As the saying goes, practice makes perfect.

But not for Rob Peterson.

It didn't matter how many times he'd get a lesson or hit the range, his golf game didn't improve. When he decided his mental game needed work, he happened to be playing at Palm Valley when golf hypnotist Jennifer Scott was speaking about her Own the Zone technique - a series of hypnosis that allows golfers to stop negative thoughts, relax and focus on the shot at hand.

In six months, Peterson's golf handicap went from a 15 to an 8. At one point he had it down to a 6.

"It was a true revelation in terms of the result," he said. "Quiet the mind, if you will, help you focus, help you visualize. Her program is just incredible that way."

It's notable enough that longtime Golf Magazine Editor in Chief George Peper selected Scott to be in his book, The Secret of Golf. The book is a compilation of 47 chapters featuring advice from some of golf's biggest names and top instructors. The book's mission is to present

Jennifer Scott

Age: 69

Home: Scottsdale, AZ

Credentials:

Certified clinical hypnotherapist; given "Highest Rating" by Golf Magazine for golf hypnosis; featured on The Golf Channel; mental health coach and regular contributor to www.golfonline.com; graduated from Ottawa University in Phoenix; attended Atwood Institute for hypnotherapy.

Contact: 866-662-0939

Golf programs available:

$595 for four sessions
$225 for first 90-minute session
$150 an hour after that
$825 for program of six sessions.

Recent acclaim: Scott's work is the subject of Chapter 39 in The Secret of Golf by George Peper. She is the only Arizonan and the only female featured in the book, which is available through Workman Publishing for $18.95.

On the Web: www.OwnTheZoneGolf.com

can visualize shots and placements, enhancing their game, a claim backed by Peterson.

"I can very easily control distances as well as the direction of my short irons," Peterson, 60, said. "I'm able to hit it the distance I need to hit it, but it's just not as tight to the flag as I need it."

Scott claims everyone can be hypnotized and that it's a self-applied procedure.

Scottsdale resident Phillip Barnett, 63, agrees.

A social golfer, Barnett would talk until the second he hit the ball. When he realized his putting was his main problem, he sought out Scott.

Using a technique that puts Barnett's thought process on an escalator going down through “floors of relaxation,” she was able to get him to relax his grip, and his putts started finding the hole. He applied it to his other clubs, and his handicap has dropped from 18 to 14.5, and his putts decreased from an average of 33 to 36 per round to 28-32.

By stressing relaxation, Scott's clients can calm their body with a trigger to get them in the zone.

"It is a program that can help almost anybody and certainly get the mind out of the way so your brain can go out and perform," Peterson said.

Reach the reporter at:
Josh.weinfuss@arizonarepublic.com or (602) 444-4949.

"innovative and occasion- ally outlandish ways to master" golf, and Scott's hypnosis made Chapter 39.

Scott is the only woman in the book and the only Valley resident - quite surprising considering the amount of Valley golf.

"No traditional woman instructor, in my view, has contributed something so sufficiently innovative," Peper said via an e-mail interview from his home in St. Andrews, Scotland.

Scott said she considers it an honor to be included "in such great company."

As a certified clinical hypnotherapist, Scott has been in the golf hypnosis business since 2000, when she began helping her husband with his golf

game. After bringing his handicap down from a 14 to a 10/11, she put together a CD, Own the Zone, that came out in 2002.

Relaxing on a recliner in her Scottsdale office, her clients go through a series of deep breathing and focusing exercises, narrated by Scott, putting them into a deep meditative, almost sedated state. As the body relaxes, she urges them to push out the "negative chatter" in their thoughts.

"If you think, 'I'll never break 100 or 90,' then the suggestion is there. Your body follows the mind," she said. "Imagination is more powerful than the mind."

By getting into the zone, players