This is where the Golf Analysis Wheel can help you. Commonly used by coaches, it helps you consider each area of your game in turn and assess what aspects needs more attention.

The Golf Analysis Wheel is a powerful tool because it gives you a visual representation of the where your golf game is right now, compared with the way you’d ideally like it to be.

How To Use The Wheel

1. Print the “Golf Analysis Wheel”

2. Take time and review each of the wheels segments.

3. Mark your level of satisfaction out of 10 regarding each element of your game on the wheel. It’s up to you how you score but remember…..be honest with yourself.

4. Once you have completed the wheel imagine what would happen if you put the wheel on a car a drove down the road with it. For most of us golfers we will be in for a bit of a bumpy ride!

On the positive side it highlights immediately where you must apply the priority of changes to your game. i.e if your short game scored a 2 and other elements of your game are 6 or 7’s then your priority of attention must be on your short game. That’s not to say that you should not continue to work on other aspects of your game.

It’s important that you repeat this process every month in order that you continue re-evaluate the areas for improvement.

You can learn to master the fundamentals of the inner game.

The key question is what do you really want to achieve in golf? Desire will only survive with so many other things clambering for your attention if you nurture it, and stay focussed. This is achieved through clear goals and commitment, an essential part of every great golfer’s mindset.

Success will come only when you do the right things, repeatedly and patiently.

You can make a decision now:-

“Commit to a continuous programme of improvement and honour those commitments”

“Your written goals need to include those that are big enough to get you out of bed in the morning and those small enough to take action today”

Desire (Goals)

The energy to sustain the character required to be a winner (including courage, commitment and patience) comes from a strong desire, so we start with the key question,

What do you really want?

Also, desire needs to be cultivated, nurtured and monitored to survive, we do this through goals.

Goals provide direction, desire gives energy and passion.

The commitment starts from writing the goals down, and talking to your coach about them. If you set goals your subconscious will attract things that will support the goal.

To help you with your goals download our worksheet:  Planning A Set Of Goals

‘If you don’t set a goal you’ll drift’

‘Would you tell me please, which way

I ought to go from here?’

‘’That depends a good deal on where you

want to get to,’ said the Cheshire Cat.

I don’t much care where…’ said Alice.

‘Then it doesn’t matter which way you go,’

said the Cat.

Adapted from Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland

Have clear goals, believe in yourself,

and then with your Coach

discover how to make it happen

Our time in Kefalonia is spent mainly relaxing on the beach or visiting friends. This year, I carried out a little experiment to see what golf related activities I could incorporate into my holiday without impacting the holiday activities. Our Golf Monkey experts are giving us so many tips that knowing I had the time, I wanted to put them into practice.

So………. this was my experience over a couple of weeks in Kefalonia…..

Golf Body – Before I came away on holiday I had a biomechanics assessment with our resident ‘Monkey Body’ expert,  Michael  Andreou.  During the initial assessment, Michael checked my body for general joint mobility. Michael gave me a series of 5 exercises, designed to get my body aligned to play golf. So, whilst I was on holiday, I practiced these exercises no less than twice a day.  I am really impressed by the noticeable improvement in my mobility and flexibility after maintaining this for a couple of weeks. My daily swim also helped, but the biomechanics exercises realigned my body and I definitely feel more balanced. I highly recommend if you feel a little off balance, maybe an achy shoulder or hip, to get in contact with Michael. Now I have returned home I will continue to practice the exercises and book a follow up assessment with Michael to check how I have improved.

Golf Mind – Over the years I have read and listened to lots of golf related material. There is always a reoccurring theme regarding the importance of visualisation within the game of golf. One clear message that repeats itself again and again is that generally the mind cannot tell the difference about what is real and what is imagined. This is great news for any golfer without access to a golf course.  So I thought, why not use the quiet time on holiday to visualise playing that perfect round of golf in my mind.

I played my own golf movie in my mind once a day whilst on holiday. I found that by adding as much detail as possible helped  i.e weather conditions, tee placements, pin position and pre shot routine.  By playing this movie over and over again, I believed I could hit every fairway and green in regulation hole out with two putts for a perfect  level  par round of golf.

I feel my confidence in my ability has improved and I am going to continue this drill on a daily basis now I have returned from holiday. I am convinced it will help me to play better golf.  Pete – am I along the right lines on this? How has this helped me to feel more confident and to believe more in my ability?

Golf Swing – Have you ever watched the film ‘The Karate Kid’? (the latest version).  In the film there is a scene where the Karate Master teaches his young student a couple of what appear to be basic movements  i.e  taking off a coat , putting it on the floor and then hanging on a peg. The student is made to repeat this action over and over again. The student seems bored but out of respect for the Master, continues with the tasks given to him. What the student does not know is that through repeating the actions over and over again, he is ingraining muscle memory for what are martial arts moves.

