Episode 2 picks up right where Episode 1 left off!
Even if you missed Episode 1, this Episode will still make sense. But do yourself a favor and be sure to catch Episode 1.
This episode’s intention is to help every golfer increase their mental game power by adding “Loading The Who”, to the pre-shot routine.
This episode goes deep on how this simple tip can greatly reduce blow-ups and spirals.
Is your mental game the biggest weakness in your golf game? Do you just KNOW it’s costing you shots EVERY round?
Head to THEGOLFPSYCHO.com to book a lesson and finally say goodbye to not hitting your potential.
🧩 Guest Info – Raul Gomez
YouTube: @raulgolfs
Apparel: B9 Golf Apparel
Instagram: @raulgolfs
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What’s up, Golf Cycles? Welcome to the Golf Psycho podcast. I’m Carlos Benvid. This is my good buddy Raul here with today and we’re going to be going over the big reasons why your mental game hurt. Yeah, mine definitely does for sure. I put it on YouTube. It sucks. So, we’re going to be going over uh three different tips and one big one at the end of this podcast that kind of ties everything together. big bonus and uh to kind of get us, you know, a really good feel after episode one as to what we should be doing after we’ve started building our meditation practice, getting the snowball rolling basically. Yeah. And then how to start using that new focus and what we should be doing when we practice, when we’re on the course, when we’re on the putting green, and even a different kind of meditation here at the end of the day that we’re going to discuss as to what kind of meditation serves golfers and what you should be doing. And uh it’s going to be a really good one. You’re going to want to stick around for that one for sure. Welcome back golf psychos to the golf psycho mental game podcast where we go over golf, we go over mental game, we go over life, the goods. Yeah, man. So, we had a really good conversation um the very first time uh that for our debut uh conversation that I had with Raul and back in episode one. So, this is going to kind of tie to episode one and uh last time we spoke a lot about u a little bit of, you know, kind of dipping our way into the mental game and what it entails and what we should be practicing. And uh I think the big overarching theme that we had in u that we spoke about in episode one was uh using meditation right off the bat to start of sort of focus strength training our brains making focus and being able to sustain focus. um that foundation a big foundation. Yeah. A big part of our practice as far as uh what we’re doing to support our mental game. And we discussed that it was the foundation of building a strong mental game. And without strong focus, we’re really really going to struggle. So we’re going to be teeing off from that topic, getting into new topics as to how that connects. And uh so today we’re going to be going over the next thing that you should be doing in your mental game. We’re going to be talking about three different tips that you can do that you should be doing to kind of uh build off of that meditation practice that you’re doing at home. And at the end, we’re going to go through one big tip that’s going to really help tie it all together. You’re going to want to stick around for that. So, Oh, yeah. Let’s get it, baby. Oh, yeah. Yeah. So, um yeah, immediately jumping right into things. One of the biggest things that we can start doing after we establish um focus is introducing a free shot routine. Mhm. Loading. Do you have a pre-shot routine? Do you even Yeah. And most of us do, but it completely caters to just the swing. It doesn’t touch uh it rarely touches um on on the mental side of the game. Uh what our mind should be doing, what our focus should be doing. So, we’re going to be going over that. And uh it’s it’s fantastic. I will kind of go into how I stumbled upon doing this, where it came from. Uh, and as we discussed in episode one, uh, we’re going to be talking about loading the Who. So, here we are. Let’s do it. Yeah, man. Let’s get into it. So, powerful powerful stuff. I’m glad you like it, man. I think every single person that I I’ve never heard of it either. Like, I’ve never before you I’ve never even knew that was a thing. Yeah. Um, and I get at the foundation of this pre-shot routine, uh, the reason we call it loading the who is because as players or as people, we’re also deciding the character that’s going to hit the ball. And we’re going to get into that and why it’s so important that we um solidify the character that’s hitting the ball, man. It matters. It matters. It’s not something that we often think about. We just always think it’s us. Um it’s always me hitting the ball. And yeah, sure it is. But mentally, there’s different players that can show up and hit that ball for me. It’s also me using my sandwich, hitting my golf bag after a bag shot, just thought myself. Yeah, that’s still me. It’s going to happen. And it’s it’s uh it’s really really cool. I stumbled upon loading the who. And first off, let let me let me I guess quickly preface how this came about. So, as I mentioned in episode one, uh I spent a few years rewriting my mental game because it’s not something that takes a few months, especially me where I was a special case where I had decades and decades of doing things a certain way and doing things incorrectly that I it took a while to sort of break these habits. Um, and when Lori was helping me rewrite my game, as I mentioned, uh, I started began to notice that setting intentions before rounds was incredibly important to sort of stay on track. Uh, you know, setting intentions like for me a big overarching one was like, I’m going to come out here and have fun. That’s I’m going to prioritize having fun knowing that the guy who has fun is going to play better golf. And those intentions were very helpful with grounding me and keeping me focused on what the goal was for that round. And I began to notice that there were issues, right? I I think the big uh problem that most golfers have is they hit a shot immediately emotions go off. There’s this negative reaction to it and then you’re stuck in there, right? So, I always kind of went like, how how do I avoid going down that path of losing my [ __ ] Mhm. When I hit the ball and in 2 seconds this reaction happens, right? Like in two seconds this thing happens. How how do I gain control of this? Right? And um as a as a jiu-jitsu guy, there’s this idea with certain submissions