Dr. Sam Maniar is a distinguished sport and performance psychologist and the founder of the Center for Peak Performance. I’m confident he will be a valuable resource to our golf community. Dr. Sam brings over 25 years of extensive experience helping athletes, executives, and organizations achieve peak performance, and we are excited to have him on board to support our PGA members and Junior Tour players.

Throughout his career, Dr. Sam has worked with renowned organizations such as the Cleveland Browns, Chicago Cubs, Ohio State Buckeyes, and University of Akron Zips. His expertise extends to the realm of golf, where he has collaborated with high school, college, and professional golfers nationwide. Beyond the greens, Dr. Sam has also assisted numerous executives in enhancing their leadership performance, demonstrating his versatility in optimizing human potential.

As a licensed psychologist in the state of Ohio, Dr. Sam is well-equipped to address a wide-range of mental struggles that may arise on the golf course. To further facilitate your access to his insights, we are delighted to announce a monthly series in the Birdie Business newsletter, where Dr. Sam will be answering your questions about overcoming mental obstacles and enhancing performance.  Click here to fill out a short google form with what you (or your junior golfer) is struggling with on the course and our resident sport psychologist, Dr. Sam, may feature your question in our "Dear Dr. Sam" column that will be part of future Birdie Business issues.

Check out his first column below:

Dear Dr. Sam:
I feel one of the toughest things for golfers is how hard they are on themselves. When things go bad negative self-talk, like “I stink” or “I’m horrible” is pretty common. What are your recommendations during a tournament round for overcoming that negative self-talk and loathing that players let creep in?
-Sam

 

Dear Sam:
First of all, great name! I had to start my first column with a Sam responding to a Sam. That’s not confusing at all, right? I love your question because I think many golfers are aware of their negativity but have little idea on how to change it.

That being said, before I get into the HOW, let’s address the WHY. As most people now understand, our minds and our bodies are connected. Our thoughts affect our actions, and our actions affect our thoughts. I won’t bore you with details about the brain and nerve receptors, but let me just say that when we think positively, our body expects to succeed. When we think negatively, our body will expect to play poorly. You can see changes in body language, posture, tension, etc.

Okay, so how do you change the negative thoughts in your head? Step one is awareness. You can’t make any changes until you are aware of the negativity. I encourage my clients to keep a self-talk log after a round (or during, if possible). You might be surprised at the horrible things you say to yourself. Typically, we tell ourselves things that we would never say to our friends, but for some reason, we think it is okay to talk like that to ourselves. In addition to WHAT you are saying, it’s helpful to identify the WHEN. In other words, when do you tend to get negative? Is it after several bad shots in-a-row? Or does it happen when your competitor has a good shot? Is it a particular hole? Or maybe it’s a specific club in your bag?

You can also try mindfulness or mindfulness meditation. This can be a great way to become more aware of some of the negative thoughts in your head.

Once you have identified the WHAT and the WHEN, you can start to make some changes. Here are some strategies:
REPLACE the negative self-talk with something positive. This could be an image, like remembering a time when you succeeded in a similar situation, or it could be an argument you have with yourself. For example, let’s say that you tend to say, “I am terrible.” Imagine that’s the devil talking on one shoulder. What would the angel on the other shoulder say? Maybe it would be something like: “Really?!? I just shot a 72 last month,” or “I was just striping it on the range. I clearly have the ability.” Sometimes this can be hard to do in the moment, so I recommend countering every negative thought in your self-talk log with a positive one. Write it out, and come up with a plan for how to counter the negative when it occurs. For this reason, my self-talk logs tend to have three columns: negative self-talk, when it occurred, and positive self-talk rebuttal.
DISTRACT the negative by occupying your mind with something else. If you can keep your mind occupied, then it is much harder for the negative to creep in. Singing a song, or repeating a mantra (or swing thought) can be effective ways to “distract the distraction.”

REFRAME the negative self-talk. This simply means, looking at the negative situation in a different, more positive way. You may have heard someone refer to a “mistake” as a “learning opportunity.” This is a great example of reframing. After all, mistakes are simply feedback that we need to make a correction. The more mistakes we make, the more we learn. The more we learn, the better we get. I also will recommend that my clients add the word “yet” to the end of their negative self-talk. For example, “I can’t hit a good tee shot…YET.”

STAY IN THE MOMENT. When we are beating ourselves up, we are typically dwelling on a past mistake. This inevitably leads to more mistakes because we aren’t in the present. I will likely elaborate on this in a future column, but for now, go through your routine and do whatever you need to do to bring yourself back to the present. Remember, every shot is a new opportunity to make a quality shot—no matter what happened on the shot prior.
SURROUND yourself with positive people. I find that negative athletes like to hang out with other negative athletes. Break the cycle, and surround yourself with positive people. Inevitably, they will rub off on you.
START WITH POSITIVE self-talk. Give yourself a fighting chance by starting with positive self-talk. What would your fan club say to you? What thoughts would give you the best chance to succeed? Say these things to yourself before and during your round. If you can at least start positive, you are more likely to play well…and then the negative is less likely to creep in.

ACT POSITIVE. If you can carry yourself with confidence and positive body language, you can start to influence your thoughts. Fake it ’til you make it!
SMACK your wrist. If all else fails, wear a rubber band around your wrist. When you say something negative, give your wrist a good whack! Sometimes this is all it takes to stop the negative and replace it with something positive.

Remember, just like your swing, the mental side of the game takes practice. You may not be good at these things right away, but the more you practice them, the better you will get.

If you need help with your self-talk or any other aspect of the mental game, DM me on X (@sam_maniar) or send me a message on my website: www.c4pp.org.

-Dr. Sam