What is more important: technical skill or a solid mental game? Both! If you don't have the technical ability to play a particular sport, it does not matter how strong your mental game is. Golf is an especially difficult game because there are so many aspects to it: driving, long irons, short irons, chipping, putting, bunker play, and trouble shots. It takes a lot of practice to learn how to hit all these different shots. However, even the best of players will fall apart when their mental game does not hold up.

The mental game is equally complex. It takes a lot of training to master one's inner life and develop the skills to stay mentally strong during intense competition. This is true for any sport. Mental training, when taken to an advanced level, is much more involved than just learning to visualization and maintain a positive attitude. Just suggesting to someone that they need to quiet their mind is not really helpful unless you can teach a method that will help him/her accomplish that. Many golf teaching professionals have good skills at the technical level but may not fully address the importance of the mental game. Of course, the average amateur player is not that interested or committed to the highest level of play and not that committed to perfecting his or her mental game. He or she just wants a little improvement without too much investment of time or money. The importance of a strong mental game becomes more important and imperative for the PGA Tour professional, amateur competitive golfer, and the junior golfer with his or her goal on a college scholarship. Just as with good swing instruction, a student needs to find a qualified instructor for the mental game. There is a lot involved at this level and specialized training makes a difference.

The mental game has different components. After more than thirty years of playing and teaching the game, here are what I believe are the Eight Essential Keys to a strong and successful mental approach to golf and life in general.

1. An Unshakable Capacity To Maintain Focus
2. An Inner Life Free Of Emotional Turmoil
3. The Ability To Maintain A Positive Outlook
4. Perseverance: A Never Give Up Attitude
5. Acceptance Of What Life Brings You
6. Balance: Mental And Emotional
7. The Ability To Visualize A Desired Outcome
8. The Ability To Get Yourself Out Of The Way

1. An Unshakable Capacity To Maintain Focus.

Success in sports and life demands an ability to stay focused on the tasks in the short term and the goal in the long run. When your mind is all-over-the-place, then you can't be in the moment, maintain presence, stay on course, nor attend to the matter at hand. Our energy is like a laser. When we have greater focus in the moment, we bring greater attention and more energy to the task at hand. The result is a more powerful capacity to be with the present activity, whether it be performing an athletic movement like hitting a golf ball or sustain a conversation with a business client or loved one. Our focus is one factor that determines how much of ourselves we bring to the moment and how present we can be. If you pay attention, you will also discover that people are more responsive to you when you are more present with them.

Bouncing Back is now available at audible.com. It is read by me, the author. Click Here to view audible.com site.

Steroid use has become another hot topic with Lance Armstrong's confession about his use. Doug DeCinces and I spoke about this with regards to baseball. I had some thoughts to share after his discussion about who he thought was using steroids and his belief on the matter.

Here is my commentary

Steroids use in baseball is a rather complex economic, ethical, and spiritual issue. I believe it is unfair to only blame the individual players without taking into account the larger organization and cultural factors. Individual players have tacitly been given permission by baseball to use drugs. At first, it was individuals who made the choice; but once the organization looked the other way, the culture became corrupted. Individual players were trying to make a living and compete. They took the drug to remain competitive. That is the economic reality. Some may argue that if they wanted to remain in the majors, they had to do it.

However, there are also ethical issues. Does one allow himself to become corrupt because of financial gain and worldly success? In the American culture, the answer is often yes! Our culture is built around fame, power, and fortune. We often place money above anything else-especially in sports and the business world. Does it matter that historic records were being broken because players had the physical advantage of drug enhancement? If the drug use was openly acknowledged, then the answer might be no. But it becomes a much different ethical matter when players lie about the truth and still claim the victories.

Is there much difference here between lying about using performance enhancing drugs in sports and lying about the finances of a business? How about lying about the nature of low-interest loans? How about lying about investment programs that rob people of billons of dollars? All this is based in greed-the desire to get more at any cost. The United States has paid a huge price for this type of ethic.

