Hypnosis in Golf – Part 1 Golfers of all standards are recognizing that hypnosis does work. There is more to it than the stereotypical stage hypnotist who wears flowing robes, has a goatee, and makes usually sensible people cluck like chickens, or do rather more embarrassing deeds whilst under his “spell”. A lot of people are afraid of hypnosis, but this is usually due to a lack of knowledge. They’ve seen a stage show and think “I’m not going there” or “you couldn’t do that to me”. There is a natural fear of losing control, and a secondary fear that maybe you can’t be hypnotized – that it takes a certain type of person to be hypnotized. Everyone can be hypnotized, so long as you want to be. You pass through hypnosis every time you go to sleep and every time you wake up – it’s the dreamlike state between wake and sleep. When you drive home in your car and ask yourself when you get there “did I check the traffic lights?” you’ve been in a trance – a state of hypnosis. When you stare through the TV and don’t hear your partner speaking, that again demonstrates trance; it is hypnosis. Hypnosis is natural, normal, and powerful. Think how useful it could be to block out everything except what’s in your spotlight of thought, AT WILL? Not just when you’re staring through the TV. Wouldn’t that be helpful when you’re teeing off on the 1st or putting for eagle on the 18th? Hypnosis is a state of relaxation one with a state of heightened awareness. You’re not asleep, you’re not knocked out and you cannot be made to do something you don’t want to do. You can hear and you can think. Again, wouldn’t it be helpful to be able to have a relaxed awareness of the golf course? To be able to remain calm inside, but totally aware of what is important at the same time, AND be able to block out unnecessary thoughts and distractions? Just one look at Tiger’s facial expressions and you know how he’s feeling and focusing when he is playing golf. It seems to be that human nature is that if we’re not achieving the results we desire we must be doing something wrong. We look for something that needs to be fixed. In golf, this usually means a fine dissection of our grip, stance, alignment,