Putting is one of the simplest part of golf mechanically, yet many golfers struggle with putting. Ironically, many of us struggle with short putts, which should be the easiest putts because there aren't typically large amounts of break or speed variability. The reason so many of us struggle with putting is because successful putting is substantially a mental activity. We struggle because we don't know how to manage our mental game effectively.
Most of us golfers believe that we are capable of putting more effectively. We know we can be better. Many of us are on an endless search for changes in technique and technology, searching for the missing key ingredients to putting well. Technique and technology are essential, but we usually find out that they aren't the secret ingredient to success. If we're paying close attention to how we practice and compete, we notice that we sabotage and limit ourselves. We may also discover that we unconsciously sabotage ourselves because we find ourselves doing things that we know are counterproductive, but can't seem to get out of our own way. We don't know why we do things that undercut our ability.
The most significant challenges we usually face are the mental ones and not the physical ones. The key problem that many of us have is that we don't know how to stop sabotaging ourselves. Even if we recognize how we are sabotaging ourselves, we may not be able to stop. Intellectual knowledge is helpful, but it isn't sufficient to make deep and powerful changes. We've tried everything we know and it isn't enough. We need something deeper and more powerful.
There's a deeper way of knowing and a deeper self-knowledge that we find when we develop a meditation practice. We find our center where we are in touch with our deep wisdom and passion. When we practice and compete from our center, we find more clarity about the ways we sabotage our ability. We learn that the barriers that appear to be holding us back are actually invitations to develop, change, improve, and tap into the deep strength that we find inside in order to follow through on what will help us more forward as athletes and people.When golfers putt "in the zone," they are in a meditative state. If you want to putt in the zone more often, you can learn to meditate on the right things in the right ways.
This book of meditations for putting has a different theme for each chapter and individual meditations on different aspects of the putting mental game. Each meditation has some thoughts for your reflection and has a unique affirmation at the end, which you use for your daily meditation. You mindfully read the reflection and then meditate on the affirmation.
The topics in the book include confidence, motivation, mental toughness, being a free spirit, health and putting, putting in the zone, being a champion, overcoming barriers, effective practice, planning for success, and putting subconsciously. The book also includes a discussion of the foundations of great putting, meditation scripts, putting drills, and recommended statistics to track progress.
The primary goals of the second edition are to make the book simpler to use and more powerful to practice. A number of the meditations have been reorganized, changed, and updated. The affirmations are simpler, which makes the meditations easier to use. The meditation techniques in the Meditation Scripts chapter are simpler. The language in the book is more conversational.
This book shows you how to meditate in a way that is simple and easy to learn. The book assumes that you don't have any experience with meditation. Meditation may not be what you think it is. This form of meditation doesn't require you to sit for long periods of time in silence. You actively use your imagination. With this book, you have a program for working on your mental game in as little as 15 minutes per day.
About the Author: William Chandon, Ph.D., is a mental performance coach who teaches athletes and coaches how to reach their potential. He draws on his experience as an athlete in many sports in high school, college, and beyond.
He has a doctoral degree in human and organizational development. For over thirty years, he has had a passion for understanding how the mind works. To try to change the circumstances of our lives without changing the thinking that lead to the circumstances is a formula for recreating the past. Dr. Chandon has found that the best way to change our deep thinking is by meditating. He has practiced meditation himself for over thirty years.
He has been a fanatical golfer ever since he finished graduate school. He plays as much as possible and still looks forward to each new day that has golf in it. He has been a low as a 2 handicap. He has participated in as many sports as he has had time for, including football, baseball, track, hockey, tennis, karate, soccer, tennis, wrestling, softball, and golf, among others. He loves sports. He believes sports and life go together. Sports teach us about ourselves and life.
He wrote Mind Games: Daily Meditations for Great Golf; Mind Games: Daily Meditations for Great Athletes; Meditation for Active People, and Mind Games: Meditations for Great Coaches. He co-wrote Smart Questions: Learn to Ask the Right Question to Get Powerful Results.
You can reach Dr. Chandon or find our more at www.williamchandon.com.
