#17. 5 Ways to Practice Commitment to Shoow Lower Scores

Paul Salter | The Golf Hypnotherapist (00:02.284)

Hey fellow golfer, welcome back to another episode of the Scratch Golfers Mindset Podcast. I’m your host, Paul Salter, the golf hypnotherapist, and I am excited to really tackle the word commitment. And in today’s episode, we are going to further define what it means to be committed, and I’m gonna share with you five specific areas of your golf game where you can

practice more commitment, when to be frank, you can be committed to actually being committed in order to shoot more pars than bogeys, improve your score and play to your potential. But before we dive in, I wanted to share a brief story I had with a prospective and soon to be client who was informing me that he is struggling to detach his self worth from his score, from his handicap.

He begins to feel that as he puts more time, effort, and energy, makes more sacrifices away from his wife, away from his two young children, and isn’t seeing the reward, the result, as quickly as he wanted, well, it’s creating a cacophony of emotions. There’s anger, frustration, there’s impatience, there’s a victim mindset at play.

Why me and all sorts of guilt and shame that are growing louder and louder as he spends more time away from his loved ones without any true, tangible results to show for it. And fortunately, you can detach your self -worth from what you shoot at the golf course today. And if you are someone who is struggling when you have a poor round or

underperform below expectation and you’re bringing home that frustration, that anger, and it’s starting to show itself in how you interact with your spouse, your children, your colleagues, your friends, your family, it might be time for a conversation because the truth is you cannot separate the father, the husband from the golfer. Your ability to manage your emotions and keep them in check to not allow them to

Paul Salter | The Golf Hypnotherapist (02:18.422)

the driver seat of your decisions in daily life, you need to strengthen that skill. And when you are able to cultivate emotional resiliency, cultivate mental toughness and get out of your own way, not only do you play better golf, but you shine brighter as a husband, as a father, as a friend, a boss, employer, employee, and the list goes on and on. So if you know that cultivating emotional resiliency and mental toughness

can help take you and your golf game to the next level and you’re ready to have a conversation about it. Feel free to reach out to me in the show notes below as a link to get a discovery call on the calendar where we can do a mental golf strategy assessment as well as to be frank, an inventory into your life where you’re stuck and coming up short of your potential. And with that said, we’re diving into today’s theme, the power of commitment. And as I shared earlier, I’m going to specifically discuss

five aspects of your golf game where you need to commit to be all in. But before we do that, it’s incredibly important to make one distinction. There is a difference between being committed and being interested, and it’s incredibly valuable for you to recognize the difference between what it means to be interested in something like

Interested in breaking 80, interested in becoming a scratch golfer, interested in winning your country club’s annual tournament or member guest versus being committed to achieving any one of those goals. Now, let’s break it down. The definition that we’re going to work with to define the word interested is simply as follows. It’s to show curiosity in or for something. And I’ll be candid with

I’m interested in several activities and pursuits. I’m interested in becoming a better pickleball player. I’m interested in becoming fluent in a second language. I’m interested in playing more poker again. If you don’t know much about my story, I used to play professionally. I’m interested in traveling to Thailand to eventually having a property or spending significant time each year in Costa Rica. But here’s the harsh reality of how these interests

Paul Salter | The Golf Hypnotherapist (04:43.33)

have panned out. I play pickleball once in a blue moon. I am a 10 minute walk from pickleball courts. They’re all around me here in Tampa, Florida. One of my best friends talks about playing, inviting me to play often. The guy who lives right next to me plays all of the time. And I think he’s a little humble. think he’s a damn good poker, pickleball player. I just am unaware of how good he

But I don’t play again. play once in a blue moon. I take zero consistent Apple action when it comes to being on an app such as Babel to to learn a new language. I haven’t stepped in a casino more than three or four times in the last couple of years. I’m not taking any distinct action towards budgeting or planning a trip for Thailand. And I have absolutely zero idea when I’m visiting Costa Rica again. However,