that I kind of took this concept from and applied it to golf. And it was well the best defense for certain submissions is just don’t get in it. And I was like, it was that easy, bro. I I I knew there was something there. Like how do I not get in it? That was my problem for months, Raul. That was my problem. I knew there was something there. But 3 seconds after you hit this, a second after you hit this shot, you know, and the reaction happens and you’re either happy or you’re pissed. And it just happens so quick. But I knew I knew I was getting myself into a submission. I knew I was getting myself into a pickle. And I knew there was something in the pre-point. There’s something I can do before I get myself into this. But the conundrum was, I have such little time, right? How do I interject? Well, one day I set an intention before a shot and I found that the more I did that, rather than just setting intentions before the round, but setting intentions and kind of getting a grip of myself doing it intentionally. Yes. Before every shot, not just before every round, but before every shot started to help me. What is it like moving thinking or both? Yeah. It it was this this quick scan of setting an intention, getting grounded, breathing, and it really worked. And when I noticed that I didn’t do that, I noticed that I was having more issues or I would revert back to my old selfist. And when I mean old self, I mean I’m losing my temper. I’m getting upset and I’m, you know, getting really, really emotional over these shots to the point where, you know, play starts to go ary. And doing this before each shot was helping. Mhm. Long Before long, I started calling it my who, my who. Oh, I forgot I forgot to do my who. And Lori and I had had these conversations where I was saying like, uh, it’s it’s almost like I’m deciding who I am, you know? Like, yeah, like it’s almost like I’m deciding. I’m almost like that’s how I got myself. This this was my solution at the time to that concept that I introduced earlier with jiu-jitsu, right? like don’t get into it. This was helping me not get in it, right? This was helping me even if the shot was bad, I grounded myself before it and I kind of prepped myself mentally before it and the responses weren’t as big. So whenever I didn’t do it and I had an emotional reaction, I would notice like, “Oh, I forgot. I forgot to do my my who.” And then before I knew it, I was calling it, oh, I got to load my who? Oh, I got to load my who. kind of this concept that I’m deciding the character. I got to load him. I got to make sure that he’s the guy hitting that shot. And this is all pre-shot though. This is all pre-shot, right? This is something. So, well, is that is that from like the golf cart to setting the tea in the ground or is it like right after all that you take a step back then you load it? I think that’s what’s kind of individual to the person. Yeah, exactly. It can be a bit of both, right? So long as uh I I found myself that uh not just when I’m behind the ball cuz a lot of it would take place when I’m behind the ball getting my grip looking out into the field deciding what I’m going to do, but the first thing I started to do was pick the player. Kind of like a video game, right? Like you got to pick your player and that’s the guy that I would load and pick and kind of do that. So yeah, I might be putting the tea in the ground and kind of doing stuff and I’m already tapping into that guy. I’m breathing. There’s a whole protocol that came with loading the who. So loading the who began and shaped into this pre-shot routine where I basically mentally I tap into the guy that’s happy to be there. I’m sure we’ve all had that sort of u um you’re at work and you just do anything to be on the course. Okay, I tap into that guy right away. I was like, okay, that guy is grateful to be here. He that guy acknowledges that he wants to be on the course. He’s happy to be on the court. And there’s no time to be losing your [ __ ] at the course because you know this is this is where you want to be. Yeah. Where you want to be. So I tap into that guy and I thought that’s that’s the grateful guy. So gratitude became the central foundation of loading the who I need to load a grateful guy. Acknowledging that grateful guy is here to have fun. Grateful guy is here to just be loose and do his thing. Enjoy himself. Enjoy himself. Right. So that ended up being the secret to toning down emotions gone ary when bad shots happened. That was my not getting into the submission sort of fix. Uh so if a bad shot happened after you loaded the who you wouldn’t be as upset as pissed off. I would notice that I was more grounded. I was more okay with whatever happens. But I also noticed that more often than not that calm, happy, grateful layer would produce the shot that I wanted. Not all the time, but my scores were coming down and that was good, right? And that sort of became the birth of loading the who and it this is after this is before every shot though. Before every single shot, chip, putt, uh, whatever whatever you’re doing. Not just on the tea. Yes. And it’s just a few seconds, right? So, what it looks like is I’ll step behind the ball. Like you said, maybe you’re teeing up or whatever. I step back and it always starts with a deep breath just to make sure that I’m regulating my nervous system. As I mentioned in episode one, our breath is significantly and heavily tied uh to our nervous system. If our breath is arai, then that tells the body that the nervous system should be arai. And then that whole sets off a whole chain of events. So, this is a really good way, you know, that I’m regulating my nervous system because I’m coming back to my breath. I’m going back to gratitude and I’m picking this guy again and again and again. And if I shoot 80, if I shoot 75, well, then I did it 75 times that day. And it’s incredible what it does to your game. And it’s incredible what it helps do to anxiety and depression and all that jazz off the course, right? you’re able to take this skill that you’re using on the course because you rep it so many times on the course. You you shoot 90, you did it 90 times. You shoot 100, you do 100 times, you know. So, um that really became one of the hallmarks uh of our teachings that changed the way um I responded to golf. And this became the the prescription that we give to all of our players. And we’ve seen tremendous success. Um, and of course it’s like working out, right? You got your folks that stick with it for 30 