#19: [Inside the Mind] Bo and Shannon: Caveman Golf and the Power of PsychoNeuromuscular Training

Paul Salter | The Golf Hypnotherapist (00:03.752)

Hey, Bo and Shannon, thank you so much for joining me on an episode of the Scratch Golfers Mindset podcast. I appreciate you being

Bo (00:11.462)

Thank you for having us. This will be

Shannon Shuskey (00:13.618)

Yeah, thanks for having us and yeah, excited to share and to be a part.

Paul Salter | The Golf Hypnotherapist (00:18.984)

Yeah, absolutely. So let’s hit the ground running. This flow state, this elusive magical state where everything slows down and we can do exactly what we need to be doing to be the best husband or father or perform the best on the golf course, help demystify the flow state. What is being in the zone? What is the flow state?

Bo (00:38.651)

You know,

Shannon Shuskey (00:38.878)

Well, first off, have to ask like how often are you in flow state? Right. And when does that happen? And, know, when you look at when you look at golf, know, golf is played over what, four hours, you know, and then that’s if you’re walking and then, know, and then but then what is what is the actual time that you’re actually playing golf? Five minutes. I mean, if you think about it,

Like if you really bull it all down to it, maybe at the most 10, well, I mean, depends, you know, if you have a very, very, very high handicap, that might be longer, right? Right? But they say, you know, when it comes to statistics and stuff like that, that we’re only in the zone 1 % of the time. You know, and so with that being said, we want to, you know, let’s focus on those, that five to 10 minutes. Who cares about the rest?

of the time, but let’s really dial in on the five to 10 minutes that we’re actually literally swinging the golf club or playing golf, so to speak, but what you

Bo (01:49.948)

Yeah, so when you dive into that term, flow state, right? That’s the more scientifically appropriate term for it. We call it endosome, but science refers to it as flow state. And Mahali, I’m gonna butcher his actual full name, but Mahali is the father of flow research, right? And then one of his, I guess you would say mentees, now I’m gonna lose it. What was his name, Shannon? I’m losing

Shannon Shuskey (02:17.554)

My mind’s blank too. Culture? Cotter, Steven Cotter, yeah.

Bo (02:18.876)

triggers, Kotler, Steven college. So Steven Kotler kind of like took it to another level, right? And he talked about like, you know, he believes that there are actual triggers that can get somebody into flow state. And so we, we kind of took that and ran with it. And we found that there was actually another, custom trigger that can actually get somebody into flow state. And so that’s where we came up with the term psychonomusical training.

That’s the heart of in this own mental training and what we teach and what we use to help golfers get into that elusive state more often. We love to call it caveman golf. And the reason why we like to call it caveman golf because the best golf, mean, this is funny. I mean, we have a pretty large community. I’m on calls a lot. My team are on calls with a lot of golfers in our community. And, you know, when I’ll ask them, you know, what’s your lifetime low? And they’ll say like it’s 71 or 68

79 and then I’ll go and press a little bit further. I was like, okay great And when you shot that round, know What were some of the things that you remembered about that round and it is without fail the common denominator for every single one of them is I didn’t have swing faults I was zeroing them into my target. It was like nothing bothered me and They’re all describing the traits of what it looks like to be in flow state, right? But more importantly, they’re not playing their best rounds littered with a bunch of swing faults

and are not playing their best rounds thinking about the grip pressure and making sure your feet are pressed right. I mean, it’s only on the target and that’s their main focus. And there’s a lot of science and research studies out there that have proven that if someone can focus more on the target, they can get an object from point A to point B and get their body to line up accordingly and compensate in such a way that’s gonna give them the best chance and bring their true potential out that they have,

And there’s so many studies like that are out there. But why we pioneered this term caveman golf is because we know when best golf comes out, it’s when they get to a place where it’s C target, C ball, hit ball. And psychonomistic training is what enables that more

Shannon Shuskey (04:31.568)

Yeah, the thing is, like, what happens is when he’s talking about, we have to trust our athleticism and let our subconscious take over. And it comes down to, know, Dr. Izzy Justice, he’s done numerous, actually over 12 ,000 brain scans of, he’s a neuroscientist, of a golfer’s mind. And one of the things that he found out was there’s a lack of activity in the brain. Okay, there’s not as much.

Paul Salter | The Golf Hypnotherapist (04:31.57)

I love that.

Shannon Shuskey (05:01.21)

activity that’s going on. And again, this is what what Bo and I literally focused on. All right, let’s you know, getting getting those thoughts clear how to clear your brain, but then also literally trust your athleticism and let it rip tater chips, so to speak.

Paul Salter | The Golf Hypnotherapist (05:19.122)

Yeah, I love the way you guys break that down. Caveman Golf, I had not yet come across that. So brilliant there. Now I’m curious, you you alluded to it, Shannon, like I like to say we need to quiet our mind and learn to turn down the volume of our emotional brain or our swing thoughts. So before we get into some of those cues and triggers to get into the zone, what are some of the most common distractions or temptations that prevent golfers from getting into the zone and playing to their potential?

