From my experience, many athletes spend too much energy worrying about things they cannot control on the athletic field, court, or course. They waste energy on irrelevant thoughts.

A classic example: have you ever gotten distracted because you were unhappy with an official about a bad call? Even when you knew the official was not going to change his call, you gave energy to an "uncontrollable".

If you focus on thoughts or events outside of your immediate control, you are distracted at the very least.

Athletes also get sidetracked easily when feeling intimidated by the opposition. They focus too much on an opponent's record or abilities. This can cause them to doubt their own abilities or become anxious at the possible outcome.

You can classify all result-oriented thinking about outcomes into things which are beyond your direct control - in the present moment.

Athletes who focus too much on results or what others think, instead of the process, are likely to become anxious, scared, worried, and perform tentatively at best.

Thus, if you want maximum composure, you must learn to train yourself to focus only on the stuff in your direct control in sports. You can divide the competitive arena into two areas:

1. Things you can control: your thoughts, behaviors, performance, and reactions in both practice and competition.

2. Things beyond your control: events or persons you cannot influence during competition and which cause you to be distracted from your real mission.

Your goal is to separate these two areas in your mind and focus only on what you can control during performance. You should ask

yourself: What do I need to focus on that will help me perform my best?

The other important question to ask yourself is: What things should I not give any energy to during my performance?

Your answer to these two questions will help you improve your composure in sports. You will not get as anxious or frustrated by giving energy to the stuff that is beyond your control.

Golf Reality Check, a tool more pros should use.

I’m a happy camper because it's golf season again, right here in Cincinnati, the queen of the mid west. I’ve already had the opportunity to play a couple of times this year, we had a warm January but February was a typical hard winter. We addicted but non tour players, otherwise your average weekend guys whom like to dream as if he could and what brings that feeling on the strongest is the one out of ten shots that is perfect and you either par or birdie the hole. Keeping this in mind let’s be serious about golf for a minute because we all know a good shot and only wish we could do it more often. Truth be told, if we wanted it, we could do it because it’s all attitude and the strength of the faith. We all know if we do a mirror of adjustment that is wrong the ball won’t go in the direction we initially planned. It’s that one hundredth of an inch angel that might cause us to push or pull the ball and the sad story is we knew it upon impact of the club head and the ball. It’s just like that putt that left the blade of the putter head, you know that one hundredth of a second, we knew it wasn’t going in the right direction, we just knew it. Let’s face it, we love the game, it gives us an inner peace and knowledge we’re playing only one person, ourselves and the whole ethical oneness of this game. So we continue to play on the weekends and if we have time and most of the time we get home in time to watch our pros and we all have our favorite players. Now let’s look at the other side of the game, you know the pro tour side. The funny thing is though, they have the same demons we do but wait a minute they're pros aren’t they? You’re correct, they’re not suppose to make the same mistakes we do but they also have some pressures and it’s their livelihood we’re talking about. This isn’t your weekend six dollar game; it’s the work week that includes a ton of travel and other promotional events which have to be attended too. The thing tour players have to also remember is the fans have jobs too and all have different skill levels of their achievements and most have to continually make improvement, adjustment and most of all reality checks as to their skill levels and careers. This is where your pros have the hardest struggle and it is dealing with the reality of a good shot and a bad shot. I think this is where Tiger Woods really becomes a winner, today March 24, 2007 he’s leading at the WGC-CA but look at last week, he was far from looking like a top ten player and today he’s considered seventh on the FedEx Cup Points. The reality is how one is affected by a good shot or a bad shot and we all know the bad shots can really play with your mind. Let’s take a reality check look at the one shot that started out looking like it was heading for the big and deep bunker but at the last second it hits a little mound and is kicked hard right and right at the hole. Now instead of digging your way out of a deep bunker and thinking a four looks good on a par three, you're three feet away and putting for a birdie. Everyone one with manners will say great shot and you’ll feel good, in fact you’ll feel really good. You also know you still have to get up there and make that three foot braking left birdie putt and this is the catch. It is how you let, that’s right I said let ,yourself feel about the putt. If you take the time to read it and feel good about it, there is about a 99% chance you’ll make it. Feeling good about a shot prior is the key but for the pros this is easier said than done. They train for the right skills of using all fourteen clubs in their bag, they train body positioning for different approach shots, and they train on how their hands should be, their feet and head. They don’t or aren’t trained in attitude of good and bad shots but you’ll see all types of attitudes if you attend any pro tour events. I was at one and talking to a trainer and the subject was temperament of players and those tempers being expressed in public. On a hole just behind us, a par three, two players had just hit their shots and both tossed their clubs at the bags in total both about forty-five feet away from the hole and I can pretty much assure you they didn’t feel positive about their chances of making a birdie. You see, that is the problem, its how they feel and how they want to feel. The reality side, they know they can make par, they’ve made fourty-five foot putts for birdie, we’ve see tour level players make forty-five foot putts for birdies and once every couple of years we might even make one. Neither of these players made the birdie putts because before they left the tee box they put the imprint on their own minds. It’s hard to control one’s attitude, emotions and feelings on something that demands so much out of you and sometimes it’s even preferred to let the temper fly, as long as you’re not letting it adjust your mental attitude about the next shot or next hole.