days. You got your folks that stick with it for 90 days. New Year’s resolutions. Yeah. So if if you do it for 90 days, you’re going to have those benefits and it’s great. But what I found is that once I hit year two and year three that it blossomed into a whole other thing where it became a really really uh solidified habit. I was doing it before every shot. I would imagine by year two or three, you’re already doing it. Like not even knowing you’re doing it. You’re just naturally doing it. Yeah. Cuz the biggest mistake that I see players do is they adopt it. It works. They love it. And then they stop doing it. Just like anything else. I find myself forgetting it too. And you’re going to I still do. I still do. Um and then I’ll come back to it. And it just it really really is a very very powerful tool uh not just for better golf, but just to regulate yourself on the course because you know the moment you lose your stuff on the course. Yeah. The spiral happens. The spiral happens. is exactly that. Yeah. So, that’s loading the who and that’s our pre-shot routine. And it’s just it takes a few seconds just to kind of install that into your play. And which leads us into the other tip where you should be using this, right? So, that’s encourse. You should be using this on the range as well, right? So, you buy a large bucket, you got 90 balls or maybe you’ve got two large buckets, whatever it is. That’s how many reps you have to come back to your gratitude. Load your player and do it again and again. And this is I I just it blows my mind how through golf we have again this opportunity to run these reps that train us to be our grateful self to train us to be present which is anti-anxiety anti-depression. Uh so again this is not just for better golf. This is for a healthier mind and body. Um and just really helps the person the golfer not live in anxious thoughts and depressive thoughts. And it helps ground us with what I believe is my true self which is I’m freaking grateful to be here. Right? I don’t have I acknowledge that time here on earth is limited. I don’t have time to waste doing, you know, these outbursts. So, by that, what you’re saying is technically also loading the who by telling yourself those things, those gratitudes while you’re on the range. That’s also part of being or loading the who per rep. Correct. Now, if you’re on the range, like I don’t how I practice is I usually take five or six balls at a time per club. You’re saying every single one I should be doing a routine. Yes. As if I was out there, correct? Okay. You load your again and again and again and this is going to mean something different to us all. I was gonna say the next like should every person do that or just whatever the whole goal is just to make sure they isolate of being grateful. Yes. And that’s going to mean different things to different people. My gratitude self or grateful self zooms out and sees a really big picture. I see my whole life. I see myself standing here. I see the whole like here I am in this moment hitting this golf ball. And to me it’s big, man. I’m I’m going this is the oldest I’ve ever been. This is the youngest I’ll ever be again. I’m here. I’m really here in this moment. And that practice of kind of remembering that again and again off the course kind of trains me to to be really present and see things as they really are. Yeah, you really uh I had that moment in like I told you earlier in the shower when I was in the shower. Not you and I had a shower, but I was in the shower. We just had a baby, right? So like we’re going through those early baby stages where it’s like every 3 hours you got to feed her, wake up, feed her and we have no sleep. We’re zombies and I’m in the shower and I’m like exhausted, tired, frustrated. And I took a moment to do that breathing, kind of center myself and be grateful like I got a child here. It’s beautiful. It’s healthy. And just take those moments in. And it was just like that. Yeah. like a huge just complete change in my feeling and in how like I got out of the shower I was like let’s go like I’m tired but like all right what does this baby need like does she need socks does she need diaper change like I was just ready to go it was such a crazy 180 yeah it is that was but that’s at home that’s not even the golf course yeah and talk about a different character came out right like a different version of yourself and that’s where I say that you know folks sleep sleep on how important nervous system regulation is because the regulating yourself completely changes the thoughts the brains the brain is having. It’s a completely different outlook. Um, and thus when we take this guy out to the golf course or this version of ourselves, this gal, this girl, whatever that, you know, whatever, whatever it may be, that person is going to be so much calmer and be able to notice these things and be able to walk themselves off of a ledge. And they’re they’re two different lives, Raul. Like, they’re two different lives. Like you said, I go in and I completely feel different. And uh I I can honestly say, you know, when I I’ve I’ve lived life where my nervous system is constantly not regulated and I’m constantly in uh in fight or flight, um it’s it’s not a fun life. Yeah. And it’s it’s not a fun life. I didn’t know it was a thing until you put into words and explained to me like what the body how the body reacts cuz I haven’t experienced some of those anxiety moments, but only like that moment. I think if I didn’t know to do that, might have triggered maybe an anxiety meltdown moment, maybe where I maybe reacted different to my wife. I could have said something I didn’t mean, but I was just so tired and frustrated, you know, I lashed out. Yeah. And the fact that I’m kind of practicing what I want to do in golf, but also at home, it kind of makes I’m noticing like, oh, it’s benefiting the family. It’s benefiting me at home, which I think is also another way, like you said, the rep. I’m putting in reps at home to help also me in the golf course. Yeah. because it may be true and I’m sure some of us are out there thinking like yeah man but it doesn’t change the fact that these things are happening in life it doesn’t change the fact that and there’s a whole process and there is truth to that right there’s truth to hey man I haven’t slept I haven’t done this I don’t whatever I I have every right to feel this way and you do you do but we have to ask ourselves but is this serving is this serving me to be on this edge is though I’m