The ASPEN Coaching Model Self-Coaching APP for Golfers
By: Charles W. Boatright
The reason I made this Section No. 8 is that it stands for new beginnings.
8.1 ASPEN Self-Coaching Model for Golfers- Golf is a great sport for kids to develop discipline, confidence, mental skills, and mental horsepower, the athlete’s perseverance. Golf is a fantastic sport for early childhood development activity to achieve success in all areas of their life, especially kids in a homeschool setting. Golf provides an excellent athletic activity for kids and can be played as an individual or team sport, with little exposure to injuries. I don’t know of too many situations where a 250- pound linebacker tackles the golfer on the tee box.
8.2 A word of encouragement- There’s a certain degree of natural talent that’s required for any athlete activity. But talent alone doesn’t account for the athlete’s overall performance on the field, court, or course. Perseverance trumps talent anytime. President Coolidge had one of the best coaching strategies in sports:
Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not: nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not: the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.
8.3 Another part of perseverance is the ability to develop one’s confidence. Perseverance, determination, and confidence are a tremendous mental edge for the athlete and especially for children to develop. The athlete can devote and spend hours working on their techniques, elements, and mechanics during their practice sessions and while taking golf lessons and still lose their confidence on the golf course. When the golfer steps foot onto the golf course, they somehow lose confidence in their practice and lessons; their techniques, elements, and mechanics seem to vanish.
8.4 The issue the golfer is having has to do with the 3rd Rule of the Subconscious mind- The Quicker and longer the subconscious mind believes and proves something, the harder will it be to alter this belief in any way; and the 7th Rule of the Subconscious mind- The subconscious mind always prevails in conflicts with the conscious mind. When the golfer practices and takes golf lessons, they are focusing and training their conscious mind (thinking process). But when the golfer steps foot onto the golf course, they are relying totally on their subconscious mind (instinctive process).
8.5 The Athlete, and golfer, can actually utilize both the 3rd and 7th Rules of the Subconscious mind by using the fourth Horseman, which is Apperception. Apperception is kind of compared to athletes cross training, where an athlete uses a well-developed skills in one sport to develop and fine tune their skills in golf. All of our fine permanent motor skills are formed before the age of 10. A great example of this was Earl Woods who worked with Tiger Woods at a young age, by simply tossing baseball pitches to him and letting him swing a baseball bat to develop his essential fine motor skills. Most of us had a friend or family member who tossed pitches to us as we swung a simple baseball bat as a kid.
8.6 The difference from Tiger Woods and most of us is that Earl Woods was using the baseball swing to help develop Tiger Woods’ fine motor skills as basic training for his future golf swing. I had a grandfather who was way ahead of his time when he developed what is now called Tee-Ball. The ASPEN Self-Coaching Technique allows the golfer to create muscle memory for their golf swing by using skills learned in the baseball batter’s box. The golfer can gain a huge training advantage, based on the 3rd Rule of the Subconscious mind. The golfer just has to convenience their subconscious mind that the same permanent fine motor skills that are instinctive in the baseball swing can also be used in the golf swing to reduce the effects of their conscious mind on the golf course. The objective of The ASPEN Self-Coaching Model is to suppress the conscious mind and allow the subconscious mind to take over, like Driving Hypnosis.
NOTE: Driving Hypnosis is unsafe for driving a vehicle down the highway; but it works great for driving a golf ball down the fairway and onto the green.
8.7 Refer to the 7th Rule above and the 9th Rule of the Subconscious mind- The greater the conscious effort reduces the subconscious intuitive response. This is where the golfer’s natural Techniques, Elements, and Mechanics seem to vanish into thin air. This is due to the Subconscious mind that actually sabotages one’s practices sessions and golf lessons right on the first tee box. One reason for this is that the subconscious mind doesn’t know how to support their golf game under course conditions. The golfer has to establish this link on their own. You’ve heard the statement by golf coaches, Practice how you play; and play how you practice.
