It never ceases to amaze me how many of my students arrive for their lesson and the first thing out of their mouth is a woeful tale about how bad they played the other day. They just couldn't quit hitting a certain shot - a chunk or shank or some such horror. As if I don't believe it could be that bad, they proceed to demonstrate for me the very same thing, one shot after another. I stand in awe of the power of the mind in those circumstances. They are so focused on their little nightmare shot that they just make it happening seemingly at will.

I call this a self-fulfilling prophecy and we humans pepper our lives with this behavior, on and off the course. We worry about something to the extent that we cause it to happen. Think about it, have you ever been playing along, minding your own business and somebody mentions the s-word; you know shank? The next thing you know, out of the blue you shank one. There's no mistaking that sickening thud of the ball as it scoots sideways off the hosel of the club. It has happened to every golfer in existence. The amusing thing is we are so afraid of this nauseating shot that we won't even say the word shank. Instead we refer to it as the s-word. As if saying "S" instead of shank will ward off the evil power that overtakes us and causes us to hit that shot.

Self-fulfilling prophecy - dwell on something and it magically appears. Did it ever occur to us that we could dwell on something good and have it magically appear too?

Many of you are familiar with my little saying "busy yourself with what you want to do, not what you don't want to do." There is absolutely nothing constructive in worrying about all the things that can go wrong. Doesn't it make more sense to focus on creating something that pleases us rather than aggravates us? I'm not just talking about positive thinking here. This is active involvement in building the kind of golf game and life that you want to have. It really is very simple, but it takes discipline and practice to quit thinking about the stuff we worry about on a day to day basis and replace it with productive thoughts and actions.

So the next time you stand on the tee and start worrying about all the things that could go wrong or somebody mentions the s-word, just laugh about how fickle you are and tell yourself you are not going to fall into the same old trap this time. Then use the power of your mind to your advantage not your downfall. I promise you; it works. Good Luck and have fun!

© Melissa Whitmire - Golf Instruction Simplified