going through these things and though these things are true and though I am stressed but what is the best outlook for me to look to look at this through what lens should I be looking at this through that’s best for me and my family right so all this then boils down to just breathing right the four for a breathing but is now is that person should that person also do when they find moments of like overwhelm or like anxiety just focus on just one thing breathing yes yes which is why our loading the who always comes back to the breath and it always comes back to the grateful self breath then the thought yes of like grateful either one okay either one so long long as one triggers the other, I’m happy. Um, and so long as, like I said, whatever feels good to you. But my grateful self breathes well, my grateful self is in control of that, my grateful self is regulated. So, it’s nice to just always come back to that version of myself. And every single time I do, answers appear, right? Because when we’re in this flustered state, uh, things get cloudy. We don’t think straight. Things that are very, very obvious, brains suddenly are not. Yes. Um, so in our loading of the who, this is why, like I said, tip one, we do it on the golf course. We do it after every single shot. T, uh, tip two, we want to be doing this on the range, right? We want to, in order for it to be strong on the course, right? We need to be doing it on the range. You can’t expect it to be good on the course if you’re only doing it on the course. Yes. Which is again where we tie episode one to here. that our foundation, which is our meditation, is going to allow us to have the brain power and the focus to sit there and hit 90 balls at the range and do this and not miss a single one. Your goal is to sit there at the range, sit there, and load the who 90 times. So, if I hit 90 balls, half were bad shots. It technically doesn’t matter if I’m still practicing correct the who. So, it’s not all bad. It’s not all bad. Oh, dude, that’s a good to hear. You may have had a a challenging swing day, but you freaking tore it up on the mental side. And I’ve had plenty plenty of rain sessions where, hey, the ball ain’t doing what I wanted to do, but mentally I was a rock. And I’ll take that because there’s very different aspects of the game. You hear lots of golfers say, right, like the game is so mental. The game is so mental, but yet, yeah, who works on it, right? So, if we’re not going to acknowledge those as victories when we say that the game is massively mental and you could probably say, “Well, if your mental game is good, you should be hitting the ball.” Well, not necessarily, right? Not necessarily. You’re you’re a real good short game guy. How would you put that in relation to short game as far as like around the green at the range, you know, like is it 10 putts, you know, or is it chips and putts? Like, how do you is it just load the hoot? Same thing. Step back. Same thing, man. Which Yeah. leads us to number three, right? So, if we’re taking this tip and we’re applying it to our short game, we need to be doing it there, right? We need to install um LTW loading the who into all aspects of our game, right? We need to get practice in doing it when we’re big dog and when we’re putter. So, when we’re on the putting green, we’re practicing doing this here, too. The brain needs to feel like, hey, this isn’t something that I do just with driver. This isn’t just a tea box thing. This is an everywhere. this is an everywhere every situation on the course sort of deal. Um so getting onto the putting green and making sure that we’re doing this and getting our practice there as well is very important as well. Yeah. Yeah. Nice. That’s going to just make sure that you know LTWs appearing in all aspects of your game and it’s strong and it feels comfortable to do in all aspects of your game because it is possible to be like I only do it on the T- box. I never do it in the fairway. I never do it on the green. I never do it when I’m chipping. I never do it on or I forget like the I told you earlier the recent round I had uh that that I recorded and I was doing so well in the front n I was one over par going in a whole nine and I didn’t look at my scorecard. I was doing the who most of the round. I felt good. The moment I looked at my score, the moments I kind of freaked out. I’m like, “Oh, dude, if I par this, I shoot one over. That’s close to par, right? I wayward T-shot. At that moment, I didn’t load the hoop.” I was upset that I went to the right, didn’t go to the right, all first eight holes. So, my head’s already spinning and going into the second shot. The second shot, I’m already thinking like, “Oh, I got to go over this hill. I got to go over the bunker.” I’m didn’t even load the hoop. I just got up there and hit because I felt like I need to get over everything. Went way over everything. And it’s like, “All right, now I got to chip it.” Like, you see, like, I was just so all over the place. I felt like, and then not once at all did I load the who there, I completely forgot about it until going the hotel. I’m like, man, I did so well and then all of a sudden just the trigger Yeah. threw me off. It’s amazing, man. It’s amazing. Like, people, it’s we really kind of sleep on how how much our our our bodies react and our minds react just to what our nervous system is doing. It’s amazing. Your thoughts change, your processes change. Again, without a strong meditation foundation, it’s going to be really difficult to notice these moments, to notice these thoughts. I don’t know how many times I’ve I went off and I carried off, like you said, I I went through with this shot process, but my autopilot self came out again, right? I I had this moment. I checked my I checked the score. All of a sudden there’s attachment and I know what that one feels like. Right? So that’s what loading of the who does, right? So when a bad shot happens, we’re able to install these at every single one of our shots to get us out of anxious thoughts and thoughts that are not serving. It’s kind of we mentioned this earlier, right? You arrived greenside and you’re already flustered, right? We were already flustered. We’re attached to the score now, which is by the way where this all started, right? It all started with you checking the score. Suddenly there’s deeper sense of attachment. Right now we’re squeezing golf for dear life trying to protect it and that never worked. Trying to get that par around, you know, I’ve never never