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Congratulations to Padraig Harrington for winning back-to-back British Opens! A feat not accomplished since 1950. A shout out of gratitude to Greg Norman for his example to the world that the young and not so young can go head-to-head in a major championship. It was said of Norman during television coverage that he possesses the mind of a 53 year old and the fitness level of a 23 year—that is an enviable combination by any golfer!
Norman is a living testimony to the core message of Golf Fitness Magazine; proper fitness will allow you to play your best golf for a life time. We look forward to more of Norman’s inspiration when he vies for the revered Green Jacket at Augusta in 2009.
This Open is a prime example that golf is the ultimate “Mind-Body Game.” A favorite quote by Arnold Palmer depicts this sentiment: Golf is deceptively simple, endlessly complicated. It frustrates the intellect and satisfies the soul.” Norman awoke on Sunday with a two shot lead over Harrington but played tight from the get go, making bogey on the first four holes. During his illustrious career, Norman has now led going into the finals of eight major championships and failed to win all eight times.
You may be wondering if other interests took priority over Norman’s preparation. Perhaps he wasn’t expecting to win. Even if that was true, those thoughts would have been abandoned after Saturday’s round when the claret jug was in full view of his grasp.
Consider this, Greg Norman’s paradigm was shaped by old battle scars that resonated a negative vibration; this caused him to not play on Sunday, like we witnessed Thursday through Saturday.
Norman’s wins (which include three majors) is a Hall of fame performance. Interesting to note that all of his 33 victories are like a page out of Palmer’s Go for Broke, best seller, with a final round “fearless and aggressive” rally from behind finish. So what causes this gutsy player to lack trust in his ability when he is leading going into the finals of a Major?
I continue to study what successful people do in a certain way and how the mind works from Life Success Coach, Bob Proctor, I am becoming more aware of these paradigms and patterns of human behavior and how they emotionally prime our actions into results. These subconscious feelings will continue to create similar results in the same situations until awareness and desire to change begins the reprogramming toward what it is that you really want.
On the opposite side of the spectrum is Tiger who through results has formed a positive paradigm that creates a 100% success rate when leading a major championship going into the final round. How important are these paradigms for success? STRONG! Thoughts connected to feelings direct the action into results. Good or bad.
Padraig is a good example of how successful people do things in a certain way. Legendary Mind Guru Dr. Bob Rotella has been helping organize Padraig’s thought process for the past several years, programming the desired paradigms to prepare and execute with confidence. He was quoted as saying, “I have not had a mechanical thought on the golf course in over three years. All my thoughts are focused on preparation and execution!” What a statement. How many of us can boast the same? Some golfer’s minds look like “Young Frankenstein meets Popular Mechanic.” Padraig is separating himself through amazing mental disciplines of thinking and doing things in a certain way, every time. This is what breeds the confidence of great champions in golf and in life. The amazing thing is that we are all capable of doing it. We don’t need to possess a genius IQ to be organized and focused in thought. Here is an example of a well focused mind. Take a piece of paper and draw a small dot in the middle of the page. Hold it up in front of you arms length away. Stare at the dot for one full minute. At the end of this one minute exercise, recall what it is you were thinking about. If your mind wondered onto other thoughts, like: “This is a waste of time. I should be doing something other than staring at this little dot.” You are not alone. But if we asked Padraig or Tiger what they would be thinking about, they would say “THE DOT.” This simple little exercise is one way in which you can begin training your mind to calm down, get focused on one dot and the more you do this exercise the greater you will develop the higher faculty of your will. Will is the glue that keeps you locked in on the picture of what you want that you have created in your mind. What did I hear you say? You don’t know what you want? That is more common than you can imagine. I cannot tell you how many people come to us for coaching and when we ask them what they want, they look confused and cannot answer. They know what they don’t want, and that’s one of the reasons why they continue to get exactly what they are thinking about, no matter how many swing gurus they have met with, instructional DVDs they have watched, training aides they have tried or supplements they are taking.
The Law of Attraction: Thoughts Become Things, attract to you what you are thinking about, good or bad. “I have lost every time I have lead going into a major. I don’t want to set any expectations because I don’t want to be disappointed or disappoint others again!” Replacing the latter with a statement of gratitude such as: “I am joyful and grateful now that I am focused on preparation and execution one shot at a time toward my ideal goal.”
From Napoleon Hill’s book, Think and Grow Rich, Pittsburg Steel Mogul, Andrew Carnegie said: “Any idea that’s held in the mind, emphasized, feared or revered, begins at once to clothe itself in the most convenient and appropriate physical form that’s available.” You need to love your idea and then repeat it over and over again. Make it your mantra, meditate upon it, hear yourself say it to yourself hundreds and thousands of times until it just becomes your new way of seeing, feeling and doing!