Shannon Shuskey (05:47.558)

One thing is this, our brain, know, it’s interesting. They have found out more and more, and even, I’ll go back to Dr. Izzy Justice because he did the brain scans. Our brain cannot process the word don’t. What are the first things that you think of when you see that bunker that’s in front of the green or the water that you gotta hit it over, that literally is gonna test your limits as like how far can you hit the ball and stuff like that? Because what happens is this.

I’ve done like I’ll take somebody through a mental imagery little session to prove and what I’ll do is I I’ll have everybody let’s do this let’s Do some mental imagery of some bunny rabbits in a field, right? And then you start seeing that you start having that mental imagery of all the bunny. All right. Now, let’s increase the number They’re playing around they’re jumping around, you know, this is fun, right and then I’ll say don’t picture a

And that’s all I gotta say. But here’s this, this is how negative bias our brain is. Immediately when somebody is going through mental imagery of that, when I say don’t picture a lion, it’s interesting from the case, from what I’ve learned is most people find that the lion is chasing to eat the bunnies versus just sitting there playing around with them because that’s what the instinct is. That’s what our brain is. But our brain cannot process the word

because what happens is we’re creating that extra target, right? Instead of like what Beau mentioned about being in maximum optimal level of flow state would be focusing on the target and your body’s gonna do what it does. But then when you say the word don’t, there’s two targets there. And again, it activates more brain activity and we gotta slow that down and to literally again, play caveman golf like what Beau

Bo (07:43.438)

I don’t want to piggyback that because you know ultimately what’s happening is indecision is creeping into the equation and indecision will never allow a person to play to their best and to kind of hit on that just a little bit more specifically this would be something that I would write down if I were you and Those of you that are listening right now. This is so critical to understand to the core where your attention goes energy flows

When you’re playing your best, your attention is on the target. And it’s only on the target. And it’s about how you’re going to get your ball from point A to point B. But if you’re sitting there and you see water on the right, and you’re catching yourself kind of trying to put your attention back on the target, but you just can’t get the water out of your mind, well guess what? Now you got two targets in your mind, and your attention is more on the water. And isn’t it interesting

you’ll pretty much hit it either in the water or you’ll hit a complete double cross and go way left and maybe you’re OB at that point. And unfortunately, this is the game and the battle that most golfers are facing right

Paul Salter | The Golf Hypnotherapist (08:53.012)

Yeah, I love that and speaking from personal experiences, I’m sure everyone listening can relate to the moment we think water, are nine times, nine times out of 10 gonna end up near in that water. And I love how you broke it down there. I love Shannon, like you bring the line into play. There’s that negative bias, protective survival instinct comes into play. And if you give your brain two targets, it’s gonna protect you. All of your focus is gonna be on not doing that thing that you, or doing the thing that you said not to do. Like awesome breakdown there. So now.

We know all of the temptation distraction. know our subconscious doesn’t process the word don’t or know. How do we start queuing and triggering ourselves to get into the zone so we can have that laser like focus where we need to

Bo (09:35.642)

I think this would be a great opportunity for Shannon to kind of share how he accidentally discovered this.

Shannon Shuskey (09:42.014)

Yeah, so what happened with me was my background is in speed skating. I was national champion record holder. And I was, but also before I got into speed skating, I played soccer. I played like semi -pro as well. And, but I was like one of the fastest on the team in general, depending on the team that I’m playing on. Most of the time I was one of the fastest on the team.

Bo (09:57.446)

What

Shannon Shuskey (10:11.998)

However, I noticed that, and just some background, the team that I skated for had over 22 national champions in their prospective age group. Okay. So when I say going to practice, we had over 60 skaters. I was kind of like the skating against the who’s who in the country, so to speak. You know what I mean? So they weren’t slouchy or anything like that when I say this. My start coming off the line, I would get last off the start every single

But then like if we’re messing around and I got shoes on or stuff like that and we’re doing sprints just jokingly or whatever, I’m beating them hands down. So I knew that there was a disconnect there. Very similar in golf, there’s a disconnect sometimes, you you hear it all the time. You know, I can’t take what I’m doing on the range and take it to the course. It’s the same thing. And so then that’s when I started playing around with what we call psychoneuromuscular training, having a trigger, right? And then doing mental imagery.

But then also adding in an emotional state that’s backed onto that. That actually an emotional state that actually gives you a lot higher focus. And so that’s what I was doing. I was doing my trigger and then what I call CPR, which we all know what CPR stands for, right? If somebody is dead, you you want to bring them back to life, you do CPR. And then, but I’ve kind of changed the meaning of it, meaning consistent, passionate reaction. And so

Every single time I’m doing a trigger and I’m doing my mental imagery with all of my senses involved as detailed as I can get it. But then on top of that, adding that emotion that I was talking about, but then a lot of times people don’t reflect when they’re doing mental imagery of their limb movement. What is their body actually doing during the swing? You know, in my case, on my start, what is my body actually doing and feeling that and doing

And so what happened was literally I got to where I could trigger my body to get in the zone on demand every single time that I stepped up to the starting line. Um, and a lot of it is this it’s because I was getting my mental reps in away from, you know, the race or, you know, in golf away from the course, you know, we always hear 90 % mental, 10 % physical, or, you know, it might be 75 % mental, 25 % physical. It may depend on the golfer or whoever’s there.