been there before. Now I’m trying to get there. And now you’re having thoughts like the one you told me earlier that says something like, “Oh, that’s a tough shot. I’m probably not going to get up and down from there.” You know what I mean? And and I’m not even up there. I remember driving. I’m like, “Oh, I’m like I’m not going to get par cuz it’s along from the pan.” I’m like, like those thoughts are in there. And again, as we’ve mentioned before, and we’re going to repeat this a million times, thoughts are programs. Thoughts are essentially like, what do I want to do with this shot? Well, that thought is the shot that you’ve loaded, right? You’ve you’ve you’ve decided that shot is hard. I’m probably not going to get up and down. So, what are we going to do? That’s that is the shot we loaded. So, we’ll probably hit somewhat of a decent shot and it’ll be 10 15 ft from the cup and then I’ll tw putt and there’s no way I’m going to get up and down. Haven’t made anything within six feet. I’m probably going to miss this, you know, like ah yeah, and then just, you know, Yeah. Where I’ve seen loading of the who come in, interject in all of that and go, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Now, let me think straight. That moment though, that’s you catching it right before pre-shot or pre-shot rotation. Yes. So, at that after you do that, what do you think of? You just think of the shot or you don’t think of anything? Yeah. I’ll question things. Right. So, I I’ve had that particular scenario happen so many times where I’m on a tangent. I’m losing my cool and then I catch it. Come back. I was about to hit a shot with a a program and a thought process that wasn’t serving me. And I go, “Oh my gosh, I’ve totally already bogeied this hole without even hitting this shot because look at what I’m thinking.” Very similar to what you did, right? Like, “Oh, there’s no way I’m getting up and down from here.” Raul, I cannot tell you how many times I’ve cut that out and go, “Uh, I don’t need to be thinking that. Let’s get focused on what we need to do here. Okay, I hit it like this. I do this. I can stop it close. I’m short-sighted or whatever it may be.” No, no, no. I can get this up and down. Do I always know? Man, it freaks me out how many times they make that adjust. I mean, I’ll never know, right? I’ll never know, right? But true. I got up and down and I do know that. And I do know what I was thinking before. And I have I’ve let that guy Yeah. that nervous, upset guy that’s thinking there’s no way that I’m going to get up and down. I’ve let him hit plenty of shots and it’ll it’ll work out. It don’t work. So when it does work out, I go, “Wow, I changed courses there.” You know what I mean? And that’s where this pre-shot is just it’s like I’ve described to you. It’s like lane detection, right? It just it keeps you from leaving or like we’ve described in bowling, right? It’s like the bumpers. It just bumpers. It don’t let you leave. It won’t let you leave. Um and when you’re good at installing this and again, focus and memory and we we’ve built we can install it before every single shot just really quick and it’s just this little thing that you do, but suddenly it’s another player hitting it, man. It’s a different version of yourself. Well, we were talking earlier. It’s kind of like that version where you’re like doing the work and you’re like and you come back. He was doing a really good analogy of like kind of like you’re doing work, you’re doing work on the computer and you kind of just doze off and like you’re back at it and you get to sharp enough to the point where you’re just like you recognize it real fast. Yes. So, it’s just repetition repetition. You’re going to notice when you first start loading the who that you’re going to forget. If you don’t, you’re a freaking powerhouse. Happened to me. Happened to my friend. You’re amazing. You might start off really well and then after a while I’m going to start forget. Oh, I didn’t do it there. Oh, I didn’t catch it. my my players and my students, I’m always catching them. Like, did you did you I’m okay, do it again. And it’s just normal. You’re not going to remember every single time. Like I said, if you do, then you’re a mental game beast and your your focus your focus is probably already very good inherently. Um, but you’re going to forget. That’s okay. It’s very up. Don’t beat yourself up about it. That’s perfectly normal. It’s kind of like meditation, right? Where, uh, we’ve said before meditation, we have this idea that it’s just like, oh, I don’t break focus. Yeah, that was me. No. Oh, I can’t focus. Meditation is holding focus, losing it, and getting it back. Losing focus, noticing you you lost it and bringing it back. That’s the idea. That’s the idea is becoming the guy or be strengthening the one that notices that it’s gone. The noticer because that’s who’s going to catch it out in real life, right? If that noticer isn’t strong at home, now add movement to it. Now add heat to it. Now add Now add getting hungry to it. Now add competition. Now add a buzz buzz and drink into it. Heck yeah, man. Which usually helps by the way, but that’s a whole other that’s a different topic for episode. Yeah. Not not all of the time, but for most people. We’re going to talk about that. That’s a whole fun one. Um but uh yeah, man. It’s it’s unreal. And again, it’s like working out. It’s like anything else. It’s like exactly like golf, right? Like you’re the first time you ever hit and then four years down the road. So letting this sort of the seed grow and flower and by the time you know it, it just you end up in places you didn’t realize you’d end up and with a different awareness. And what I love about it is that like again like we talked about in episode one and I’m going to reference this again and again and again is that it’s going to spill into your real life, right? It’s going to spill into your life and it should spill into your real life. And I will never I’ll probably die an old man. And I’ll I’ll never kind of stop being mind blown that we as golfers in this game about life have this opportunity to improve our lives, to improve our focus. Like I’ve mentioned before, working in pediatrics, it’s the kiddos with very little focus that have the behavior issues. Those are the ones that throw the the tantrums. And you know, you you can you can ID a golfer that’s the same way, you know, and we we grow up, we become adults and if good with those kind of golfers. Yeah. Those things don’t get