slim. Unfortunately, most of us get caught in the trap of automatic thinking. What are the alternatives? Well, one is changing your approach and focus, of course, but that’s easier said than done, especially for our Baser golfer, who already has negative scores in the three other focus areas. To get out of his misery, he could choose to move down into the Red corner: play faster, stop thinking so much, take some chances, let go of his technique, and just fire away. Or he could go up into the Blue corner, accept what other people think about his striving for perfection. He could face it with a positive attitude and say, “Okay, I accept that you think I’m slow and I’ll try to get better at playing faster. I’ll do my best, but don’t expect any miracles!” Another option is for him to move up into the Green corner and play Green golf; accept that things are not going well, that his technique seems to be out of tune right now, and that his score is not going to be as good as he had hoped. Then he could begin experimenting: moving the ball a bit forward in his stance, a little more wrist action… or just take a shot. The point is that changing focus might be the best way to get back on track. Or to put it another way; he is unlikely to solve the problem and get back on track, by the use of the same method, the same approach, the same way of thinking, that de-railed him in the first place. What should this player do to learn how to shift his focus deliberately? We don’t change our personalities on command or because we are under pressure. The only thing we can do is modify our behavior. The most basic prerequisite for being able to do just that is to have a plan for what that alternative form of action could be, what we could choose to focus on instead, and how. It is actually quite simple: Unless you have first visualized something in your own mind, you will not be able to carry it out consciously on a practical level in the physical world. In other words, if you do not become aware of what your perceptions are before you react, then your reactions will be automatic ones, reactions that you will repeat over and over again without even thinking – much less have any kind of control over. So, if you do not want to be pushed all the way into the Gray corner, you will have to have alternative patterns of action devised in advance, contingency plans. Baser golfers need at least one of three possible contingency plans; a Red one, a Blue one or a Green one. Probably the most important is the red.
The Baser Golfer’s Contingency Plan For the Baser golfer, the Red contingency plan is about playing faster: not thinking so
Focused Golf. ©Finn Havaleschka
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