Shannon Shuskey (12:39.134)

My question is, okay, if it is 10 to 25 % physical, why are we spending 100 % of the time on 10 or 25 % of the game? Right? And so I was getting my mental reps in a way, triggering my body and I was, I literally, I’d feel my muscles twitching, you know, and doing it and everything and making it become real. And then what’s interesting was when I was sharing with Bo when we met all this system, okay, here’s the interesting thing about system.

System is an acronym. love acronyms. S stands for save yourself stress time effort and

Think about what that would do for your golf game. We have a system that is gonna save yourself stress, time, effort, and money. We have put that together with the psychoneuromuscular training. And I developed this system and I was going through, then literally within one month, I started beating people off the line. I was getting about, you know, mid -pack. And then with about a month and a half, I was winning every start hands down. And I was like, okay.

there’s something to this. And I figured out it was Pavlov’s dogs. You know, we’ve all heard of Pavlov’s dogs, classical conditioning. But when I was telling Bo all this, he was like, man, there’s no way this works. But I proved it. I ended up becoming national champion because of my mindset and stuff like that, triggering my body to get in the zone. And that was just something I did. But so when I met Bo, he challenged me and I went back and look at all the books that I was reading and I was doing it wrong the whole

But you can’t, I mean, you know, it’s like, the outcome is amazing what it took me to the other level, right? So that’s why, that’s why Bo and I, kind of laugh about it. I’m like, there’s no way I’m doing it wrong. But yet I’m doing it so wrong that it’s perfect and it’s right.

Bo (14:42.876)

So I’m gonna help him finish part of that story because he’s such a humble guy. He won’t actually share the after the fact of him becoming a national champion. So when we were at dinner, this first time he and I, we go out after meeting at church and I’m getting to know him a little bit more. you know, this conversation just came out of left field because I had no idea that this was in his background as a speed performance, speed skating performance coach. And you know, so he was

national team manager for the US national team in line speed skating team and I asked him I said so what was your record and he said I coach 142 national champions eight world champions two Olympic medalists I’m like wow that’s impressive you know what was your secret what was your key to doing that and that’s when he said well if you really want to know I was able to get my speed skaters or trick their bodies into the zone and that’s when I about fell out of the seat because I started laughing and you know to give me some context on my story

I walked away from the game of golf two years prior. I shut down my golf school. I was frustrated with my own game, but at the same time, know, the biggest reason why I walked away was because I would have people come to me, you know, very few, but it was the ones that were really struggling on mental side. And this one particular player was the final straw. And this guy, like on paper, you know, we go out and be playing lessons, like he would be, strokes gained.

should be in the low to mid 70s. You we’re on the range working on his ball flight, hitting it as good as a two or three handicap. But yet when he’d go play in tournaments, he would shoot high 80s, low 90s. And it literally frustrated me to no end and it did the same for him. And then in September of 2016, I like, I’ll never forget it. We were having an honest conversation that evening and we both agreed that we should part ways and basically fired me that night, right?

And that night that’s when I started putting out resumes and I walked away and shut down my golf school. I mean, and this is kind of crazy when you look back at it in hindsight because yeah, I couldn’t help these few people, but I’m a type eight type personality. I want to help every person that comes to me. And, you know, generally as a whole, our school is averaging 4 .7 shots dropped within six months across all of our students. And, and that’s what I walked away from because

Bo (17:04.156)

I couldn’t help the select few people like, you know, other people were like, that I couldn’t help was like, why do I start on the front nine? I do really well, but I blow up on the back nine. And it’s a toe of two nines. And it can be vice versa. They do terrible on the front and they go great on the back. Or it’s like we talked about earlier about the water hole, right? You know, why is that I this one hole is my nemesis. And it’s like, no matter what, I always hit it in the water 90 % of the time. And if I don’t hit in the water, I’m so far left and I’m in trouble over here to the left side. And I couldn’t help those people. And that’s what

Paul Salter | The Golf Hypnotherapist (17:18.013)

Mm -hmm.

Bo (17:33.66)

walked away from the game. And so when he and I met that night, you two years later in 2018, um, and he’s sharing all this with me, you know, I was laughing because I was like, I don’t believe you. And, uh, that’s what I honestly said to him. And, know, I was, I was intrigued just enough that I said, you know what, if this does work, I said, this will change the game of golf because you know, this is something that is

drastically needed within the golf space because I told him I said, look, I’ve read all the mental books out there. You know, they all talk about flow state. They all talk about what the zone looks like, but nobody has ever like shown a step -by -step path on how to get there more often. And you’re telling me that you figured this out in speed skating, but I was like, I just don’t think this is going to work for the game of golf. The golf is the hardest sport in the world. And, so I said, you know what? I’m a perfect, you know, test candidate for this. haven’t touched a club in two years.