fixed as kids. I’ve seen them, you know, become three-year-old problems, 8-year-old problems, 16-year-old problems, and then 35y old problems, you know, like you don’t nip them in the bud. They continue. And uh, of course, this isn’t for everybody. And there’s going to be some golfers out there, they’re going to be like, “F this. I’m not doing any of You know what’s also brought me brought up um the the thought of when I was growing up playing competing like that seeing these good players that were good but they would react that way. I thought that’s where I had to react to play good and then now you’re like build that kind of sense of spiral down it’s like no that’s completely wrong to begin with. Yeah. Uh, and there’s two things, right? They’re good. And people could say, well, you see, like, you know, of course there’s exceptions to the rule. You have wild exceptions, but there’s it’s generally the rule, right? What I mean by that is you’re going to have some players out there that thrive under that. Excuse me. You’re going to have players that thrive under that sort of self-loathing, you know, get in there. Maybe it’s not necessarily self-loathing, but they’ve got this internal coach that’s kind of like that coach in, you know, in the boxing ring that’s like, “Let’s go, you know, come on. I know you can do this and you trained your whole life for this and we know, you know, can get in the fight. Let’s go.” And that works for for them for for them. You know, you got your John Rom I think is one of those guys where he gets pissed. Be careful. Um you got your Tiger Woods that just, you know, can really really self coach, man. I think Yeah, Earl was really good at training him early on. um as far as you know not getting shaken by those things but um yeah it’s just uh it’s next level man it’s next level if if we can achieve this then uh it completely changes like I said the way you play it completely changes the way you live your life um it it’s a true true fascinating thing that we can do this through golf and again maybe you’ve never played maybe you’re an experienced player it doesn’t matter I wish I could go back and start my golf career doing these things. I think my game would be very very different, but I I learned it later in life and I’m grateful that I at least got to learn it and figure these things out. But it was a really interesting process coming across and building loading the who. Um, I always think to myself, you know, again, fans of other sports and I love using jiu-jitsu as the analogy, but someone figured out the triangle. Someone figured out the kamora, you know, someone figured out, hey, yeah, if I do this, I do, they figured out this technique that was hiding in plain sight, right? Somebody, it was waiting for somebody to come in and discover it. And it’s amazing, you know, like when someone in martial arts or any other thing finds technique and they discover technique or go, “Hey, wow.” Like if you do this and this and this, this happens and whoa, that’s freaking cool. You know, and I feel like this was one in golf that was out there hiding and was waiting to be kind of discovered like, hey, this is something that you can do in golf that’s going to benefit the mind. It’s going to benefit the body. It’s going to benefit the golfer. It’s going to benefit them off of the course. I’ve noticed that too on my end. Yeah, for sure. Off the course. Oh my gosh, man. Yeah. Yeah. The way I regulate and the way I the awareness that I have through life has changed. Um, all because of both. Love it. All because of golf. Yeah. Love it. And um Yeah, I I think it’s incredible if every golfer has to try it out. Every golfer and then give it enough time. Yeah, that’s another thing though. Yeah, give it give it enough time. Again, this is no different than working out. It’s no different than picking up the guitar. It’s no different than whatever it is that a lot of these things that take time. This is one of them. But go see for yourself. I’ll never tell you. Hey, trust me. Trust me. This work. Of course, I heavily believe in it. But I’m never going to tell you, hey, yeah, this is whatever. You need to go see for yourself and experience what it feels like. But you also doing it or me doing it at home is also a form of repetitions, right? So you don’t always think like it’s on the golf course where I need to put in this work. Correct. It’s like you most waking up early doing stuff like being singularly minded, man. Like having all of these open tabs causes people a lot of anxiety and we mistake it for productivity. Open tabs is a good one, dude. I know my screen is like like what is this again? Like what am I looking at? Like xx like a lot of us mistake it for productivity. A lot of us mistake it for you know I’m watering this so to speak. I’m this and I’ve got this and I’ve got this and that and I’m a multitasker. I’m a multitasker. multitasker is that big I’m a multitasker and it’s just like well are all the things you’re watering actually flowering or are you just barely keeping things alive and that was one that was a hard truth that I had to kind of have with myself right where same there’s certain things I’m I’m doing I’m doing this I’m doing that I’m doing this I’m doing that and it at some point I had to go well yeah everything’s getting watered but is anything thriving man you know so good yeah and it it’s it’s become the norm especially in our culture here to do lots of things, man. I I I go to the gym and I can I can’t I never see anybody in the gym that doesn’t have their phone. They’re there on their phone because the dopamine of gym is not good enough to sit there quietly, maybe even with no music and just focus on my body or breathing, you know. Um, I’ve seen people they’re distracted on their phone. Again, distraction focus, right? I’m in uh 10 minutes on a machine, 10 minutes later they’re still sitting there on the phone. Nothing’s gotten done, you know? So, I’ve seen dudes with a bench bench press. Mhm. Just hogging it up and just on the phone. Yeah. And I’m over there across from waiting for them like on another machine like waiting for them to finish and it’s like 15 minutes, dude. I’m like, this guy did like two sets. Yeah. my girl. It’s a dopamine issue, you know, and that’s why it’s so good to be okay with sitting in just silence. Silence, man, for a bit to We’ve gotten so or at least with your own thoughts, right? Of course. Yeah, you got to sit down just be quiet for a little bit. And I think that’s that can