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Your Way to a Better Game - Scott CranfieldRepeat that Perfect Shot
How to Develop and Maintain a Hot Streak
If you have been practising the exercises described in previous articles I'm sure that you are seeing a substantial improvement in your game.
If not please let me know as soon as possible as help is not far away via A Cranfield Golf Academy coach.
Previous articles have focussed on increasing your awareness, improving mind control and dealing with negative thoughts and interference. By now I would hope that you have experienced a winning feeling on the golf course and even found yourself in what may be termed a "hot streak".
This article will help you understand how to get into a hot streak and, perhaps even more importantly, how to maintain it.
How To Get Into a Hot Streak
The process of swinging a golf club and hitting the required shots involves many variables. These may be seriously affected by your own internal dialogue, mental outlook and pre-shot attitude.
Hot streaks occur because we have managed to arrange the whole process in a comfortable, balanced way. For example, we may have communicated the ideal thoughts to our inner self in the perfect tone at the perfect tempo, all of which have combined to produce outstanding results.
In order to replicate outstanding results we need to identify and reproduce all these variables by a process known as Modelling.
Modelling
The essence of Modelling is that if you are able to recreate the thoughts and actions that have produced a given result you are likely to achieve that same result again.
Modelling is often used when trying to replicate the results that somebody else has achieved. In this case, however, you will learn how to model yourself while you are in a hot streak or perhaps hitting one shot particularly well.
But first a few words on physiology and its importance.
If I said that I was sitting next to a very depressed person I'm sure that you would immediately form an image of how that person was looking - head down, eyes downcast, round shouldered, slumped. Even sitting like this for a few minutes is going to make you feel pretty depressed. Remember that the way that we stand on the tee, walk down the fairway and address our shots have an important effect on our thinking and the outcome of our shots.
Now let's look at modelling ourselves for a hot streak so that we can not only repeat it but keep it going.
Remembering A Good Shot
Recall, hopefully from fairly recent experience, when you played a shot exactly as you intended, perhaps even perfectly. Run through that shot in your mind. Do you remember your approach to the ball, how you felt at address, and what sort of internal dialogue was going on? Perhaps my own pre-shot routine will help you to develop a "good shot strategy".
My Personal Strategy for an Excellent Shot
Pre-Shot My
- Body posture upright, balanced and confident looking.
- Breathing comfortable.
- No thoughts on the shot at all.
Lining Up From Behind the Ball
- Develop a strong image of the flag on the green, the colour of the green, the brightness of the flag and a shining flagpole.
- Visualise the ball flying into this picture and landing on the green beside the flag. The ball is very bright and appears much larger than normal
Walking to the Ball
- The walk feels confident and strong
Addressing the Ball
- Visualise just the green and flag as you set yourself to the ball.
- Notice your grip pressure, perhaps a light "3" on a scale of 1 to 10.
- Before swinging the club say "just let it happen" in a reasonably quiet voice, slower than normal talking speed.
The Swing
- At the word "happen", the club is taken back.
- An awareness of movement is maintained throughout the swing without trying to control it!
The steps taken above are often those I take to achieve an excellent result. However this is a very personal process and you may prefer to develop your own series of thoughts and actions.
As always, any new approach takes plenty of thought, practise and experimentation. It is all about becoming aware of what is going to work for you in various circumstances. With experience you will certainly learn to programme yourself so that you will be able to reproduce your best efforts when you need them most.
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