The following story shows that our brains are more powerful than most people realize. They can be incredibly helpful and also incredibly destructive, thereby making them a two-edged sword.
What follows is story that shows how powerfully visualization can even help us play a better game of golf.
What does the word 'visualize' mean? It means to create a mental image.
Our brains can create images of things that don't exist in reality, and by reality, it means being visible to other people. Which means that instantly, we are able to go anywhere we wish, and see anything we wish, and the brain provides us that ability, effortlessly.
So, you might ask, how can this ability help us improve our golf game?
Here is a story that has been quoted as being an apocryphal one and has also been attributed to three individuals.
An American soldier was captured during the Vietnam War and was held as a prisoner of war in enemy territory. As was quite common at the time, he was kept as an animal in a small cage and only let out once, and perhaps sometimes, twice a day. The rest of the day was spent inside the cage with nothing to do and no one to do it with. He “lived” in a five-foot by five-foot cage for seven years, in isolation.
For the first few months, all he did was hope and pray for his release. He soon realized that he had to find some way to occupy his thoughts, or he would go insane.
To give you a little background; this soldier had been playing golf for a while before the war began. He played a good enough game to break 100 but he had never broken 80.
Here is where the interesting part of the story begins.
Though he was confined physically, he realized that he did not have to be confined mentally.
So how did he kill time? Day after day for more than seven years, when he had nothing else to do and nowhere to go, he began to visualize golf.
And so he started the process in his mind of constructing a beautifully perfect golf course. He created this image in every detail, including all the sights, smells and feelings. He imagined the grass, the trees, even the clothes on his back, and created a mental image of each of the 18 holes. Then he set out to play the course.
Every day he began to close his eyes and visualize a perfect round of golf and what it looked like with very specific details. It helped him pass the time and he found that dreaming about golf was a very good escape from his current reality.
The soldier had the luxury in that five-by-five box of enjoying a perfect round of golf every day.
Eventually he became so well acquainted with this visualization that he would actually visualize getting dressed to play golf. He visualized what he would wear, he even visualized tying his golf shoes. Then he would imagine driving to the golf course. He imagined getting warmed up on the driving range and the putting green and he visualized each tee shot.
As part of the mental exercise, he visualized walking to each shot, picturing the next shot, choosing the right club and so on. He visualized a perfect round of golf every day in his head for several years.
He imagined standing behind the ball to get his alignment, going through his setup routine, presetting his wrists, and taking the club back up to the top of his swing. He felt his club dropping back down into the slot. He focused on the part of the golf ball that he wanted to impact. He heard the sound that the clubface made with the ball and held his photo finish position.
This is where the story takes an amazing turn.
The soldier was finally released and came back home to America. Physically speaking, his condition had deteriorated as much as you would expect.
Even so, soon after his return, he decided to go and play golf at his favorite course. Amazingly, the very first time he played golf after being released, he shot 79. He had not swung a real club in 7 years and had undergone indescribable physical deprivation, and yet he had cut 20 shots off his average.
An indication of the power of visualization.
Modern neuroscience tells us that our brains are like plastic. They are able to reshape themselves and continually function in new ways throughout our lives. More importantly, we have the ability to intentionally reshape our brains through our thoughts and experiences.
Reality is really about perception. The thoughts, feelings and emotions that go through our minds are what ultimately determine the content and quality of our lives.
The player’s many years of unrelenting focus upon the merely imagined, translated to actual success.
Our soldier also proved that downtime, or not being on a golf course, does not have to limit your golf practice or workout routine.
The story could not end without paying tribute to the men and women who serve our country, and especially to the three men to whom this story is often attributed - Colonel George Robert Hall, Captain Jack Sands and Major James Nesmeth.
The beginning of accomplishing your goals and living your dreams, resides in the power of visualization. Learn to visualize vivid and positive outcomes in your life, and you will be well on your way to living the life you imagine!