With regards to surviving during very difficult times, does it matter how we get there? Are we only concerned about performance, about success, and about winning, or are we also interested in the process of victory and what that process does for the development of the individual? The intent of this book is to look at the deeper character aspects among great athletes to see what we can learn about life, the human will, and the human spirit. This book is not a cookbook about how to win and make a lot of money. It is about finding your way through difficult times without losing your soul.

Peak performance has magical moments, like when Dick Fosbury is being lifted over the bar to win an Olympic gold medal. Those who believe in a spiritual reality believe that there is a relationship between the human will, the human spirit, and God. What resides in one's heart is important. A pure heart can attract many wonderful and wondrous things. When a person takes a drug, then something is lost. The experience becomes, at best, a peak at a potential or possibility, but it does not become an integrated part of one's being. What is lost is the real growth of human consciousness and human ability to move to the next level. Once you take away the drug, then you strip away the ability to actually perform at that level.

One might argue that life is an experience to learn something more about who we really are, not just to make a lot of money and gain power and prestige. This learning process is most profound when we draw upon our natural inner resources that transcend our human condition and lift us to a high realm-a realm that clears the mind, opens the heart, and touches the soul. Sports have the ability to do this. The movie The Natural did such a thing. Real victory in the sports world inspires us all to greater hopes and greater accomplishments.

The spiritual loss with drug use in sports is that our children learn the wrong message. They learn that wining at any cost is more important than honesty, integrity, and the evolution of the human will. They become robbed of the deeper meaning of life and are sold a Madison Avenue marketing version of life's meaning and purpose. While it is exciting to see a ball hit 400 yards and pitchers throwing in the nineties, baseball is about more than that-all sports are. The magic of peak performance is lost when success is only attributed to chemical means. The magic of life is also lost when we turn to drugs and alcohol when life becomes too stressful. Life will test us, and with the right methods, we can find the strength to overcome all adversity. While chemicals may help soften the pain and dull the senses, they do not provide a means for mastery.

The use of marijuana is a relevant issue here, especially as a way to cope with stress. While medical marijuana may have its place, daily use for stress release has its problems. During my many years in clinical practice as a psychologist, I saw people when the complaint that their lives did not seem to be going anywhere. These individuals were kind and loving and just did not seem to have the drive to accomplish what they desired. These people were getting stoned every day! Pain, frustration, and discomfort can be a great motivator for change. If you artificially take away the pain, all life is good. The saying "no pain, no gain" may have some relevance here.

While the ethical discussion might seem beyond the scope of this book, I believe it is important, because my goal is to do more than just provide a roadmap for success. While honesty and integrity may not be necessary for peak performance-and in fact, it appears they are not-these qualities do matter in higher ethical realms. Sports provide a model for young people of how live. Professional sports are just a game. How one relates to friends, spouses, business partners, etc. is not a game. If the message becomes "win at any cost," then the human spirit takes a hit. We lose trust and respect for each other and damage our ability relate as a society. How we play the game is as important as whether or not we win! Golf is probably the one sport that maintains its commitment to this high ethical and moral standard. It is the only sport where a player will call a penalty upon himself. The bottom line is that you do not have faith in yourself to come out the other side if you look to external, artificial supports to get you there. Don't be seduced by the promise of "success" if you have to cheat, lie, or steal. Learn to develop the trust and faith in your inner core-your true self-and you will become stronger and enhance the essential values that mark a victorious life: integrity, honesty, perseverance, and faith.

Do you feel stuck in life?
Do you have clear goals for what you want to accomplish?
Are YOU the only thing keeping you from moving to the next level?

All too often it is not what we are doing but who we are that makes the real difference between failure and success. Your state of consciousness determines what you can and will accomplish. Just setting goals and making plans is not enough. You need to get clear about who you are and what you are projecting into the universe.

Sometimes it is important and necessary to have a coach who can mirror you back to you. if you are ready to make major changes in your life and take ownership of what you are creating, then you are ready for transformational coaching.

You will be surprised to see how much can change when you change your perception of what is possible. When you make a connection to your deeper self, have a clear mind and clear intentions, then life becomes a lot easier.

If you really want to make important changes, do it from the inside out! Call me today and let's talk.