Who is using hypnosis for improving their golf performance, other than Tiger Woods or Phil Mickelson. It’s hard to tell who uses hypnosis, as most of those who use it don’t wish to reveal their identities. Why is that? First, because they don’t want to lose the competitive edge golf hypnosis offers them. A second reason is that while it is becoming more acceptable for top golfers to confess to having used a mind coach or golf psychology, the marketing team are still cautious about saying so. “new age.”Just look at Angel Cabrera’s comments after he won The Masters. “Now I don’t have a sports psychologist and I don’t smoke.”
How can you tell when a golfer uses hypnosis if they won’t? As an example, let’s use Tiger Woods. He has not admitted to using hypnosis, and I haven’t heard of him saying so. You can see the methodical and controlled blinks that he uses before entering each shot. This is not an anchor or hypnotic trigger. I’m going to have to return my Hypnotherapy Diploma as well as my NLP certifications. He’s clearly using this trigger to enter selfhypnosis when he decides on which shot to play. His conscious thoughts are quieted and he can use self-hypnosis to leave behind his unconscious programming for the shot.
Jay Brunza must have been Tiger’s coach since he was 13. According to what I have read, Dr Brunza continued his Ph.D. as Psychology and worked as a psychologist in the US Navy, including as a combat stress psychology psychologist. He then became a professional sports psychologist. The following extract, taken from Golf Digest in December 2002 confirms that Tiger received hypnosis training.
“Woods’ ability to produce peak performance by ‘willing myself into the zone’ is unprecedented. And at age 13, Tiger began mental training with Dr. Jay Brunza, a family friend and psychologist. Among the techniques Brunza used were subliminal tapes and hypnosis. ‘The first time Jay hypnotized Tiger, he had him stick his arm straight out and told him that it couldn’t be moved, ‘Earl [Tiger’s father] says. ‘I tried, but I couldn’t pull it down. [Tiger says hypnosis is] ‘inherent in what I do now.'”
All this being said, it makes me wish that a number of other elite golfers could use hypnosis to improve their game.
Phil Mickelson is proving that you are using self-hypnosis. You can’t keep your smile on the road through such adversity without it. Let’s take a moment to relax and then tell us about our experience. Get started now!