RISING FROM THE ASHES
Social Bookmarks: del.icio.us Digg it Furl Google ma.gnolia reddit Simpy Squidoo Yahoo
5. August 2009
Dr Karl Morris
Middle of summer here in the UK and it is raining almost constantly! Despite the weather though we are in the middle of an absolutely fascinating Ashes cricketing summer. The momentum of the series keeps swinging backward and forward between both teams. Australia looked all over England in the First Test at Cardiff but the heroic efforts of the tail end saved an improbable draw. Second Test went to England and then on to the draw in Birmingham. I cannot believe that FOUR years have passed since the last thrilling series in 2005 when England gloriously took the Ashes urn after a twenty year gap. That summer I was fortunate to work on a one to one basis with the England captain Michael Vaughan on his own personal Mind Factor. A thrill for me as a cricket nut but also a journey of discovery to see the inside track of an historic victory. Time has passed on and Vaughan has now retired from the game safely holding his place in history. With the benefit of the time that has elapsed it is fascinating to look back on that series and consider a few key points that may well be of benefit to us all.
Memory 1
The first time that I met Vaughan it became clear that he was (quite rightly) feeling the immense pressure of expectation that was upon him. England was EXPECTED to do well on the back of a number of really good results. It was also apparent that he felt somewhat cocooned in the team England set up. As much as team spirit and unity is vital it is also sometimes important to step out of the system to see the system. If nothing else I realised that I needed to be a NEUTRAL observer to what was going on. I wasn’t in the system so I could SEE the system. We all get stuck in our own world, our own environment, and our own patterns. To have a neutral sounding board can give us a completely fresh perspective that we can proceed from.
Memory 2
Vaughan loved golf and knew of the work that I had done with some players like Westwood and Clarke but he was curious to know if some of the techniques used in high pressure situations in golf applied to his world of cricket. A lot of the work that I had done with golf had NO relevance to him as a cricketer BUT a couple of ideas really struck a chord. He could see the similarity between the down time in golf and the downtime in batting. The need to be able to ALLOCATE his concentration. I have since found that the ability to ALLOCATE your concentration is a supreme skill. Vaughan was prepared to look outside his own world to other disciplines to be able to progress his own game. How often do we get stuck doing things the same way because we have never looked from a different perspective?
Memory 3
Can you imagine the thrill being a cricket fan of being invited into the Long Room at Lord’s and then out on to the hallowed turf to watch England practice? Pretending to take it all in my stride, act professionally but inside be jumping around like a small child. The practice session struck me as being very structured. Duncan Fletcher the then coach seemed to have each minute planned out. Everyone knew what they were supposed to be doing. Most importantly they all seemed to be having FUN. It wasn’t grit your teeth, let’s put the hours in mindless practice it was structured, challenging but you could see that the players ENJOYED the process. What are we doing with our lives if we do not enjoy the PROCESS?
Memory 4
Third Test at Old Trafford. Vaughan plays a glorious innings, scores a hundred. The techniques that we have been working on have WORKED. What a genius!!! Then I looked back at the innings and realised that Vaughan had been bowled early in his innings. He was out, clean bowled! OUT OUT. Off a NO BALL! If the bowlers foot had delivered the ball from a fraction of an inch closer to the wickets Vaughan would have been out. No century, no hero, no genius, no reflected glory. Another failure. What an incredibly FINE line we run in life. This side of the line glory, that side failure. So it is important to keep going with a sense of perspective. Enjoy the sweet moments and let go of the bad it is too fine a margin to get bogged down for too long.
Memory 5
The bails get taken off the wickets at the Oval. Final Test, final moments. The Ashes are returning to England. Let the celebrations begin. Kings of the world!! Give Vaughan a knighthood at the very least! This wonderful feeling. It will go on and on!!! But it doesn’t. Pretty soon after Vaughan suffered a bad knee injury and was out for a year. It was never quite the same again. Simon Jones, a magnificent bowler in that series has never played another Test Match because of injury. It is fleeting. It is here and then it is gone. As a very wise man once said the fundamental mistake human beings make is that they think that they are ETERNAL. That there will always be another game, another round another chance. There won’t be! Take THIS one.
