repeating motion by letting go of ideas and actions (like fear, tension, and over-effort) that get in the way.

So, what are some restrictive, inhibiting things that I have practiced to "let go of" on my path to a repeatable swing? Here are a few:

- the misconception I needed to try to hit the ball hard to make it go farther
- self-doubt in my abilities
- fear I would hit another poor shot
- continuing judgement of every aspect of my swing
- pressure on myself to stay "up to date" on trying all of the latest swing tips

Letting go of these things helped to "free up" my mindset to the flow of awareness and feeling and allowed my mind to focus instead on repeatable swing ideas and actions, such as:

- the idea and motion of the "no effort" golf swing
- the feel of the timing and acceleration of the natural swing motion
- allowing the body to take maximum advantage of natural forces that create power and speed

Embracing this approach to developing a repeatable swing has been a powerful and positive experience for me that has led to much success. So much so that at The Heart of Golf we have published two e-books on the subject this year, Goodbye Hit, Hello Swing Parts I and II, with Part III being released in the next month. The path to a repeatable swing, like the path to all golf improvement, is one that I continue to tread, with new ideas, developments, and evolution happening all the time. I look forward to sharing the ideas and experiences that have helped me and welcome hearing about how these ideas have helped others to have more positive, repeatable golf swing experiences. Please share your comments here on the blog!

Here's to great golf!

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

Small Changes Can Make A World of Difference

2008-08-07T14:33:00.000-07:00

Two factors contributed greatly to Greg Norman's magnificent showing at last month's British Open. One of them he candidly stated when asked about leading after 54 holes. "Obviously I played well enough to put myself in this position," said Norman. "That comes from a good, safe, happy mind in a lot of ways. I'm very content in my mind..."

Naturally one needs to have the ability (which Norman had), but how we perform with our ability, at any level, is determined by our state of mind, which in turn determines our flow of thoughts. Sometimes we can use a little "reminder" of just how powerful and influential our minds are in our golf game. Norman's performance at Royal Birkdale was a shining example of this fact.

The other interesting factor was the small change Norman made in his set up. Moving closer to the ball wasn't something "new." It was a return to the way he set up in his "heyday." Another good lesson for the rest of us. With all the "swing information" floating around out there, we often tend (knowingly or unknowingly) to move away from things that have worked well in the past, in search of something better. A wiser choice, in many instances, is to return to the fundamentals and reunite with the ideas and feelings which inspired confidence and nice shot making on our "good days."

With a bit of mental effort, almost all of us can recall that, When I drove it well, I used to do this, or During those great putting rounds, I felt a certain way. Well, what are we waiting for? These things used to work, and they still will!

Small changes, even so small as a couple of inches this way or that, can make a world of difference - in our mind. We change the way we feel, and the feeling is directly impressed on our golf game. Keep this in mind when you are starting to think you need to do a "major overhaul" to fix your swing. Remember - small changes can make a world of difference!

Here's to great golf!

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

What Are You Hanging On To That Is Holding Back Your Game?

2008-07-14T19:03:00.000-07:00

Did you know that hanging on to bad shots, bad golf moments, and general negativity is one of the most prevalent mental practices that weighs golfers down, holds them back, and leads to less-than-positive golf experiences? It permeates the entire mental golf psyche and distracts from focus, visualization, and awareness. In fact, all of those "could haves," "should haves," and "if onlys" take away from mental energy that could otherwise be put to good use on constructive thoughts that will help your game.

So what exactly is "hanging on?" It is a mental habit of actively keeping thoughts and memories of past negative actions and experiences in mind by dwelling on them, frequently recalling or "replaying" them, and allowing them to linger and fester and take the place of otherwise helpful thoughts and memories.

And what is it that golfers hang on to in their minds? The specifics vary from person to person, of course, but the common factors include:

Memories and thoughts of ---
- bad shots
- bad rounds
- bad tendencies
- mistakes and "flaws"
- "ruts" you have been or are stuck in

Plus negative mental habits and tendencies such as ---
- Fear
- Anger
- Frustration
- Worry
- Self-Doubt
- Self-Comparison
- Blame
- Dread
- Resentment/Envy
- Misconception that you need to try harder

"Hanging on" is a negative mental habit I have grappled with in the past, and it definitely affected my game. I would get so preoccupied with hanging on to the memory of a missed putt or errant drive that I would lose focus on my current shots and strategy, and then my game would suffer. I have known others who have hung on to bad shots for an entire round and even afterward, and they would keep talking about it. Thinking of your own game, you can probably recall some examples of "hanging on." What is it that you tend to hang on to? Maybe it's the memories of missed putts and poor shots like I did. You'll be doing yourself a favor by taking notice of this tendency, then doing something to curb it or cut it short.

A helpful tip that helped me to reduce my tendency for "hanging on" and is something I continue to practice is:

Consciously focus you attention on remembering the positive and letting go of the negative. Practice filling your "memory bank" with memories of good shots and positive outcomes and not "storing" thoughts of mistakes, problems, and poor shots. Think of it like putting thoughts of the negative moments in the trash. Leave your past in the past!

We'll have more practical tips on curbing this negative mental tendency for "hanging on" in our soon-to-be-released Positive Golf Handbook. Leave a comment on this blog about what you tend to hang on to on the course, and I'll email you some more of these tips.

Here's to great golf!

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

Positive Golf Improvement Project Update II

2008-06-26T05:19:00.000-07:00

Recently, I posted an update and tips related to the Positive Golf Improvement Project I had chosen for this year (see May 12, 2008 posting). This post is for the purpose of giving an update and tips related to the projects chosen by my wife, which were first shared here in January 2008. As a refresher, here they are:

Positive Golf Improvement Project: To develop a smooth, repeatable chip shot and consistently chip the ball within ten feet of the hole.

Primary Positive Mental Habit for Improvement: Improve "Golf Self-Talk," or that "inner dialogue" or "inner conversation" that goes on in your mind when you are playing, and may also be expressed out loud. The goal is to give particular attention and consistent practice to changing and improving this mental skill so it is more constructive and helps rather than hinders the Positive Golf mindset.

Christy is making progress in both projects, thanks to persistent mental and physical practice, including some technical tips she got at a recent "Short Swing" Clinic she participated in at our club. Here are some tips and reminders she has been practicing in her "blended" mental/physical approach to making positive improvements in her game this year:

Mental Practice #1: Practice positive reminders as part of "golf self-talk," including the following: I AM making progress in my swing improvement, and I DO have the ability to chip the ball well.

Mental Practice #2: Practice putting less pressure on myself in my "golf self-talk." For example, stop telling myself, "I should be playing as well or better than her," or "I have to swing better than this, I have to swing better than this..." (an old, negative mantra I didn't realize I was repeating so much!)

Mental Practice #3: Practice reminding myself, I don't have to try so hard. (i.e. I don't have to use so much effort!).

Physical Practice #1: Lighten the grip pressure.

Physical Practice #2: Slow down the swing. Don't hit at the ball!

Physical Practice #3: Keep the hands forward in the follow through. Don't "flick" the wrist in an effort to hit at the ball.

Physical Practice #4: Practice, practice, practice the short swing. This will help with all of my shots, including chipping.

These are the "small," nuts-and-bolts mental and physical steps that really add up and make big differences in having Positive Golf experiences! Have you picked a Positive Golf Improvement Project and/or Primary Mental Habit for Improvement this year? If so, let us know what it is and what positive ideas and techniques have been helpful to your progress. We welcome your comments...

Here's to great golf!

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

Positive Golf Kudos

2008-06-17T10:01:00.000-07:00

This week, our Positive Golf Kudos go to both Tiger Woods and Rocco Mediate for their splendid display of great golf, both mental and physical, at the U.S. Open. Woods and Mediate each maintained an impressive and non-wavering determination to stay-the-course, despite circumstances that could potentially distract and veer them away from the situation at hand - Tiger, with a knee that kept "reminding" him it wasn't healed, and Mediate, who was faced with what most would call the world's most daunting opponent. Each expemplified a Positive Golf approach in their own unique way. Tiger, with his incredible resolve and supreme concentration, topped off with a classy, "That was a good fight," to Mediate after it was all over. And Mediate, who fearlessly rolled with the punches and kept focusing on the task at hand and absolutely enjoyed every minute of the experience. And finally, when it was all over, after losing to Tiger on the first playoff hole, still looking at the event with a positive perspective saying, "I can't really complain. I did my best," with a genuine smile and sincerity. It was a great day for each of them, a great day for the fans, and a great day for golf. And both Tiger and Mediate serve as great examples of the Positive Golf approach for other golfers who play once a day, once a week, or once a summer.

Here's to great golf!

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

US Wins Sixth Consecutive Curtis Cup

2008-06-02T08:23:00.000-07:00

It didn't get much media coverage, but it was a very impressive win nonetheless. In the midst of traditional Scottish rain, wind and chilly temperatures, and on a course where they had limited experience, Stacy Lewis and Alison Walshe went undefeated to lead the squad from the United States to a 13-7 victory over Great Britain and Ireland at the 2008 Curtis Cup Match, which concluded Sunday at the Old Course at St. Andrews.

It was the sixth consecutive win for the Americans in the Match, which features an eight-woman amateur squad from the USA against one representing England, Scotland, Northern Ireland, Ireland and Wales.

The Americans were led by Captain Carol Semple Thompson, who has played in a record 12 Curtis Cups and is a seven-time USGA champion. Semple Thompson had this to say about her team: "All credit to my players. They did a great job. They just stayed in there and finished strongly." (Positive Golf kudos to that!)

I share this news with a sense of pride for the US and for our women golfers in general, who don't always get the attention and coverage that is much deserved. I learn a lot by watching the women play, and I know others (men and women) can too. Plus, I do have a sense of family pride as well since Carol Semple Thompson is my cousin. CLICK HERE for details and photos from this great victory for Carol and the squad.

Here's to great golf!

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

Positive Golf Improvement Project Update

2008-05-12T06:39:00.001-07:00

On January 1, 2008, I made a posting regarding my primary positive mental golf habit for practice in 2008. The one I chose was to improve my golf self-image. Even after many years of playing, with a lot of great rounds, a decent handicap, and several winning championships, I still don't have a consistently strong self golf-self image (how I see myself as a golfer). This heightens other negative mental habits, like self-doubt, self-comparison, and putting pressure on myself, and it also has a negative impact on my game. The negative golf self-image and its "cousins" tend to show up in my mind early in the season, just before a competition, particularly when I have been watching other golfers who are playing really well and comparing myself to them.

Last weekend was the Spring Medal event, which opens the season at the Club where I play. It was a good opportunity for me to give some focused attention to improving my golf self-image. I had noticed my old negative golf self-image tendency cropping up, and I was saying things to myself like, I'm a lousy putter, I'm not playing as well as I should, I'll never play as good as that guy, and I'm not good enough to win the championship again. And sure enough, this was all showing up in my practice and my playing, with tension and errant shots. The day before the event, I caught myself in this old habit and made a focused effort to practice the positive. I started by reminding myself that I do have good putting ability, which I have demonstrated before and I know I can do again. I went to the putting green with the conscious intention of having a positive putting practice (not with the dread of, I will probably putt badly again). I focused on the positive putting idea about myself (I have putted well before and I know I can do it again) and focused on getting in tune with some key putting feelings in my arms and hands that led to a smooth, relaxed stroke and accurate shots. It was a good practice, and I got myself in a good mindset to prepare me for the next day.

Here are some mental golf ideas that I practiced focusing on the day of the championship to keep me on the track of a positive golf self-image and a positive game:

1. I focused on my own game - my own abilities, my own targets, my own strategies - rather than focusing on others and how I was playing compared to them.

2. I focused on the things I can do, and I was doing well, rather than dwelling on weaknesses and mistakes that would erode my confidence.

3. I focused on playing the game to the best of my ability, rather than putting the pressure on myself of thinking, "You've won this before and people are expecting you to win this again."

These mental practices helped me to be more relaxed and confident than I had been so far this season, and I played better than I had so far. I was pleased with my putting too. Did I win the Spring Medal? No, I didn't, although I did tie for second in low gross, and I made sure to focus on the positivity of that (rather than dwelling on what I had not accomplished).

I am glad to be off to a good start this season, and with more practice on my positive golf self-image, blended with my repeatable swing drills, I am looking forward to a summer of great golf.

Here's to great golf for you too!

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

P.S. To learn how you can use other Positive Golf ideas like this to improve your game, check out our Golf Improvement Super Special - six e-books for a super price until May 15!

The chicken or the egg question: Which comes first - the mental game or the physical game?

