Mental Management / LBG Style
 

Hi guys,

I'm here in Dallas, Texas, prepping for tomorrow's first session in Mental Management techniques with Lanny Bassham. The two-day course is for coaches looking to do a better job with students seeking to excel in competition. It is the first such training Lanny has conducted for coaches, but my guess is it won't be his last.

Lanny won the Silver Medal in rifle shooting at the 1972 Olympic Games and knew he choked. He spent the next two years interviewing Olympic Champions and learning the difference between their mental approach (consciously and subconsciously applied) and his. The net result was a 1974 World Championship, eight Gold Medals and three individual titles; 1975 Championship of the Americas, five Gold Medals and four world records; 1976 Gold Medal, Olympic Games; and 1978 World Shooting Champion, eight Gold Medals.

I first met Lanny in a day-long sesson before the 2007 Colonial Invitational. He was now retired from competition and teaching others the same system he had developed for himself . . . a system that would work all the time, in competition, under pressure, and enable the competitor to deliver his best performance.

Lanny's Mental Management System involves understanding the Conscious Mind, the Subconcious Mind and the Self Image. He is the first to admit -- and even proclaim! -- that he is not a sports psychologist. Far from it. Instead, he is a competitor who conquered choking and learned how to win.

I gave copies of his book With Winning In Mind to our Cuscowilla students, along with a sample page from his Performance Analysis Journal (as completed by one of my own coaching students). I strongly recommend it to readers of this site. In fact, come next week, we'll probably be offering it at a discount on this site. :)

Anyway, my next couple of days are rather full, and I'll be sharing some of the goodies in this thread. Meanwhile, discussions are already underway on how to best integrate Lanny's concepts with ours to produce the game's most high-powered Performance Analysis Journal.

Wish I could fast-forward this puppy!

:3gears:

Lynn,

Thank you for your insight to a proven (results oriented) mental approach. For those that perhaps do not know Lanny, could you sumarize his (high level) his teaching approach?

Thank you,

P

Video Intro To Mental Management
 

I'll be writing a good bit on this subject. For a good introductory primer, go here and click on the TGC interview.

http://mentalmanagement.com/golf.html

Interesting. I look forward to hearing more about this. I can get the book for £8 + shipping on Amazon. Do you think you'll be doing it for less than that?

The book is really good . . . .I got the golf audio cd too . . . . really good. I can imagine the inperson stuff would be amazing.

Can't wait to hear the report back boss.

Geez RC!
 

Are there any stones you have not turned over?

Just the ones in the glass house . . . .

Please note that 12 piece's ban from the forum - has been lifted for this thread only - hence you'll see him here but nowhere else.

Great news!!! Did they ever "lift your ban" at Neverland Ranch?

T-Time Torment
 

Most of the rides were not working when last I went!

I ordered a signed copy. Want to make sure I know what is going on when Yoda reveals what only those is the know...know. The better my mechanics become the worse my mental game seems to get!:eyes: Kinda like what Mark Twain said about his dad. It may have been a mental thing all along:crybaby:
The last time I played I left the course loathing this blasted game! It wasn't awful (in fact my buddies hate it when I hate it (the game) because they REALLY suck!) I hit a couple of "coat hangers" left and came unglued! I am hoping Yoda has picked up some industrial strength epoxy from Dallas.

1/2 way through the book...
 

...really good stuff. Very common sense info with great anecdotes. Will finish the book tonight, hopefully. I can already see that I have some behavior modification in my future! BTW, How do you know when it's time to go to bed at Neverland Ranch?





Ans: When the big hand touches the little hand...:naughty:

Iffy Review
 

Boy..howdy...that is just plain wrong!

I hated the book! No wait...I hate me...according to the book! There was something lacking...a magic pill is what I think they call it! I'm not sure there is a "mechanical" way to improve one's self-image etc. I do however agree that you will not allow yourself to achieve higher than what you consider to be true concerning yourself. It is nice coming from a high achiever, as opposed to a person who's success comes from teaching other people how to succeed! I just do not see much of a foundation for real personal change in the book. Perhaps Yoda will do what Yoda does...enlighten.

Supporting the Cause
 

It's there, okie, and I'll do my best to present the principles (and how they can be applied to golf) in the coming weeks. I probably will include it in a special LBG publication emailed to a clientele that has specifically granted permission for such communications.

I will continue to write for The Forums, but the longer-term view is to also provide premium content to a select subscriber base at an nominal annual fee. Such communications will succeed or fail on their own merit.

:salut:

I thought the book was extremely helpful. Once you get to the point of what he's saying the light turns on, the viewpoint changes and the mental process becomes clear:idea:

I will watch this space!
 

I probably have to give it another go around. I feel that he explains the process accurately i.e. how and what, but the real question is the why...or the source of motivation. Medals and such are never an end in themselves.

Ready when you are!
 