Golf Mind Tips | 0 Replies »
The Wonder of Watson
Social Bookmarks: del.icio.us Digg it Furl Google ma.gnolia reddit Simpy Squidoo Yahoo
20. July 2009
Dr Karl Morris
TOM’S INSPIRATION
It would without doubt have been THE greatest of all sporting achievements if Tom Watson had made a par four up the last at Turnberry to win his 6th British Open.
A 59 year old man winning the Open just months after having a new hip! !
Who would have ever thought that this could possibly ever be a reality?
The way that Watson carried himself both during and after the tournament was a joy to behold. A throwback to a bygone age. No hype, no fuss, no fancy trousers just a supremely talented man who still believed that it was possible to win against incredible odds. He truly is a credit to the game of golf. His week at the Open will inspire millions.
How fortunate we are to play a game that we can KEEP playing to such a good standard well into what used to be thought of as retirement age. Watson has always been an example of someone who has known what is right for him. He goes about his business trusting in his method of swinging and his method of thinking. In the work that I do it becomes clearer and clearer each day that it is up to each individual to find what is best for him or her. You cannot just blindly follow the advice of the moment or latest trend. It is about discovering what makes YOU tick. In the world of Mind Coaching few things get me more angry than the pop psych cure all culture of ‘Being Positive’. Just talk to yourself in a positive way, see the ball going to the target, be a winner trill the gurus. This does NOT work for everyone. To just ‘try’ to be positive for some people can actually make things much worse. ‘Its going to go in, its going to go in….oh my goodness it didn’t!!’ can often give rise to a really big crash. I am not saying for one minute that being positive is the WRONG strategy, for some people it can be life changing BUT it is not for everyone.
In her groundbreaking book ‘The Positive Power of Negative Thinking’ Dr Julie Norem a professor of psychology in the USA argues that a degree of pessimistic thinking CAN for some people actually be beneficial. I vividly remember a talk given by world cup winning coach Sir Clive Woodward who said that a cornerstone of the preparation for the England team was to look at what they would do in the worst case game scenario. Even to the extent of a plan for if two men got sent off in a game. A negative way of looking at things perhaps but this way of thinking does seem to have its place. The banking world was full of unbridled positivity until just a short time ago. Now it seems that a healthy dose of SOME pessimism would have helped us all to avert this credit fiasco that is bringing untold misery to many families across the world. How does this apply to you and you golf? I would say that you need to consider your own style of thinking and what will work best for you. A great question is to ask yourself is ‘what is the best that can happen?’ and then follow it up with ‘what is the worst that can happen?’ when you can answer BOTH of those questions and deal with either outcome then your mind tends to quieten down and allows you to get on with the task at hand. Let the guru’s keep preaching ‘The Secret’ while you become aware that it is all about finding ‘Your Secret’ which may be totally positive or it may just be balanced with just the right amount of negativity.
Those who are not afraid to lose are not afraid to win!
Golf Mind Tips | 0 Replies »
U.S. Open - Graeme McDowell
Social Bookmarks: del.icio.us Digg it Furl Google ma.gnolia reddit Simpy Squidoo Yahoo
22. June 2009
Dr Karl Morris
Just got back from the US Open at the fearsome Bethpage Black course. What a week so far!!
Weather that was more in tune with Manchester in November than New York in June. An interesting time working with Graeme McDowell as we really had to redifine his mental strategy for the week. One thing is for sure at the US Open and that is the golf course is not going to allow you to bounceback instantly.
Tiger Woods is a master at being able to create the right mindset for the conditions at hand. We talked about the TWO things to control this week. The GOLF BALL and YOURSELF. As obvious as it may sound so many golfers ignore the fact that the golf ball will not always make you feel good. Sometimes par is a really good score, sometimes even bogey is good.