I can tell you that I am committed to becoming the best hypnotherapist I possibly can be. I am committed to being the best boyfriend, the best father I possibly can be. I am committed to getting my clients results. I am committed to really setting up an opportunity, really creating an opportunity is a better word, to make hypnosis, hypnotherapy mainstream in the golfing community. And I have

long list of actions that backs up and supports every single one of those commitments. And the truth is my list of interests is a mile long. My list of commitments is very fucking short because the truth is you can only be committed to so many things. And the reason is the definition of commitment is to really be either

all in or all out. Like there’s no in between. Committed can be defined as feeling dedication and loyalty to a cause, activity or job. You are wholeheartedly dedicated. You are all in. You have both feet in. It’s not the hokey pokey one foot in and one foot out. To be dedicated to a plan A without having a plan B is a beautiful, powerful and succinct way to define.

Paul Salter | The Golf Hypnotherapist (07:02.4)

what it means to be committed. Think about it for a moment. The most successful person that you know, the most successful person in every industry and walk of life, that particular person is committed to their one thing. And yes, there might be a couple of sub -commitments, a one and a one A, one B, one C, but you know, and they know incredibly clearly that one central focus that demands

cultivates all of their energy, time and presence. It might be leading and running a company. It might be in their parenting, in their marriage. And of course, for you and I, it might be in your golf game. But here’s the question I want to pose. The biggest difference between being interested and committed is how much you speak about it versus how much you act upon it. Do your actions align with and back up your words?

Do you constantly talk about being committed but never taking action? If so, congratulations, you’re actually just interested. Or are you relentlessly pursuing time studying, time planning date nights, time planning family activities, time learning, time on the range, time with coaches, instructors and mentors to back up when you say I am committed to becoming the best A, B and C or achieving X, Y and Z. You see the thing is, it’s easy.

to be interested. It’s easy to be interested in breaking 80, shooting scratch, improving your golf game in one nuanced realm or another. But the truth is, when you’re interested, you kind of just remain stuck in la la land. You’re daydreaming, you get a little quick hit of dopamine, because it feels good to think about how amazing of an accomplishment it will be to break 80, to shoot par, whatever it may be. But when you’re committed to something,

You show up differently. Your energy, your vibe, your body language carry greater poise than ever before. You attract like positivity solutions while repelling negative energy and distractions. You speak kindly and confidently both to and about yourself while continuing to prioritize spending your time and energy on what matters most.

Paul Salter | The Golf Hypnotherapist (09:25.59)

to move the needle and yourself closer to your goals. When you’re committed, you do what you know you need to do, even when you don’t feel like it. And I think that is perhaps the biggest differentiator between being interested in success and being committed to success. When you’re committed, you do what you know you need to

even when you don’t feel like it. It’s taking and making those extra five cold calls at the end of a busy day, the end of a long work week. It’s setting up appointments for the next couple of weeks late on a Friday night. It’s putting in the extra hour two of work on a Saturday morning or a Sunday morning. It’s doing what you know will move you closer to your goal even when you

feel like doing it. It’s up early to get that workout in. It’s going to the range after work. It’s taking a couple hours on the weekend to either play an extra round, practice nine, or get some additional work on the putting green and with your chipping completed. It’s doing those little things, especially when you don’t feel like it. Now,

I’ll use that as a segue to bring us back to the core of today’s conversation, which is five particular areas. You can be more committed to drop your score and shoot more pars than bogeys. And the first area that you can practice more commitment is to one specific approach related to developing your swing technique and fundamentals. Let me be

There are a thousand and one different ways to swing the golf club. There are a hundred and one different ways to reach the green and even birdie a hole using dozens, not hundreds of different club combinations. You can even lose weight doing a hundred and one different diets. The only way you can achieve a goal is by not starting and sticking to one specific approach. So think about it like this. There are 100

