PSYCHOLOGY
MENTAL REHEARSAL visualise your way to winning By Jamie Burrows
T
he unconscious mind doesn’t know the difference between what is real and what is imagined. That sounds strange doesn’t it? Have you ever woken up from a dream wondering whether it really happened? Well this is the same thing in reverse. Creating vivid images in your mind of what you’d like to have happen tricks your mind in to believing that it has already been achieved. This means that we can work on our game during the winter months (or any time of year) by using mental rehearsal. If your brain has already practiced what you need to do on the golf course, it will be better prepared for your actual round. Whether you’re preparing for a big presentation at work, a best man speech or your club championship, you’ll undoubtedly perform better if you’ve prepared. If you had a best man speech
coming up, you’d probably rehearse it a few times before the real thing – making sure that you’re as well prepared as possible. In the same way, you can get even more prepared for a round of golf by rehearsing it in your mind. Functional equivalence is a theory that proves that imagined actions have the similar ‘internal representation’ as actual experiences. This was demonstrated in the work of by Dr. Richard Suinn, who conducted a study with Olympic Skiers at the University of Colorado. As part of a research experiment, Dr. Suinn had a group of Olympic Skiers close their eyes and imagine going down a specific down-hill ski run. After performing the exercise several times, he attached electrodes to the bodies of the skiers and had them repeat the exercise. What he discovered, was that the muscles that
I think that mental rehearsal is every bit as important as physical rehearsal. Phil Mickelson
28
would be used for real were ‘firing’ at the same time as the skiers imagined turning to go through gates on the ski slope. In other words, they were stimulating the same muscles they would use on a real run, by simply imagining it! This works exactly the same way for golf! Give it a go for yourself: c Find somewhere quiet where you won’t be disturbed. This might be a home the night before a round or could even be on the car park when you arrive at the course. c Relax, slow down your breathing and close your eyes. c Visualise as many shots as you can, starting with a great first tee shot on the first hole. See each shot exactly as you would see your best shot on the course. c Introduce the other senses; what are you feeling (the ground beneath your feet, the breeze on your face, etc), what are you hearing (the sound of the wind, birdsong, etc). The more vivid you can make this experience the more impactful it will be. c Feel the physical movements of the swing that you need to make to produce these shots. c See the ball flight as you hot these shots just as you want them. Start by trying this process for just the first few shots of the day until you get used to it. Before you know it, you’ll be playing a full round before you even get to the course! Would you like to improve your golf without changing your swing? Check out my online courses at jamieburrowsgolf.com
SURREY GOLF MAGAZINE