2008-04-14T05:25:00.000-07:00

Which comes first, the mental game or the physical game? We get this question a lot, and it's a good one. My answer is always the same - you need to work on both of them together. Many are under the mistaken impression that you wait until you have a super swing and an excellent game and "go pro" or play in championships at your club, then you use the mental stuff to fine-tune your game and "psych out" the competition. The truth is, mental golf is valuable for every golfer at every experience level to use all the time. As an example, if you are striving to improve your swing but not getting the results you desire, it is likely that negative mental golf habits like self-doubt, self-induced pressure, fear, and old beliefs about your abilities and technique are limiting your improvement. On the other hand, you may have a beautiful swing and a superb game, but you experience a series of bad shots or bad rounds. Here again, it is likely that you are inhibiting your swing and your performance with mental habits like self-doubt, self-induced pressure, fear, holding on to the memory of bad shots, and old beliefs like inclement weather "makes" you play poorly. Even if you are using a positive mental technique like visualization, these other negative mental habits are going to get in your way and interfere with your swing and your game. It happens to the best of them, including Tiger Woods.

The key to remember is that you want to be working on your mental game and your physical game together, all the time, regardless of where you are in your experience level or the way you are playing at the moment. (In other words, you don't wait until you're in a pressure situation or you've reached the "upper echelon" and you're trying to fine-tune your game.) We call this concurrent practice of the mental and physical games "the blend that makes the difference" - we know that the mental game sets the stage and has a profound influence on the physical game, and they should always be practiced together - no waiting for the "right" moment or the "right" level of your physical game. And one more key thing to remember is this - mental golf is much, much more than visualizing good shots or "psyching out" your competition. There are so many factors to mental golf, in fact, that we have been working for nearly a year to create a Positive Golf Handbook to help golfers understand, address, and strengthen these factors in order to boost their game. In the book, we address nearly twenty critical mental golf factors!

Over the weekend, there were some excellent examples at the Masters of some of these points I am making. In an interview after his excellent round on Saturday, Paul Casey said that to prepare for the Masters, he worked on his fitness, his swing, and his mental game. (A good, well-rounded approach that included all the key elements of an optimum game, I might add.) Paul also said that during the Masters, he was also practicing "rebounding"- letting go of bad shots and not letting them hang over him, but "moving on" instead. He was also savoring the moment and allowing himself to "have fun" (which helps the body relax and the swing to flow). In contrast to this, we could see what happened to Tiger Woods when negativity crept into his mental game. Even the best swing in the world is affected by negative self-talk and self-induced pressure. David Farady said this about Tiger: "He's been battling against himself more than anything else." Tiger may have been visualizing great shots, but tension and anxiety definitely got in the way.

And then there was Trevor Immelman and Brandt Snedeker who were a joy and an inspiration to watch and to listen to in their interviews. A lot of great, positive mental golf techniques were expressed by them and also pointed out by the commentators (particularly Nick Faldo who does an exceptional job at highlighting the mental side of the game). Here is a highlight of the mental techniques used by these two great young players who expressed such poise and did not succumb to pressure from without or from within. Note the mix of mental techniques they use - it's not just about focus and visualization, although these are part of the mix - it is a combination of multiple positive factors:

For Brandt Snedeker:

1. Be patient.
2. Rebound - let go of those bad shots and move on.
3. Trust your swing - analyze, choose, then go.
4. Allow yourself to have fun.

For Trevor Immelman:

1. Positive, complete preparation - "no stone unturned"
2. Determination
3. Belief in yourself and your abilities - "I can do it!"
4. Focus on your game - don't get bogged down in self-comparison and focusing on what the other person/people are doing

These are practical, real-life mental skills that can (and should!) be practiced by any golfer at any level - and practiced all the time, right along with the practice of your physical game. Remember - don't wait or hold off on practicing mental skills (the physical game doesn't come first - they are done together). The mental game should be practiced by every golfer in every round as a regular, natural part of your game. That is when you will realize greater satisfaction and greater success. To help you with this, we offer a series of golf improvement books that give real-life tips and exercises on blending mental and physical techniques to cure your slice, improve your swing, and develop an effortless, repeatable swing. Take advantage of our Golf Improvement Super Special (6 e-books for $47 until April 30) and get a collection of books to help you transform your mindset, your swing, and your game.

Remember - always keep the mental game "in the mix" of what you do on the practice range and on the course!

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

New Mental Golf Videos

2008-04-11T05:25:00.000-07:00

We have made some great new Positive Golf Quick Mental Game Tip videos and posted them on TheHeartofGolf page on YouTube. This is another step we are taking to help make mental golf skills and practices more practical, do-able, and successful for every golfer. As you are watching the Masters this weekend, remember that these are the kinds of inner game "secrets" that are practiced persistently and consistently by the greatest golfers. These are the things that form the foundation of improvement, consistency, success, and positive golf experiences on the course, not just for the pros but for every golfer. Listen carefully to the commentators at the Masters this weekend and you are sure to pick up some mental golf tips you can use on the course next week. And, watch our new Mental Golf Videos for some more great tips to build your inner game, and ultimately your physical game.

Here's to great golf!

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

Positive Golf Kudos

2008-03-18T13:44:00.000-07:00

This week, I am inspired to give Positive Golf Kudos to Tiger Woods in relation to his winning the Arnold Palmer Invitational golf tournament at Bay Hill. Tiger plays all aspects of the game so brilliantly, but of particular note is the strength of his mental game, which paves the way for the rest of his performance. This week gave us another prime example. As you know, he was tied with Bart Bryant coming in to the 18th hole, a high pressure situation for a golfer of any caliber. In preparing for the shot, it was what Woods thought - which led to what he did - that was so positive, productive, and powerful. Rather than cave in to negative, doubtful thoughts that would lead to tension, tightening, and quickening in his body, Woods kept telling himself, "I've done it before and I can do it again." This is how he described it: "I was so into the moment of the putt going in and winning the golf tournament. I kept telling myself, 'I've done this before.' I did it against Phil. And this time, it's a little bit deeper into the green, and the putt has a little more break, and it has a little more grain. I've done it before and I can do it again." He was referring to Phil Mickelson in 2001, the last time Woods made a birdie on the 72nd hole for a one-shot victory. And as we know, Woods made that 25-foot "miracle putt" at Bay Hill for a one-shot victory.

"I did it before and I can do it again" is a perfect example of utilizing the mental practice of remembering the good shots to help boost your confidence, something I referred to in my previous posting. The mental techniques that Woods uses are not, in and of themselves, "miraculous" or reserved for the "upper echelon." They are techniques that every golfer can use. The key is that Woods utilizes them so consistently and with such feeling and belief. He sets a superb example for utilizing Positive Golf mental practices that lead to outstanding Positive Golf experiences. Kudos to Tiger and kudos to all who strive to practice positive mental skills with diligence, belief, and enthusiasm!

Here's to great golf!

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

Positive Golf Tip - Remember the Good Shots

2008-03-13T13:48:00.001-07:00

In my posting on January 1, 2008, I shared the "Primary Positive Mental Habit" that I had selected for extra practice in the coming year, and that is "Improve my golf self-image." I promised to give some ideas and tips that helped me in my practice throughout the season. Today, I'm sharing a tip from our forthcoming Positive Golf Handbook. The tip actually appears in the section of the book on Reducing Self-Doubt, but it is just as helpful for Improving Golf Self-Image (which has a lot to do with reducing self-doubt!). Here's the tip as it appears in the book. This is something that you can begin to practice right now when you are on and off the course. It really is the "little" things like this, when practiced consistently, that add up in a BIG way to boost confidence, self-image, and your entire golf mindset. Try it out...

Remember the Good Shots---

Confidence is invariably rooted in prior experiences, so we need something to draw on. - Dr. Gio Valiante in FEARLESS GOLF

A quality of successful golfers who practice mental habits that cultivate, rather than diminish, confidence, is that they remember the good shots and focus on these successes, rather than dwell on failures. So, it is not only that they positively interpret and "frame" obstacles and mistakes in a productive way, but it is also what they give focus and attention to as they move forward. The key is that successful golfers look at these mistakes in a productive way and learn from them, then they move on. Rather than continually looking back at these mistakes and filling themselves with fear and doubt, they focus on remembering the good shots they have hit, especially in challenging situations, and this gives them the powerful memory of success to draw upon. As the quote by sports psychologist Gio Valiante given above indicates, you need something positive to draw upon to help fuel confidence and the can-do attitude, and remembering the good shots (rather than the bad ones) does just that.

In the book EVERY SHOT MUST HAVE A PURPOSE, authors Pia Nilsson and Lynn Marriott tell us that, "One obstacle we all must overcome is that it is easier to remember our bad shots than it is to remember our good ones. Strangely, we all seem to have a tendency to not put enough value on what we do right..." If you are striving to reduce self-doubt and build confidence for you golf game, it is vital that you practice making it easier to remember the good shots and allowing these images to strengthen your belief in your ability to play golf. Here are some positive pointers to help you:

1. Consciously practice filling your memory bank with images and feelings of good shots. When you make a good one, tell yourself, "I'm going to remember that one."

2. Practice recalling your "good shot memories" as you drive to the course and prepare to play. Remind yourself, "I have the ability to make good shots."

3. Practice recalling your "good shot memories" when you are in a situation on the course where you feel fear, pressure, doubt, anxiety, or tension. Remind yourself, "I have the ability to make good shots."

4. After a mis-hit or errant shot, practice a positive interpretation of it and determine what you have learned that will help you move forward. Then, instead of dwelling on what you did wrong, practice recalling some "good shot memories" and remind yourself, "I have the ability to make good shots."

5. When you get to a point on the course where you recall making a mistake in a prior round, recall some good shot memories related to this same kind of shot and remind yourself, "I can make great golf shots. I can do this!"

Here's to a great golf mindset and a great game!

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

Positive Golf Tip - Try the "Starter Kit" Idea to Track Your Thoughts

2008-02-26T13:53:00.000-08:00

One of the key ideas to being successful at building your mental golf mindset is to know where you are, basically, before you can move forward in your improvement. In other words, if you say something vague like, "I want to improve my attitude," you are going to get vague results. But if you have something more specific, like "I want to improve my focus," "I want to reduce my self-doubt and increase my self-confidence," "I want to improve my trust in my abilities," or "I want to improve my expectations for good shots," then you can pinpoint your efforts and get more specific results that will really help you. In order to develop these more specific goals, however, you need to do a check or assessment to track your thoughts and get a handle on what's going on "inside," in your mind. The tool to do this is called self-assessment. A self-assessment isn't hard to do, but it does require some focus and attention on your thoughts. To get started, you can try the "starter kit" quick assessment idea that I am including in my new book, GOODBYE HIT, HELLO SWING, PART II - Discovering a Repeatable Golf Swing, due out later this month. (CLICK HERE to learn more about the first book, GOODBYE HIT, HELLO SWING, PART I - Six Steps to An Effortless Golf Swing Motion.) Once you get the hang of this self-assessment tool, you can do other assessments for specific mental skills and specific physical game problems, and this will help you to really pinpoint your efforts for some really outstanding results.

"Starter Kit" idea for assessing thought tendencies: Take a couple of minutes and think about various aspects of your game. As you think, pay close attention to any thoughts which have negative connotations. The first time I performed this exercise, although I focused hard on the positive, a lot of negative stuff snuck in (how I lost a tournament, certain bad shots, a hole where I always screw up, and so on. These were small "blips" on the screen, yet each contained a pulse of negative energy (which all adds up). I sensed that the overall ratio of positive to negative thoughts regarding my golf game leaned slightly toward the positive. The revelation, however, came when I compared these results to my actual play at the time. The correlation was strong. I was hitting good, or reasonably good golf shots a little over 50% of the time. I wanted to improve on that, and this tool gave me a clue on where to start with the general quantity of my positive/negative thoughts. Over the past two years, I've done this same quick exercise on numerous occasions, and never once has it failed to correlate with my play. While not highly "scientific," it definitely works and benefits my game. I'm able to get a snapshot of my current "positivity profile," note how I've progressed (or regressed), and determine what I need to work on on the inside, which will ultimately benefit my physical game. Give it a try. It can be a couple of quick minutes that really make a difference!

Here's to great golf!

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

New Video to Improve Golf Swing Mindset and Motion

2008-02-12T07:20:00.000-08:00

The new golf swing video that I mentioned in my previous post is now available for viewing on YouTube. Just CLICK HERE to access it. In it, I cover some quick mental golf and physical game tips related to changing from a "hitting" to a "swinging" mindset and developing a smooth, effortless swing that is repeatable and accurate. My new e-book, GOODBYE HIT, HELLO SWING, offers some additional real-life tips and guidance on curing "hit-itis" and achieving a great effortless swing motion.

