Golf_ The Mind Game - Marlin M. Mackenzie [26]
Identify Past Experiences of Power Remember and relive a time in your life when you performed a task, any task, superbly. Perhaps you felt a sense of graceful and easy power as you played your very best competitive round of golf. You might have felt extremely satisfied after giving a fine speech before a large audience. You might have been excited after completing a top-notch interview. You might have been really pleased after playing a part in a school or college play. Or you might have had a deep feeling of caring and love after writing a letter to a special person.
Relive that past experience of powerful effectiveness. See, hear, and feel again what you saw, heard, and felt then. See the things you saw on the inside—in your mind—and on the outside. Pay close attention to the submodalities; most of all, feel those physical sensations of powerful effectiveness and confidence.
Anchor the Powerful Experience with a K-anchor—something that is natural and unobtrusive, such as touching your face or making a fist. Associate the K-anchor with a special image and sound which are directly related to the past experience.
Create a Storehouse of Power Fire the K-anchor and when the feelings of power are strong, “deposit” those feelings in the one particular spot you have chosen as your personal place of power. In your mind, metaphorically see that power stored there.
Increase the amount of stored power by repeating the same process with other past experiences of achievement and with similar experiences you’ll have in the future. “Stack” feelings of power from each new experience into the same K-anchor.
Tap the Storehouse of Power. When you want to perform superbly in crucial situations—when the chips are down—you can recapture the feelings of powerful effectiveness. Fire the K-anchor, go to your place of power in actuality or in fantasy, and see the imaginary storehouse of power. Do this several hours or the night before you want to perform at your very best. Remove as little power as necessary by metaphorically grasping a small portion of it in your hands. Actually reach out, “grasp” power, and then bring your hands to your chest until you feel confidently energized.
PERSONAL POWER ANCHOR
Identify your geographical place of power.
Identify a past experience when you performed at your very best.
Anchor the physical sensations of effectiveness and power with a natural, unobtrusive gesture (K-anchor), a special image, and a special sound or word.
Go to your place of power, in actuality or in fantasy; fire the K-anchor and metaphorically “deposit” the feelings of power in that place.
For each past and future experience of power repeat Steps 2 through 4 and stack the feelings of power associated with them in the same K-anchor.
To tap your storehouse of power when faced with a very important task, fire the common K-anchor, go to your place of power in actuality or in fantasy, and see the storehouse of power that you deposited there. Do this the night before or several hours before you want to perform at your very best.
Take as little power as necessary and bring it into your body until you feel confidently energized.
* Published by Simon and Schuster (New York, 1972), pp. 181-189.
After making a tee shot right down the middle or after an approach that lands within a foot or two of the pin, golfers often say, “If only I could bottle it!” As a matter of fact, the golf swing that produces those shots is bottled in the nervous system.
When a golfer is in the right state of mind, he can execute that bottled swing throughout an entire round. When this occurs, mind, mood, and movement are solidly melded. A sense of harmony in the golfer’s body produces a rhythmical and effortless swing; his attention is riveted on each shot, yet there is no