With McDowell we talked at length about the need to be able to respond by controlling YOURSELF when at times it seems almost impossible to control the ball. In many PGA Tour events and European Tour events if you make a bogey you can bounce back pretty quickly with a birdie. Not at the US Open. You have to have the courage to control yourself when it seems that your round is slipping away. It is very rare that a golfer works on the TWO ELEMENTS of controlling the ball and controlling himself. Yet it is this type of player who develops true consistency and gets to find out just how good they can become.
Keep working on your technical game by all means but pay due attention to controlling yourself. You may not get to play Bethpage Black but the premise holds true at all levels and at all moments of the game.
Mind Factor News | 0 Replies »
Susan Boyle and YOUR Golf!!!
Social Bookmarks: del.icio.us Digg it Furl Google ma.gnolia reddit Simpy Squidoo Yahoo
8. June 2009
Dr Karl Morris
Susan Boyle losing it and YOUR golf
What on earth has Susan Boyle got to do with YOU and your GOLF and what could be the possible connection?
Unless you have been on a week’s trip to the North Pole I am sure that you will have heard of the phenomenon called Susan Boyle.
The unlikely Scottish spinster who has been thrust to the forefront of world consciousness.
Over 60 MILLION hits on YouTube give testimony to this very modern day drama.
It could well be argued in light of what has happened that she shouldn’t have been allowed to compete in the final given the obvious fragility of her mental state.
We all should think about the possible consequences of this.
The link to your golf and your life?
Well if you have heard that after the shock second place finish on Britain’s Got Talent, Susan Boyle has suffered something of a breakdown and been admitted to The Priory. Apart from the obvious fact that the sudden transformation to global star can’t have been anything like an easy adjustment, she made what is a cardinal MENTAL ERROR that you will probably have allowed yourself to fall prey to with your own game and possibly life in general.
The mental hazard of EXPECTATION
She expected to win, she assumed that she was going to win and with the weight of those expectations came a devastating crash when the win DIDN’T come.
Be very careful with you golf that you don’t ever go into a tournament EXPECTING something to happen. Have a powerful INTENTION of what you are going to do but never expect anything. A very wise man once said that ‘he without expectation will NEVER be disappointed’ and so it is true.
Be aware always that the ONLY thing that you can really predict with golf is that it is UNPREDICTABLE.
The irony is that when we truly embrace its unpredictability we are set free to do the best that we possibly can.
Be very aware in your thinking, in your language and with what you focus on that you don’t play the expectation game.
Don’t EXPECT good weather, don’t EXPECT to birdie a certain hole, don’t expect……you get the picture.
Have INTENTION which is a powerful mental state but avoid EXPECTATION otherwise you may not suffer a ‘Susan Boyle’ but you will I promise you spend a lot of time in a disappointed state.
Golf Mind Tips | 0 Replies »
Hogan’s Secret
Social Bookmarks: del.icio.us Digg it Furl Google ma.gnolia reddit Simpy Squidoo Yahoo
5. June 2009
Dr Karl Morris
HOGAN’S SECRET…..maybe it wasn’t what we thought!!!
I recently read a fascinating piece about Ben Hogan and how his wife Valerie had discovered some books in his den/office after he had died. She was surprised to find that Hogan had obviously spent a lot of time reading about, working on and understanding the MIND.
He had numerous books dedicated to mind control and how to improve your mental game. We have all grown up with the concept of Hogan’s secret and his never ending search for technical excellence and the perfect swing.. Perhaps what has laid buried all these years is just how much importance Hogan gave to developing his mind as well as his swing.
I personally have found some absolute nuggets of mental game thoughts in Hogan’s book ‘Five Lessons: The Modern Fundamentals’ “My attitude suddenly changed from being a self doubter and uncertain of myself in a positive direction. I honestly began to feel that I could count on playing fairly well each time I went out. That there was no practical reason for me to feel I might suddenly ‘lose it all’. I guess what lay behind my new confidence was this; I had stopped trying to do a great many difficult things perfectly, because it had become clear in my mind that this ambitious, over thoroughness, my perfectionism was neither possible nor advisable or even necessary. All you needed to groove were the fundamental movements and there weren’t so many of them. I don’t know what came first the chicken or the egg, but at about the same time I began to feel that I had the stuff to play credible golf even when I was not at my best. My shot making started to take on a new and more stable consistency.”