Here's to great golf!

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

You CAN Achieve Golf Swing Excellence

2008-02-07T10:34:00.000-08:00

I love to read and hear stories about the pros working on improving their golf swings. Even when their swings are great, they are still striving to make them better. Here are some thoughts from hall-of-famer Nick Price that put that "lifelong refinement" into perspective. These appear in the excellent book, Fearless Golf, by Dr. Gio Valiante.

Part of the reason I have been able to compete for so long is because every year I have refined my golf swing...I have worked diligently to improve my swing that little fraction more because the fact is, it is imperfectible. To me the swing is like a square block of wood, and your goal is to shape that block into the most perfect circle you can. You can get it to a circle pretty quickly, but after you get the general shape right, then you have to refine constantly and perpetually, and go from a hammer and a chisel, to a 50 grit sandpaper, to 100 grit sandpaper, to 1000 grit sandpaper, to steel wool, to polish. And every year you refine, regardless of how good your previous year was, you try to get better. And that is what I have tried to do. Better and better every year regardless of where I am. Excellence, it's like a process, you know? No matter where you are, you just keep trying to refine.

I like that comment, "No matter where you are, you just keep trying to refine." That applies to recreational players as well as the pros. This is the kind of thinking that inspires me to pick a Positive Golf Improvement Project each year (see previous post). I have been playing golf for more than 40 years , and I am still practicing that "golf swing refinement," both with inner mental golf ideas and physical game techniques. In fact, I just released a new e-book that addresses one of the ideas that has helped me enormously in my golf swing improvement, and that is the "swing versus hit" idea. In my GOODBYE HIT, HELLO SWING e-book, I cover six steps to an effortless golf swing motion, including ideas and techniques to switch from being a "hitter" (someone who hits AT the ball) to a "swinger." This "hitter" tendency is so common that Michael McTeigue said this in his book THE KEYS TO THE EFFORTLESS GOLF SWING: "My teaching experience indicates that the hit impulse - the automatic tendency to strike at the ball - is the foremost reason why so few golfers break 80 in their lifetimes." I know this tendency was a hindrance to my golf swing improvement, and now I am passing along pointers that helped me to successfully change my ideas and techniques and develop the effortless golf swing motion that I was striving for in my "lifelong refinement." Watch for my video golf swing tip coming soon to YouTube to illustrate these ideas in action!

Here's to great golf ideas and great golf swing "refinement" in 2008!

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

Positive Golf Improvement Project for 2008

2008-01-30T06:54:00.000-08:00

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

Go the "Extra Degree" for Your Golf Improvement

2008-01-23T08:36:00.000-08:00

Recently, I have been writing about ideas related to choosing and practicing positive habits to help your golf improvement. I am always on the lookout for great examples and resources that inspire me and fuel my desire and dedication to practice discipline and consistency, like the example of Mike Weir in my previous posting. I encourage others to keep their eyes and ears open for great examples of positive mental golf practices by players on the Tour and players in their own "backyard." (This goes beyond watching and listening for the latest swing tip - it's watching and listening to learn what successful players are thinking and feeling to keep them focused, disciplined, calm, and confident, which lays the groundwork for better, more consistent swings and all-around playing.) Great examples of Positive Golf thinking and playing and other resources that support this approach are all around us. By staying tuned-in and aware, each and every day we can get great mental tidbits that will help our game (and our life!).

A friend recently shared the following motivational resource with me, and I thought it had some great points that support the Positive Golf approach. It's all about the "extra degree" that makes a difference. It gave me a motivational charge for sticking with my positive habits and Positive Golf Improvement Project I have chosen to practice this year. Here are some ideas that lit a spark in me:

- At 211 degrees, water is hot. At 212 degrees, it boils. One extra degree makes all the difference.
- And the one extra degree of effort in business and in life separates the good from the great!
- The average margin of victory for the last 25 years in all major golf tournaments combined was less than three strokes.
- To get what we never had, we must do what we've never done.
- Perseverance is not a long race; it is many short races one after the other. (Walter Elliot)

For more ideas in a super, really short video format, go to http://www.212movie.com/. I can guarantee you'll want to watch it a couple of times.

Here's to perseverance for Positive Habits and Positive Golf!

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

2008-01-07T13:04:00.000-08:00

Positive Golf Tip - Practice Discipline and Consistency to Help Develop New Habits and Lasting Improvement

While watching the coverage of the Mercedes-Benz Championship over the weekend, I listened with particular interest to some remarks the commentators were making about Mike Weir on Saturday. They repeatedly pointed out that he is "incredibly disciplined" in his practice, his routine, and his fitness program. It is often Tiger's discipline that we hear more comments about, and it is Tiger who commonly comes to mind when there is talk of a disciplined approach to the game. But discipline is an essential aspect of the approach - and the success - of so many other tour players as well, including Mike Weir. This discipline isn't reserved only for the "upper eschelon" of players, however. It can be practiced by players of any level, including beginners who are starting at square one. If you want to make positive changes and improvements to your swing and your game, you too can not only practice discipline to help create change - you must practice it if you want the change to last!

By "discipline," I mean the focused, consistent practice of new ideas, new attitudes, new swing thoughts, and new swing techniques. It is the consistent practice of these things that leads to the establishment of new habits and permanent change. The discipline is what gets you to not only "just do it," but to keep on just doing it - day after day, week after week, month after month. This is what gets results. So, in choosing new mental and physical habits to develop in 2008 (see the previous post for what I chose), keep in mind the stick-to-itivenes that it takes to "habitualize" these new habits that will make a difference in your game, and stick to it! That's what works for Tiger, Annika, Mike Weir, and other disciplined players, and they are great examples and inspiration. They can do it, so can I, and so can you! We all have the potential for discipline and consistent, ongoing practice - we just need to call it up inside ourselves. Along those lines, here are a couple of great quotes from great people who accomplished great things:

Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up. - Thomas Edison

Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any other one thing. - Abraham Lincoln

If you want some tools to help you with discpline and consistency, CLICK HERE for a great website with a bunch of articles and recordings that will help you stick-to-it for success, including the MP3 recording, "Persevere to Succeed."

Here's to your success!

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

2008-01-01T08:11:00.000-08:00

Pick Your Positive Habits for Golf Improvement in 2008 ---

Positive mental habits are a fundamental aspect of enjoying more Positive Golf experiences. These positive habits go way beyond the practice of "thinking positively." They are more focused and specific, which helps them to be more powerful and effective in making your golf improvement a success. There is a wide array of these positive habits, ranging from reducing self-doubt and pressure on yourself to improving your focus and expectations. The most accomplished golfers practice many of these habits concurrently as a whole "mental package," not just one or two. That's the key to success, a "varied portfolio," if you will. At any one time, however, those more accomplished in mental golf habits may be giving particular attention and practice to one or two of these skills to strengthen and develop them even more. The Positive Golf Kudos I have posted in this blog throughout the year give examples of how some of the pros do this. On the other hand, those new to the deliberate practice of mental golf habits may also choose to give particular attention and practice to one or two of these skills at a time so they can strengthen their mindset in a stepwise fashion without feeling overwhelmed.

At TheHeartofGolf.com, my wife an I are continuing to develop and strengthen our "portfolios" of positive mental habits. While we have been aware of their value to Positive Golf experiences and have practiced some of them for several years, we are continuing in our "growth mode" to add new mental skills and strengthen the ones we have already started to build. To that end, we have each chosen one primary positive mental habit to give particular focus to this year (while continuing to practice the others). I have listed our choices below, and will provide updates related to developments in our practice and the related Positive Golf experiences that occur throughout the year.

Rick's Primary Positive Mental Habit for Practice in 2008:

Improve Golf Self-Image - Golf self-image is how you really view yourself, deep down, as a golfer. You might not be totally aware of how you view yourself, but it has a definite impact on your game nonetheless. It slips out in what seem like "subtle" ways, but believe me, it affects you. You might say or think things like, "I'm a lousy putter," or "my short game stinks," or "I"m an okay golfer," and that's what tends to "outpicture" for you. For me, I know I played on the golf team in college, won some championships, and had other accomplishments over the years, but deep down right now I don't have a consistently strong golf self-image. I'll catch myself thinking, "I'm not playing as well as I should," or "I'll never play as good as that guy," or "I'm not good enough to win that championship again," and that is what comes to pass. So, this year, I am going to practice developing and maintaining a positive, strong golf self-image (which will help improve other mental habits like self-doubt and putting pressure on myself). Maybe this mental golf habit sounds familiar to you too. I"ll be passing along tips and tools that help to improve this mental skill and lead to improvement in my game.

Christy's Primary Positive Mental Habit for Practice in 2008:

Improve Golf Self-Talk - Golf self-talk is that "inner dialogue" or "inner conversation" that goes on in your mind when you are playing and practicing. Sometimes, it is verbal too, when you say something out loud to yourself. When she started paying more attention to this mental skill, my wife was surprised to realize she had the habit of negative self-talk, with phrases frequently popping up in her mind like, "I'm not very coordinated," "I can't ever get the right tempo," or "I'll never fix this swing problem." Sometimes she would say these things out loud. Christy has realized that she is talking herself into negative outcomes with this kind of self-talk, and thereby limiting her improvement. Even as a motivational trainer that helps others, this is a deeply ingrained habit that she is working on with herself. This year, she has chosen to give particular attention and consistent practice to changing and improving this mental skill so it helps her rather than hinders her.

I encourage you to pick a mental habit for your golf improvement in 2008 as well. Our soon-to-be published Positive Golf Handbook can help you in choosing and practicing these habits for improvement. It's packed with pointers, checklists, and worksheets that you can use to practice positive mental skills on and off the course, and make changes that will transform your game. More details coming soon!

Here's to great golf in 2008!

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

2007-12-20T12:51:00.000-08:00

Positive Golf Tip for Introducing Kids to Golf ---

If you are introducing a child to golf this holiday season with a gift of clubs or other golf gear, think about these wise words from Fred Shoemaker in his classic book, EXTRAORDINARY GOLF: The best way for you to teach your child is by example...If you want to make a difference in your child's golf game, make a difference in your own...If you want your child to view the game in a certain way and be a certain kind of person on the course, work on being that kind of person yourself. If you want your child to play courageously, play that way yourself. If you want your child to keep his or her chin up when things aren't going well, keep yours up...Be the kind of person that you want your child to be, and that person will show up in your child.

So, for the new young golfer in your life, there is more that you can do to get them off to a great start than giving them clubs or lessons. You can also give them the gift of a great golf mindset by setting a great example in yourself. You can inspire the child to be a positive golfer by being a positive golfer yourself, with an approach that is filled with belief in your abilities and potential, positive expectations, supportive self-talk, focus on golf-enhancing ideas (not past mistakes), and a can-do attitude. This is a gift that can truly "keep on giving" and make a positive impact on the child's game that can last a lifetime. We are happy to help you through the ideas and tips in our blog and our website, and we welcome feedback on your experiences.

Best wishes for great golf to you and the new little golfers in your life!

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

2007-12-11T13:13:00.001-08:00

Positive Golf Tip - A Gift to Yourself

Here is an item from a recent issue of our newsletter. It has a good message and a tie-in to the season. It's a different take on the traditional gift-giving approach that can lead to a lot more enjoyment and satisfaction on the course in the coming year. And it's not about your spouse or your kids giving you the latest driver of your dreams...

Generally, the concept of gift-giving conjures up thoughts of giving gifts to other people for holidays and other special occasions. When we think of ourselves, it is usually from the gift-getting perspective - what gifts we would like to get from others. When asked about this, most golfers will share a wishlist that includes clubs or other equipment or training aids or books. There is a whole different way of thinking about gifts that goes beyond the giving and receiving of "stuff," however. It's called A Gift to Yourself, and it gets to the heart of you and the heart of your game.

Giving a gift to yourself is all about giving yourself what you really want. As a golfer, you may say, "I want new clubs or some lessons, so I'll go out and buy them and that will be my gift to myself." But stop and think for a moment. Think beyond the clubs and the lessons. What you probably really want is a great golf swing. A swing with beautiful motion, perfect rhythm, and awesome power. At the core, that is what you want. The other things are what you think or hope will give that to you.

