I was talking to a golf professional friend of mine who related a story from when he was competing in a minor tournament. He allowed his daughter to caddy for him and he was playing quite well. With two holes to play he was faced with a short pitch shot. If he hit the shot close to the hole and then made the putt, he would have yet another birdie for the round.

When he was standing over the ball his daughter said to him, “Daddy, don’t hit it into the bunker”. He backed away from the ball and started his routine again. Guess where he hit it? Straight into the bunker…

Relating the story, he said the thought of the bunker hadn’t entered his mind at all. When his daughter mentioned it, the seed of recognition of the bunker was there. He was surprised at the power and influence on his shot of a thought such as that.

My comment to him – more of an observation – is that the majority of golfers spend most of their time entertaining such thoughts. Both of us paused to reflect on what that meant to players on golf courses all over the world, every day.

What if the thoughts of those players only contained the outcomes they were after?

Creating an environment where this is possible the majority of the time takes practice and attention to your thinking. Perhaps it’s not easy, but look at the benefits perseverance might bring…