be a scary thing. That’s a whole other chap to sit there and get quiet with yourself. But generally we like golf and most people are attracted to golf because the world falls away. It just becomes about golf. And that’s why so many of us want to go out to the course because everything falls away. The bills, the family, work get away. All of these things fall away and it feels good to just one thing on my mind and it’s golf for hours, bro. So don’t tell me that having one thing on your mind for hours don’t feel good. We look for it even though sometimes we don’t give ourselves to it, you know, or give us give ourselves that time. And yes, there’s dopamine involved. way more dopamine in golf than just sitting in in meditation, right? It’s fun to hit the ball. There’s a lot going on, but if at the end of the day, if you notice, there’s just golf and it’s just golf. So, becoming, you know, making sure that we don’t have those open tabs, so to speak, is where our healthiest mind is for and then loading loading the who gets that repetition in to become better not on the not on the course, but on at home, too. Yeah. And what it’s doing is it’s it’s bringing us to the present moment because I don’t want my golfer having future thoughts. I don’t want my golfer having past thoughts. The grateful golfer and loading the who is all about being here, being here. And I think that sure we’ve heard many times, right, the golfers have play their best when they’re having fun. When they’re there, they’re they’re fully fully there immersed in it. And um this is just a great way to continue coming back to that because the more time that we spend in the present moment as a golfer, the reason you play better is because you’re you’re empowered. What I mean by that is that there’s not much that you can do in a game of golf in the future, right? I can’t jump a few holes forward or I I I can’t there’s nothing I can do about that. shots that already happened in the past. Definitely can’t do anything about those either. All I can control is what’s right in front of me. That’s what I mean by empowered. The only place that you have any control over, the only way you can shape the future is through now. So I need my golfer to be there now. If this is my competitive student, I need you in the now. That’s the only place your best golf is going to take place. So that’s the beautiful thing about this is that I can train it and train it and train it and train it and it’s going to help me play better golf. I’m going to be in the present more. That’s certainly something that I need in real life and off the course as well. I love it, dude. Yeah, good tip. All right, so so let’s say I got the bucket. I’m in the range or I’m on the green. How what is a good starting point for me to to learn how to load the hoop? Like where to start, how to do I’ll run you through it as if I’m hitting a shot right now. Perfect. So, loading the hoop for me always starts with a deep breath, no matter what. That’s the That’s number one. So, I just put my ball I just put my ball on the mat. I’m about to hit. I step behind the ball. That first breath with the inhale and the exhale longer than the inhale is step one. As I’m doing that, I’m just kind of arriving so to speak. So my loading of the hoop process takes about five 10 seconds. Right. So that breath was about 5 seconds. It’s not even that long. Yeah. 5 seconds. So that breath starts. That rounds my mouth out and it looks like who? Yeah. Yeah. That triggers the who process for me. And that’s the way I love to kind of help golfers connect to it a little bit better. You’re very aware of how that technique goes. It just to me it helps lock in the process so much more. So the goes on, I remember to be the guy that’s grateful to be here. Boom. Character’s in. That’s it. That’s it. Oh wow. Boom. So it’s not as complicated as I thought. Yeah. So, the breath happens, the character goes on. Sometimes, depending on the player, I’ll do a little just a little smirk. A little smirk that makes sort of for me, you don’t have to do this, but I like to do it. And it’s sort of now the player is definitely in like I cemented it like it’s he’s locked it. You feel it in the gut. They’re like, “Oh, yeah.” Yeah. It’s a little, dare I say, on the corny side. Yeah. But to me, if it’s going to make me play better golf, right? Calm down. And the reason I do it is because, well, isn’t the guy that’s happy to be out there playing golf probably wearing a smile? So, it makes you would think you would think, bro, he better be, right? Better be. So, to to me, that’s just it makes sense. Just a little one. Just a little one. So, this this is not you over the ball about to hit. This is before that. No, this is be back here. Probably 10 seconds. So, look at the shot. You shape you want to hit. I’m designing my shot. The character is in. Go. Oh, I see. Okay, now I got it. I got it. Yeah. So, it’s a few seconds. Let me ask this. Should everybody focus on that or does it like should they do different spots like maybe it’s over the ball or or walking up to the tea? Does it matter or I like standing behind the ball in the as we call right there’s there’s think box. Mhm. And then there’s playbox. Francis is really big on this. That’s a good one. Right. This is the think box. This is the play box. Once I leave think box. It’s just do now. There is no more thinking. Oh yeah. Okay. Okay. And I wouldn’t even call it thinking. I would call it designing. Right. Because I think that designing is way more intent. I fall into that sometimes. I’ll be over the ball. I’m like, “All right, this is going to be a little draw or whatever.” I should be doing it. Like, bro, my who was would have been 5 minutes that way. Dang. So, yeah, it’s a very, very quick process, but yet very, very profound because a big change is happening, man. A big change is happening. And like I said, we we want to do this because what I found, at least for me, if I let the autopilot player take over, that’s when the funky stuff happens. That’s when the thoughts happen. That’s when I get anxious. That’s when I get bummed out. Then it spirals. That’s the big thing. You have a bad shot becomes a bad hole, becomes a bad back with me, for example. It happened to me. So, it’s super simple. I prescribe it to every single player I come in contact with. And I would just be amazing to for this to catch fire and for, you know, most golfers and humans to take this on. I just that the goal is to help everyone not just play better golf, but