Giving yourself what you really want is about acknowledging that true desire (the great golf swing) and then accepting it and allowing it to happen. Sure, you can easily and willingly accept new clubs or some lessons. But the heart of accepting and allowing - and the heart of long-term change - is at the mental level. It goes beyond, and before, those new clubs or lessons. Giving yourself the gift of a great golf swing is about accepting the good, and the changes that go with that. It's about accepting the new expectations, new images of yourself playing well, and a new enjoyment of the game. While many folks "hope" to hit the ball better, deep down they are used to visualizing themselves hitting errant shots, expecting fair results, and feeling frustration rather than enjoyment. Giving yourself the gift of a great swing involves changing - and accepting - positive new images and expectations for your game. It also involves accepting new ways of thinking about yourself and your swing, including more confidence, more trust, more awareness, and more focus, and less pressure, self-doubt, and fear of past mistakes and negative future possible outcomes. Along with that is accepting new swing thoughts and "feels" that will help your physical technique.

Yes indeed, giving yourself the gift of a great golf swing means changing - and accepting - new mental habits. And along with the accepting is allowing - letting go of old ideas and resistance to change and allowing new ideas to "take root" and a new "swing-friendly" mindset to grow. It is relaxing the mind, and ultimately the body, and allowing the smooth, rhythmic motion to flow and happen without the restriction of tension, resistance, and anxiety.

So this year, think about what it is you really want for your game - for many that is a great swing. Then decide that now is the time for you to accept that gift and allow it to happen. You are the only one who can give that gift to yourself, because you are the only one who can make the changes which make it come true. But when you think about how wonderful the gift is, and how much you will enjoy it when you have it, each step and each change is worthwhile and is the means to a very worthy end. Here's to your positive changes and the enjoyment of your Positive Golf gift to yourself in the year to come!

Cheers!

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

(To subscribe to our Positive Golf e-newsletter that is published on the 1st and the 15th of each month, go to http://www.TheHeartofGolf.com/newsletter.aspx. You'll receive a free downloadable Positive Golf e-book when you subscribe!)

2007-12-03T07:19:00.000-08:00

Positive Golf Kudos ---

Lorena Ochoa has certainly had an impressive year with eight victories, including the outstanding win at the ADT Championship where she hit "the shot of her life" on the final hole. But there is even more to Ochoa than her athleticism and her "multidimensional game." Supporting all of that is her super mental game that is quite worthy of Positive Golf Kudos. An article in a recent issue of Golf World pointed out some of her positive attitudes, skills, and practices. For one thing, she is devoted to improvement, focused on the process, and cheerful in her demeanor. Former U.S. Women's Open champion Catherine Lacoste said this of Ochoa: "I always sense that Lorena is smiling at the ball." She is positive to the core, and this filters into her approach and her actions, and even her reactions to unfortunate outcomes. Her work with sport psychologists has helped her to "take the long view of her 11th-hour failures." Here is some of her wisdom in relation to letting go of mistakes and not letting them linger and hold her back: "You just have to take the bad moments and take them as a good thing, as part of the process...I'm a simple girl in a way that I just put things in the trash and move forward." This is the kind of thinking that has taken her to the top and can inspire other golfers in developing a success-oriented mindset. It is Ochoa's positive mental attitude, in addition to her positive generosity of giving a portion of the $1 million for winning the ADT Championship to a relief fund for flood victims in Mexico, that inspires our Positive Golf Kudos.

Here's to a great golf mindset!

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

2007-11-21T13:45:00.000-08:00

Another Resource for Developing Positive Thinking Patterns for Your Golf Improvement ---

As a follow-up to my last posting on tools for developing positive thinking habits, here is a resource that lets you use the convenience of MP3 technology to improve your mental game (and ultimately your physical game). During some quiet time in the winter months, you can be boosting your golf mindset, which will be of great benefit when you get back to the course. Have you been wanting to reduce fear or tension in your game? Now is a good time to work on that. Both of these challenges require some "mental re-programming" (a change of thinking) to resolve them, and that requires some repetition and practice (like changing any habit). Time off the course can be well spent in doing this mental repetition and practice. It is much easier and more effective when you give some time to this, rather than trying to cram it in a couple of days before you go back to the course (then you are more likely to rush it and force it and end up saying "this mental stuff doesn't work"). A great resource that can help you with the repetition and practice for building better mental golf skills is the GolferWithin products, developed by Roseanna Leaton, a leading practitioner in NLP, hypnotherapy, and sports psychology in the UK. They are described as "mental skills tool kits" and include a series of recordings to develop positive thinking patterns for a better golf mindset and a better game. As it turns out, Roseanna Leaton practices what she preaches - she has used these recordings for her own clients and also for herself, and they helped her to reduce her handicap significantly within two seasons. Roseanna is also a popular writer on mental golf topics in the UK. CLICK HERE to check out some of her articles (look under the "News" tab) and get an overview of the GolferWithin titles, plus titles on other self improvement topics that can help your game, like reducing anger, increasing confidence, and perserving to succeed. You can even listen to a Free Demo MP3 to get you putting a whole lot better.

These mental golf MP3 recordings are an interesting and effective technique to build your mental game. If you have never used anything like this before, approach it with an open and receptive mind. For the most effectiveness, you need to give this a chance and be consistent in your listening and practice. Don't just try it once - you have to keep at it. It's like learning a new language, and this one is a positive language of success in golf that you are learning to easily and naturally think and speak while you practice and play. Tools like these make it a whole lot easier to "train your brain," and this is a great time of year to get started. Let me know about the positive results that develop. Here's to your success!

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

2007-11-07T12:54:00.000-08:00

A Resource for Developing Positive Habits to Boost Your Golf Improvement ---

The effective practice of mental golf is all about developing and using positive mental habits. This is the foundation that helps to optimize your physical game and your overall golf improvement and leads to the enjoyment of many more positive golf experiences. Learning about positive mental skills, like focus and self-belief, is one thing but actually turning them into habits is another thing. It can really help to have some tips, guidance, and tools to help you get started and stick with it. In the course of improving this practice for myself, I have found out about this really great program that can help you get into the "swing" of practicing positive habits. It's called "The Power of Positive Habits" and what it is is a really practical, easy-to-use, interactive personal development program that helps you learn to identify negative thoughts, habits, and routines and replace them with positive, thoughts, habits, and routines. This will help you get the hang of developing mental skills and habits that can make a huge difference in your success with golf improvement and other aspects of life. The program includes an e-book, an audio program, and an interactive PC software program, all for a very reasonable price and lots of really impressive bonuses. While some of the personal development products can be impractical, this one really is practical and real-life. I am including it as a Positive Golf resource because I know it can really make a difference to have help in getting over that "hump" of identifying and making changes. And remember - a lot of the positive mental skills that are considered helpful for life in general are really helpful to learn and master in your progress toward positive change in your golf game. So, see what you think about "The Power of Positive Habits"...

Here's to great golf!

Rick Semple

Positive Golfer

Co-Founder, TheHeartofGolf.com

http://www.theheartofgolf.com/

2007-10-27T12:18:00.000-07:00

Positive Golf Kudos ---

I read the interview with Hunter Mahan in the November 2007 issue of GOLF DIGEST and thought it was a great example of positive mental golf ideas in action. Mahan indicates that the big positive change that has occurred for him goes back to the second round of sectional qualifying for the U.S. Open. In the first round, his attitude was about "just waiting for bad things to happen." He shot a 73. With some guidance from his sport psychologist and some work on his mental game, Mahan came back and shot 63 in the second round and qualified, and he's been playing pretty well ever since. This is what Mahan said about his attitude and approach: "I was so concerned with how I looked and how I swung, I forgot how to play and get the ball in the hole. I was able to let myself go out there and play and not criticize myself on the course as much." It is amazing the impact it can have on our game to change our "inner conversation" and stop criticizing ourselves. Reducing the pressure on ourselves and just letting ourselves "go out there and play" has a major impact as well, as illustrated by Mahan. Often, we don't even realize we're doing these things to limit ourselves and our game, and we keep blaming it on the equipment or something else. If we don't have a sport psychologist to point it out to us, we may keep on doing these things. But there is a new resource coming out that can change all of that and help you get out of your own way and "let yourself go out there and play," just like Hunter Mahan. Watch for the Positive Golf Handbook coming soon!

Here's to great golf!

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

2007-10-22T10:45:00.000-07:00

Golf Tip to Make the Most of Your Time Off the Course ---

Your time off the course can be wisely used in ways that will encourage more frequent Positive Golf experiences on the course. Short segments of time can be used to practice both "inner" mental game skills and "outer" physical game skills. Done regularly, these "mini sessions" build upon each other, bit by bit, like putting bricks in a wall, to create a powerful mental-physical blend (we call it the Positive Golf Blend) that is strong and ready to support your game when you get back to the course. Reading articles and books on self improvement and golf improvement can certainly contribute to this blend by laying the groundwork and filling in some "kinks." But for the most benefit, it is essential to do something with these ideas and put them into practice sooner rather than later, while the ideas are still fresh. So many of these skills, especially the mental golf ones, can easily be practiced off the course. The thing is, people don't often realize they can be practicing these things so easily or the benefits that this practice will yield. The list below provides ten key fundamental things to practice off the course - five for the inner mental game and five for the outer physical game. So, rather than getting "rusty," your mindset and motion can be kept "well oiled" and much better prepared for action and positive results when you get back to the course.

For an expanded version of this list which provides an explanation of each point, send me an email and I will share the latest copy of our Positive Golf newsletter which includes a full-length article on this topic. You can also CLICK HERE to subscribe to our newsletter and get a free downloadable e-book that has all kinds of Positive Golf ideas and tips that will help your game. Here you go:

Mental Game Practices for Off-the-Course:

1. Practice positive self-talk.
2. Practice positive expectations.
3. Practicing imagining positive outcomes.
4. Practice letting go of anger.
5. Practice body motion awareness.

Physical Game Practices for Off-the-Course:
(Practice these in combination with the mental game practices - not instead of - to realize the optimum power and benefit.)

1. Practice fitness for your body.
2. Practice your motions with a mirror.
3. Practice with your shadow.
4. Practice swinging with one arm only.
5. Practice turning your back to the target.

I'm happy to send you the full-length article that covers this in more detail. Just send an email request to me at rick@theheartofgolf.com. I look forward to hearing from you.

Here's to great golf!

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

2007-10-09T08:05:00.000-07:00

Positive Golf Kudos---A Can Do Positive Attidude

One of the main characteristics of Positive Golfers is a "can do" positive attitude. The Positive Golf mindset is about being a "possibilitarian" and believing that you CAN achieve the goals that you choose for yourself. Here is a great example of someone who epitomizes these characteristics. He is a 48 year old man who was born without arms. Twenty-five years ago he decided to learn how to play golf and you will see that he has indeed mastered the game. He didn't focus on his limitation, but instead on the power of possibility. In his own words, "You never know what you can do unless you try." CLICK HERE to view more and you'll see why he deserves Positive Golf Kudos!

Here's to great golf!

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

2007-10-01T08:54:00.000-07:00

Positive Golf Tip - Take Time to Watch the Turkeys ---

I know. You're wondering what turkeys have to do with golf. Well, I'll tell you. Yesterday, Bill - a Positive Golf friend of mine, told me about a great day he recently had on the course. Early in the game, he noticed a flock of 25 to 30 wild turkeys near the course. As he watched the turkeys while playing the next couple of holes, he realized that he felt relaxed and had stopped worrying about some business issues with his company. "Suddenly, I was really aware of what was going on around me," he said, "and I understood what was meant by 'being in the present.'" "I was hitting the ball a lot better too," he added. "I was using that tip about bringing my shoulders back square that you told me about, and it was working really well." I didn't feel tense, and my swing was nice and smooth." Bill attributed his nice swings and pleasant experience to those turkeys. To him, they weren't a distraction and a nuisance. Instead, watching them helped him to relax, re-focus attention away from business and other activities off-the-course to what was happening there around him "in the present." As it turns out, he enjoyed himself more and played better than he had in a long time. And what about his playing partners? "They didn't notice the turkeys," he said. They were busy complaining about their bad shots and looking for their lost balls."

So...next time your're out on the course, take time to watch the turkeys - or the geese, or hawks, or other wildlife - and let them help to enhance your awareness and relaxation, and open you up to a smooth swing and a great game.

Here's to great golf!

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

2007-09-26T13:08:00.000-07:00

Include Fitness in the Golf Improvement Blend ---

A blended approach of using both mental and physical techniques helps to optimize your golf improvement efforts. In other words, blend mental game techniques along with your physical techniques rather than focusing only on the physical (if you still have a lot of fear and self-doubt, you won't get the optimum results from hours and hours of practice). This is well known and widely promoted and practiced by great teachers and players. It is this blended approach, rather than a strictly mechanical approach, that has brought real consistency and long-lasting positive change to my game, and that is what I have written about in this blog.

