Some areas of our personality are beyond our control but most are of our own making. The single most important area as it relates to a solid mental game and which we indeed have total control over is our self image. That is, how we see ourselves and how highly we value what we see. Study upon study supports the fact that self concept directly correlates to achievement. The more positive the self image, the more positive the expectations, thus the higher the probability for success. If you think you’re a great putter your chances of making putts is greatly increased over the person with negative expectations or self image as a putter. The caveat is positive thinking alone won’t work unless you do.

Your positive expectations need to be supported by specific actions that reinforce your claim; otherwise it’s just wishful thinking. For example, next time out, don’t practice putting, practice making putts… a simple yet powerful distinction. I observe people on the practice green repeatedly “practicing” 15, 20, 30 footers. But what is a realistic percentage of success from these distances. Sure, rolling a few long distance putts can help you with a feel for the speed of the green that day, but most of your practice is better spent making 2-3 footers. What’s the benefit? Each time you practice you see yourself making putt after putt so your personal putting forecast becomes increasingly more optimistic. This in turn supports a positive self concept of your ability to make putts and thus allows you to produce your best putting stroke.

Putting is just one example of how this programmed positive imaging begets a positive self concept and increased confidence. This same thread weaves through every area of our golf game or for that matter life. Many people believe that confidence is only gained by succeeding. Win and become confident in the ability to win. Indeed winning reinforces and supports one’s self belief but if winning were the only path, how would or could anyone win for the first time? The answer is that you become what you think about most. If you think of yourself as a winner, your chances for success increase dramatically. If you focus on the negative things that surround or happen to you, you will just as surely be sucked into that vortex. And beware, the negative self-fulfilling prophecy is much easier to create because in golf, as in many endeavors, there are far more opportunities to fail. The good news is that it’s your choice and with some focused effort you determine what you want to take from each situation.

If you accept the above premise, then it follows that your self concept or self image is nothing more than the sum of all your thoughts. Also understand that thoughts coupled to strong emotions impact self image to a greater extent and more recent thoughts have a greater influence on self image than older ones. At the end of each round critique the mistakes you made and what you could have done differently then quickly move on and focus only on the positive things that happened. In fact it’s a good idea to write these down along with how you felt about each success. Documenting these positive experiences and reviewing them often will help you build a solid foundation for a strong mental game.