I Shin, if this works, I will take everything you share for the next hour and a half and I’m gonna go try to apply this in my game. And so what I did, the second half of 2018, I played eight rounds. I do this zero fiscal practice between rounds. I do not hit warmup balls. I go straight to the first tee, cold turkey, and I hit just a few putts. That’s it. That was the path I did in addition to everything that he showed me, right? So six out of eight rounds, I go under par.

The last nine hole round I played in the end of October, I actually go four under and I look out three additional plus for birdies. So it could have been even lower on that nine holes. And that was also, we talked about this in the book, but Dallas after that round, I go home and I tell my wife, we’re opening back up the golf school. And she thought I was crazy. And she looked at her like I had five eyeballs. anyways, but I lowered my handicap. When I walked away in 2016, my handicap at that time was a 2 .4.

After those eight rounds, I go down to a plus 1 .7 and that’s how quickly it changed. And here we are. So it’s been a fun journey.

Paul Salter | The Golf Hypnotherapist (19:39.238)

Yeah, that’s incredible. The stories that are each so personal and emotionally charged from each of you. I love how you just bring that passion to truly give back because it’s been so impactful for each of your own respective journeys. That’s something that stood out to me and something I talk about a lot. I do a lot of visualization discussion. Hypnosis has

component of visualization, but where a lot of people fall short is they fail to invoke all five senses. And I love how you hit on you absolutely have to invoke all five senses. But something Shannon, you said to me, and I’m just looking down at my notes here is that at the end is this

Desired emotional state that you must cultivate speak a little more about that, especially for the listener here Like let’s be frank and this is a bias and a generalization But most men they hear the word emotion they want to run the opposite direction here But you’re telling me we need to tap into creating this desirable emotional state Tell us a little bit more about what you mean and how and why that’s advantageous to locking yourself in the

Shannon Shuskey (20:34.972)

Right, so several things. Number one, what happens when, let’s talk high school football. I know this is like out of left field high school football. What is it like in the locker room right before the game? What’s going on? You might hear people, yeah, yeah, know, and all this. And then there’s another guy who might be sitting down like, what in the world am I getting into?

you know, and then other people, you know, they’re getting themselves pumped up, right? Okay, now with that being said, with that emotional state, okay, let’s, let’s, let’s do this. with that kind of an emotional state, do you think that’s going to affect their with how they play? Right? Their level of focus is going to be higher, everything like that. So that’s a prime example of what that was. And that I was the same way on soccer. I was like, I was one of those guys,

Don’t talk to me right before a game. I’m like, know, insane thing in speed skating. Like, no, I’m like this, for lack of a better word, like a monster. You know what I mean? Like, I’m just like so locked in and so focused. Like, I don’t want to have any kind of distraction. And if you’re talking to me, you’re distracting me. I’m going to walk away. Right. That’s just my, that’s just my personality. But the thing is though, that’s, that’s the power of the emotional state that I’m talking about. So if we are training ourselves in that manner,

over and over again, for example, like with what the football players, but we’re getting mental reps in. So think about it. You’re applying that emotional state to a golf swing. Okay. And again, how long, how, how, how long does it do a golf swing? You know, at the most, you know, what three seconds, two seconds, you know, maybe not even that, but you’re applying that emotional state, but you’re going in and out with your trigger, with that emotional state.

And you’re doing that over and over and over and over, like at least 50 reps, because there’s new research when it comes to mental imagery that came out of Stanford that says you at least have to have 50 reps, no longer than 20 seconds per rep. But that’s the perfect thing for golf, obviously the swing. You know what I’m saying? And then you’re doing that over and over again. So what do you think is going to happen when you get on the golf course once you’ve got all those mental reps

Shannon Shuskey (22:59.686)

Right? And both can explain a little bit different because there’s different types of emotional states you can put yourself into. Mine was like, I was getting ready to get in a fight, but we know that’s not going to work for putting. Right? You know what I’m saying? So that’s what I’m saying is, let’s tap into that and use it. And so then once we get out onto the golf course, for example, we’ve got all these mental reps and we built it up. So then we’re

Paul Salter | The Golf Hypnotherapist (23:05.769)

Mm -hmm.

Shannon Shuskey (23:28.242)

we’re attaching that, and we do our trigger, we’re attaching that emotional state to what happens and we’re gonna be dialed in. And so both, kind of explain what your mental state was.

Paul Salter | The Golf Hypnotherapist (23:34.548)

Bingo.

