Where do you want your mind to be when in between shots? And what is the best place for the mind to be when in between shots. You do not want to be distracted and you do not want to use all your mental energy for being focused. At the same time, you do want to be relaxed. The question then becomes: How do you avoid distractions and stay relaxed?

The monkey brain or the monkey mind as the Buddhists call it is a term that refers to our brain when it is being uncontrollable, unsettled, restless, or confused. You will find more details in the chapter: “50000 – 80000 distracting thoughts a day. The Monkey mind.”

Monkey brain can be a situation where you are torn between decisions and your brain is discussing which decision to make. Monkey brain can also be when your brain is getting all kinds of different thoughts, impressions, frustrations etc. Some people have monkey brain during the night which disturbs their sleep.

In golf we can use tons of energy thinking about golf mechanics. Should we use this technique or that technique. This can be like monkey brain, and it drains our mental energy.

Professor, PhD. and Nobel laureate, Daniel Kahneman writes in his best-selling book Thinking Fast and Slow that our brain uses very little energy when using our intuition. However, our brain uses a lot of energy when doing analysis. On the golf course we want to make sure we have mental energy for all 18 holes. Therefore, we do not want to use our brain for analysis unless our golf needs it. We have limited energy, and we want to use it in the best possible way.

How many times have you seen a golfer do well on front nine and bad on back nine? There can be many reasons, but it is very likely that such a performance is founded in using too much mental energy on front nine and not having enough for back nine.

Monkey brain is the useless analysis that uses way too much mental energy. How do we get rid of it?

Buddhists use meditation and others use mindfulness to avoid the monkey brain. You can use any technique that cuts away distractions and makes you feel relaxed. Here is a couple of ideas for inspiration.

8.1. Talk to your fellow golfers

When having a chat down the fairway with you fellow golfers make sure you are having fun. The conversation should be relaxed, and you should not use any mental energy when having the talk. A discussion can quickly change into a back-and-forth exchange of arguments that are pro or con regarding a certain subject. This difference between a discussion which in effect is an analysis and a chat which is intuitive is important because it is also the difference between using mental energy for analysis and not using mental energy for intuition. All in all, stay in the intuitive relaxed chat that will make sure you stay relaxed and without distractions.  The alternative is that you engage in a heavy conversation that will drain your mental energy. Save you mental energy for the back 9.

8.2. Go into you own mental bubble:

Some golfers go into a mental bubble when playing competitive. It is not social, but it can be very rewarding for your game. You may want to tell it to your fellow golfers before you tee off. In that way everybody knows what is going on and that you now enter your bubble.

When being in the bubble you control your thoughts, and you can make sure you are relaxed and without distractions. At the same time, you are now left with your own thoughts, and it is even more important that you make sure your mind is working in a relaxed way and at the same time has a good defence against distractions.

Exercise 4: Full body scan

The full body scan cannot be used on the golf course, but it is a great exercise where you can train you mental skills for golf when not playing golf.

