ForeThought - That's Me!
By: Bob Skura on 06/23/10 03:31 PMIn order to develop the self-image of an Olympic Champion before he actually became one, Lanny used a unique form of reinforcement. Every time he made a shot that was clearly better than average he would say to himself, “That’s me!” Every time he made a poor shot he would either forget it or at least downplay his error.
Over time his self-image morphed from that of a high-ranked competitor, into that of an Olympic champion and indeed he became one. After all, who can beat a person who has a habit of hitting the bull’s eye time after time?
Another way of looking at this technique is to say that Lanny invested more emotional energy into his excellent shots than he did into his poor shots.
When a golfer three-putts a green and stomps off saying, "That rotten &$%#! ball just won't go in the &%$#! hole," he's investing a lot of energy in a negative result. The brain picks up on the strength of this response and starts to build a negative self-image. The same player would have to invest as much emotional energy into a future great shot just to negate the damage he's done to himself. A better approach is to only invest emotional energy in one's best shots by saying, "That's me," and move on.
This past May Rory McIlroy claimed his first PGA Tour win at Quail Hollow with some fantastic shot-making down the stretch. After many of his shots he used a form of "That's me." For example, his smile and club twirls after his shots to the 15th, and 18th greens were emotionally positive. They were stronger than the emotional response he gave to the negative situation of hitting his tee shot into the fairway bunker on 16.
So the next time you play golf try keeping stats on your emotional investments. Whenever you react strongly to a negative shot score negative one. Whenever you say, "That's me," after a particularly good shot, score plus one. If you end up in positive territory at the end of the day you'll have improved your self-image at least a little. Bob Skura is the author of the award-winning book, How Great Golfers Think – Perfecting Your Mental Game. For more information visit: www.howgreatgolfersthink.com