Paul Salter | The Golf Hypnotherapist (23:40.146)

And Bo real quick, real quick, I’m just curious before maybe you can speak on this. I think it’ll add context for the listener like what I’m hearing too is kind of an optimal state of arousal focus and performance that gets you you know, you’re just aroused enough or focus and arousal or high where performance is going to be optimized, but it’s not too far over the curve or arousal and performance begin to decline. Am I am I hearing correctly there that emotional state gets you into that obviously the zone but the sweet spot where everything comes

Bo (24:07.088)

Yeah. Yeah. And it gives some clarity here to what Shannon just spoke on the, the CPR, which is the emotion state that we’re applying to our mental reps, which we, we call it kinesthetic mental imagery. And, you know, you really want to know more of the scientific. Reason behind it. it’s because we’re engaged in all the senses, whereas just mental imagery is like daydreaming. You don’t have all senses engaged. So to bring context to what Shannon just described.

when we’re doing our mental reps away from the course, we like to call it training the dog within you. And so what’s happening is we are doing a physical trigger, then we’re following that up simultaneously really quick together with the emotion into that situation. So for me personally, it was a bull C and red and other people, might be just like a sniper’s calm. And we do break these down in our book. Another could be just excitement.

Another could just be like a linebacker tackling in a running back, you know And so what’s happening is we’re channeling that emotion toward our target and that’s the most critical piece in all this and So we have to be very mindful that when we’re doing our CPR when we’re inserting the emotion Is that we’re connecting it to our target. So then when we actually do go play And we just do our custom trigger only out on the course right before about to hit a

immediately we’re going to start feeling that level of focus on our target. And so that’s through the process of psychomuscular training. And that’s kind of like the 10 ,000 foot view. Obviously there’s more details in that, but that’s how we’re bringing it all together. And that’s how we’re getting people into that state more often, which would be flow state.

Paul Salter | The Golf Hypnotherapist (25:52.392)

fantastic, so well said. And I just, you I have so much relatability this I love the way you’re breaking it down so simplistically. And it’s something I try to talk about often is that emotional state is so powerful because at our core, we are emotional beings and so many people, you know, especially beginners or those getting back into the game, you think emotion and golf, you think anger and frustration and pissed off because I hit it out of bounds again, I keep slicing my drive, but there is a way to leverage these emotions to diffuse the ones that are toxic and counter

and to create and generate on demand like you’re alluding to the ones that actually serve you and help you to lock into the zone and play your best. So excellent descriptions there. Really, really love that. Now on the topic of emotions, like when I first heard cavemen golf, I loved the simplicity of it. I also took it as it is in a way emotionless golf. So knowing that we are emotional beings, talk me through some of the strategies you use to

golfers you were with combat some of the natural emotions of pressure, anxiety, stress, anger, and frustration on the course.

Bo (26:58.032)

Man, that’s such a great question. And this is where the psych and respiratory training has like no end in terms of, I love what Shannon says a lot. Your limitation is in your imagination, right? So when golfers go to the course, right? They can go to the course, they can practice hitting shots in the range. They could also work on, you know, creating holes in the range and simulate and playing a course on the range, right? They can also go to the short game area and they can hit all kinds of shots. They can play games.

They can do a lot of putting games and putting drills and all that. So there’s no like limitation to what people can practice. Right. Well, guess what? You can also do very much the same thing when you’re doing mental reps away from the course. And so one of the cool things about psychomusical training and bringing in kinesthetic mental imagery is we can simulate a lot of these situations that people are struggling with, but then more importantly, having them overcome

You know, I’ll give you a perfect example. One of our tour players won the Colorado Women’s Open a few years ago. And it was so interesting because the day before and two days before, she was on the practice putting green and actually rehearsing making the winning putt, which would have been a downhill right to left about a 20 foot putt. Well, isn’t it interesting that on the final round, she hits it to a spot that’s 21 feet.

right to left, downhill. And granted, she did have a two shot lead at this point, but she ended up making the putt for birdie to actually win the event. And, you know, this is where it’s so interesting because you can simulate pressure, but you can also overcome that type of pressure because you’re putting yourself in that situation over and over. So like, when we have people that struggle with maybe first key jitters.

or we have people that just struggle with just anxiety going into a round or maybe it’s during the round. One, we do walk them through and showing them how to take that nervous energy and turn it into excitement. But also we can show them with mental reps way from the course where they have done it so many times over and over and over again that they feel like they’ve already been there. Shannon’s good friends or in a mastermind group with Brian Kane and Zach Sorensen and Zach

Bo (29:17.916)

the middle performance coach for Atlanta Braves and one of the big reasons why they won the World Series a couple years ago. And Zach told a story one time where there was a AAA pitcher. He got called up to the major leagues and he was going to be pitching like two days later. Well, when he got the call, like it was totally out of left field. He’s a nervous wreck. So him and Zach are having a conversation and he’s like, man, I don’t know. I’m like, I’m a nervous wreck. Like I’m like so anxious.

going into this game and so Zach said all right well here’s the list of all the batters you know here’s you know I think they maybe went through some video of how they swing and how they hit and all that and so he had him pitch at every batter, mental reps. He also had him in you know engage with the stadium, the fans, the noise, all of it and so he’s doing this over the next few days and then he actually goes and pitched the game

Zach watched it at night and was like, wow, he pitched pretty good. Then he has a call the next day and he said, well, how do you feel? And he said, Zach, I felt like I had been there a hundred times before I actually stepped foot on the mound. And so this is the power of kinesthetic mental imagery and what people can utilize it for.

