Rocío Pomares, Sports Psychology
In practically all the activities we do, there is a part that is mental work, much more in sports. In the case of golf, if we analyze it, a swing can last about five seconds. Of the approximate four hours that a game lasts, which is the purely physical part, there are no more than five or ten minutes (depending on the number of strokes of each player), which would correspond to about 5% of the total playing time. On the other hand, most players dedicate practically 100% of their time to training the physical part and forget about the mental part; and we must not forget that “We are people who play golf and not golfers who play to be people”. Our state, and who we are, will inevitably influence our game, and this makes it essential to learn to manage our emotions. The good news is that improving this will not only help us in our game, but also in our day to day life.
On December 17, 2013 I organized a conference at Hotel Reserva del Higuerón, and I couldn’t think of anyone better than Miguel Ángel Jiménez to talk about the mentality in golf. Miguel Angel starts from a premise “The Best is the one who Has the Most Fun”, and there is no doubt that he preaches by example. But how can we have fun when we are playing badly? It all depends on how we think.
Many players are loaded with negativity when they are playing badly, no matter how hard they try they do not get the good shots, and that prevents them from enjoying as much as they would like. Negative thoughts are frequent stroke by stroke and it seems more and more difficult to get out of that situation, but it is possible. The key is not to try to think positive, going from negative to positive is a very difficult if not impossible task. As Miguel Angel said, the key to his good game is “learning to think as little as possible, forget about the result and have fun”. He stated that “when you are negative, you have to try to think about things that have nothing to do with golf so as not to think about the bad, and for this it is very useful to use breathing a lot”. Breathing when it comes to managing emotions is fundamental, there are many very useful relaxation techniques on the Internet. It is best to use the simplest ones. It is very important to practice them before putting them to the test in competition, since the mind works by association, and at the beginning, it is essential that we train it in the most relaxed time of the day, so that it works when we are in competition or in a stressful situation. In addition, Miguel Ángel also commented that, “while I walk from one stroke to another, I concentrate on the sensation I have in my toes when I step on my shoe, I observe the leaves of the trees or I concentrate on my breathing”. This technique that Miguel has learned “based on experience and sticks” as he said, is very useful and full of sense, since we do not have the capacity to think about two things at the same time, so to avoid thinking in negative, it is essential to introduce any neutral thought, which helps us not to have to make a big mental effort and avoid oversaturating ourselves.
The most important thing is to know that all mental techniques, as well as the swing, must be trained before using them in competition. Therefore it will be essential to start training as if you were in competition, and to compete as if you were training.
Rocío Pomares www.psicologiapomares.com
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