61. Positive thoughts should be so natural that you are not even aware of thinking them

The next lesson for you to contemplate starts with a story I heard years ago of an American military man called Col. Nesmith. He was captured by the Vietnamese during the war and while he was imprisoned in dreadful conditions, he visualized a perfect round of golf, using a perfectly balanced powerful swing, in his mind every day for months on end in an attempt to blot out the terrible conditions he was held in and keep his sanity.

Thankfully he survived his ordeal and after his liberation and rehabilitation, his next round of golf was a gross 74. Not bad you might think but it becomes remarkable when you consider he had never broken 90 before.

I know it’s easy to think “That’s impossible” but when you consider that the majority of players visualize poor shots and performances unwittingly in their minds, is there any wonder that they keep re-running the same results and consequently, never improve.

We all dream of the “Power of Positive Thinking" but isn’t it more accurate to say we are controlled by the "Effects of Negative Thinking." How many times have we seen players reduced to nervous wrecks when they play over the Water hole for instance or chipping over a Bunker or play a hole with Out of Bounds close by?

The reason for this effect is that they have been re-running previous failures through their minds so often that it becomes a self- fulfilling prophecy. Failure becomes their reality. We can all improve if we visualize the outcomes we desire on a regular basis. But positive thinking and affirmations on their own are of no use. Telling yourself 20 times every morning “I can do it” means nothing until you can see yourself doing it without effort. This creates very powerful positive feelings and beliefs which then make the difference. Positive thoughts should rise so naturally that you are not even aware of thinking them.                               
                                                                                                                                                             The top players are masters at it. It is a far more effective strategy than going out on the range to hit hundreds of balls in week after week hoping to perfect the technique alone. That will never work because if we spend most of our Thinking time seeing ourselves in hazards, you will never have confidence in your technique when you are under pressure.  

All players are in control of what happens on the course but it is what you control in your head that determines whether the results are Good or Bad.