Golf Flow

topic. Read widely and learn great lessons.
    I’ve compiled a short list of books that might start you on your journey to understanding winning in golf. Note that many of the books have nothing to do with golf per se, but the lessons therein cross over well to the game of golf.
Fearless Golf
—Gio Valiante
They Call Me Coach—
John Wooden
The Sweet Science—
A.J. Liebling
My Story
—Jack Nicklaus
How I Play Golf—
Tiger Woods
Extraordinary Minds
—Howard Gardner
Hogan—
Curt Sampson
Driven From Within—
Michael Jordan
Every Shot Must Have a Purpose—
Lynn Marriot and Pia Nilsson
Sacred Hoops: Spiritual Lessons of a Hardwood Warrior—
Phil Jackson
Turning the Thing Around: Pulling America’s Team out of the Dumps—and Myself out of the Doghouse—
Jimmy Johnson
Golf Is Not a Game of Perfect; Golf Is a Game of Confidence—
Bob Rotella
Harvey Penick’s Little Red Book: Lessons and Teachings From a Lifetime of Golf—
Harvey Penick
Winning
—Jack and Suzie Welch
The Talent Code—
Daniel Coyle
The Way of the Shark—
Greg Norman
    A winning state of mind results from observing, listening to, and reading about winners and then finding a way to match their habits and strategies to your own set of assets, skills, habits, and beliefs. Studying their proven methods and then adapting their approach to suit your particular situation is an effective way to expedite the process of learning to think and behave like a winner.
    Reflect on where you are in your game and get a clear picture of where you want your game to go. Identify successful models who have been able to craft a game that resembles your ideal and do everything you can do to learn from them. Additionally, identify people in your own life who either detract or contribute to that vision. For those who detract from that vision, try to limit the effect that they can have on your game. For those who contribute to that vision, treat them like the assets that they are and invite them along on the journey to great golf.

Chapter 17
Manage Time Effectively
    You may be tempted only to glance at this chapter and move past it in haste, figuring either that you are just fine at time management or that it has little to do with golfing performance. Let me assure you that this topic deserves serious consideration. The platform for many of the turnarounds that I am credited with has been time management. Simply put, when golfers come to me in a slump, I change the direction of their games by changing the way that they spend their time.
    Ask competitive golfers whether their golfing performance changes when they are put on the clock at a tournament, and they will answer that it does. With the exception of the elite, one of the most common challenges that golfers need help with has to do with being put on the clock.
    Why does time matter? Because we play golf in time, and time is the invisible factor that affects every single part of the game, both on and off the golf course.
    Within the arena of performance psychology and kinesiology, it is generally agreed that all biological and metabolic activities vary rhythmically in a manner that corresponds with chronological time. Golf is no exception. As I write these words, I have just finished speaking with a PGA Tour golfer whose playing partner had shot 63 on Friday and then posted a Saturday score in the 80s! This inconsistency is one of the most maddening things about the game. You can tune up your technical and mental games perfectly, but if your circadian rhythms are thrown off and you are biologically unbalanced, your body will shift into survival mode!
    Heart rate, body temperature, cardiovascular pressure, inflammation, bloating, and subjective perceptions all ebb and flow according to reasonably predictable time tables. The best way to create a sustainable model of performance in the face of those tumultuous variables is to keep as many things consistent in your life as possible. Not surprisingly, the best golfers tend to be great managers of time. Former world number 1 Nick Faldo was obsessive about tending to the details of his practice schedules. On more than one occasion when he was younger, Tiger Woods mentioned that no matter what time he went to bed, he woke up at 5 a.m. “sharp!” He often starts his day with a workout before heading to the golf course for his morning practice session.
    Those of you trying to become great golfers who are sleeping in until 9 a.m. should know that you’ve already spotted