Looking at this blended idea even further, it is actually a "blend of a blend" that gets the optimum results. That is, a blend of mental golf techniques (i.e. focus, visualization, positive self-talk, and other supportive beliefs and attitudes) blended with a blend of physical techniques. Incorporating fitness exercises into the physical blend really helps to make it a "deluxe mix" that builds on the power of your positive golf mindset. Strengthening your mind with positive golf ideas and strengthening your body with golf fitness exercises provides a solid, strong foundation that betters supports your optimum motion and optimum game.

Here is a great golf exercise video tip that illustrates how easily you can incorporate golf fitness into your life. Try incorporating exercises like these into your own mental/physical blend as you proceed on the path to realizing your best golf potential!

Golf Exercise Video Tip for Longer Drives:

If you’re looking for “plug-n-play” golf exercise dvds, visit Perform Better Golf today!

Here's to great golf!

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

2007-09-18T10:33:00.000-07:00

Positive Golf Kudos ---

I read about the 15-under-par 56 recorded at Cattails GC in Alamosa, Colo. on September 5 by Jay Osmon, an assistant pro at the club. Osmon made five birdies and two eagles on the front nine and shot 26. His comment about the back nine was this: "On the back nine, I wasn't trying to think a whole lot. I knew I was playing well. I just wanted to stay out of my own way." Kudos to Jay for his accomplishment and his positive wisdom! "Staying out of your own way" is a key mental golf principle that helps lead to positive experiences on the course. The idea is to stay focused and on track and not let fears, doubts, distractions, frustrations, what-ifs, and other negative thoughts and feelings get in the way. It's great to see examples like Jay Osmon showing us how to put this into practice.

By the way, we have a new Positive Golf Workbook coming out soon that will provide tips, techniques, and exercises to help you develop this positive mental approach and "stay out of your own way" on the course so your great swing and great golf potential will really shine through. More news coming soon. Stay tuned...

Here's to great golf!

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

2007-09-08T13:50:00.000-07:00

Resources to improve your putting game ---

Too often, your putting game doesn't get the attention it deserves, and, too often, this leads to negative rather than positive golf experiences. Here are a couple of great resources that can help to improve your putting game. I like them because each one emphasizes the value of using BOTH mental and physical techniques to improve your game. Each one also has ideas and drills that you can practice at the course as well as year-round at home:

1. The Putting Performance DVD from PurePoint Golf

This DVD is very well done and provides pointers such as: a unique grip for optimal performance and accuracy, the one simple key to accuracy, the proper stance, how to roll your ball the exact distance it needs to go, and how to know exactly how long your stroke needs to be for every putt. There are also sections on mental preparation, faults and cures, drills, and lots more. This is good information that is well delivered and can really help your game. Bobby Eldridge, Head Professional at PurePoint Golf says this: "I want you to perform on the putting green and stop being nervous about your putts and embarassed when you miss a short one." CLICK HERE to get more details.

2. "The Art of Putting," by Stan Utley

Stan Utley has been called "Golf's latest superstar guru" by Golf Digest, and for good reason. After I read this book, I can see why he has been so helpful to so many. He is brilliantly clear on explaining the fundamentals (which are done incorrectly by so many people, including pros) and giving guidance on how to improve your stroke by putting "feel" back into your game. This feel-based approach has made an enormous difference not only in my putting stroke but my full swing as well. Utley also gives great pointers on the value of being mentally prepared and getting into the "golf mindset." I liked this remark: "It's impossible to overestimate how important attitude is to putting. I know for a fact that I miss putts even when I'm making a great stroke if my attitude is bad. If I stand over the ball resigned to the fact that I'm probably not going to make it, I won't unless it happens by accident. It's incredible how much of an impact your mindset can have." CLICK HERE to read more about the book on Amazon.

Here's to great putting!

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

2007-09-01T17:42:00.001-07:00

Late Summer Update on Positive Golf Improvement Projects for 2007

In January, I first started posting on the Positive Golf Improvement Projects that my wife and I chose to focus on for 2007. Along the way, there have been some other related posts. This included the focus of our projects, along with the "blend" of inner mental and outer physical techniques that we each chose to start using early in the year to approach our golf improvement. Now I am sharing a late summer update that provides the orginal overview of our projects, along with our progress and new ideas that we learned along the way. Selecting the projects and approaching them in this Positive Golf manner gave us focus and clarity, which helped to keep us on track for our goals. We were also reminded of the value of persistence when pursuing our golf improvement goals. There were times for each of us, especially in the beginning when we weren't getting rapid results, that we would slip back to old attitudes and habits which would get us back to the old way of hitting the ball. Then we learned the tip of picking one attitude, habit, or skill at a time to stop and one to adopt, and that helped to keep us focused and on track. That way, we felt less overwhelmed and frustrated. And, rather than waiting for major results all at once, we got to see "smaller" results in increments which all added up in the end and still showed us positive change along the way. Overall, this is a great way to make changes in your game and we look forward to picking new Positive Golf Improvement Projects next year!

RICK'S POSITIVE GOLF IMPROVEMENT PROJECT FOR 2007:

Project Focus: To consistently hit short wedge and pitch shots within 10 feet of the hole.

Affirmations I Chose to Practice (Inner Game):
- I am capable of spinning the ball with my pitch shots.
- I see my pithces spinning and checking next to the hole.
- I enjoy playing pitch shots around the greens.

Techniques I Chose to Use (Outer Game):
- Stand tall.
- Get the club up more steeply on the backswing.
- Swing down by turning the body toward the target, letting the clubhead trail the hands.
- For distance control, match length of backswing and downswing.

Late Summer Progress Update, Including Challenges, New Ideas, and Techniques:

I've worked quite diligently over the summer at my golf improvement project. My biggest challenge hitting pitch shots has been accepting the idea of allowing my body turn to hit the ball, rather than hitting at it with my hands and arms. As with all changes, mental acceptance must precede the physical doing, and this ingrained habit has not easily been replaced. Continuing mental and physical practice has led to a marked improvement in my pitching game, and the most interesting result of all was that it has led to a new self discovery. If I should hit pitch shots with my body turn, why shouldn't I hit all shots this way! In other words, mentally envision the hands and arms as passive, and the hip turn as the primary driving force. Subsequently, I discovered that this is not a new concept (in fact, it's a very old one), but it sure was new to me.

I see this as a good example of how a single golf improvement idea, when pursued, can expand into something which can benefit one's whole golf game. I look forward to posting a further progress report in the fall.

CHRISTY'S POSITIVE GOLF IMPROVEMENT PROJECT FOR 2007 (CHRISTY IS A BEGINNING GOLFER):

Project Focus: To consistently hit straight drives approaching 200 yards.

New Ideas I Used (Inner Game): An understandable analogy for me has been to remember the rounded motion used to hit a baseball.

Affirmations I Chose to Practice (Inner Game):
(These help me to focus on what I can do, and help me be aware of the feeling of the proper swing motion.)
- I have the ability to hit great drives.
- I can swing with the perfect tempo.
- I allow the flow of a smooth swing motion.
- I am making progress.

Techniques I Chose to Use (Outer Game):
- To have a more rounded swing, rather than a vertical motion, practice swinging the club a foot or so off the ground.
- Think of this cadence while swinging: swing back - plant left foot - swing through.

Late Summer Progress Update, Including Challenges, New Ideas, and Techniques:

As the summer and my practice progressed, I came to the realization that one of the mental ideas that I had to change was related to anxiety and lack of confidence. This was causing me to be very tense and was limiting my motion. Consciously focusing on relaxation and supportive affirmations helped to develop confidence and allow a smoother swing motion. I also practiced the ideas that Rick shares in his new FEELING DRIVEN GOLF e-book related to being aware of and in tune with the feel of the swing motion that leads to desirable results and using this to develop a smooth, consistent swing. These new ideas, along with the other ideas and techniques I chose to use early in the year have helped me to develop more distance and consistency, and I look forward to continuing improvement.

We look forward to hearing from other Positive Golfers on their Positive Golf Improvement Projects for 2007!

Here's to great golf!

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

2007-08-21T12:12:00.000-07:00

A New Positive Golf Inspiring Story ---

We thought that mid-August was a great time to share this story before the main character goes back to school. She has been a source of pleasantry and positivity throughout the summer at the golf club where she works. We think she is an excellent example of a confident, joyful, and satisfied golfer who consistently practices and plays with a Positive Golf approach that leads to a total enjoyment of the game for her and those around her. She leaves the course well-pleased that she gave it her best, regardless of the outcome, and that is a true sign of self-respect and golf success. You too can find that her ideas and attitudes can be helpful both on and off the course...

Davana Kessler is studying professional golf management at Methodist University. This summer, she is an intern in the Pro Shop at a country club in southwestern Pennsylvania. In previous summers, she interned at golf clubs in eastern Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Davana began playing golf as a youngster and started taking it seriously around age 12. Along the way, she received a lot of support and encouragement from her father who helped to nurture a sense of confidence. She was also encouraged by her grandfather who started playing golf when he was 60 and continued into his 70s. His can-do attitude inspired Davana, and she has adopted it in her own approach to golf. Her bright, cheerful and positive demeanor is also an integral part of her approach to golf (and life) as well, and we think she is a marvelous example of a Positive Golfer. Not surprisingly, she is more than happy to pass along tips and attitudes to help others enjoy positive golfing experiences.

One of Davana's positive practices on the course is to always remember the joy of the game, even when she hits errant shots. To help with this, Davana always tells herself to "have fun." "I take it shot by shot," she says. "When I hit a bad shot, I have learned to not get frustrated and hang on to it. I smile and let it go and move on. I have worked to consistently use this approach and it really makes a difference." Davana also encourages herself to "relax" as part of her positive game approach. This helps to minimize tension and keep her motion smooth. Another practice she consistently follows is to focus on one thing when she plays, like one swing thought or feeling. This prevents a sense of being overwhelmed and the negative thoughts that can go with that, and it helps her concentration. "I recognize the tendency for my mind to wander," she says, "so I have made it a habit to focus on one key thing in each round."

Davana is an excellent putter, and she attributes that to her positive mental practices. "I really believe in my putting ability," she says. "I feel confident, and I go for the hole. I don't hold back." Along with that, she makes a point to relax and allow her stroke to flow. She actually looks forward to putts and doesn't dread them like some players.

When asked what advice she would like to pass along to help others cultivate a positive game, Davana offers this: "People need to believe in themselves and their abilities. Don't have doubt in the back of your mind - it's going to show up in some way in your game." These are the kind of positive thoughts and habits that Davana practices regularly, and it shows up in her game in many positive ways. Above all, she thoroughly enjoys herself on the course, she plays with confidence and enthusiasm, and her positivity catches on as an enjoyable experience for those playing with her as well. Now that is great golf!

Thanks to Davana for her great example. Here's to great golf for all!

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

2007-08-07T12:08:00.000-07:00

Golf Improvement Tip - Use "Inside Information"

The "inside information" I am talking about is the "feeling side" of golf, which includes the sense or the sensation of feel. Some people refer to it as having "the touch." It has long been used to great advantage by pros and other successful golfers who have learned the value of tapping into it. Otherwise, it is used by relatively few recreational golfers, probably because it gets overshadowed by more "flashy" golf tips and there isn't alot of how-to information available for using it. Yet, it's a perfect tool for finding and repeating your perfect golf swing! You don't have to spend more money or time to get it - it's part of your senses that are with you all the time. And using the senses, like feel, more effectively puts you more in tune with your game. I have been practicing tapping into the feeling side of golf for some time now and it has yielded great success for me. It has been so helpful that I have written a whole new e-book about it called FEELING DRIVEN GOLF - How to Enrich Your Golf Swing With "Inside Information."In the book, I provide a practical look at "feeling driven golf" and its various mental and emotional facets that are valuable to golf, along with plenty of tips and exercises that you can practice on and off the course, including your own backyard on those busy days when you can't get to the course or when you just want to step out and have a quick practice to keep the momentum of new skills going.

Here Are 7 Ways That Feeling Driven Golf Has Helped Me and Can Help Others:

1. You begin to feel the mechanics rather than just doing them.
2. You get a better feel for each phase of your swing.
3. You get a better flow of a smooth swing motion.
4. You get a better flow of a smooth putting motion.
5. You become more open to feeling your own "true" or perfect swing.
6. You become more in tune and aware, which makes your practice sessions more effective.
7. You develop more consistency and repeatability in your golf swing.

All of this leads to a much more positive golf experience. Check out this "Inside Information" concept for your swing - you'll be surprised at how much it helps!

Here's to great golf!