I gave it another go around. Yoda, I am eager to hear your take after your trip to Dallas.

got an e-newsletter from Lanny's organisation and there are some christmas discounts available right now.

I'm In!
 

yeah, I signed up as well. I spoke out of my antipathy towards this genre of book i.e. self-help, most of which I find superficial and heartless. By heartless I mean never drilling down to the source of motivation. How and what are mere details compared to why! Why is the sustaining force. Upon my second reading (perhaps with a more open mind) I have a better appreciation for the ideas. I am looking forward to Yoda's take.

Dive! Dive! Dive!
 

Anything new on this particular topic! My submarine is ready to dive! :laughing1

on this particular subject I would recommend people to go look at what Dr Carey Mumford talks about on his website at Key Golf

His clear key technique is the best I've come across for letting your body do what it has been trained to do.

Conscious Programming / Subconscious Performance
 

I understand and believe in the concept of disengaging Conscious interference from the Subconscous performance of the Golf Stroke. However, I do not believe that the Subconscious controls the Address Routine (3-F-5 and 2-J-1), particularly in less than 'routine' situations.

Somehow, I just can't imagine Hogan, Nicklaus or Woods distracting themselves over the ball by reciting "Mary had a little lamb."

Sorry . . .

:salut:

but have you tried it?

Surely only by trying it you can discount it. I would suggest that if Hogan, Trevino, Nicklaus et al were using "Mary had a little lamb..." they wouldn't be singing about it to the masses - I will concede that personally I say it into myself.

However - haven't we all heard of Sam Snead 'waltzing' round the course?

:salut:

ps - have you read this article on 'how not to choke?

I look forward to your observations and opinion on the research.

Do What Works
 

Yes, and it's not for me. But it seems to work for you, so keep doing it. Vive la difference!

:salut:

Personally, I prefer to distract myself (from Outcome) with Alignments. Specifically, the Adjusted Address Routine of 3-F-5 (including the Three Visualizations of 8-0) as preparation for the Fifth Programming Routine (Subconscious Performance / Chapter 14). Once learned, this precision Preparation can -- and should -- be executed in seconds. All without 'gumming up the works'.

Also, I encourage my students to give Conscious attention to Execution by monitoring the Clubhead Blur through the Release Interval. To combat 'Downstroke Blackout' (3-F-5) and 'quick, jerky and wobbly' execution (3-F-6), the attention span must be at least as long as the swing (3-B), and this awareness helps a lot. In fact, Byron Nelson wrote that it was his primary swing thought throughout his illustrious career.

:)

Something about Mary
 

I didn't realize that watching the club head blur was conscious! :confused1 I guess it is such a non-threatening visual stimulative movement (kinda like looking at the flag) that I thought it sub-conscious.

I tried (not to be confused with true testing) Clear Keys...but felt distracted by the images that the words caused to pop in my head! :laughing9 Mary is quite hot by the way....and for some reason the lamb looked like one of those hairless cats! :laughing1

Dude, one round of 69 and you've gone nuts. In Buckets absence .....you have become Bucket.

May the Gods of G.O.L.F. have mercy on your poor poor soul, but keep shootin low!

Where the heck is Bucket anyways?

Is there an over supply of goats in the Carolinas or somthin' ?

ob

Styles

I dont know much about Clear Keys, but I do know for a fact that Tom Watson sang "Adlewiesse" to himself while swinging. No kidding. A Golf Digest article from a few years ago.

I played some good golf at Royal County Down once with a few Irish pub songs in my head and heart.

Richard Plumber is Canadian by the way. Hey, we got to claim what we can eh? You guys have have Bonno and The Chieftans after all.

Cheers
ob

Christy Moore and Planxty too.

Not forgetting The Pogues!

The Pogues...nice. Ill meet that with a Neil Young. "Helpless" was the way I felt at Royal Portrush one raining sideways day in '95.

ob

heheh.

How about the time I played The European? With the aid of The Dubliner's I took The Rocky Road to Dublin

Its funny you mention The Pogues, I think it was actually their version of "
Dirty Old Town" that I had in my head for most of that trip.

I loved Ireland. We were over there on our honeymoon. I kissed my girl by the grave yard wall just right off the first tee at Ballybunion. She'd hit one over there. Next time we played it she was too afraid to tee off.........there was a funeral procession working its way down her previous flight path. A band playing a durge and all. There is a lot of soul over there. Life seems to show us contrasts sometimes. Amidst life there is death, but before that we golf and sing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kVUZuVZWHkk

Our Maritime provinces would seem familiar to you guys. The scenery, the Gallic tongue, the pubs, the music.

ob

"Mind" your own business
 

Lanny Bassham got some nice coverage today from Tim Rosaforte on Golf Central for his work with Brian Gay, Jerry Kelley and this week's runnerup James Driscoll. Almost three wins in four weeks.