8.8 When I go through my routine that includes standing behind the golf ball and looking down-range, I develop a tracer-like image of my ball’s pre-flight, like you’ve seen on PGA and LPGA tournaments, in Figure 8-2. Once I develop that mental image, I actually envision that I’m stepping into my batter’s box like a baseball player and taking practice swings. This is the reason that the batter’s box and baseball-type swing are important– How many of you golfers, playing either baseball and/or softball, have ever thought about hitting techniques, elements, or mechanics while standing in the batter’ box? I would guess NEVER. I know I didn’t; I just focused on my strike zone and the pitch. Wade Boggs, with the Boston Red Sox, is a perfect example of what a golfer wants to do.
8.9 The golfer has a huge advantage in their Apperception; (90%) of the golfer’s potential on the golf course is established before age 10. These are motor skills that are a part of our subconscious mind that we have refined since childhood. The two motor skills that I use in my ASPEN Self-Coaching Model are Palmar Flex (or Palmer flex) to Preset the wrists and Dorsiflex to Sync the same elements used in throwing a baseball. This Presets and Syncs the thumbs, wrists, and elbows with the shoulders. If you’ve ever thrown a baseball or softball before, shown in Figure 8-3, you’ve done these two moves before, and these are instinctive to you. The big advantage for the golfer is that instincts involve in throwing a baseball are a part of our subconscious mind. You just have to convince yourself that these will produce the golf swing and shot that you want to create, shown in Figure 8-2.
8.10 The significance of throwing a baseball pitch, stepping into the batter’s box, and presetting the wrists, like the baseball batter in Figure 8-2, is that these are instinctive and provide the golfer their confidence. Confidence automatically engages the subconscious mind, especially on the golf course. This is like putting on the Virtual I-phone headset, as you are there in the batter’s box. Your hands, wrists, and elbows will take over the golf swing automatically. This is called Kinetic Chain reaction. The biggest obstacle to consistency in golf is having the physical mechanics and mental techniques become the dominant factor. The golfer wants to develop instincts using the Palmer flex and Dorsiflex that set up 90 percent of the golf swing instinctively.
The Biggest Benefactor of Sportsmanship
8.11 If God’s Word were presented in terms of true grit and sportsmanship, there would be no limit to what a person could accomplish in life. Just refer to true grit, and sportsmanship, with perseverance (faith) and integrity. In most organized sports, sportsmanship is included as part of the athlete’s curriculum. Sportsmanship includes such characteristics as humility, integrity, commitment, perseverance, respect, honor, honesty, fairness, sacrifice, responsibility, preparation, discipline, trustworthiness, and a hard work ethic, to name a few. An athlete can use true grit and sportsmanship to witness to others about the power of God’s Word.
8.12 True grit, with sportsmanship, is easier for most people to grasp and understand than terms like faith, righteousness, and responsibility. Sportsmanship centers on athletes taking responsibility for their own actions. When athletes take responsibility for their actions, the separation between perception and reality closes. True grit is being able to exhibit the quiet strength of perseverance, self-reliance, confidence, and integrity. Athletes understand that confidence is derived from the quiet strength of faith, referenced in Isaiah 30:15: In quietness and confidence shall be your strength. Keep in mind that more can be learned from a loss or failure than from a win, especially if the lesson from the loss is used to build confidence and gain experience.
8.13 A great example of true grit was the Greatest Generation’s mental horsepower during World War II. What they accomplished was nothing short of miraculous. Their sacrifice preserved freedom for the entire world. This generation understood that you learn by experience and live by example. The Greatest Generation set in motion the biggest transformation since the Industrial Revolution. They also ended The Great Depression, like shown in the photo of the 101st Airborne before D-Day. The New Deal had little to no effect on ending the grip of the Depression. Gearing up for war ended the Depression.
MY FREE YouTube Video of The Golfer’s Q-GRIP APP Making Practice Permanent
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