August 28, 2008  












Tip #47 - Reinforce On The Course

No matter what your goal -- to lower your handicap, strengthen a particular part of your game, win more weekend Nassaus, whatever -- you should give yourself some room with easily achievable stepping-stone goals and devise a plan of consistent practice and play that takes you toward those goals.

Talking to your caddie on the course will keep you focused and psychologically reinforced.

"Consistent" is the key word. If you want to hit your goals, you have to stick to your plan and work at it. It's no different than adhering to a business plan with the goal of making a certain profit, or to a diet with the goal of a slimmer figure.

Fortunately, in golf at least, there are a few tricks you can use to keep moving forward. "Positive reinforcement" is what the psychologists like to call them.

For me, this reinforcement occurs on the course, while I'm playing. I talk to myself ... all the time. Sometimes silently, sometimes loud enough for me and my caddie, Tony Navarro, to hear, and sometimes loud enough for the whole gallery to listen in on.

The tougher the challenge, the more I talk. When I have a long approach shot to a tough pin position, for instance, as I step up to the ball I'll say something like, "You know the shot you want to hit. You've hit it a thousand times before. So go ahead and do it."

That's a necessary pep talk from the guy who knows me best, and believe me, it works. When you're standing on the edge of a tough shot, it's good to hear words of encouragement, even if they're only coming from inside.

I also talk to myself after shots. When, in the final round of the 1986 British Open, I hit a 4-iron that struck the flag and finished a couple of feet away, I said, loud enough for Tony to hear, "Damn, Greg, I'm pretty impressed by that one." Reinforcement once again.

You can use verbalization whether you're on the practice range, on the first tee of a big match, or anywhere on the course. It's one of the best ways to psych yourself up for the shot ahead and then congratulate yourself on your success in pulling it off. If you do it out loud, just try to do it in a gracious way that won't upset your playing companions.

You can draw confidence by visualizing past successes.

Verbalizing something is similar to writing it down -- it helps you to remember. You don't want to dwell on your shots -- good or bad. But you do want to file the good ones away for future reference. That way you'll be able to bring them back as part of another reinforcement technique -- visualization.

If you want to play aggressive golf, you also have to be ready to struggle constantly against a specific challenge. For each shotmaking situation you must consider both the safe route as well as the more audacious path.

For each of those alternatives, you should be able to dig back into your memory and call forth a fine shot -- complete with trajectory, flight path, bounce and roll. You should then be able to look at it in cold comparison to the demands facing you and decide whether you want to try it again. Having reviewed these mini-movies, you must select the best one to replay. And do so in the few seconds you have to play your shot.

This is all done through visualization. You envision the ideal shot, "seeing" the takeoff, flight, and landing of the ball in vivid detail. Then you recall successful similar shots from your past and draw confidence from those earlier successes. I can think of favorite shots for virtually every situation I face, and I call them forth each time I play. I'm not sure where in my brain I store those memories, but if I start to lose my mind, I hope that part goes last!

- Greg Norman


Golf Tip Archive
Tip #61Gamesmanship - Posted Dec. 31, 2003
Tip #60The Seven-Fingered Shot - Posted Dec. 24, 2003
Tip #59Slice An 8-iron On Long Bunker Shots - Posted Dec. 17, 2003
Tip #58Reading The Green - Posted Dec. 10, 2003
Tip #57Handling Heavy Grass - Posted Dec. 3, 2003
Tip #56The Pitch Shot - Posted Nov. 26, 2003
Tip #55Post Impact - Posted Nov. 19, 2003
Tip #54Three Trick Shots - Posted Nov. 12, 2003
Tip #53Getting Out Of The Trees - Posted Nov. 5, 2003
Tip #52Fades and Draws - Posted Oct. 29, 2003
Tip #51Sixth Sense In The Sand - Posted Oct. 22, 2003
Tip #50The Downswing - Posted Oct. 15, 2003
Tip #49Low Shots - Posted Oct. 8, 2003
Tip #48The Right Club On The Tee - Posted Oct. 1, 2003
Tip #47Reinforce On The Course - Posted Sept. 24, 2003
Tip #46The Lob - Posted Sept. 17, 2003
Tip #45Brave And Bold Putts - Posted Sept. 10, 2003
Tip #44Club Selection - Posted Sept. 3, 2003
Tip #43Meaningful Practice - Posted Aug. 27, 2003
Tip #42Tackling Trouble Shots - Posted Aug. 20, 2003
Tip #41Adapt To Different Sands - Posted Aug. 13, 2003
Tip #40Difficult Lies - Posted Aug. 6, 2003
Tip #39The Takeaway - Posted July 30, 2003
Tip #38The Chip Shot - Posted July 23, 2003
Tip #37The Punch - Posted July 16, 2003
Tip #36Shotmaking Strategies - Posted July 9, 2003
Tip #35Metal Readiness - Posted July 2, 2003
Tip #34Aptitude Starts with Attitude - Posted June 25, 2003
Tip #33Perfect Your Putting Position - Posted June 18, 2003
Tip #32Take the Right Position - Posted June 11, 2003
Tip #31Learn to Read the Green - Posted June 4, 2003
Tip #30Dig it out of the Rough - Posted May 28, 2003
Tip #29Get the Stiffest Shaft You Can Handle - Posted May 21, 2003
Tip #28Get Hungry around the Green - Posted May 14, 2003
Tip #27Blast it Out of the Water - Posted May 7, 2003
Tip #26Think Your Way Out of Trouble - Posted April 30, 2003
Tip #25Overhaul Your Game - Posted April 23, 2003
Tip #24Become a Sand Expert - Posted April 16, 2003
Tip #23Know When to Pick Your Shots - Posted April 9, 2003
Tip #22Learn to Work Your Shots - Posted April 2, 2003
Tip #21Countdown to Takeoff - Posted March 26, 2003
Tip #20Perfect Your Alignment - Posted March 19, 2003
Tip #19Learn the Basics of Sand Play - Posted March 12, 2003
Tip #18Playing in the Rain - Posted March 5, 2003
Tip #17Should You Swing the Same? - Posted Feb. 26, 2003
Tip #16Finish Your Swing Strong - Posted Feb. 19, 2003
Tip #15Hit it Through the Wind - Posted Feb. 12, 2003
Tip #14Put Horsepower in Your Swing - Posted Feb. 5, 2003
Tip #13Hit the Right Club - Posted Jan. 29, 2003
Tip #12You Can Spin the Ball Back - Posted Jan. 22, 2003
Tip #11Don't be a Sucker - Posted Jan. 15, 2003
Tip #10Make Your Practice Meaningful - Posted Jan. 8, 2003
Tip #9Hit it Deep - Posted Jan. 1, 2003
Tip #8Learn to Love The Sand - Posted Dec. 25, 2002
Tip #7Get Inside Their Head - Posted Dec. 18, 2002
Tip #6Get a Handle on Flyer Lies - Posted Dec. 11, 2002
Tip #5Hitting it High - Posted Dec. 5, 2002
Tip #4Swing a Knockout Punch - Posted Nov. 28, 2002
Tip #3Spin it Out of the Sand - Posted Nov. 21, 2002
Tip #2Hit off the Deck - Posted Nov. 14, 2002
Tip #1Attack Every Putt - Posted Nov. 7, 2002

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