| Anger really is one of the most detrimental | | | | golfers have one of these. It's an "OK that |
| emotions in life in general as well as when on the | | | | happened. Not what I wanted, but it did." Then |
| golf course. For someone who suffers from the | | | | you visualize what you did want to happen and |
| grips of this emotion it is useful to have several | | | | replace the memory immediately, so that next |
| different methods to fall back upon so as to stop | | | | time you come across a similar situation you |
| anger from ruining your golf. The following is a | | | | remember the perfect shot (not the duff one |
| short list of anger management tips which you | | | | that you did hit). How can you feel angry when |
| may find useful. | | | | you're choosing to remember the perfect shot? |
| 1. Breathing - Your mind and body are intrinsically | | | | 7. Think "smooth" - smooth movements. Angry |
| linked. Mind works on body, body works on mind. | | | | people are tense and jerky. Consciously smooth |
| It's impossible for your mind to be tense and your | | | | out your walk, pretend you're gliding, floating along |
| body relaxed and vice versa. By relaxing your | | | | the fairway, and then it's impossible to feel angry. |
| breathing you will automatically relax your mind. | | | | Like I said before your mind and body are |
| Breathe through your abdomen, not your chest. | | | | intrinsically linked. |
| Five deep breaths will do the trick. | | | | 8. Be in the "now" - you might think you are, but |
| 2. Reach for that Hamlet - Remember the Hamlet | | | | are your thoughts really on the present moment? |
| cigar advert? Try it without a cigar for a healthy | | | | A Stanford University study found that the |
| version - take a step back, sit under a tree and | | | | average person has 60,000 thoughts a day, |
| take a few deep breaths - that'll relax you nicely. | | | | 59,500 of which are the same as the day before |
| It's not the nicotine which relaxes you (nicotine is | | | | - indicating that it's a really tiny percentage of |
| a stimulant, after all); it's the step back and the | | | | time that people are really "in the now". If you're |
| deep breath which does the trick. | | | | in the now, you can't worry about past failures, |
| 3. Ping an elastic band - you've seen smokers | | | | you can't worry about future outcomes; all you |
| doing this one. Wear an elastic band on your wrist | | | | are doing is concentrating on the present and |
| and every time you get a thought or feeling you | | | | there's nothing in the present that can really make |
| don't want to have you ping the band hard so | | | | you angry. |
| that it hurts you so much you can't even feel | | | | 9. Dissociation - have you ever had that feeling |
| angry! | | | | that you're there, but not there? Or maybe a |
| 4. Go to your happy place - Everyone can do this | | | | feeling that you can almost float up onto the |
| one. Remember the film "Happy Gilmore"? | | | | ceiling and look down at yourself? This is great on |
| 5. Pre shot routine - Hopefully, you all have one of | | | | the golf course. Imagine how good you could feel, |
| these. The reason for having a consistent | | | | just drifting out of your body, floating up in the air |
| pre-shot routine is to absorb your mind in the | | | | and distancing yourself from all those unnecessary |
| detail of the task at hand, and in so doing any | | | | emotions? You could even float right on off to |
| other not-so-productive thoughts are displaced. If | | | | your happy place! |
| you thought it unnecessary to have a set routine, | | | | 10. Where there's a will, there's a way - If you |
| think again. | | | | want to deal with things better you can; if you |
| 6. Post shot routine - De-Brief. I bet not many | | | | don't want to you can't. |