Talking To Bones.

“Phil to Bones. Phil to Bones. What’s our position? Over.” “Bones to Phil. We’re 168 yards from the hole. There’s no wind but we need to clear those trees. Looks like a stock 8-iron. Over.” Maybe Phil Mickelson and his caddie, Jim ‘Bones’ Mackay, don’t communicate by walkie-talkie but you have to wonder whether these player-caddie exchanges we sometimes overhear during telecasts are simply amusing entertainment or a high performance tool? Make no mistake, they’re a high performance tool that you would do well to utilize. So let’s look at why they’re so effective. Win Wenger, Ph. D., author of The Einstein Factor, says that when we talk out loud through a difficult situation as opposed to mulling it over internally we create a feedback loop. The sound goes out. It’s then heard by our own ears and fed back into our brain causing reinforcement for the original thought. Using a caddie as a sounding board for your thoughts is a similar technique that focuses your decision-making. And even if you don’t have the likes of Bones Mackay on your bag every-day you can achieve the same effect. Before your pre-shot routine talk yourself through your shot out loud, or at least at a level just above a whisper. You could talk to your head-cover – you know the one you call ‘Slugger’ - or you could talk to your coach as if he’s there. “Okay, coach, I know what you want me to do, take the high-percentage shot, right?” You might worry that your buddies will try to commit you to the funny-farm if they hear you mumbling to yourself, but they’re probably too busy with their own game to be concerned about you. Who knows, you might improve so much that you’ll end up playing at a level that justifies the hiring of your own ‘Bones Mackay’ and fans, including your buddies, will pay to overhear what you have to say. Bob Skura is the author of the award-winning book, How Great Golfers Think – Perfecting Your Mental Game. For more information visit: www.howgreatgolfersthink.com