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

2007-07-25T11:50:00.001-07:00

Positive Golf Tip for Kids Golf ---

Here's an item that my wife came across when she was looking back at the June 2007 issue of GOLF magazine:

In an article about Johnny Miller, by John Garrity, Steve Gregoire commented on the positive, encouraging way Johnny's dad spoke to his son when he was a youngster learning the game. (Gregoire was team captain of the junior golf team that Miller played on in his youth at San Francisco's Olympic Club.) Gregoire said that Johnny's dad always called him "Champ." "There was never a negative word. If Johnny hit a bad shot, his dad would praise his setup or something. By the time he was 12, Johnny believed hook, line and sinker that he was going to be a champion."

This is a great example of the value and impact of speaking positive, supportive "golf talk" to kids to help instill confidence and a can-do attitude. It's a good habit (used by many successful coaches too) to praise something even when the kids hit an errant shot. Focusing solely on an error instills the habit of focusing on the negative. "Blending" in a supportive correction along with praise for the proper moves helps to accentuate the positive and goes a long way in cultivating confidence. Never underestimate the power of praise for kids (and for yourself!).

Here's to great golf!

Rick Semple
Positive Golfer
Co-Founder,
TheHeartofGolf.com

2007-07-16T13:02:00.000-07:00

Positive Golf Inspiring Story - Two Holes in One in the Same Round

In January 2007, we posted our first in an ongoing series of Positive Golf Inspiring Stories, and today we are going to share another. These stories are about people who have achieved something extraordinary in golf by using the type of positive mental ideas and attitudes that we promote through TheHeartofGolf.com. They show us what is possible with focus, belief, and positivity. Our first story was about a local professional who shot his age in competition - a 59 at 59. Our next story is about a woman who is what Dr. Norman Vincent Peale refers to as "a possibilitarian." Here's why...

It happened this past winter and people are still talking about it and offering their congratulations. On February 4, 2007, Phyllis Semple - Rick's Aunt Phyllis - made two holes in one in the same round at the fourth and 10th holes at the St. Andrews Club in Delray Beach, Fla. As any golfer knows, it is a rare and exciting occurrence to record one hole in one in the same round, but TWO is quite extraordinary. And it is quite remarkable to do it at age 85. But then again, Phyllis Semple is a remarkable woman with a competitive spirit and a can-do attitude that never quits.

Over the years, Phyllis Semple has won the women's club championship many times at her home course, Allegheny Country Club in Sewickley, PA. She has also won the Pennsylvania Women's Amateur and Senior Championships and the Women's Golf Association of Western Pennsylvania Championship six times. In addition, she has also recorded four holes in one in her lifetime - two at Allegheny and two at Gulf Stream Golf Club in Delray Beach, her home course in the winter. While her last hole in one was in 1967, Phyllis has continued to play with the same determination and fervor in every practice and every round for the last 40 years, including that grand day at the St. Andrews Club.

The morning of February 4th, Phyllis attended a speech in Delray Beach given by her daughter, Carol Semple Thompson, who is a former U.S. and British Women's Amateur champion and a two-time U.S. Curtis Cup captain. During the Q&A section of the program, Carol responded to a question about visualization, self-talk, self hypnosis, and other mental golf techniques, and she described how these had helped her over the years, including the practice of them in preparation for the National Amateur which she went on to win. Interestingly enough, it was that afternoon after that speech when Carol and her mother played the round at the St. Andrews Club and Carol witnessed her mother make the two holes in one.

Was there a link for Phyllis between listening to Carol's inner game and making the "two aces" thereafter? Perhaps. What we do know is this: Aunt Phyllis has a perennially positive attitude. When playing in matches, she frequently marks her ball with a smiley face, "so that I remember to think positive thoughts even when I make a shot I don't like," she tells us. Phyllis sees life as full of possibilities rather than impossibilities, and she makes it a habit to focus on what she can do rather that what she can't do. Carol said this to a reporter from the Pittsburgh Post Gazette about her mother's attitude on the course the day of her great accomplishment: After her first one, she said, 'I can do it again.' And sure enough, she did. When friends at Allegheny Country Club heard the news about the two holes in one, they responded with acceptance rather than disbelief because they have been touched by Phyllis' can-do attitude.

According to the records, the oldest woman to record a hole in one is Elsie McLean in Chico, Calif. who was 102 when she made the amazing accomplishment earlier in 2007. Golf Digest reports that there have been 28 instances of a player recording two holes in one in the same round. But, there is no record listed for the oldest person to get TWO holes in one in the same round. We're not sure if Phyllis Semple's feat at age 85 will be entered in the record books because St. Andrews Club is a par-3 course and not a regulation course, which typically has between four and six par 3s. Whether it is in the "official" record books or not, it is a "feat extraordinaire," and we consider it a shining example of Positive Golf and Aunt Phyllis a stellar ambassador of the game.

And in case you wonder if Phyllis Semple is taking it easy after her two-holes-in-one-in-the-same-round accomplishment, we can assure you she is not. She can still be seen regularly on the practice tee at Allegheny, trying new moves to improve her putting and her swing. And within days of the posting of this story, she and her grandson placed first in an event at Allegheny. Phyllis Semple continues to show us that if you believe it and practice it, there are no limits to what positive thinking can do for you in golf and in life.

Here's to great golf!

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

2007-07-08T11:18:00.000-07:00

Positive Golf Tip - Don't Limit Yourself With Limiting Beliefs!

Thanks to our Positive Golf friend David for sharing this with us. David tells us he has been playing "better than ever" using tips he has learned from our books and our blog. When playing recently, someone in the foursome remarked to David that he was "feeling old" and his game was "really suffering" due to his age. "You are playing so much better than me because you are so much younger," he said to David. David asked him, "How old are you?" "66," the fella told him. When David respond that his age was actually 67, the guy's jaw dropped. David doesn't focus on the limiting belief that he is "getting old," you see, and it shows in his appearance and his golf game. His focus is on visualizing great shots, feeling a smooth swing motion, and enjoying the game. He believes in his ability and potential to play great golf and that is what fuels his game, rather than thinking and talking about "being old." It is an inspired approach to golf (and to life) and a good example of the importance and power of our thoughts.

Here's to great thoughts and great golf!

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

2007-06-24T19:22:00.000-07:00

"Mission Accomplished" at the US Open ---

One of my key missions at Oakmont was to watch Aaron Baddeley's golf swing. When I read about his swing method in the June 2007 issue of Golf Digest, I thought it was the best idea I had ever seen in a golf publication. I immediately began to work with it, and I experienced good results right away. It was a real bonus when Aaron got all that television coverage as the tournament leader on Saturday. Johnny Miller tells it like he sees it, and he really liked this golf swing!

A number of tour players are already converts to this so-called "Stack and Tilt" approach. The huge opportunity, however, is for the recreational golfing public. This concept squarely addresses the number one "need" of most players - more consistent, solid ball contact. If you missed the article and would like to learn more, simply Google the key words "stack and tilt." The Golf Digest article is available online, as is discussion on the subject in various golf forums. The information and illustrations contained in the article should give you plenty to work with.

"Badds" has definitely got something immensely "good" going for him. Stack and tilt may sound way out, but the idea is fundamentally sound and in my opinion is very "doable" for virtually everyone. I think it's wonderful stuff, yet regardless of what anyone says, testing it yourself is the only way to find out if its good for you. Happy swinging...

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

2007-06-21T07:19:00.000-07:00

More comments on the US Open ---

Angel Cabrera's victory was a great achievement. The guy showed a lot of moxie coming down the stretch to win his first major. I first saw him in person a few years ago on the practice tee at The Masters. I was so impressed with his golf swing that I ended up watching him hit balls for 45 minutes. Aside from the tournament highlights, this was the most memorable part of my Masters weekend.

The main subject of this post concerns the two runners up, Tiger and Jim Furyk. From watching these players intently for four days - some in person, mostly on television - I got the sense more than ever before of why they rise to the top in major championships. Pure talent, especially in Tiger's case, is certainly a factor, but it's their mental attitude which makes the difference. This is solely my opinion, but I sensed that these two players were, perhaps more so than everyone else, completely "into the game." That is, their sole focus was on playing every shot to the best of their ability, irrespective of the other actions around them. They seem to be able to take the energy of the event and channel it into their own performance. I could see it in their eyes, in their mannerisms, and how they spoke. Yes, they both came up just short and were most disappointed, but they also left Oakmont knowing that they had given it their best shot, and therefore had no regrets. Both Jim and Tiger said as much in their post game interviews, and this sense of accomplishment reflected on their faces as Cabrera accepted the trophy.

Winning is important, but what's most important is a winning attitude. Both Woods and Furyk understand that they have no control over the action of others. This thinking has penetrated to the core of their belief system. They spend their time riveted on what they alone can do - being the best they can be day in and day out - which to me is the real definition of a "winner."

Here's to great golf!

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

2007-06-18T12:35:00.000-07:00

Mental Golf Tips From the US Open ---

True to tradition, the Open was an exciting and challenging event. I had a particular interest in it this year since it was held in my own "backyard" of Pittsburgh. I did go to Oakmont to watch the action live one day and also watched a lot of television coverage. Up close, the course looked magnificent, and I must say that the organization and logistics were handled superbly. When viewing both live and on television, I kept my eyes and ears open for great examples of mental practices, excellent mechanical technique, and the optimum blending of the two. Here are a few inner game "nuggets" of interest:

1. Focus on what you DO want, not what you don't want. One of the most talked-about developments was Phil Mickelson's extensive practice in hitting out of the deep rough. Phil was determined to be prepared for Oakmont's notorious deep rough. He focused and practiced so hard to prepare for the problem that he developed a sore wrist. As you know, he ultimately did end up experiencing some problems with his game on Friday to the point that he didn't make the cut. Phil put so much effort and energy into preparing for problems that that's what he got - problems. Johnny Miller commented on the situation, saying "Why would anybody do that (prepare so much to get ready for a problem)? When asked earlier in the week if he was going to practice in the deep rough, Tiger said, "I don't want to go in there when I play. I'm not going to practice going in there. I'm not even going to think about it." This is a great illustration of a fundamental tenet of mental golf - focus on what you DO want. The more focus, energy, and emotion you put into the opposite of what you want (i.e. what you don't want, like problems in the deep rough), the more you are paving the way for that to happen. A focused problem-oriented mindset leads to problem experiences. Some practice shots in different areas of the course are one thing, but determinably preparing for the worst will inevitably bring it right to you.

2. Stay patient. Another illustration of note was Bubba Watson's hasty shot on the ninth hole. Those times when the going does get "rough," it helps to practice patience. On the ninth, Bubba couldn't get the ball from the thick rough on the left edge, and his pitch shot traveled just a few feet into more scruffy rough, with the pin just a few dozen feet away. Rather than calming down and preparing for another difficult shot, Watson hastily hit a pop fly that carried across the green, stopping farther from the flag than he was to start with. He ended up with a triple bogey on the hole. One of the commentator's noted that, "patience is {Bubba's} Achille's heel." One of the article headlines read, "Bubba's Lack of Patience Costs Him the Lead." It noted that Woods, who often shares an early morning practice session with Watson, constantly reminds him to be patient. While it may be tough to do sometimes, staying patient is a great skill that keeps you mentally on track and leads to a lot more positive golf experiences.

3. Believe in yourself. Angel Cabrera surprised a lot of people with his win, but the thing is, he didn't surprise himself. One article noted that despite his long success on the European Tour, he had only three wins there and was considered something of an "underachiever." When asked about his, Cabrera said, "I felt like a winner." Jimmy Roberts had a couple of interesting remarks about Cabrera. At one point he said, "Cabrera had a good comeback after two bogeys. You didn't think he had it altogether? Think again." Later, Roberts said, "Cabrera is oblivious to people saying he's not a good closer." No matter what was going on around him, on the inside Cabrera "felt like a winner." He believed in himself. He stuck with those thoughts and beliefs through thick and thin this past week, and it took him to the top. He sure inspired me!

This is all good "inner food for thought" that you can digest and use to make your next golf experience a positive one.

Here's to great golf!

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

2007-06-02T14:50:00.000-07:00

Positive Golf Tip for Summer Reading ---

As you are putting together your summer reading list of golf titles, mystery titles, and fun titles, here are some titles of books on personal enrichment. Some of them are long-time classics and some are newer classics. All of them can help you develop understanding, skills, and a positive, success-oriented mindset that can give a boost to your golf game and other aspects of life. The relaxed atmosphere of summer is a great time to read about inspiring self improvement ideas and real-life stories and try out some of the new mental techniques on the course. That's how I got started on the mental golf path and it has made all the difference. Check these out:

The Power of Motivation, by Michael Bolduc
Acres of Diamonds, by Russell Conwell
The 7 Habits of Highly Successful People, by Stephen R. Covey
He Can Who Thinks He Can, by Orison Swett Marden (founder of Success Magazine)
On Success, by Earl Nightingale
The Power of Positive Thinking, by Norman Vincent Peale
How to Live a Prosperous Life, by Catherine Ponder
Principles of Success, by Brian Tracy

There is a great book website that specializes in titles like these. Most of them are available in e-book format for immediate download for as little as $7.95. A lot of them are available as audio books as well. CLICK HERE to check it out.