This passage in Hogan’s book should be read by EVERY golfer who is looking to improve, reduce their handicap or just ENJOY the game more “I can tell you no one, no one loved golf more than Ben Hogan,” Valerie Hogan said.
However, playing in tournaments wasn’t what Ben Hogan enjoyed most. It was practicing on the range. “I think he felt the actual playing of golf was for something else,” she said. “Where he really enjoyed it was on the practice tee and then hoping he would play the way he would like to play.” Off the course, Valerie Hogan said her husband of six decades was a man of many interests who tried to do his best at everything. He also didn’t speak much off the course, for a reason. “He could discuss almost any subject with you because he was the best listener,” she said. “As he said: `People who talk all the time don’t learn anything because you have to listen, that’s how you learn,’ and believe you me, he listened.” That wasn’t true all the time, especially during his recovery from the head-on collision with a bus in 1949 that shattered his legs. After that, he always played in pain. In the first month after the accident, Hogan barely survived blood clots in his left leg. It took him almost a year to start swinging a club again, said his wife, who admits she was never sure whether he would play again. “After he got home, he surprised me one day,” she said. “He so wanted to walk sometimes, he would slip out of the house. … He would be out trying to walk and sometimes I’d have to go in the car and find him.”
Within 16 months, he would win the U.S. Open in a playoff with Lloyd Mangrum and George Fazio, much to the surprise of his wife. He qualified for the playoff by playing a 36-hole final day at Merion. “I’d have to say that the night he came in, I didn’t feel he would have the strength the next morning because his eyes were in the back (of his head) and he was so very, very tired. I felt that he was not going to be able to play the next day.” But Hogan carried on with his quest he would not let go. Hogan would go on to win two more U.S. Opens — only Jack Nicklaus, Bobby Jones and Willie Anderson have won as many — and the 1953 British Open at Carnoustie. He won the Masters and U.S. Open that same year, when he won five of the six tournaments in which he competed.
What then was HOGAN’S SECRET? My take on it was that he was a man that fully understood the need to develop both mind and body, technical and physical. He came to realise that he could not afford to be a total perfectionist on the course, what he could aim to be perfect at was his preparation. He was also as Valerie said a ‘wonderful listener’ Something that we can ALL learn from and apply in our own game and our own life.
Golf Mind Tips | 0 Replies »
Golf Comfort Zones
Social Bookmarks: del.icio.us Digg it Furl Google ma.gnolia reddit Simpy Squidoo Yahoo
29. May 2009
Dr Karl Morris
There have only ever been three amateur winners on the European Tour - and two have been this year. Dr Karl Morris explains how golfers are getting better at playing outside their comfort zones.
“Winners are bred from losing,” the great Tom Watson once said. “They learn they don’t like it.” That may have been true for Watson, who blew several impressive positions before claiming his first Major in 1975. But try telling that to Kiwi Danny Lee and Ireland’s Shane Lowry, who this year became only the second and third amateurs to win on the European Tour.
In winning February’s Johnnie Walker Classic, Lee became the Tour’s youngest ever winner. As for Lowry, his Irish Open triumph in May came in his very first Tour event.
Over the past decade more and more players have felt able to win on Tour… and yet the competition has got tougher. How is this happening?
The answer is that players today are better equipped than ever at playing outside of their comfort zones. In golf, as in life, we crave familiarity; It’s reassuring and safe. It’s why we always order chicken korma at the Indian despite the other 94 dishes on the menu. It’s why a salesman used to making £30,000 a year, having made 25 grand by July, finds a way to make only five in the next five months. Clever people call this homeostasis, the notion that we have an internal regulator, almost like a thermostat, which wants to keep things the same.
When things break away from the familiar, we feel anxiety, and both Lee and Lowry went through this on the way to victory. The feelings they felt - knots in the stomach, tension, tightening-up - are no different to the ones a 10-handicapper might feel having shot level par on the way out. But they managed to avoid sabotaging themselves by obeying a couple of simple rules, widely used on Tour.
