The Use of Visual Imagery in Golf
by
Book Cover & Preview Text
INTRODUCTION
I write this golf instructional booklet with some trepidation, having began this age-old sporting activity at an age where most participants are working at perfecting their individual games for some set purpose, or giving it up completely.
But, alas, I have been drawn into an activity that is not purely physical strength and/or endurance, and not purely mental process. It is one that requires both in moderation, with no one in excess. A game that, as you feel you are "getting close to mastering it", there is an abrupt reminder that you are still a long ways away.
As I write this booklet, I have the wonders of modern golf to observe and learn from. I am able to watch the phenomenal Tiger Woods, as he continues to write his own place in the record books. I am able to review the multitude of accomplishments of the greatest golfer of all-times, Jack Nicklaus.
With those observations, I detected an intensity in their expressions. A focus and a direction. As I have pursued the game, more from a social standpoint at first, I discovered that, without the focus and intensity, golf is just "hitting balls", and not truly "playing the game".
My initial observations were of people "chasing a little white ball around a beautifully manicured park". I quickly discovered that the idea was not to chase the ball, but to "place the ball". Now, it was at this point that the focus and intensity previously mentioned, seemed to fit into the equation.
Having been involved in the mental health profession for eighteen years previous to my involvement with golf, and having been trained in a wide range of hypnotherapy and positive mental imagery processes, I found that the same principles that I facilitated with patients in other sports could be applied to this one. At that time, you could say, I became hooked!
I had worked with professional baseball players; professional trap shooters; professional tennis players; and professional divers, not to mention golfers, but never fully realized the total importance of the visual imagery process and the internal focus that was required. All of those sports had the imagery process and focus in common, in some ways, but each was individual as well. Each individual had a need to "get into himself or herself"; to focus inward; to see a successful completion of the respective sport, before it could be accomplished. Without the ability to do so, only luck would create perfection, and only that would occur occasionally.
Those golf greats are not just lucky. They have learned what you can learn by thoroughly reading the enclosed information. With that information, you will need to practice the mental game as much, if not more, than the physical one. Then your task is to put the physical and the mental together; to practice the focus exercises; and observe the improvements in your own game.
With this being said, read on. This booklet is not intended to be lengthy or detailed, but short and to the point. It’s intent is for quick reading and referral, from time to time, so that any individual reading it is not bound-up with a study process that will take hours or days, but one that is to the point. This will allow the unconscious to make the adjustments quickly and get on with the reintrainment process. I have chosen, with this writing to stay away from the two hundred page, fifty-chapter format, and create a simple easily readable format, to avoid boredom, and to allow for a learning format that is readily absorbed. So, with that, I wish you luck. Hit them long; straight; and keep them in the fairways.
Formats
Book Details
About the Book
This book is the result of thousands of counseling/consulting sessions, within which the author has helped his patients to address specific concerns related to self-improvement directed at improving their game of golf. Having addressed specific issues of improvement with other athletes during the course of sports therapy, it became a natural progression for the author to move into the sport of golf. In doing so, he himself became "hooked" on the game and the need to dissect it, to determine what makes the "greats" that we watch in person and on television each week as great as they are. By utilizing the various processes within this small, but effect booklet, you too can begin the process of positive change with your golf game. You will find that, like the game itself the more you practice the mental along with the physical aspects, the more improvements you can expect to see and feel.
About the Author
Dr. Bush is a graduate of Columbia Pacific University, with a Doctorate Degree in Psychology, and an emphasis in Health and Human Services. His Master of Arts Degree is from Northern Arizona University, in Counseling: Human Relations and Behavior. He has maintained a private practice in Phoenix, Arizona for the past 20 years, offering self-improvement guidance, counseling and hypnotherapy. Expanding on an intense interest in helping people, and with a prior knowledge of hypnosis and visual imagery, while he was a police officer with the City of Phoenix, Arizona, he received training in investigative and forensic hypnosis from the Law Enforcement Hypnosis Institute, Inc. in Los Angeles, California. With this training, hypnosis was used in victim and witness recall of events during the commission of a crime. He continued attaining further education in clinical approaches and in the use of hypnosis in psychotherapy, pain control and medical applications, studying with, among others, the internationally renowned Milton H. Erickson, M.D., and Joseph Barber, Ph.D., former Director of the U.C.L. A. Medical Pain Center. Dr. Bush is in private practice in Phoenix, Arizona, offering self-improvement guidance, counseling and hypnotherapy, along with positive visual imagery process for sports improvement. Dr. Bush conducts seminars and lectures on the powers of the subconscious, speaks to groups, and works with doctors and their patients who wish to utilize the process of positive change in varied directions. He is a well-qualified and skilled technician in working with anyone to unlock the doors of the subconscious mind and power to change. With over twenty years of counseling experience, Dr. Bush has had the privilege of working with thousands of individuals who wanted to make positive changes in their lives. He has helped them to facilitate these changes by various formats, as well as with the use and application of hypnosis techniques and positive visual imagery process. Dr. Bush is a member of numerous societies and associations promoting the ethical applications and process of guided visual imagery and hypnosis applications.