Mental Training for Golfers!

Dear Golfer,

You spend a great deal of time on your golf, play many rounds and strike many balls. However, do you feel that your efforts are paying of in the shape of better swings, a more stable game, lower handicap, more wins, top placements or greater pleasure?

Sometimes you are in the Zone. I call it your Mental Sweet Spot, that state of mind, where you are in harmony with yourself and your inner nature. It is the state of awareness where good strokes result in even more good strokes. Everything skims along in an effortless process and you are at one with yourself; apart from what you are doing and yet an integrated part of everything. A state where you are completely calm and in balance - where time stands still. That’s why you love golf. It’s what keeps you coming back again and again – for more.

But in spite of practicing or playing a lot, you still make the same mistakes and put yourself through the same ups and downs. Sometimes it becomes so disheartening that you may even ask your-self if it is really worth it. But naturally you return to the course. You love the feeling of a well hit ball, the walk, the talk, the miraculous save from the bunker. After all, you are a Golfer, always trying to improve your game, to find that feeling. The next round, next stroke will be better, I just need to……………!

If you could find a coach that could put together a long-term golf development program taking into account

• Your technical level
• Your technical and physical potential
• Your learning style
• Your approach to playing and thinking golf
• Your mental strengths and weaknesses
• Your nature, personality and temperament
• Your ambitions
• The time you can set aside for golf

would you then be willing to make a dedicated effort? Yes, I think so, most golfers would, but only if the trainer and coach is as dedicated to you as you are to your golf.

I would, but I would need a dedicated teacher, a teacher and a coach who could combine the mental and technical aspects of my game. And I would need a coach who could make a long term plan – not a quick fix. Something to help me stick to the plan and keep me on the right track, something and someone who could teach me to play the game to the best of my potential, taking my personality, learning style, talent, time and ambitions into account. I was looking for a teaching method and a plan helping me in my pursuits of more peak experiences and gratifying moments on the golf course, to find my Sweet Spot more often. In the end that’s the reasons why I keep coming back, why I love the game.

I didn’t find a teacher, but after years of searching and experimenting I found the methods, now available for you at The Mental Scorecard Academy. Join a training session at the Academy and you will learn how to find your ”Mental Sweet Spot”. That state of mind where, without effort, you strike the good balls, walk the good rounds and are undisturbed by slow play, good or bad luck. A state where you calmly putt for a birdie to win the match or lower your handicap. A state of mind where you can feel the pressure, the adrenaline, and still execute the strokes in complete balance, with total commitment and confidence.

At the Mental Scorecard Academy you will discover an integrated mental and state of the art technical training program that takes as its starting point your personality, your game style, physical and technical potential, your way of “thinking”, approaching and playing golf. A program that will develop your mental, physical and technical abilities to the full, and help you to find your “Mental Sweet Spot”, the mental state of mind where you are playing excellent golf and enjoying every minute of it.

The Mental Scorecard Academy runs sessions from 4 hours to 2 days, individually or in groups. We have sessions for golfers of all levels and ambition, from tour pro’s to high handicappers. And the training and coaching doesn’t stop when you leave the Academy. When you leave us you will have learned a unique approach to golf that will increase your pleasure of playing the game and give you more gratifying moments on the course. Also you will receive:

1. A graphical profile of your focus areas, your golf personality and your mental strengths and weaknesses.
- To help you choose the right strategy, always playing to your strengths, making fewer mistakes and lowering your scores.

2. A written evaluation of your profile, your game style and how you react under pressure.
- To make you conscious about what is happening mentally when you are under pressure and how to recover from that kind of situation.

3. A graphical illustration of the mental areas you should practice to manage yourself around the course.
- To make you mentally stronger and ensure you always have a plan B if something goes wrong.

4. An 18 hole mental scorecard with individual mental exercises, game plans and pre-shot routines for you to practice on the golf course. All exercises are developed with your unique Golf Profile, personality and mental approach to the game in mind.
- To help you better achieve lower scores, more stable golf, a lower handicap and greater joy in your golf.

5. Access to the Academy’s internet profile sharing system.
- To enable you to consult the Academy with regard to your technical development and the improvement of your mental handicap. With this system, you can share the results of your rounds with the Scorecard, making it possible for the Academy to help you improve regardless of where in the world you are.

It’s a part of the Academy’s long term commitment to help you where ever you are and when ever you need our assistance. We are committed to constantly helping you to improve your game and increase the pleasure in playing.

I wish you welcome to the Academy and your Mental Sweet Spot,

Finn Havaleschka

Finn Havaleschka, a 5 handicapper, is the founder of the Garuda Group of Human Resource Management and Development companies. He is the inventor of the Mental Scorecard method, a method for coaching leaders as well as golfers. During the last 25 years he has developed several personality tests for industrial psychology, leadership development, recruitment, coaching and mental training of managers as well as athletes. He is also the author of several books about these subjects. Among others The Golfer’s Mental Scorecard and The Leader’s Mental Scorecard.

In his efforts to improve his own game he realized that he needed a method to combine the technical part of the game with the mental part. As a part of this quest he developed the Mental Scorecard and founded the Mental Scorecard Academy. An Academy for coaching and teaching golfers as well as leaders to find their Mental Sweet Spot, the state of mind where golfers are playing excellent golf and leaders are performing excellent leadership – enjoying every minute of it, to the benefit of the scores and the business results.

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