Tour Pro Failures

Over the last few years I was honored to coach a couple of pro players and they still keep in touch. I have my favorites and at times I can’t stand it when I see one of them give up before the next shot. I’ll be up in Akron Ohio in August and my wife has her favorites and I have mine. Last year her favorite, not mine, hit a shot in not the most favorable position but he evaluated the next shot put it on the green and still almost made the birdie and a tap in for the par. The next day, he put the ball in almost the same spot but this time he was upset because he was in the same spot, you could see it in the body language of how he moved, he hit the ball, the ball hits a tree but he’s now in front of the trees. Again you could see the body language of how upset he was with his performance and instead of taking his time, thinking it through, he just put it on the green, made the putt so fast there was no thought process at all, missed the hole by foot and a half but again, upset missed that putt and ended up a double. The problem was his failure to communicate with himself and instead of saying, "OK, crap happens," and trying to make the next shot really count, he took the lazy road and tossed it on the green and two putted. I'm sure he had a positive attitude on the next tee. At this time I could see he had given up and it wasn’t enjoyable to watch him play, so I went and got a cold one and watched happy Sergio almost get a hole in one on a par three and that picked up my spirits.

Now the all important question; are you ready to move ahead? If so, then do a little search on this site, like for option 2 on the "Yahoo Search this site" by scrolling to the upper right of this page. You can also email me or call and set some time aside.

Studying people & studying PGA pros has a great deal of similarity

The question of all questions are why, why do people do what they do and what stops them from doing what they want to do. As a spectator in life as a spectator in golf, many of the same answers apply. If you see a golfer drives his ball over 300 yards of the tee and in the center fairway and 135 yards to the flag, then why is it that so often they make it harder than they need. To the every day golfer, if by change they were in the same position and the same distance to the flag, they elevated themselves to an emotion high. Now also if the weekend player gets it on the green and within 15 feet of the hole, again they are elated and feeling good about their game. Now, if this same player 3 putts, their emotions sink and not different of what a professional would feel a little.

The difference you see is that a professional is supposed to understand the ups, down of golf, and know how to deal with them. Then why is it that you still hear about some PGA professional still having a problem with their temper. Letting poor, shots destroy the total hole or even a few more after that. You might not notice it but watch them sometime get up there to make a putt after maybe a destructive hole. Instead of doing what they’re suppose to do or do when they’re playing well, they look at the putt quickly, not study it from all sides and hardly make an effort for a par or birdie and almost insult the ball by slapping at it with a half hearted effort. I think that some consideration and respects given the ball, install a computer chip that understands the player’s attitude, and if they feel that the player is not giving the proper respect, move out of the way when the pro approaches for the lame effort. That’s right, give the golf ball respect or allow them to refuse to play for the player. OK, yes I’m being a little silly but you see I am allowed this because I allow my golf balls to laugh at me anytime they feel like it and at more times than I can count, I’ve laughed at myself because instantly after I’ve made a dumb shot, I know what I did wrong. I will not blame the ball, a guest of when; my partners laugh my non-custom designed clubs. I know what I did and I know that bad shot happen and I can live with them. So if I can accept bad shots, then why can’t professional when they have the time and opportunity to study it with a training coach and all the professionals that assist PGA pros. You see I know the answer and that is why professional golfer call me as their mental coach, not some PhD, ask them why they didn’t like their nephew on their fathers side or how they felt when a golf fish died when they were 7. You see I deal with common since course that sits between their ears.

eburns@dealingwithsuccess.com

513-702-6928