• Take a body posture where your back is straight. It can be in the bed, on the floor, in a chair, on the golf course or maybe somewhere else. Make sure your back is straight. In this way your lungs have full capacity, and you can breathe freely.
• Do not cross arms or legs. Take a symmetric body posture. Do not lean to the side.
• Start breathing like in exercise 1: Breathe out and make sure you breathe out as much as possible without over doing it. Then fill your lungs just under your navel. Meaning, about two fingers under your navel. Then fill your lungs from below the navel and up, just like a waive going from below the navel and up to your breast, but no further. And once again do your breathing in a slow and relaxed way. Feel a weight on your shoulders like a friend’s hand pushing gently down on your shoulders when breathing out. Feel your weight getting heavier against the surface below. Meaning, the chair, the bed, the ground, or any other surface that might be under you.
• Now you are breathing slowly, calmly and relaxed in the above way.
• Make a quick scan from toe to top of your head and find areas that are tense. Take them one by one and dissolve the tension in the tense areas when breathing out.
• When finished, start the slow body scan.
• Focus on your toes when breathing out. You may feel a certain energy, a small tickle or something else. When breathing out, make sure you feel heavier against the surface below and you feel even more relaxed.
• In this way you slowly move you way up and at some point, you come to your calf muscle where you do the same. Focus on the muscle when breathing out. You may feel a certain energy, a small tickle or something else. When breathing out, make sure you feel heavier against the surface below and you feel even more relaxed.
• Move up your legs, then to your seat and then to a muscle in your back which is two fingers below your navel. This point (Quick Scan point 1) is important. Make sure you feel 100% relaxed here before you move on.
• Then move up your back step by step and get to the next important point which is your muscles just below you neck. Once again make sure to feel heavy and relaxed when breathing out and focusing on this point (Quick Scan point 2).
• Go to your shoulders. You might want to be very detailed around your shoulders.
• Then go to the point where your collarbones meet and do the exercise here. (Quick Scan point 3)
• Move down over your front and do the breathing and relaxing exercise at each point of your own choice.
• Two fingers under your navel is Quick Scan point 4. Make sure you get a deep relaxation here before you go on.
• Now your fingertips. Feel a special sensation in your fingertips before moving on to muscles in your hand and arms
• Quick Scan point 5 is your forearms. This is important for golfers.
• Move further up to your shoulders, neck, back of your head, top of your head, checks, chin, around mouth and nose and then between your eyes. Stay here for a while and feel the relaxation.
• This was the full body scan. It can take about 20 minutes or longer but scale time and details up and down for your own needs and linking, depending on what you want. Timewise, you can do a Quick Scan like below in a minute and you can do the above Slow Scan in 40 minutes or even longer. Adjust it as you like.

I used the body scan since I 1978. I was 16 years of age, and my yoga teacher started every session with a body scan. You can find much about the body scan on Google. Now adays many mindfulness teachers will have body scan guides on their homepage. The body scan is very good for sleeping and for calming down.

Here is an example of a homepage with a body scan:

https://www.headspace.com/meditation/body-scan

The company Headspace also has a good app which will guide you through several different meditation techniques.

Exercise 5: Quick body scan with enhanced relaxation

The Quick body scan is designed for the golf course. The books “Zen Golf” and “Zen Putting” by Dr Joseph Parent have a relaxation exercise which is very close to the exercise below. You might want to find more inspiration here www.zengolf.com.

Basic breathing:

• Take a body posture where your back is straight. It can be in the bed, on the floor, in a chair, on the golf course or maybe somewhere else. Make sure your back is straight. In this way your lungs have full capacity, and you can breathe freely.
• Do not cross arms or legs. Take a symmetric body posture. Do not lean to the side.
• Start breathing like in exercise 1: Breathe out and make sure you breathe out as much as possible without over doing it. Then fill your lungs just under your navel. Meaning, about two fingers under your navel. Then fill your lungs from below the navel and up, just like a waive going from below the navel and up to your breast, but no further. And once again do your breathing in a slow and relaxed way. Feel a weight on your shoulders like a friend’s hand pushing gently down on your shoulders when breathing out. Feel your weight getting heavier against the surface below. Meaning, the chair, the bed, the ground, or any other surface that might be under you.
• Now you are breathing slowly, calmly and relaxed in the above way.

Quick Body Scan:

Exercise 4 above sets out 5 Quick Scan points which you can use here. These points are for inspiration but use them in the beginning and then do your own development. You might want to use only three or two points, or maybe you find other points that work better for you.

The idea is to dissolve tension in muscles. Do the breathing exercise, feel heavy when breathing out and also feel the tension in the Quick Scan points dissolve when breathing out. Furthermore, imagine the tension in the Quick Scan points dissolve and disappear when breathing out. Train with all five Quick Scan points and cut down a bit when playing golf. Sometimes you have time for all five Quick Scan points, and sometimes you have time for only one. That depends on your situation. Adapt as you go along. Here are the five Quick Scan points:

• Muscles in you back two fingers below your navel. Opposite Quick Scan point 4.
• Muscles just below your neck.
• Point where your collarbones meet.
• Muscles two fingers below your navel.
• Muscles in your forearms.

Exercise 6: Greater Than Self, GTS

GTS is a state of mind where you are relaxed and focused but in a way detached from the situation. This exercise comes from Neuro Linguistic Programming, NLP.