1 Accept the fact you are going to feel uncomfortable. Nicklaus thrived on butterflies. “Give me that feeling on the back nine of a Major,” he’d say. “That’s what I practise for.” Those same feelings were interpreted by David Feherty as horrible, and a contributor to why he took up the mike. Carly Simon stopped singing live because of stage fright. When Bruce Springsteen read what she described as stage fright, he said “God, if
I don’t get those feelings I can’t sing.”
They’re the same feelings, but framed in a different way. Nicklaus and Springsteen decided it was okay to feel nervous. 2 Pay attention to your speed of play. It’s one of the first things that will change; Greg Norman got horrendously slow in losing the 1996 Masters. Others speed up. Either way, it costs you the rhythm that put you in such a great position in the first place.
Graeme McDowell faced this situation at the Irish Open. Eight under after 8 in his second round, he began to think of that mythical 59. His mind wandering, he made a bogey; but he rallied to shoot a course record 11-under-par 61. “What got me back on track was to refocus on my routines,” he told me afterwards, “the things I was focusing on each and every shot. I know it sounds boring, but all you can do in that situation is keep doing the things that got you to that great position in the first place.”
Routines remain the most effective way to retain your rhythm. Sticking by them may not win you a European Tour event, but they go a long way to stop you shooting yourself in the foot the next time your golf takes you out of your comfort zone.
Mind Factor News | 1 Reply »
Learning How to Learn
Social Bookmarks: del.icio.us Digg it Furl Google ma.gnolia reddit Simpy Squidoo Yahoo
5. June 2008
Dr Karl Morris
LEARNING HOW to LEARN
We all know the importance of training the body in terms of physical fitness and technique, yet ,how many have ever considered the need to actively train the golf brain?
It is now a fairly well documented scientific fact that the human brain CAN be changed.
If you had asked a bunch of neuro-scientists 15 years ago if the structures of an adult brain could be altered, you would have received an unequivocal NO.
However, in the last 10 years or so, some amazing discoveries have been made about the brain. The once held beliefs that you pretty much had what you were given past a certain teenage year, have been blown away by a concept called Brain Plasticity.
Brain Plasticity in effect is the scientific world saying that the brain can be changed in its structure and new pathways can be created.
‘Fine’ you might be saying but what on earth has this got to do with my golf?
Possibly everything in the sense that knowing how to change your brain can and will result in new patterns and habits in your game which could produce vastly improved play.
The trick is to know HOW to train your brain for changes in your game that will produce the kind of results you have long been waiting for.
So, to begin with, let’s look at the very heart of the normal way in which golfers practice.
We must be very careful with the concept of ‘muscle memory’ in terms of learning a new move in the golf swing.
In simple terms, what we are trying to do when we change our swing, is to make new neural connections in the brain. So, it is imperative to understand a little of what the brain ‘likes’ and dislikes in terms of learning.
ATTENTION !!!
‘Hit ball till your hands bleed’, ‘Dig it out of the dirt’, ‘The more I practice, the luckier I get’ are just some of the phrases and stories we have been brought up with.
However, we need to critically understand it is NOT the amount of time spent on the range that is the key but the QUALITY of your ATTENTION.
Michael Mersanich PhD the world’s leading researcher on brain plasticity: “All types of stimulation should grow new brain circuits, but if we don’t pay attention or attend to the stimulation, the neurons will NEVER form STRONG, LASTING connections”.
45 minutes of quality focus and being absorbed on what you are doing is far better than trying to stay out there on misery hill until you have hit a certain number of balls or completed an allotted time.
CONSEQUENCE
For the brain to be able to handle a certain situation, we need to practice in an environment which is similar to the place we are going to be put to the test.
Earl Woods constantly dreamed up ways of getting Tiger mentally ready for the kind of situations he knew he would find on Tour. Having to hit tee shots with his father juggling coins in his pocket so as to simulate the kind of distraction which would later be all too common.
It is clear that we are playing a game that is possibly the utmost in sport in terms of CONSEQUENCE.