Shannon Shuskey (30:33.096)

Yeah. Yeah. So here’s the thing. It’s what I call the mental alarm clock. We’ve got to have triggers in our place that actually becomes a mental alarm clock. And sometimes when I give the definition of stress or the definition of depression, it’s very simple. And what I mean is this. Depression is someone that is obsessed with something that’s in the past.

Paul Salter | The Golf Hypnotherapist (30:33.404)

Shannon, anything to add?

Shannon Shuskey (31:01.22)

Anxiety is someone that is obsessed with something that’s in the future. However, optimal state of performance is someone that’s obsessed with the now. Right? So, and then, then, then this little quote, I love this, yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, today is a gift. That’s why they call it the present. So, but have those mental alarm clocks in there of, you know, like how are you reacting in certain situations? And

figure that out. So then you’ll know not because then it’ll become a mental alarm clock. And then you’ll be able to flush that out. going into, know, whatever it could be something simple as this and journaling can play a huge role in this. And a lot of people don’t even realize this. it’s, and, and, and honestly, it’s not really talked about much in any sport, not just golf, but journaling your rounds. Cause then you can start seeing these negative habit loops that are going on. And so then

Once you start seeing those patterns, then you’re like, okay, then that becomes that mental alarm clock. So then it’s going off when you’re in the round, like, okay, I see this is what’s happening. This is how I’ve acted in the past. I’m gonna change that and I’m gonna start being focused on it and being focused on what’s going on now.

Paul Salter | The Golf Hypnotherapist (32:03.688)

Mm -hmm.

Paul Salter | The Golf Hypnotherapist (32:16.978)

I love that. So for the listener who’s really beginning to resonate, understand and appreciate the value of this. And of course, it’s going to get your book so they can learn all of the details of it. But the resistance that’s coming to mind for them is like, okay, this sounds good. It looks good. How do I actually apply it away from the course? Like Bo, you mentioned like this work, a of this work is done away from the course, which in one end is a positive for that person struggling like me. I wish I could be on the course every day. That’s just not my life right now. But

I’m always looking for a way to gain an advantage, craft an edge and improve my game, even if I can’t get to the range. I know because it’s my background that I can spend five, 10, 15 minutes and going through some of what you’re sharing. But for the listener out there, help them understand the simplicity and maybe what a routine away from the course looks like to get these mental reps in to improve their

Bo (33:08.412)

Yeah, this is probably the best for last right here. So here’s where I believe golf in the last 50 years has missed a mark. Unfortunately, we’ve been on this quest for searching for the perfect swing. Well, at the end of the day, it’s not the swing that wins, it’s the player that wins. And I can prove that because I’ve been inside the ropes and I’ve been blessed to have some amazing coaches that I’m friends with. David Org, my mentor.

You have got to know Andy Plummer, Mike Bennett of Stack and Tilt and Sean Foley. And so I’ve been inside the ropes with some of the best in the world and I’ve seen guys that Monday qualified into event and they’re outside the top 500, top 1000 and world rankings, but yet they have better swings than the guys that are in the top 10. So what’s the disconnect? Well, it’s what I just shared. It’s the player that wins. Well, here’s the fascinating thing. When you look at the best players ever, right? Like Tiger Woods.

Jack Nicklaus, Sam Snead, Ben Hogan. Well, here’s what’s fascinating about some of those guys. When you look at Jack Nicklaus, who was his childhood coach? was Jack Grout. Well, who was Jack Grout mentored by? Alex Morrison. Now, Sam Snead, Ben Hogan shared the same coach, Harvey Pinnock. Who was Harvey Pinnock’s mentor? Alex Morrison. Now, Mickey Wright, one of the best ever on the LPGA side of things, her coach was Herdy Pressler.

who was Harry’s mentor, Alex Morrison. Well, who in the world is this Alex Morrison guy? Well, come to find out when you dig a little deeper. One, Harvey said he had one of the best swings ever he’s ever seen. Two, Alex Morrison wrote a book called Better Golf Without Practice in 1940. Now, the fascinating thing about that book is that in one of the stories in it, it was really cool. He tells a story about this comedian, Lou Lohr, that could not break 90, tried everything under the sun.

and just was not getting success. Well, Alex sits him down for like two weeks and they sit in a chair and they’re only doing mental reps and they’re rehearsing the five Morrison Swing Keys. So that’s all they do for two weeks. Well, first round back, he shoots 87. Wait a minute, he didn’t practice physically, he didn’t do technique and didn’t do any of that? No, he just did mental reps only and he goes out and shoots his best round ever. So Alex passes on this trait to these legends like

Bo (35:28.956)

and Sam Snead and Ben Hogan. And how I know that about Ben Hogan is because Ben Hogan in a 1947 New York Times article that I had found somehow two years ago, we were doing a bunch of research. He mentioned Alex Morrison’s name in that New York Times article. And that was like the coolest thing I’ve ever seen because like, I really feel like it’s my own personal opinion, but that was like Ben’s greatest secret. So here’s the thing, Sam Snead, he hasn’t been shy about this because Bob Rotella writes about this in the golfer’s mind book.

