Don’t Think of Pink Elephants

When instructed to NOT think of pink elephants, this is the image that immediately pops into my head.
In the pre-shot routine, we can accidentally tell ourselves NOT to do something.
For example, “Don’t hit it into the lake.”
Guess which image appears in our head?
Yep, the lake.
Guess where the ball goes?
Yep, the lake.
If we are going to talk to ourselves over a shot, at least make the language helpful.
STATE IT POSITIVELY.
For example, “Stare at a dimple on the ball” versus “Don’t look up.”
If we tell the mind to not think of pink elephants and lakes…all we see are pink elephants in lakes, which is where our ball is headed.
Dodie Mazzuca is the author of “Seamless Golf,” “Golf Sūtras,” “Daily Golf Tap-Ins,” and is the founder of Golf PROformance. She teaches golf lessons, golf schools, and performance coaching for in Santa Cruz, CA and Reno, NV.