If you don’t believe that your unconscious mind has a big influence on your golf, then you clearly won’t care about the commands you know, and more importantly, without knowing it send it, will you? Underestimate the vast power of your mind that automatically runs at your own peril in golf!
Think about this. When was the last time she tried to control her own digestive system and extract energy from food to distribute throughout her body? When was the last time you controlled the Acid/Alkaline PH levels in your blood by consciously using the body’s resources to neutralize too many acids? What about monitoring the functions of your liver or kidneys? No? I do not believe it.
Now tell me your unconscious mind won’t influence how you play golf. If you think about hitting your drive out of bounds and then actually do it, congratulate yourself on a perfect performance. That’s right, I said it’s perfect and here’s why. Your unconscious mind (or subconscious if you prefer) IS IMAGE DRIVEN. I have highlighted this because it is crucial that you really remember this… YOUR UNCONSCIOUS MIND IS DRIVEN BY IMAGES.
Even if you are not aware of the images, I can assure you that it is happening. If you think about doing something, images go through your mind. Think of driving a car to the golf course. What images do you notice? Will it be pictures of you, the car, parts of the journey and the finish, the golf course, maybe even the tee shot? You have just experienced that your unconscious executes the program called: “Take me to the golf course, I want to tee off and play.”
When you think about taking it out of bounds, what images run through your mind? Can you imagine the feeling of a bad shot and see the arc of the ball going where you don’t want? Can you hear the noise of the ball in the forest of OB? Think about what thoughts run through your mind for a moment. Congratulations, you have just experienced your unconscious running a program called “Hit this ball out of bounds.”
“But I don’t want him to go OB and I was thinking of NOT hitting him out of bounds!” Unfortunately, I hear you say, this doesn’t work, as your ball goes flying out of bounds will attest.
Here is another KEY INFORMATION TO REMEMBER. your unconscious mind WILL NOT PROCESS NEGATIVES FOR YOU IN A POSITIVE WAY. In other words, if you say “Don’t hit him out of bounds”, your unconscious will play back images of him going out of bounds and interpret that as the command, ignoring the “No” bit.
If I say “Don’t think of a pink elephant”, you just executed a picture of a pink elephant. In other words, you’ve done exactly what you didn’t want to do. You can’t, NOT think about what you don’t want to think about! Wow! Keep it simple: think about what you want to happen and no what you don’t want to happen.
REMEMBER:
Your mind is driven by images. Your unconscious mind will deliver what the images it processes suggest, negative or positive. If you process images of a negative event (hit it in the water/bunker/OB) your mind takes it as an image-driven command. Your unconscious doesn’t process the “No” part, only the images of the event. What you think, you get more.
Think about WHAT YOU WANT TO HAPPEN! The positive hit that stays on the fairway, moves forward and stops in the perfect spot. Let your mind project those images, then hold the image of your target in your mind and walk away. You can’t stop thinking, so it’s best to consciously think about what you want so your unconscious mind works with you for great results more often. Have faith, keep practicing Image Driven Positive Thinking and you will get better and better.