And inside that book, and we get to the practical piece that everybody wants to know how to do this. But here’s the thing that people need to understand about Sam Snead. He’s tied with Tiger with all -time PGA Tour wins, one of the best ever. And he had a reputation for speaking his mind later on in his later years of his time here on earth. And Bob Rattell is going to give a seminar. And they have warned him, hey,

You know, Sam Snead, he is not shy on speaking his hard opinion on things. So Bob knows that this is a make or break moment in his career. And if Sam gets up and says, this guy is a crook, like don’t listen to him. You know, we would never know Bob Bertell’s name like we know him today. Right? Well, Bob gets up, shares his presentation. Well, Sam does stand up. But what Sam says shocks everybody in the room. He said, we need to listen to this young man because what he is talking about.

is one of the biggest keys to my success and why I was able to accomplish all that I did. He said back in my prime when I was, you know, night before a round, I would visualize myself playing the perfect round and I’d get through like hole 12, hole 15 or something like that, fall asleep, feel great the next morning, go through my normal routine, go out and play a great round and I just kept doing that repeated process. So that’s what he was doing. He did mental reps. But where did he learn that from? Goes back to Alex Morrison.

Paul Salter | The Golf Hypnotherapist (37:23.826)

Yeah.

Bo (37:25.99)

So that’s a starting point for most people is they could just start out with their home course. And if you want to do just the absolute basics, I mean, this is what the Olympic athletes do. And Shannon knows that because it was one of the first orientation videos, or orientation videos, one of the first things they showed Shannon when he was out there in Colorado Springs.

He’s got some funny story about that running into Michael Phelps and not even know who Michael Phelps was. Right there it is.

Shannon Shuskey (37:54.268)

Yeah, I he was from high school and like, nah, that’s Michael Phelps. You don’t know him from high school, but anyway.

Bo (38:00.844)

So funny, but I mean Michael Phelps like really pioneered that and really you know leverage that Heavily when it came to just doing mental reps So, you know, it’s a skill that most people should implement and use because the game’s greatest music You know those that might be kicking back on Tiger Woods will tiger in a 2001 Clinic then it’s in his book to you know, tiger’s putting routine. He said

Final round days when it looks like I’m calm on the outside, but I’m super nervous on the inside tiger said that that’s coming out of his mouth He said when I’m some of these iconic parts the reason why I’m able to do that is because I’m looking one time and he’s like he described like, know those like polaroid like we do like the point shoot camera type thing and He said take a picture bring my eyes back look another time. I’ll take a picture set up to the

you know, and then I’ll take one final look and I’ll take a picture. And then he said, all right, tiger, put to the picture like Papa used to say, well, guess what, guys, that’s mental rough. That’s mental imagery.

Shannon Shuskey (39:08.232)

that.

Bo (39:08.57)

It is. It is. It’s pretty fascinating. And that’s kind of the foundation piece to what we teach inside psychomyscret training. But, you know, when you kind of look at it and you want to do it very simply, just start out with your home course because you play it so many times. The image is very clear. All the details, it’s easy to bring to mind. And then you just go through the process of doing your trigger CPR, do your mental rep, and you just keep repeating that process all the way through. And then eventually you’ll get so good.

that you can start inserting different distractions. You get to a place finally where you’re like Shannon was when he was speed skating at the height of his career. He would walk down the mall and do mental reps with his eyes open and all the distractions. And then your muscles are twitching and firing. And people that might be arguing that piece right there, here’s where I would challenge them. Because in 1980, one of the pioneers

started this whole journey of understanding kinesthetic mental imagery a little bit more was a study by Swinn, S -U -I -N -N, you can go look this up, really fascinating. He was a downhill skier. They hooked him up with the electrodes. I might butcher the scientific term, but I think it was E -G that they were using, or E -K -G, it doesn’t matter. But what they found was when he ran the course physically, they noticed the muscle activity on the graph. But then, after

He knew all the turns, knew everything about the turns, and then he just sits completely still in a chair and they said, all right, go race it again in your mind and stay physically still. Well, he does that, sits physically still to the naked eye and on the graph, they’re showing a even greater height and level of muscle activity that’s firing.

So, that’s the power of

Paul Salter | The Golf Hypnotherapist (40:51.39)

Fascinating.

Shannon Shuskey (40:54.366)

So I’m gonna break this down. Let’s give some homework, right? Like, where in the world do you start? What do I do? I’m on my course, but what am I doing on the course? And so I like to make it simple for a lot of our clients and stuff like that. And let’s say Monday through Friday, all right? Monday is what? It’s the first day of the week. Well, let’s work on driver, right? Let’s work on drivers on Monday. Do mental reps, get that in. And then on Tuesday, let’s do approach shots anywhere from

Paul Salter | The Golf Hypnotherapist (40:58.098)

Yeah, please.

