Tiger's Secret

"You'll never find a tougher mental competitor in golf than Tiger Woods" - a quote from his Dad many years ago.

This has been proven over and over again during Tiger's professional history, but it has never been truer than during this past grueling US Open championship.

We were all in awe of Tiger's superhuman ability to stay clearly focused on each shot - despite the pain he suffered because of recent knee surgery. So he had to adapt his game - his strategy - his choice of clubs.

He was probably playing his C game all 4 days, but he still came out tying with Rocco Mediate for the top spot on Sunday, forcing a playoff on Monday when he had to endure yet another day of pain. And what an exciting day it was! Rocco came very close to winning, but Tiger stayed focused and made his needed par on the first playoff sudden death hole. Tiger won his 14th major.

How does he do it?

Aside from Tiger's extraordinary talent and physical capabilities, his ability to focus intensely during his pre-shot routine comes from Self Hypnosis which he learned at the age of 11. He doesn't talk about this publicly, but we can see it in his eyes and in his ability to tune out everything and everyone as if he were in a protected bubble.

In GOLF DIGEST, Tiger describes this process by saying that "If you grab hold of your Mind, your body will follow." And that's exactly what Tiger did over this weekend. We could watch his focus intensifying and narrowing in on his target whether he was at the tee box, in deep grass, in a sand trap or preparing for one of his many pressure putts.

Tiger is an inspiration to all of us because he seems bigger than life as he executes miraculous shots.

So I invite you to be inspired enough to learn his mental secret of Self Hypnosis. It has to be practiced so you'll have it so well integrated in your Subconscious that it will always be with you and accessible on command.

Once you learn it, it will help you play in the Zone for longer and longer periods of time.

Here's a simple exercise you can practice to see if you can get that experience of Self Hypnosis with your eyes open:

Take a small houseplant or some flowers and place them in front of you while you're sitting comfortably at a table. Stare at a small part of the leaf or petal. Make sure you take deep breaths as you stare. You'll find yourself relaxing and becoming connected to that plant or flower much like you might on the golf course while focusing on your target.

An even better way to acquire this skill would be to get my CD, "Own The Zone™" or my newest product, "Golf Mental Coach to Go™" which will give you "the feel" and tempo of your best golf swing BEFORE you get to the first tee."Own The Zone™" is a two-CD set and Golf Mental Coach to Go™" is available both as a CD and as downloadable MP3 tracks.

Many golfers have written to me about the exciting improvement in their game! I never tire of these stories, so please keep sending them! They help me better understand how to fine-tune my program.

I'm a Certified Clinical Hypnotherapist with offices here in Scottsdale, Arizona. You can call me toll-free at 1-866-662-0939 or you can e-mail me here or from my website, www.OwnTheZoneGolf.com.