Basics breathing:

• Take a body posture where your back is straight. It can be in the bed, on the floor, in a chair, on the golf course or maybe somewhere else. Make sure your back is straight. In this way your lungs have full capacity, and you can breathe freely.
• Do not cross arms or legs. Take a symmetric body posture. Do not lean to the side.
• Start breathing like in exercise 1: Breathe out and make sure you breathe out as much as possible without over doing it. Then fill your lungs just under your navel. Meaning, about two fingers under your navel. Then fill your lungs from below the navel and up, just like a waive going from below the navel and up to your breast, but no further. And once again do your breathing in a slow and relaxed way. Feel a weight on your shoulders like a friend’s hand pushing gently down on your shoulders when breathing out. Feel your weight getting heavier against the surface below. Meaning, the chair, the bed, the ground, or any other surface that might be under you.
• Now you are breathing slowly, calmly and relaxed in the above way.

GTS:

• Now you are doing the basic breathing.
• Think of a situation, where you feel you are part of something that is larger than yourself. This could be an experience in nature. You might be looking at beautiful scenery or an eagle hovering over snowy mountains. You might hear the silence or feel the calmness. It could also be a situation with your partner or your family where you feel you are part of something much bigger than yourself.
• Decide which experience you want to use.
• Note which details you see when exploring the image.
• Note which details you hear when paying deep attention to the sounds.
• Note which details you feel when from the ground, from your body, from your feelings, from smells in the air such as extra clean air. It could also be many other things that you feel.
• Collect and remember at least five anchors.

Exercise 7: General Relaxed State, GRS

A good golf experience is depended on your mental state and sometimes you need to relax to get the right balance of tension. Here is how to get into a mental state of relaxation.

Basics breathing:

• Take a body posture where your back is straight. It can be in the bed, on the floor, in a chair, on the golf course or maybe somewhere else. Make sure your back is straight. In this way your lungs have full capacity, and you can breathe freely.
• Do not cross arms or legs. Take a symmetric body posture. Do not lean to the side.
• Start breathing like in exercise 1: Breathe out and make sure you breathe out as much as possible without over doing it. Then fill your lungs just under your navel. Meaning, about two fingers under your navel. Then fill your lungs from below the navel and up, just like a waive going from below the navel and up to your breast, but no further. And once again do your breathing in a slow and relaxed way. Feel a weight on your shoulders like a friend’s hand pushing gently down on your shoulders when breathing out. Feel your weight getting heavier against the surface below. Meaning, the chair, the bed, the ground, or any other surface that might be under you.
• Now you are breathing slowly, calmly and relaxed in the above way.

General Relaxed State, GRS

• Do the basic breathing.
• Recall a situation where you feel super relaxed. It might be in the bed just before you fall asleep. It could also be many other situations.
• Decide the relaxed situation you want to use.
• Note which details you see when exploring the image.
• Note which details you hear when paying deep attention to the sounds.
• Note which details you feel when from the ground, from your body, from your feelings, from smells in the air such as extra clean air. It could also be many other things that you feel.
• Collect and remember at least five anchors.

Exercise 8: Mindfulness, being fully presence or Refocus

On the golf course, did you ever experience a situation where your body and mind were two different places. How many times did golfers play hole 1, 2 and 3 without really being there? The body is there, no doubt. The body just made sure the ball is moving. Unfortunately, the ball is moving in the wrong direction because the mind is thinking of something else than golf and the stroke did not get full attention. Your body does the stroke, but your mind is thinking of other things. This does not work in golf, how do you fix it? You Refocus. You need to be collected and bring your mind and thoughts back to the body which is about to do the golf stroke. Here is a technique.

• Feel what is under your feet. Step on something you can feel. Make sure you feel it 100% and make sure you pay full attention to it.
• Now move your foot and step on it again. Feel it somewhere else under the foot.
• Do this in many different ways and always make sure you pay full attention to the sensations.
• Alternatively, touch the grips of your clubs or your golf ball.
• Focus on them intensely.
• What do you see?
  1. The colours, the nuances.
• What do you feel?
  1. The wind or the lack of wind.
  2. The slope.
  3. The ground, the grass, the stone, the rubble.
  4. Feel the texture on the golf ball and even the text on the golf ball.
• What do you hear?
  1. The silence, the wind, the rain, the stroke.
  2. Maybe your nail on the golf ball.
• What do you smell?
  1. The grass.
• Make a crazy focus and explore in crazy detail.
• Collect as many sensations as possible.
• Now your body and mind are at the same place and it will be much easier for your to concentrate and focus on your next swing.