Happy reading!

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

2007-05-25T12:01:00.000-07:00

Positive Golf Tip for Kids Golf ---

When teaching kids about the mechanics of playing golf, it's a great time to pass along tips about attitude too. I was really fortunate that my parents did that with me. They taught me the "can-do attitude" and encouraged me to think and say, "I can," at a young age when I was learning the game. This was such a valuable lesson that it inspired the development of the Can-Do Golf Program we offer at TheHeartofGolf.com. In the Can-Do Book that is part of the program, we list some Can-Do Golf Activities to help kids develop the can-do attitude while practicing golf skills. A couple of these activities are listed below. These are great to do with the kids during a family golf outing or as part of a golf camp. With a large group, you can put the kids into smaller groups to do Can-Do Putting Practice, Chipping Practice, and Full Swing Practice. The positive Can-Do theme helps develop confidence and inspires a feeling of fun. Let us know how it goes for you and the kids!

Can-Do Putting Practice: Put some golf balls in a circle one foot from the hole. Look at the hole and imagine the balls rolling right in when you tap them. Then say, I CAN DO THAT! before you putt. After putting these balls, move them a little farther away from the hole and putt them again, repeating the Can-Do Affirmation before you putt. Keep repeating this activity as you move the balls farther and farther from the hole.

Can-Do Full Swing Practice: Put a line of balls on the tee or the fairway. Pick an area or target to shoot for. Imagine your ball flying in the air right to the spot. Then say, I CAN DO THAT! before you swing. After hitting these balls, choose a different club or a different spot, repeating the Can-Do affirmation before swinging. Repeat the process as many times as you want.

Here's to great golf!

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

2007-05-10T13:23:00.000-07:00

Positive Golf Tip - Watch Those Wandering Thoughts

Being aware of our thoughts is a valuable practice, both on and off the course. It helps us to catch those thoughts that are negative, critical, and expecting the worst and change them to thoughts that are positive, supportive, and expectant of good. I have learned first-hand the value of this practice to improve my golf game compared to when I wasn't aware and the negative thoughts ran rampant.

There is another practice related to this, and it is keeping our thoughts focused on the situation at hand. When we are practicing awareness of positive and negative thoughts, it also helps us to be aware if we are in tune with what is going on around us or we are letting distractions fill our mind. We have seen what happens to Tiger and other champions when their mental game is off and they aren't focused - errant shots, missed putts, and unfortunate mistakes. I had a first-hand experience with this over the weekend. On the 17th hole of the Spring Medal match at our club, I inadvertently marked my ball which was just off the green. Another player pointed it out immediately, noting that it was an infraction since my ball wasn't on the green. My mind had been filled with distracting thoughts, and I was immediately pulled back to the task at hand. The mistake cost me a penalty shot and missing third place by one stroke. It reminded me of the value of keeping our wandering thoughts (as well as our negative thoughts) in check on the course.

My wife pointed out that this was a good real-life Positive Golf lesson to pass along, so I humbly share it. Positive Golfers learn from an experience and move on rather than dwelling on the mistake and sinking into negativity. So, I'm off to the course again with my eyes and ears and mind in tune and wide open!

Onward and upward -

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

2007-04-25T11:22:00.000-07:00

Update on Positive Golf Improvement Projects for 2007

You may recall my posting in January 2007 regarding Positive Golf Improvement Projects for 2007. I shared the projects that my wife and I had each selected to focus on this year. I'm sharing them again, along with the "blend" of inner and outer mental and mechanical techniques we are each using at the start of the season to approach our golf improvement. I will share more updates throughout the spring and summer and invite other fellow positive golfers to do the same.

RICK'S POSITIVE GOLF IMPROVEMENT PROJECT FOR 2007:

Project Focus: To consistently hit short wedge and pitch shots within 10 feet of the hole.

Affirmations I'm Using (Inner Game):
- I am capable of spinning the ball with my pitch shots.
- I see my pitches spinning and checking next to the hole.
- I enjoy playing pitch shots around the greens.

Techniques I'm Using (Outer Game):
- Stand tall.
- Get the club up more steeply on the backswing.
- Swing down by turning the body toward the target, letting the clubhead trail hands.
- For distance control, match length of backswing and downswing.

CHRISTY'S POSITIVE GOLF IMPROVEMENT PROJECT FOR 2007:

Project Focus: To consistently hit straight drives approaching 200 yards.

New Ideas I'm Using (Inner Game): An understandable analogy for me is to remember the rounded motion used to hit a baseball.

Affirmations I'm Using (Inner Game):
(These help me focus on what I can do, and help me be aware of the feeling of the proper swing motion.)
- I have the ability to hit great drives.
- I can swing with the perfect tempo.
- I allow the flow of a smooth swing motion.
- I am making progress.

Techniques I'm Using (Outer Game):
- To have a more rounded swing, rather than a vertical motion, practice swinging the club a foot or so off the ground.
- Think of this cadence while swinging: swing back - plant left foot - swing through.

Here's to great golf!

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

2007-04-09T07:12:00.000-07:00

Golf Improvement Lesson From The Masters ---

Zach Johnson's two-shot victory yesterday at Augusta National was impressive indeed. It wasn't just his technical skills that kept him ahead, however. His "inner conversations" were a fine example of an inner game that is positive and supportive. He didn't talk himself out of victory with negative "I can't do it" type thoughts. He kept in focus and on track even when more experienced champions like Tiger Woods were just a breath away in their score. It was thoughts like these that kept Johnson on the positive track: "I knew if I stayed in the present, I'd do well," (i.e. he didn't distract himself with negative "what if" scenarios) and "I felt like I've been blessed and I'm good enough to take home the green jacket...that's what I was trying to tell myself the whole time..." This is the kind of positive thinking that every golfer can practice, whether you are new or experienced. You don't have to be a pro to need, or to benefit from, mental golf practices like these.

Here's to great golf!

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

2007-04-06T07:37:00.000-07:00

A Golf Tip to Help With Your Inner Game ---

Here is a great website to check out. It has a lot of very practical, real-life ideas about mental golf, from basic foundations to specifics on the swing, the short game, powerful putting, and lots more. As a starting point, you can click on "published articles" and get a lot of tips that you can put to use right away. This is great information from a very knowledgeable person who really practices these things.

The site is "Golfer Within," URL: http://www.golferwithin.com

Here's to a great inner game!

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

2007-03-26T08:34:00.000-07:00

Golf Improvement Tip for Spring ---

With the return of warmer weather in much of the country, we have the annual return to the practice range and the course. For many golfers, it has meant an extended absence from play. We are getting back in the swing again, so to speak, and working out some kinks. If you let it, this can be a time of frustration as you get back in form and strive to make some changes and improvements. A positive mental outlook and approach has an enormous impact on whether this is a positive, and successful, experience for you. Your thoughts and the words you think and say to yourself are a vital part of this outlook and the resulting experience. Trust me, the words and thoughts you have DO make a difference - a big difference!

To help you get the season off to a great start and ultimately develop a whole new "positive golf language," I am including a list of "10 Power Words for Better Golf." This is a great time to start the practice of integrating them into your speech. Sample phrases that incorporate these words are included to make it easier for you. Start by paying attention to the words and phrases that your are already habitually using. (You might be surprised at how many negative things you are thinking and saying and essentially using to "set yourself up" for a negative experience.) Start using more of the positive power words when you are thinking and speaking about the game before, during, and after you practice and play. With consistent practice and new positive habits of thinking, you will be mastering one of the core skills of mental golf. Combine this with consistent physical practice of your mechanical skills and you will be sure to see improvements in your game. Feel free to share the positive developments with us!

10 Power Words for Better Golf:

1. Allow: I allow the flow of a smooth swing motion. I allow myself to relax and let go.
2. Best: I am putting to the best of my ability. I enjoy hitting my best shot.
3. Can: I can succeed at improving my swing. I can swing with the perfect tempo.
4. Enjoy: I enjoy practicing new golf techniques. I enjoy playing this hole.
5. Expect: I expect a good session on the practice range. I expect to be prepared for the tournament.
6. Have: I have the ability to draw the ball. I have a good, smooth swing motion.
7. Is: My grip is relaxed and confident. My putting stroke is smooth and accurate.
8. Know: I know the right ideas will come to me as I play. I know I will be matched with the perfect playing partners today.
9. Open: I am open to feedback from my golf teacher. I am open to positive changes in my swing.
10. Will: I will hit great drives today. I will read the greens perfectly today.

If you want more golf tips and more mental game tips, as well as a free Positive Golf e-book to improve your inner and outer game, check out the good stuff at TheHeartofGolf.com.

Here's to great golf!

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

2007-03-07T11:38:00.000-08:00

Golf Improvement Tips from Top Teachers -

There is lots of highly usable content in the latest issue (March 2007) of Golf Magazine. The magazine's editor called the issue "your golf guide for mind and body. It was great to see articles that complement and reinforce what we are doing through the Positive Golf Blog and our Heart of Golf Website. Here are some highlights:

- Top 100 Golf Teacher Martin Hall talks about "How to Punch Up Your Power," and emphasizes the feeling you need in your right arm to achieve maximum power.

- Top 100 Teacher Shawn Humphries offers a step-by-step "private lesson" on building a repeatable swing, with tips for relaxing, allowing, and creating maximum power.

(My new book, THE "INSIDE-OUT" GOLF SWING, A Creative Approach to Golf's Optimal Swing Motion, expands on the very same ideas promoted by these two teachers. Check it out at TheHeartofGolf.com.)

- Results were revealed from an interesting experiment done by Dr. Richard Keefe, associate professor of sports medicine at Duke University. Three golfers were "wired" to determine how golf-related stress affects the mind and body. There was lots of interesting insight into the power of our inner thoughts on our outer game. (Wait till you see the MRI photo of a golf-stressed brain!) Lots of practical mental game tips and some secrets for playing under pressure were shared as well.

Developing the inner and outer game is at the heart of what we practice and promote through The Positive Golf Blog and The Heart of Golf Website. All of our publications are like mini guides for the mind and body. It is great to see this same kind of approach coming from Golf Magazine too! Be sure to check it out...

Here's to your inner and outer game!

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

2007-02-28T11:25:00.000-08:00

Golf Improvement Tip to Stop a Slice ---

For practice on the range, slice swing trainers can be very useful. I've used one myself. If you swing down from the outside in, your club will hit the arm of the gizmo, ruining the shot. Of course, the idea is to train yourself to get the feeling of the proper swing path. But what you're thinking about is keeping the club inside that gizmo!

The problem for me was - on the few occasions when I made contact with it, it didn't provide a whole lot of deterrence. Plus, I had a hard time imagining it there in front of me on the golf course. So I derived limited benefit. What I needed was a more potent image, something that would inflict a more severe penalty if struck - something that would scare the daylights out of my slice motion.

I found that "something" in my backyard. A five pound rock. Now hear me out before you declare me totally insane. I did not train with this stone. But I did study it until I had a clear picture of the rock in my mind. Then, I took an old, beat up club and I struck the rock, not hard, but with just enough force to feel a very uncomfortable rattle in my hands. The thought of even a glancing blow at full speed sent shivers down my spine.

This is the mental image I took with me during my next round of golf - that rock laying a couple of inches behind the ball and just outside the line of a perfect swing path into it. I used this mental image on every shot, and actually got the shivers a few times! Not once, however, did I swing across my line. Was I thinking about the mechanics of my golf swing? Absolutely not. I was thinking about staying clear of that dangerous obstacle.

Here is one instance where you definitely don't want a Piece of the Rock!

By the way, here's a good affirmation to use while practicing this drill: I enjoy the feeling of the perfect swing path.

Here's to a great golf swing!

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

2007-02-21T07:21:00.000-08:00

Golf Improvement Tip - Feel It, Don't Force It

To gain lasting success in golf, we must convert from the trying or doing mode to the feeling mode. This is a significant lesson that I learned from real-life experience in my quest to improve my swing and have a more positive golf experience. Years of taking a strictly mechanical approach with much forced effort (i.e. trying too hard) led to a lot of frustration rather than positive, long-term change. It was only when I learned about, and consistently practiced, mentally and physically feeling (rather than forcing) my swing that significant changes began to take place. I changed the way I thought about my golf swing and that opened me up to allow flow, fluidity, relaxation, and a greater receptivity to actually feeling the proper swing motion. When I got a sense of the proper feeling, it was much easier to repeat the proper motion with each swing. The results were more consistency, power, and speed.