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in one different ways to get from point A to point B. But if you continuously start and stop, turn around, change direction, change course, you get absolutely nowhere. So one of the mistake I see beginner golfers make, and I used to see this so much when I was a high performance dietician and those who wanted to lose weight and were diet hopping from one to the next. When you are beginning to either learn how to swing a golf club or you’re looking to optimize a nuance of your swing.

there’s no shortage of information and approaches available, but you need to choose one coach, one mentor, one set of guidelines to follow and put up blinders, develop intentional tunnel vision to block out the noise distractions. What is known as shiny object syndrome that may lure you or convince you to bounce from one idea to the next, especially when you run into some inevitable resistance and you need to double down on one singular approach.

You need to go deep. You don’t need to continue changing course and going wider, wider and wider. And an example of this is when I decided to start playing again, I hired one coach and to be frank, he did a phenomenal job. I’m not going to go to another coach anytime soon. I’ve completed my initial package of four sessions with this coach and probably this fall I will repeat another four because

A, he knows me better than any other coach so that I’m saving time and energy from a standpoint of he doesn’t have to learn me and take time to see the flaws in my swing or the areas for improvement. But number two, he has a specific way of teaching, a specific focus to give me for each nuance of where I’m trying to improve. I don’t want 15 ,000 different swing thoughts in my mind when I’m practicing and swinging.

I mean, to be frank, I want nothing. I want a clear, calm, quiet mind, but I want a handful, a limited number of set cues and reminders. And I have them. I don’t want conflicting thoughts and opinions because that creates doubt and uncertainty and passivity. And that is the opposite of being committed. So when you are trying to improve one aspect of your game, maybe you’re even reinventing your swing. One coach, one mentor.

Paul Salter | The Golf Hypnotherapist (13:58.848)

and stick to those approaches, coaches, and guidelines. And that may mean removing followers or stopping to follow along and consume particular content on social just to reduce the amount of chaos and noise in your mind so you can focus and develop a one track mind.

The second area where you will derive great benefit from practicing commitment is in your pre -round course management strategy. And let me remind you what that is, because if you don’t have that in place, you’re gonna save a couple of strokes simply by taking the time to create a pre -round course management strategy. And what I mean is especially important if you’ve never played this course before,

Go do your research, find what photos, yardages you can find online of that particular course and have a game plan. Are you taking driver off this tee, three wood here? Are you teeing off with your three iron here? Your hybrid here? Are you laying up here? Are you going for broke there? You need to know all of this ahead of time and you need to commit to this plan because the truth is when you’re doing this planning and preparation beforehand, you’re in a more calm state.

a logical, rational state of mind that is much more in alignment with the strategy you know you need to implement to shoot the lowest score possible. What happens during a round is either A, frustration and anger takeover, so we throw the plan out the window.

or B, we let our ego and confidence take over. Maybe we start so strongly, suddenly that three wood gets pushed to the driver. Maybe even the three iron gets pushed to the driver and now we’re shanking off the T -box. We’re finding ourselves either out of bounds or in a thick cut of rough. And now that’s further compounding anger and frustration. And we end up shooting a very sub par round and not sub par in a good way, if you know what I mean. So stick to, commit wholeheartedly

Paul Salter | The Golf Hypnotherapist (16:01.794)

to your pre -round course management strategy that again, it’s taking 15 to 20 minutes ahead of time the night before or the morning of to actually iron out a plan so that you can stick to it even when emotions are high, positive emotions or not so positive emotions because you know you determined ahead of time that’s the best plan of attack to shoot the lowest score possible. Number three, commit to your

instinct in club selection. It is more advantageous to swing confidently with the wrong club versus swinging tentatively with the right club. If your first instinct is to hit an eight iron and you catch yourself beginning to place the eight iron back and pull out the nine iron and there’s a little voice in your head, if I go with the nine, I’m going to have to swing a little bit harder. That’s a red flag.