Every single time you make contact with the ball, there is a direct and verifiable consequence because that contact with the ball goes down on the scorecard.
Few other sports come even close to this.
So, it is really important if we play a game of ultimate consequence that part of our practice should involve some consequence as opposed to just hitting shot after shot.
The obvious way to do this that so few people understand it, is to set yourself specific practice drills which involve a score. Any time a human being knows he is being tested, the consequence stakes are ramped up.
The short game Par 18 is a brilliant way to create consequence in practice.
EMOTION
In an experiment, two unrelated groups of people were asked to view several movies. The control group were allowed to view the shows without restriction. The second group were instructed to observe the shows without any emotional response whatsoever. At the end of the experiment, both groups were asked to answer questions to test their recall.
EVERY SINGLE member of the control group who experienced emotional responses from the movie remembered the details of each movie to a MUCH greater degree.
What has this got to do with our golf and training? An awful lot in the sensed that if we want to remember and be able to recall skills in the future, it makes sense to put some emotion into the things we do well.
When you hit a great shot, hole a good putt, play an impossible recovery instead of the usual ho-hum response, allow yourself either internally or externally to get ‘high on the good shot’. Allow yourself the privilege of some emotion because believe me it could well be your brain will remind you of what you are capable of at some point in the future, as you recall your ability to play a certain shot in a certain situation.
Golf Mind Tips | 0 Replies »
Darren Clarke
Social Bookmarks: del.icio.us Digg it Furl Google ma.gnolia reddit Simpy Squidoo Yahoo
6. May 2008
Dr Karl Morris
Darren Clarke Wins In China
I think virtually everyone in golf would be able to say they felt it was great to see Darren Clarke finally emerge victorious in China after so many barren years in terms of form and the personal tragedies which have beset Darren.
We worked together at Queenwood the week before China. It was so obvious he was feeling the built up frustration as a result of putting so much hard work into his game with so little reward.
One of the things we talked about was the necessity to balance out the amount of work you put into anything with periods of rest.
We all at times are guilty of not recharging the batteries and fall victim to the more is better syndrome.
Darren has realized that he does need to CONSCIOUSLY take breaks from all the effort he puts into his game to ALLOW himself to recharge and be ready for tournaments.
Please feel free to leave your congratulations to Darren below.
Mind Factor News | 2 Replies »
Graeme McDowell Wins Ballantines Championship
Social Bookmarks: del.icio.us Digg it Furl Google ma.gnolia reddit Simpy Squidoo Yahoo
25. March 2008
Dr Karl Morris
In an absolutely amazing display of mental toughness and cool efficiency, Graeme McDowell hit the greatest shot of his career to win the Ballantine’s Championship in Korea.
After finishing with two rounds of 66 at the weekend and shooting 24 under par for the tournament, McDowell just couldn’t shake off the warrior like Indian golfer Jeev Milka Singh.
Having to play the 18th hole THREE times in a sudden death play off it took a 7 iron hit absolutely stiff to secure victory for McDowell.
A client of The MIND FACTOR I have had the pleasure of working with Graeme for the last five years on his personal MIND FACTOR and if you get the chance to see the highlights, take a look at how he handled himself in the play off using specific breathing techniques and MIND FACTOR rituals.
Many of these SPECIFIC tools are revealed for the first time in The Players Programme.
Please feel free to post your congrats to Graeme below.
Mind Factor News | 7 Replies »
Golf Confidence
Social Bookmarks: del.icio.us Digg it Furl Google ma.gnolia reddit Simpy Squidoo Yahoo
3. March 2008
Dr Karl Morris
Over the past few years I almost feel that the interest in the mental game of golf has unleashed something of a monster. I now see so many products on the market by mental game guru’s supposedly giving us the way to ‘unleash our power within’ or tap into our ‘unconscious genius’ with systems that instruct you to close your eyes, sit under a tree, go into a deep hypnotic trance and chant over and over again ‘I am a great putter, I am a great putter’. Then anchor those feelings of incredible positivity and go out to shoot the best round of your life! Read More…
Golf Mind Tips | 1 Reply »