Here are some ideas and concepts that worked for me and can work for other golfers too:

- Stop thinking that you have to hit hard at the ball from the beginning of your downswing and instead think about allowing the correct swing motion to happen.

-Take the pressure to perform off yourself and out of your hands. Lighten your grip pressure enough so that you feel no tension in your forearms. Strive to maintain this light pressure throughout your swing.

-Allow yourself to focus on feeling each phase of the swing motion, from the takeaway to the follow through. How does it feel in your hands, arms, and shoulders. Strive to feel the balance, power, and flexibility. Take note of how good a relaxed, smooth, flowing swing motion feels. Remember the feelings so they can be repeated again in your mind and on the range as you practice and play.

It is steps like these in learning and practicing to "feel the feeling" that can help you get to the heart of what is restricting you and open you up to a whole new way of playing and enjoying the game. In a few days, I'll share some "feeling drills" that you can practice now to help you prepare for the upcoming season. They come from my newly published book, THE "INSIDE-OUT" GOLF SWING - A Creative Approach to Golf's Optimal Swing Motion. More coming soon...

Here's to good golf thoughts,

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

2007-01-18T13:04:00.000-08:00

Build Your Self-Belief to Improve Your Golf

If you watched the Sony Open in Hawaii over the weekend, you know there was a lot of excitement and a close finish. At one point, Nick Faldo made an interesting comment about Charles Howell III - He has a strong self-belief. It got me to thinking that self-belief is really one of the cornerstones of playing good golf. That's why we make it one of the fundamentals of Positive Golf. What is self-belief? It is a belief in our own ability and potential. It is the belief that we are going to be successful in a task or endeavor. It is a can-do attitude.

So how do you assess your self-belief? Here are a few questions to ask yourself:

-Do I consistently think or say positive, encouraging things about my golf?
-Do I consistently believe that I have the ability and potential to play good golf?
-Do I consistently feel confident when I step up to address the ball?
-Do I consistently picture a good outcome when I drive, chip, or putt?

If you answered "no" to one or more of these questions, you can take some steps to build your self-belief. For me, it helps to begin taking mental note of my words, thoughts, and ideas that I think and say as I prepare for my game or my shot. In essence, I catch myself in the act of thinking negative thoughts and I replace them with positive, encouraging thoughts. I get the worry, fear, anxiety, and discouragement about myself and my abilities out of my mind and keep it filled with supportive, confident, and positive thoughts. Repeating affirmations is one of way retraining your mind, getting into new habits of thinking, and building your self-belief. I use them alot. Here are some examples:

-Today I will be calm and confident.
-I expect a good session on the practice range.
-I can succeed at improving my swing (or my drives, my chips, or my putting).
-I can swing with the perfect tempo.
-I have the ability to draw the ball.
-I enjoy seeing the ball land exactly where I want it to land.

For more help, you can go to our HeartofGolf website and check out our golf improvement books and our Can-Do Golf Program for kids. Here is another website I found that has good books and tips: selfgrowth.com.

Here's to good golf thoughts!

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

2007-01-10T08:19:00.000-08:00

Positive Golf Improvement Project for 2007

As promised in my message of January 4, 2007, I'll be posting regularly about my Positive Golf Improvement Project for 2007. While I practice using mental golf techniques and other Positive Golf ideas in all aspects of my game, I have picked one area for particular focus as my Positive Golf Improvement Project for 2007. My wife, a beginning golfer, has picked one as well. Here they are:

My project is to consistently hit short wedge and pitch shots within 10 feet of the hole.
My wife's project is to consistently hit straight drives approaching 200 yards

We'll share updates on our progress and the mental golf ideas we are using along the way. Do you have a Positive Golf Improvement Project for 2007? Let us know...

Here's to great golf!

Rick Semple
Positive Golfer
http://www.TheHeartofGolf.com

2007-01-04T14:06:00.000-08:00

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 overwheled, 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 my habitual negative thought patterns related to my slice, like I fear hitting out of bounds on this hole, or I can't see 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 technique 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 my Positive Golf Improvement Project for 2007. Let's hear about yours...

Here's to good golf thoughts!

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

2007-01-02T10:55:00.000-08:00

Positive Golf Inspiring Story - A 59 at 59

Inspiring stories are one of the many great things about this time of year. Through magazines, books, and movies we learn stories about people who have overcome odds, stayed committed, and given their all to reach achievements that surprise and inspire. These stories often motivate us to stick with something, reach higher, try harder, or believe in ourselves in a greater way. They are a great way to start out the new year with a stronger sense of purpose.

With this inspiration in mind, we thought it was a great time to introduce our first in an ongoing series of Positive Golf Inspiring Stories. These stories are about people who have achieved something extraordinary in golf by using the type of positive mental ideas and attitudes that we promote through TheHeartofGolf.com. Our first story is a real zinger. Watch for more in the future. We welcome stories from our readers...

It was a hot afternoon this past August in the first round of the Tri-State PGA's Christopher J. Seretti Memorial Classic at Montour Heights Country Club in Coraopolis, PA. The golfers had been playing for nearly six hours. Former Champions Tour player Roy Vucinich was 13-under with two holes two play. Stay focused on the fairways and greens, he kept saying to himself. You can shoot your age. He would not allow fear, and "what ifs" to creep in to his thoughts. Sure enough, Roy finished the round with a 13-under 59, just four months after his 59th birthday. A 59 at 59! It was the first time a local professional shot 59 in a Tri-State section event and maybe the only time a professional at any level has matched his age of 59 in competition.

Roy was the former head professional at Allegheny Country Club, in Sewickley Heights, PA, which is where I got to know him, and he played the Champions Tour full-time from 2000-2002. I was thrilled and impressed to hear about Roy's round of 59, which included nine birdies and two eagles at the 6350 yards, par-72 course. I was equally impressed to hear about Roy's mental approach. These were some of his thoughts as he played: I stayed focused on picking the target and hitting it; I didn't put other things in my head; I didn't let myself get overly nervous, and I didn't allow the negativity. A good approach to play and live by, indeed! This is a classic example of Positive Golf thinking and playing. It epitomizes the power of blending positive "inner golf communication" with poised "outer golf technique," which is what we encourage. We salute Roy's mental approach and superb mechanical skill and share his story as an inspiration to everyone as to what is possible with focus and positivity.

Here's to great golf!

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

2006-12-08T12:36:00.000-08:00

Practice Stopping The Stress to Improve Your Golf...

This time of year, we hear a lot about stress and what it does to us. It is amazing what fear, worry, anxiety, and other stress-related thoughts do to our body, from restricting blood flow to making our muscles rigid and tight. Our heart beats faster and our breathing is fast and shallow. Overall, our body is limited from performing at its optimum best. When it comes to golf, it is amazing how many problems on the course can be linked to a stressed mindset. When we are feeling any kind of stress on the course, a whole unpleasant host of things start to happen. Our swing motion may become tense or abbreviated, we may pull our arms in or up, we may swing too fast, we may get the "yips," the list goes on.

So what does stress at this time of year have to do with golf? Well, even if you can't get out on the course right now, you can still practice being aware of when you are having stressful thoughts and feelings in other aspects of your life. A real key to stopping stress is to be aware of when our limiting thoughts and feelings are occurring and nip them in the bud before they start limiting our body and our outer activities. Be aware of when you are saying limiting or negative things to yourself like, I'll never get this done or, There is no way I can do this. Then, you can take a "mental time out" like I like to do when I encourage myself to "lighten up," and I regroup in my mind by saying some positive Can-Do type things to myself. By practicing mental exercises like this now, you'll be more in tune with yourself and more prepared to stop the stress next time you are out on the course.

Here's to good golf thoughts!

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

2006-11-24T12:52:00.000-08:00

Teach Kids the Can-Do Attitude...

In the last post, I talked about why the word "CAN" is my favorite golf power word. It is a word that helps to put me in a positive mindset and get me on track to achieving something that I desire to do, from curing a slice to reducing tension in my swing. My parents taught me the Can-Do Attitude and encouraged me to think and say, "I can" at a young age as I was learning to play golf. This is such a valuable lesson that every parent can teach to children that will help them in their golf game and throughout life.

At TheHeartofGolf.com, we have a great program that can help you teach kids the Can-Do attitude. It's called The Can-Do Golf Program and includes a series of kids golf products that incorporate the Can-Do phrase. There is a Can-Do Book, a Can-Do Bag Tag, and a Can-Do Golf Ball. They can be purchased separately, or together as a Can-Do Golf Kit for a discount price. The Can-Do Golf Products make great Christmas or birthday gifts and can help put your kids on the road to self-confidence and success in golf today. For more information, check out the Can-Do Golf Program on our website at TheHeartofGolf.com.

Cheers!

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

2006-11-10T08:47:00.000-08:00

My Favorite Golf Power Word...

In studying and practicing mental golf techniques, I have learned that one of the most important things that makes a difference is the words that you think and say. It is really surprising the difference that this makes. Words can basically put you in the mood and pave the way for a pleasant or unpleasant, successful or unsuccessful, golf experience. My favorite golf power word is "CAN." This is one of the first power words that I started to use when practicing positive golf, and it remains one of my favorite. It is a power word because it literally has positive connotations and vibrations that help you focus and achieve something you want. Now I know why my parents used to encourage me to think and say, "I CAN do this" rather than "I CAN'T do this!" I encourage people to start by practicing the more frequent use of this word, like "I can make this putt," and "I can swing with a smooth motion." Once you start paying attention to how often you do (or don't) use this word, you will notice a difference. You might get off track sometimes, especially if you feel tense or frustrated. That happens to me too. But just try to get back to thinking and saying (and believing!) this power word CAN. It is a great start to more positive golf experiences! I like to hear how just this one step helps people with their game.

By the way, we offer a free Positive Golf Power Book when you sign up for our free Positive Golf newsletter. The ebook has 50 Positive Words, Affirmations, and Tips to Improve your Outlook, Your Game, and Your Life. Check it out at the Positive Golf Newsletter page on our website.

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

2006-11-03T08:24:00.000-08:00

Look At Your Limiting Thoughts...

I first started implementing mental golf techniques a few years ago. I had been playing the game for forty-plus years, winning some competitions along the way, but some major challenges still remained, like my slice. For years, I had searched in vain for a mechanical fix. Then, family illness took me away from the game for the better part of a decade.

When I returned to golf, my efforts for swing improvement continued, but meager results caused my frustration and tension levels to increase. My confidence plummeted. It seemed that the harder I tried, the worse things got. I actually considered quitting altogether. Then, I came to a turning point. It dawned on me that it was time to get back to some positive ideas and attitudes that my parents had taught me as a child, like "I can do it." I was inspired to try something different, like the mental golf techniques I had been reading about but resisting for years. I started with something basic, which was to identify and change some negative, obstructing thought patterns which I believed were hindering my improvement. One of these was, "I can't seem to change this slice motion, no matter how hard I try." (I wanted to change it, but I didn't really think I could since I had been slicing the ball for years.) Instead, I began to say to myself, "I am learning to draw the ball." I said it frequently and with conviction until I really believed it. Slowly but surely, positive changes did begin to occur. That first basic step in using mental golf techniques opened up a whole new way of approaching the improvement of my golf game.

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

2006-11-01T10:15:00.000-08:00

Welcome...

Welcome to the Positive Golf Blog.

We will post motivational ideas, inspirational stories, mental golf tips, and quick mechanical tips to help improve your outlook, your game, and your life. There will be ideas and tips to help adult golfers as well as kids.

This blog is an outgrowth of TheHeartofGolf.com website. Through these channels, we pass along a unique blend of positive ideas paired with practical mechanical tips that can be used by golfers of any experience level to achieve longer-lasting improvement (rather than short-term success), a more positive attitude, and greater enjoyment of the game. We have learned first-hand the tremendous impact of the "inner game" on the "outer game," and we strive to pass along mental game tips in a practical, real-life fashion.

We enjoy the day-to-day learning and application of positive-oriented thoughts, ideas, and techniques to improve our game (and our life!), and we enjoy exchanging ideas with other like-minded people. With this blog, we look forward to building a Positive Golf community of others who love golf, learning, and life. Watch for many stories, tips, thoughts, and ideas to come!

With best wishes,

Rick and Christy Semple
Positive Golfers
Co-Founders, TheHeartofGolf.com
http://www.TheHeartofGolf.com