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Most golfers are obsessed with shooting a low score. Sound familiar? What would you say if I told you that this obsession will probably RAISE your score? Before you hit the delete button, let me set the record straight. I have nothing against shooting a low score, or winning. In fact, one team I played for made up t-shirts that said, “Winning is the best thing in life.” I still wear it all the time. However, there’s a paradox in golf: the more we try to shoot a low score, the worse we play. US Olympic medal swimmer Jeff Rouse learned this lesson the hard way. Rouse lost the Olympic gold medal by hundredths of a second in Barcelona. He couldn’t understand why he’d lost after training so hard for so long. Rouse decided to continue swimming and train for the 1996 Atlanta Games. Three of the four years leading up to the Games, he said, “was spent on soul searching.” He finally realized why he had lost in Barcelona: he had defined success as one thing: winning the gold medal. This put too much pressure on him and just didn’t work. In sport psychology, this what we call an “outcome focus”. In golf, the classic outcome focus is a low score. The problem with trying to shoot a low score is that you cannot control it (if you could, you’d ALWAYS shoot a low score). And when you are focused on something you cannot control, the first emotion you will have is anxiety… followed closely by over-tightness and bad shots. However, there is good news. As Jeff learned what to focus on, he turned his entire swimming career around. Jeff came up with the goal of having “easy speed.” This simple phrase represented how he wanted to feel in a race: Calm, at peace, relaxed. He would say it to himself and feel its reassurance. After using this phrase in training he could swim with 100% speed at 80% effort. He arrived in Atlanta with a whole new outlook: “Family first and easy speed”. He recalls the start of the race, “I was at total peace with myself.” He won. Years later, he describes how he can still feel the calm and relaxing presence of ‘easy speed’ by just thinking about it. You can do the same in golf. I suggest you set several goals that are under YOUR control for your next game that will immediately relax you. ...and if you haven't downloaded your copy of my online eBook "Breakthrough Golf: Lower Your Score Now Using the Mental Toughness Secrets of Professional Athletes" yet, then you need to do that NOW. It's jam packed with concepts, techniques, and specific step-by-step strategies for lowering your score immediately. It's the foundation for all the other things I teach, and it's fast and easy to download and read. Just go to: http://www.golfgamesecrets.com/sales/ Go check them out, and I'll talk to you again soon. Your Friend, Lisa B.
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