Golf Flow

Golfers who not only love the challenge of difficult tasks but who also believe in their ability to overcome those challenges tend to perform the best. Their belief system serves as a psychological breeding ground for optimal functioning in the form of flow states.
    Generating flow is impossible without a robust sense of self-efficacy. Remember that self-efficacy, or confidence, is essentially your belief in your capability to achieve an outcome. The good news is that science has validated that consistently applying the specific techniques outlined in this chapter can over time strengthen that confidence and measurably improve performance and the ability to experience flow.
    ----
    Creating Episodic Memories
    An exercise that I often do with the PGA Tour golfers who consult me is designed to enhance their confidence. I ask them to write me e-mails highlighting the best shots that they hit during a given week. Regardless of how their week went, I ask them to recall their 10 or so best shots in precise detail. Here is an example from a golfer during the 2005 Honda Classic:
On Thursday with a right-to-left wind on 17 from 259, I put a 3-wood up a little in my stance and aimed just left of the flag. I hit the purest flat fade that cut up into the wind, straightened out, and then softly fell to about 6 feet behind the hole. I barely felt it hit the face it was so solid.
On Saturday on 16 with a right-to-left into wind, I hit a driver off the tee and aimed at a tree through the fairway, trying to hit a fade of the left bunker. I put the ball a little more forward and had a clear picture of the ball’s trajectory coming off the face and starting at the right edge of the bunker and fading back at my target through the fairway. I hit an effortless feeling pure tee shot exactly where I wanted. I had the same wind on Sunday and hit the same shot with just a little higher ball flight.
On Thursday on 2 with a left-to-right into wind off the tee, I hit a 3-wood trying to hit a little draw into the left center of the fairway just right of the top right edge of the left bunker. I made a smooth swing with no rush and hit a pure slight draw exactly at my target. Very solid.
On Saturday on 2 I had about a 12-footer right of the hole. I had a great routine, had a clear picture of the line, and hit a very instinctive stroke that did exactly what I thought and went exactly in the center of the hole. It would have gone in a thimble.
On Saturday on 2 from 147 yards with some helping wind, I hit a slightly choked pitching wedge to a back center hole location. Two days before I rushed my swing and hit it over the back, so I got rid of that thought and focused on the flag’s shadow about 7 or 8 feet right and a little short of the hole. I told myself 90 percent and hit it exactly how I wanted to, except it was about 4 feet right of my spot.
On Sunday on 14 from 202 with a back left hole location and an into wind and a little out of the right, I decided not to fade it back into the wind. I decided I would make a freer swing if I choked up and just hit a low, flighted, straight shot at the middle of the green and let the wind take it to the hole. I made a smooth aggressive swing, and it started right at my target and drifted to about 6 feet short right of the hole.
On Sunday on 11, I hit a bad 4-iron into the left bunker and hit a mediocre bunker shot to about 15 feet. I told myself that these are the putts that I have not been making lately, so I committed to every cell in my body being focused on my spot on the hole. I hit a pure putt with perfect speed and made it.
On Friday on 12 from the front left bunker, I had about 35 yards to the flag with the green running away from me to a bowl off the green that dropped off about 12 feet behind the flag. I made an aggressive swing and thumped it. It landed perfect and then spun to about 6 feet behind the hole.
On Saturday on 14 with a right-to-left crosswind, I choked up on a 3-wood and hit a flat little draw with the wind off the left edge of the first right bunker. It drifted to the center of the fairway to the perfect spot at the top of the small rise. It was instinctive, a free swing, and it felt effortless.
On 15 on Sunday with a back right hole location and the wind coming slightly off the right and in my face, I hit a controlled 6-iron with a slight fade about 3 feet left of my target which was 10 feet left of the hole. It was the perfect distance and it was smooth without any rush.
    Note