Psychology vs Focus

Like anything else, Golf Psychology has limits. If it didn’t, professional golfers would all play perfect golf.

Where Golf Psychology is needed…

Golfers, like all athletes get distracted by a variety of thoughts and emotions and need to be able to deal with those thoughts to play well. If those distractions prevent the golfer from clearly considering all aspects of a shot during competition, the golfer needs to see someone to work out those issues.

Golf Psychology deals with thought, distraction, and tendencies on the course and why they happen, so I don’t want anyone to think it isn’t necessary. Having experienced anxiety myself and having helped other golfers with minor anxiety issues, I know that getting them taken care of definitely helps a golfer perform better. This is where Golf Psychologists shine, and it’s good to have them for athletes with these issues.

But there is one place golf psychology cannot cover…

Out of a four-hour round, Golf Psychology covers all but about 2 minutes, where the golfer is actually making shots or putts. Those two minutes are the most important minutes in golf. Those two minutes of a round of golf are the ones that decide the score and therefore your income.

Swinging a golf club to create a specific shot requires the use of both minds; the conscious and subconscious minds. To decide the shot, you must use conscious reasoning. Body movement requires instruction from the subconscious. The subconscious guides movement through visual pictures based on feedback from the body. For most athletes, the subconscious process happens “behind the scenes”. An accurate shot requires all three components; the conscious mind, the subconscious mind, and proper communication between the body and the subconscious.

Usually, when the swing breaks down, it’s because the conscious mind got in the way of the subconscious process, which is why the problem gets tossed to psychologists…

It’s only 1.5 seconds per swing, but until now there have not been adequate answers to deal with breakdowns during this time period. The answers have always been ways to either turn the conscious mind off or to distract the conscious mind be whistling or humming a tune while the exercise is happening. After all, it’s only a second and a half… Right?

Can you fall asleep for 1.5 seconds 70 times per round? Because that’s what it would take to turn off the conscious mind during each golf swing. Otherwise, when you’re awake, the conscious mind will be thinking about SOMETHING.

Can you do two things at once? Just about everyone can. So your mind can still think even if it’s distracted… And it does, but both activities suffer slightly. That slight suffering costs the professional golfer strokes.

Golf psychologists are correct when they tell golfers they must stay in the present, but staying in the present is much more than an idea. The present is the place where things happen; where action takes place. It isn’t a millisecond into the future or the past; it’s NOW and the only thing happening now is action. There is no emotion in the present because the conscious mind only deals in the past and future. The subconscious mind rules the present… But it can be distracted if the conscious mind gets in the way.

If you want to hit accurate shots, you have to SUPPORT the systems that create the body movement for your golf swing and that same process should help you to stay in the present. Anything else can only weaken the mind’s ability to accurately execute with the precision needed to compete on the PGA tour.

Bio-Visual Focus is a physiological process that deals with all three components of movement and the interaction between the body and mind. So far it is the only process that gets consistent results for golfers who have distraction issues during the shot.

Bio-Visual Focus aligns the conscious mind with the subconscious mind to not only support the movement of the swing but to correct and sharpen that movement as needed. Because it is based on live Dynamic Balance feedback (the communication between the mind and body), Bio-Visual Focus also keeps your mind in the present to further eliminate distractions during the golf swing.