Talking in the 19th Hole
DRIVER. During regular play or competitions, you need to learn to be your caddy, coach, or psychologist to regulate your emotions, strengthen self-confidence and motivation, control attention, and cope with stressful situations. Internal self-dialogue is an excellent resource to achieve this. It includes:
• Self-affirmations. They are phrases that you can say to yourself to control your psychological state in stressful situations. For example, «I know I can do this shot as I have done before.» Self-affirmations must be congruent with reality and your convictions.
• Self-instructions. They are phrases that constitute specific orders on the action to be carried out. For example, «follow your routine.» In many cases, you want to use a self-affirmation to remind yourself of something to consider, followed by a self-instruction that reminds you of how to act in that situation. For example: «I had a bad hole, but I can overcome it» (self-affirmation). «Focus on your target on the next tee shot» (self-instruction).
• Self-reinforcements. They are gratifying phrases that you can say to yourself after carrying out behavior that is desirable to consolidate. For example, if your goal is to play in a safe area, you can say to yourself every time you do, «well done.»
Exercise: write a minimum self-affirmation, a self-instruction, and a self-reinforcement that you use or will use in training and competitions:
• Self-affirmations
In training:
– Example: in the next shot, I will do better.
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In the competition:
– Example: the past is already past; stay in the present.
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• Self-instructions
In training:
– Example: swing with rhythm.
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In the competition:
– Example: trust your swing
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• Self-reinforcements
In training:
– Come on, I’m doing great.
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In the competition:
– Well done.
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