Imagining a shot recruits much of the same motor cortex activity as making it. What the research says about mental practice, the PETTLEP model for building a visualization habit that actually transfers, and how to work it into your day.
Our thoughts are happenings, not choices. How training focus, using a physical cue instead of a mantra, and noticing what derails your attention can rewire the habit of thinking.
Disbelief, frustration, and venting are not observations, they are habits we rehearse out loud. What each one is covering for, and a challenge to catch yourself before it becomes the way you talk about your game.
A deliberately miserable on-course experiment — narrate the worst outcome for every shot, then the best — to find out how much your framing actually moves the ball and what your own triggers are.
Why a repeatable shot routine beats improvising — the Think Box, Play Box, and Memory Box framework from Be a Player, how positive framing keeps the amygdala from hijacking your swing, and why your practice should run the same process as your round.
Why variable practice beats blocked repetition for retention and transfer, the stressors that carry range swings to the course, and a four-block template for a session that actually pays off.
How performance goals distort risk-taking and pull attention off the shot, why a handicap target works better as an input to your training plan than as a focal point, and when hitting a number actually means something.
Why intrinsic, process-driven goals beat outcome goals, how a mix of long, mid, and short-term goals makes practice fault tolerant, and where goals stop being useful.
Why the golf influencer fix-of-the-week rarely applies to your swing, and how to turn a single drill into a real experiment by changing one variable at a time.
Why goals drive performance, the difference between performance and learning goals, and how to break a major goal down into supporting goals and the tasks that achieve them.