You need to stick with the eight iron. That’s going to allow you to swing aggressively, fluidly and confidently all traits and characteristics that embody commitment and allow you to have the best chance possible to hit a spectacular shot. Number four, commit to your swing. You’ve committed to your club selection. Commit to your swing. Whether that’s a half or a three quarter backswing, simply commit. Maybe it’s a full swing.

depending what’s in your arsenal and where you are in your golfing journey, commit. I can tell you right now in my practice priorities, I’m working on that half swing with my 52 degree wedge versus a three quarter versus of course a full swing, getting in more intimate familiarity level of comfort on trajectory, apex and distance. So I can better gauge how to use those additional tools when I am playing an actual round.

The one swing, however, you never want to commit to is that anyway swing when you know something is wrong or feels just not right off and you swing anyway. No, we want to decommit from those. And if you want more information about how to let go of that, any swing, which by the way, might be costing you four, five, maybe six strokes per round.

Paul Salter | The Golf Hypnotherapist (18:24.47)

Check out the most recent edition of the More Pars Than Bogies newsletter or listen to episode, I believe it’s number four, to get all the information you need to know to stop the number of, or rather reduce and ultimately eliminate the number of anyway swings you participate in on a, or in a given round. Number five. And I think this one is the most important. You need to commit to

Practice and improvement plan that you know is in alignment with achieving your goals. If you want to break 80 and you’re golfing once a month, once a quarter, do you think that’s the best approach to fast track achieving your goal of breaking 80? I don’t think so. So as an example, my focus right now

is breaking 90 in the next four months by November 13th. With that said, I’m playing at least around, if not an additional nine or a second round every week. And I’m hitting either my local short course, which is nine par three holes that are less than about 80, I think 75 or 80 yards. And there’s two that are over a hundred that are remaining 70 around 75 yards or less. And I’m getting at least one night of chipping and putting in just purely that for 45 to 60 minutes.

I am determined. know it’s consistency and it’s a game of reps specifically where I am in my journey. And there are so many low hanging fruits from a course management strategy and checking my ego, know, choosing the appropriate club off the tee box that are going to allow me to dramatically drop my score. If you recall episode, I think one or two of this podcast, I shot 65 on nine and I lost a handful of balls that might not even have been the most accurate score.

I’ve shot a true 48, a couple 49 cents, I’ve broken 100 cents. And I’m improving because I’m putting in the reps. And I will continue to do that week after week, making it a priority. That means some sacrifices because that goal is important to me. And in an upcoming episode, I’ll dig into how necessary and valuable having a why is, an emotionally charged reason to achieving this goal because that helps commitment really come to fruition.

Paul Salter | The Golf Hypnotherapist (20:52.054)

We’ll save that conversation for a different day. So again, you need to commit to the practice plan and playing frequency most in alignment, best going to give you the best chance possible to achieve your specific goal. Whether it’s breaking a certain number or winning or competing or playing well in an upcoming tournament, your practice routine should reflect commitment to whatever your goal is. There you have

five particular areas of your golf game where you will benefit from being committed all in versus merely being interested. And again, they are commit to one fast track single approach to building a foundation of swing technique and fundamentals. Commit to your pre -round course management strategy and plan.

to your first instinct in club selection. Commit to your first instinct or feel in your specific swing, half swing, three quarter, full swing. And commit to the practice frequency, the playing plan to help you achieve your goal.

Thank you so much for listening to another episode of the Scratch Golfers Mindset podcast. If you’re finding this content valuable, you’re absolutely going to love my weekly newsletter entitled More Pars Than Bogies. Every Friday morning, deliver to your inbox. You can catch up on the last six or seven episodes in the link found in the show notes. And if you’ve continued to find this podcast valuable, you’re enjoying the journey that I’m on, it would be greatly appreciated.

if you took 30 seconds to leave a genuine rating and review on Apple podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you are listening to today’s show. Have a fantastic rest of your day. Happy golfing this weekend and I’ll catch you next Tuesday.