I watched this film before going on holiday and associated this way of learning to the theory of ‘Deep Practice’. Reproducing a specific skill creates electrical impulses down nerve fibres in the brain. A substance called Myelin insulates these nerve fibres which in turn increase the signal strength  associated with the skill. Many experts have likened the process of deep training to installing mega  fast broadband. The more we practice something the stronger and faster the connections in our brain become. ‘Talent Code’, Daniel Coyle (2011)

According to Daniel Coyle, if you want to become world class in something then there is a universal equation that you will need to bear in mind ;

Deep  practice x 10,000 hours = world class skill

So whilst I was on the beach, I used the technique of deep practice on my golf swing. In the absence of my golf club, I used a piece of bamboo found on the beach. Although this may sound very odd, it really helped and I concentrated on the feeling of the swing rather than the equipment that I was using. Take a look at my photo below. You may feel uncomfortable doing this on a crowded beach. I was fortunate that I practiced on a very very quiet beach!

I did not miss a fairway all holiday!

It’s going to be interesting to see the difference in my game when I get back on the course.

Peter recommended I read Talent Code theory and Play Your Best Golf – both great books which I also recommend. Simon Tillson has been encouraging us to put the ‘Plane Truth’ theory into practice (see Simon’s blog)  through drills for a one plane swing.

So even though I was on a beach for 8 hours (oh yes 8!) each day, I spent some valuable time putting all of this into practice.

Combining all of this with a healthy diet over the two weeks of lots of fresh fruit, locally caught fish and vegetables, I have come back to the UK feeling re-charged and re-energised and can’t wait to get back on the course!

Let’s start with one element of mastering our thoughts – ‘Outcomes Thinking’.

On noticing a difficult situation, accept it completely, or deal with it. Don’t make it into a problem. Nurture ‘Complaint Free’ golf (future article). Simply reframe a problem frame into an outcome frame by asking, “what do I want here?” or “what do I want instead?” It’s important to realise this is not putting on rose-tinted glasses or applying spin, rather it’s just simply stating what you want to have happen.

A simple and profoundly powerful concept is that your mind cannot process negations or don’ts very well. Don’t think about a blue apple! Now it’s vital to think (often visually) of what you DO want (outcomes thinking), sending messages to your muscles as an example. Any so called problem could be expressed in terms of outcomes. “I want to relax” rather than “I wish I wasn’t so tense” or stay focussed rather than don’t worry. Positively stated language creates positive images and therefore a more resourceful performance state (at least one element of the performance state.) Because, amazing as the body is, it can’t tell the difference between a thought and a real situation – it responds as if it were happening in the real world. With the resultant muscle tension for example, great to protect yourself from danger, disastrous to a free flowing swing.

So what do we do? Start noticing thoughts (usually showing up as that little voice in your head).

First realise they are not YOU! Make sure they are framed in what you want to happen (outcomes thinking) and later with other Golf Monkeys, learn how to master them and stay truly in the now.

“Would you tell me please, which way?
I ought to go from here?”.
“That depends a good deal on where you
want to get to,” said the Cheshire Cat.
“I don’t much care where…” said Alice.
“Then it doesn’t matter which way you go,”
said the Cat.

Adapted from Lewis Carroll’s ‘Alice in Wonderland’

It’s taken 6 years and here we are!

This is such an exciting time. We chose today to launch Golf Monkey in support of the Open Championship at Royal St Georges that begins on the 14th July 2011. Some of us will be playing (we wish you all the best and we will be following you!) and many of us will be inspired by your game. Whoever we are, what unites us is our determination to succeed at being the best golfer we can possibly be.

We hope that Golf Monkey will bring us all an opportunity of a virtual worldwide golf club! The possibilities are endless for us. Together we will celebrate our achievements, share our development and frustrations and find new friends. Golf Monkey will bring together everything we need as golfers – all in one place.

Welcome to all Golf Monkeys!

We are interested to hear from you and share the latest with the Golf Monkeys!

Bad news first, ideally any preparation for this would need to already be in place i.e. to not do anything different that you would apply to any game, except where you are adding additional interference by thinking more about it.

Good news, I’m determined to live in the real world and give you something really useful to recognise most of you don’t have sound mental routines and habits in place and this match is one that you might start thinking about preparing.

1. First notice how you are thinking about this and wherever possible ‘stop it!’ that’s ‘less’ except for the list below is always better, just notice the thought, clench your fist to represent it and while releasing hand say ‘let it go’ and make a commitment to give it your full attention when you arrive at the course (called timelock).

2. Definitely have a plan for this round and strategy for the opening shot(s). Write out a shot plan for the first two shots of each hole, pars 4 & 5 (par 3s you need to know the pin position and for some of us even see that as a lay up in some conditions).

Sit down quietly and only put down shots you can feel confident about (honestly)
Stick to it, only change would be if conditions or how you feel dictate you go safer.

3. Obviously remove unwanted distractions (clear your mind) from the day. Get ‘everything!’ ready well in advance right down to spare battery for your range finder.

4. Have one specific purpose e.g. commit to every shot, commit to plan, whatever happens, commit to shot ritual. Focus on the process, not the score.

5. And lastly, generally have normal routines (e.g. practice, warm up, arrival time, sleep previous evening etc.) again in an ideal world you would have built ‘habits’ around how you (as a unique individual) prepare to perform in your version of the zone.

So in summary, think less, stick to your plan and if in doubt always focus on your breathing.