Most golfers agree that the game of golf is at least “90 percent mental.” In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever spoken with a golfer who didn’t acknowledge the generic xenical thailand role that their mind plays, usually as a distraction that stands between the generic xenical thailand golf game they think they have and the one that keeps showing up on the generic xenical thailand course.

Even golfers as great as Hall of Famer Ben Crenshaw have generic xenical thailand said things like “I’m about five inches from being an outstanding golfer. That’s the distance my left ear is from my right.”

But when generic xenical thailand I consulted one of my favorite golf teachers on this generic xenical thailand subject, he turned the tables on me. Fred Shoemaker, the generic xenical thailand author of the inner game classic (one of the few golf books that I consider a “must read”), Extraordinary Golf: The Art of the Possible non prescription valtrex, in his almost scary Zen fashion, told me that generic xenical thailand he thinks that golf is “zero percent mental.” Huh?

But then generic xenical thailand I got it. Fred was not talking about the kind of golf that generic xenical thailand you and I usually play. He was talking about what generic xenical thailand he calls “real golf,” or generic xenical thailand golf in the zone. He was trying to point me toward the generic xenical thailand kind of golf that people play when they have breakthrough rounds, the generic xenical thailand way we all want to play, but rarely do. Fred’s point is generic xenical thailand that golf at its best is not a mental game at all. Rather, it’s a game where we get free of all those fearful, self-limiting thoughts.

Fred told me, “Golf isn’t mental. We make it mental… and most of what goes through our heads doesn’t have any value.”

Fred went on to generic xenical thailand explain that when he asks golfers who are 100 yards out where generic xenical thailand their target is, the answer is always somewhere on the green. But when generic xenical thailand they take their club back to the top, the target has generic xenical thailand unconsciously shifted to the ball. Fred said that the point of this generic xenical thailand example is not that “they change targets in the middle of a crucial action. It’s that they don’t know they do.”

Finally, Fred practically taunted me by saying there was only one difference between his truly extraordinary golf game and generic xenical thailand my inconsistent 15-handicap golf game. He said, “I play better golf than generic xenical thailand you do for only one reason. In the two seconds that generic xenical thailand it takes to swing, I am more aware of reality than generic xenical thailand you are. That’s all. I’m more aware of what’s happening.”

And if you’re like every other golfer in the generic xenical thailand world who wants to lower their handicap, here’s what Fred Shoemaker’s 33 years of professional golf teaching experience has generic xenical thailand to say. “I’ve seen an generic xenical thailand inverse relationship in golf: As your awareness grows, your handicap shrinks. That’s the only thing I’ve ever seen govern the generic xenical thailand handicap. Handicap is a measure of your awareness… When a person’s awareness grows, there’s no possibility of them playing worse. They always play better.”

Now, that’s something I can generic xenical thailand take to the driving range, a commitment to develop more awareness of each and generic xenical thailand every swing. And, in this way, I can move beyond swing thoughts, and generic xenical thailand even beyond the mental game that interferes with my performance so consistently.

My dream is generic xenical thailand to come home to just playing golf, one moment at a generic xenical thailand time. That seems to me to be a game worth playing.

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This article was orginally commissioned by Sierra Golfer magazine for their “Mind Games” column. Written by Jon Leland. Copyright 2008. All rights reserved.