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Holiday Gift Certificates
Mental Game Mastery™ Gift Certificates make a great gift for all the golfers on your holiday gift list. Certificates can be for any amount and applied to any individual or group lessons and schools. Contact the Zen Golf office.
Calendar
November: Dr. Parent will be coaching golfers at the 1st, 2nd, and Final Stages of the PGA TOUR Qualifying School.
December: FUNdaMENTALGolf – a two-day program for higher handicappers based on Dr. Parent’s PAR Approach. December 8 and 9 at Rancho San Marcos Golf Club. Contact the Zen Golf office for information.
Notable News
Landry Mahan qualified for the Tour de las Americas and took 12th place in his first event on the tour, the Venezuelan Open.
Alex Quiroz, three-time amateur champion of Mexico, has been a Mental Game Mastery student since 1998. He competed in this year’s World Cup Tournament on the team from Mexico.
Paul Yossem recently completed a Low Score School with Dr. Parent. Paul has this to say about the benefits of his experience, “Thank you for your helping me overcome my mental struggles. It was simply amazing! After attending your seminar I was able to shoot my best round ever, besting my lowest score by 3 strokes. My previous low was a 77 and after attending your seminar, and utilizing the strategies your shared with me I went out and shot a 74. That score helped me win the tournament I was playing in!”
Jaxon Brigman and Brian Wilson are both competing in the PGA Tour Q-School Finals. Good luck Jaxon and Brian!
Dr. Parent’s new book, Zen Golf: Mastering the Mental Game, is due to be published in April 2002 by Doubleday. It presents a unique combination of modern psychology, experiences of generations of golfers, and the ancient wisdom of the Buddhist and Shambhala traditions.
An Excerpt from Dr. Parent’s upcoming book, Zen Golf
How Big is Your Mind?
Arnold Palmer once said that the most important distance on a golf course is the six inches between our ears. That’s true, regarding the importance of thinking properly as we play. But is that how big your mind is? Is it the same size as your brain? Does it have a shape? Is it located in a particular spot?
A Zen master asked a student, “Where is your mind?”
The student said, “When I perceive my thoughts, it is as if someone were speaking inside my head. So my mind must be in my head.”
The master motioned for the student to approach him. When the student stood right in front of him, the master banged his fist down on the student’s big toe and said, “Now where is your mind?”
If we notice a sensation in our foot, it is actually experienced in our mind. So perhaps our mind is the size of our body. But we also experience what we see, so perhaps our mind is as big as our field of vision. What if I asked you to imagine the farthest star in the farthest galaxy? Now how big is your mind?
Ultimately, our mind has the potential to be as big as the universe. The more open our mind, the bigger it is. The more consumed by worry and petty concerns, the smaller it is. Tunnel vision might be very focused, but it you miss a critical variable in your planning, the shot will be a disaster. Temper tantrums make for a very small mind, and lead to awful decisions. Worrying about missing a four-foot putt makes your mind feel about as tiny as a thimble. If you want to play your best golf, it comes from the biggest mind. Whatever you encounter, connect with the space around it, see it in as big a context as you can. That’s why Jack Nicklaus says that he starts reading his putt when he’s fifty yards from the green. He’s seeing the big view.
When we plan a golf shot, the bigger our mind is the more likely that our plan will be the best one. When we get so “ball bound” before we swing that we lose track of the space we’re sending the ball into, it interferes with making a free swing that follows through toward the target. After a good drive or iron shot, watch it fly, without a lot of comment, just appreciating the whole picture. Notice how open and expansive, how big your mind feels. Connect with that feeling, and introduce it before your next shot. You’ll be surprised how much more you see and feel.
Big Mind Exercise
On a level area of the putting green, place a ball about twenty feet from a hole, with the flag removed. Set up for the putt, focusing on the hole, and get a feel for the distance from the ball to the hole. Instead of stroking the putt, stand up, and turn to face the hole. Now close your eyes, walk toward the hole and, holding the putter by the head, try to put the grip end of the putter into the hole. (Don’t count your steps, just put the putter grip down when you think you’ve gotten to the hole.)
How did you do? Most people stop short of the hole. We may start taking smaller, tentative steps as they get near the point where they think the hole is, as if we’re not allowed to go past it. The hole is the assumed limit, the end of the “box” we can’t go outside of. Our mind is only as big as the space between the ball and the hole.
Now set up to the putt again, but this time look beyond the hole. Expand your view to the far edge of the green, then come back to the hole, seeing it within the larger space. Now walk again with eyes closed and try to put the grip end of the putter in the hole. This time you probably were much closer to the hole, or even a little bit beyond it. That’s the impact of letting your mind be bigger.
When you focus tightly on the hole, your mind is “smaller” and your world is more constricted. The first time you did the exercise, you probably slowed down as you thought you were getting near the hole. If the hole were at the “edge of the world,” you would be careful not to go beyond it and fall off the edge of the world.
If we focus so tightly on the hole that there’s nothing in our minds past it, it becomes the edge of our world. We don’t want to putt our ball off the edge of the world, so we subconsciously try to just barely get it to the hole.
There is also an optical corollary to this psychological effect. When you visually focus tightly on an object, it foreshortens the apparent distance to that object. In other words, it looks closer than it actually is. Combine that with being afraid to go past the hole, and the ball never gets there. That’s one reason why we leave our putts short so often.
When getting ready to putt, let your view see more of the green and see the distance to the hole within that bigger space.
Bigger space, bigger mind. Bigger mind, better results.
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