Paul Salter | The Golf Hypnotherapist (41:18.804)

Hmmmm

Shannon Shuskey (41:23.774)

100 yards or further out, right? And then Wednesday being hump day, let’s work on specialty shots, all the hard shots, whatever it may be, right? Bunker shots, you you gotta, you know, you’re in the trees and you gotta curb it out or do whatever, you know, specialty shots, hump day. We’re gonna make it over that. Thursday, let’s work on up and downs, right? We’re coming back in. And then Friday being the last day, let’s work on finishing. Well, let’s work on putting, focus on putting.

So then, know, most, would say a lot of people that play, they’re only able to play on the weekends or something like that. So then my suggestion is after the round, go back and fix your shots with mental imagery. Because what happens is we start getting in a negative habit loop. Let me explain what I mean by this. We had one of our tour players, I was walking with her at Pinehurst and she was playing and we’d get up to this hole and you know, she,

Paul Salter | The Golf Hypnotherapist (42:06.664)

Mmm.

Shannon Shuskey (42:23.454)

She hits it off way out into the rough and again in the trees and stuff like that. And then she ends up, know, almost, I mean like double bogeying on that hole. And then the round, she still played well during the round, but it was, that was just worse. That was pretty bad already. So she was actually 11 under at that time. And then at the end of the round, because of what happened, she was only five under. So she really, I mean, going backwards big time. But here’s the thing.

Again, this is why the importance of journaling. but I went back and we started discussing. So what’s going on, you know, what’s happening and come to find out that same hole. She had done that. She had practice on Monday and Tuesday and Wednesday, right? And then playing on Thursday. Well, guess what? Four or five times in a row, she hit the same exact shot. That’s what I mean. And then I said, all right, so what I want you to do, I want you to go back and fix that shot, go back and play the round like Sam Snead had done.

numerous times in the past, he would go replay the round and he’s playing the perfect round, fixing the shots and stuff like that. So with her, that’s what I had her do. The next day she went from 500 to 1200, because of that and she birdied that hole. So she broke herself out of that negative habit loop. And so that’s the power of going back and doing a post -run analysis on top of that. But those are just some like things that you can work on. Cause here’s the thing.

You know, as a speed skating coach, if I made up every single time I went to practice what we were doing, do you think the skaters would actually trust me as a coach? Right? Otherwise we’re getting junk miles, right? And so, and I also race bikes and so I don’t want to go out. You got to have purpose every single time. So when what I just laid out gives you purpose in your training, right? But then let’s don’t neglect any part of your game. Notice I didn’t, you know, I went through pretty much all your clubs that are in

And so we can’t neglect any part of the game. And so that just kind of give you some little bit of guidelines and some things that you can work on going into the future when it comes to getting your mental reps in and going to the gym, your mental gym, so to speak, and working

Paul Salter | The Golf Hypnotherapist (44:36.114)

Absolutely incredible and to be frank selfishly. I wish I could spend a couple days with each of you I know that’s fortunately why you have your summits and your online courses and opportunities to learn Absolutely incredible. However, I know I need to be respectful of your time. So Bo Shannon I will link all of your social and Prioritize getting your book, which is absolutely fantastic Everyone listening needs to get that book But is there somewhere else you recommend the listener visit or go continue to learn more from you that you’d like to share here this

Bo (45:06.17)

Yeah, mean, you really, I think when you look at the book itself, right, you people obviously will naturally inquire, like, how can we work with you more intimately and things like that? And what we tell people is like, look, even if you can’t work with us more intimately, that book is like us personally working with you on your game. So you can get that book at endzonesecrets .com or you can go to Amazon. If you’re in an international country, you can get the book there as well.

Paul Salter | The Golf Hypnotherapist (45:34.526)

Yeah, absolutely. That book is called In the Zone Secrets, How to Get in the Zone at the Flip of a Switch. And I just want to echo everything they shared. Like sometimes, you know, a lot of the resistance I run up to as a coach is like, sounds too simple. It sounds almost like just woo woo in a way, like using the power of my mind, but from personal experience and obviously listening to Bo and Shannon, seeing all of their great work, please bring forth that open mind because this is incredibly powerful. And if you’re serious,

and you’re committed to improving your game. This is a surefire research backed way to fast track your success. Bo, Shannon, thank you so much for joining me today and sharing your wealth of knowledge.

Shannon Shuskey (46:14.994)

Yeah, thanks Paul for having us on. This was, this is fun. Love

Bo (46:15.131)

Absolutely.

Bo (46:18.766)

Absolutely. Thank

Paul Salter | The Golf Hypnotherapist (46:18.9)

Yeah. Absolutely. For those of you listening, thank you so much for listening. you found today’s episode valuable, share it with a fellow golfer, go purchase Bowen Shannon’s book. And if you feel called to you continue to find this show valuable. Take 30 seconds to leave a genuine rating and review on Apple podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you are listening to today’s episode. Have a fantastic rest of your day and I’ll catch you in the next