Final Blog (improvement of project 3)

I have chosen to do the final project on Golf Psychology as a whole along with how to apply it to everyday Psychology. If someone does this they can become more mentally sound in ALL areas of life not just in golf. I intend to talk about my personal experience to give a real life example of the ideas I bring up. 

“Confidence is a player’s belief in their ability to perform well in any situation, practice or game. Confidence is derived from a baseline assessment of past performances, training, and preparation. As competency or skill mastery grows, your confidence becomes proportionately stronger. In order for players to develop high levels of confidence, they must have a clear understanding of the factors that boost and undermine their confidence, such as high expectations. Confidence is a core mental game skill because of its importance and relationship to other mental skills.” This was a quote that I used in an earlier project, by Dr. Gio. What does this quote mean? Basically, Dr. Gio is stating that confidence is drawn from your memories. If a golfer has made a 10 foot long putt thousands of times in practice, he will be likely to succeed in an actual round because he can remember back to all of those times that he has made that exact putt. People ask why practice makes perfect, well THAT’S WHY RIGHT THERE!! This concept easily translates into everyday life or everyday psychology. It applies the same way in everyday life; we build confidence through preparation. For example, if you study for a test for 10 hours you will be successful because you prepared yourself well. The next thing that Dr. Gio was asked to explain was control. He broke control down into three separate thoughts known as “The Three R’s”. The Three R’s are as follows: Recognize–Regroup–Refocus. What I took from his explanation of these is that one must “Recognize” that he or she has lost control of their emotions. After that one must “Regroup” by interrupting their current train of thought. And finally, “Refocusing” on something positive, such us, all of those 10-foot long putts that were made during practice. This can be a great way to control yourself when life is throwing seven different kinds of smoke at you. You can use that same 3-step process to calm yourself down and then focus on the new task at hand. I have implemented this into my personal life by taking 10 minutes when I get flustered to gather myself, what I do is put my headphones on and listen to classical music while I go through the 3 R’s. Doing this really allows me to focus and think effectively. The final part of the conversation with Dr. Gio was focused on commitment. When one is committed to something they usually have an interest in it for some reason, this is applicable to golf and also life.  When one is playing well during a round of golf, they are engaged and interested in it (therefore they are committed). When you are not playing well it can affect how interested in it you are and how engaged you are in doing well, which will result in you not being as committed to playing your best. It’s the same way with life, if you are committed and interested in something than you have a lot more fun doing it. This is why I personally try to do things that interest me when it comes to school. Being interested in my school subjects makes class a lot more enjoyable and less of a strain. Sports Psychology From Dr. Gio Valianti: “Many influences occur in a golfers life that can affect his or her performance, they can be physical or mental influences. The priority in sports psychology is to overcome negative mental influences.” According to Dr. Gio, six main elements are necessary for good concentration habits: knowing what things to focus on, staying focused on those relevant things, keeping a narrow and external focus, the ability to shift attention when needed, the ability to refocus when distracted, and controlling your thought process. Conquering all these elements will make any golfers mental game much more superior compared to a golfer who hasn’t mastered the elements of concentration. This is also a part of my golf game that translates to my everyday life. I use these 6 things as a guideline on how to live my life and ever since I started doing so I have become a more relaxed and more organized person.

In sum, human psychology is a very interesting topic and it was very fun to relate golf psychology to everyday human psychology. Everyone who reads this can see how important his/her psychological state of mind is and everyone should try to take a piece of this to implement into his or her personal lives. It worked wonders for me and I know it will for you too.