to alleviate a lot of the symptoms with anxiety and depression. something I’m very passionate about. Um, as I’ve experienced it, as we’ve all experienced it, this is not anything that’s, you know, just one person’s gone through it. We all can go through it. We can all relate to being in that um, yeah, anxiety, depressive state and just remembering that you forgetting and coming back is a good thing. That’s a good thing. Don’t beat yourself up about that. Don’t beat yourself up about that. That’s just because I tend to do that. Yeah. That’s just more brain noise. It’s actually very impersonal. Lots of people beat themselves up over it. That’s not your real self. That’s just a normal kind of autopilot noise that the brain generates. So, it’s nice not to think of that as anything personal or to spend a whole lot of time on it. You can acknowledge it, soo it, and kind of like, yeah, that’s a thing. No big deal. Um, but it’s very important during meditation to to lose focus in the beginning, right? As you’re like going back to episode one, as we’re talking about, you know, how to actually do this and load the who, we need that strong focus, right? So yes, in meditation you’re going to hold your focus in the now. Again, breathing and focused being focused on your breath is number one because the breath is always happening now, right? So that’s why it’s always your northstar. So um yeah, it’s actually a very successful meditation day if you’re holding your focus. I’m thinking about my breath. I’m there. I’m focusing. Okay, it just became an exhale. Now I’m breathing in relaxed. super relaxed. You know what else is relaxing? That movie that I saw last I lost it. You know what I mean? And you’ll notice that your mind goes somewhere. You hear the trash can guy outside or something like, “Oh, did he pick the trash? Did I put the trash?” And now you’re over there. Yeah. The moment you catch it, my mind was lost. I I I lost focus over what I was doing is the moment you’re focused again. Oh, and that’s a good thing. That’s what you want because what you’re strengthening is not just your not just the focus, which is great. Sustained focus is fantastic, but you’re training the noticer. You’re training this sort of uh the entity within yourself that notices that you’ve slipped, right? Because you could just not notice. You could just not. And that’s what happens to a lot of folks, right? They don’t notice that their minds have gone or they don’t even know that they should be noticing that you can have future thoughts or past thoughts. Or maybe you’re listening to this now and go, “Oh yeah, anxiety is future thoughts. Oh, depression is past thoughts.” Right? And neither one of them have anything to do with being here now. And that’s why we suffer. That’s why people suffer on the course, off the course, because we lose ourselves to future thoughts. We lose ourselves to past thoughts. And then, as we were discussing earlier, then your body inherits what that movie picture in your brain is saying. And a lot of those things that our brain is saying aren’t even real. yet there we are all stressed out about these scenarios and these pictures in our brain right so um super important man super important so yeah I just think it’s I’m like I said I’m always mind blown that through golf we can strengthen our focus and essentially um alleviate a lot of the symptoms that we experience in anxiety and depression just by increasing focus like I said you see it in the little kids you’re going to see it in adults you know what I mean it’s no different it’s no different it’s truly Truly amazing. Yeah, I love it, man. Yeah. So, these are essentially the things you should be doing right off the bat, right? So, if you’ve already started your mental your meditation practice, fantastic. Now, we’ve built some strength to be able to go out, load the who. And I highly, highly recommend that before you take it to the course that you go and you train it on the range and get a sense for how it feels. Notice when you forget, notice when you don’t want to. That’s another one, too. There’s going to be times where you just flat out don’t want to. Um, but it’s kind of like working out, man. Like, or even right now, if you’re probably listening to this, you’re working out or in in traffic, probably pissed off. You know, a guy in front of you cut you off, you’re already pissed off at him. Yeah. Just like notice that you’re pissed off. Yeah. Notice it again. Just noticing noticing noticing like you see, I would have thought that would in itself is me doing that who wrong. Like the fact that I’m noticing it is like, oh, I shouldn’t be cuz I should be meditated by now or or relaxed by now, but I’m not. Yeah. Because your brain’s going to always find some way to pick on it and try to get you to be like this is why you should be pissed and this is why yeah you suck and you know look at look at how you did it and you did it wrong. That’s a whole other conversation why our our voice that voices in our head are so negative or should I say the voice in our head is so negative. That’s a chat for another day. But yes, uh, as we were discussing earlier, being able to catch these things is really the saving grace because you could just not, right? You could just spend your whole life or every single day getting caught in anxiety and getting caught in depressive thoughts and then just have no tools to ever be able to notice it or get yourself out of it. And that’s exactly the tools that you need to have on the golf course, right? So, we train them on the golf course to be able to use them in real life because this is golf in itself is a game about life, right? So, if we train it out where we’re having fun, then we can use it where it’s practical and we can use it in real day-to-day situations. Um, and that is just, you know, if I could, like I was telling you earlier, if I could, if I had this clock on the corner of the screen of my life that said time spent in anxiety, time spent in future thoughts and depressive thoughts, right? Without these tools, that number would just be we’d be racking up the numbers, right? So the goal is to install uh these techniques so that in life we bring that number down or I’m present more. Um if I’m if I’m anxious and depressed less then my brain is healthier, my digestion is better because my digestion is better everything in my heart my pressure everything functions differently. The gut brain connection runs better. Your biome in your gut biome and gut bacteria is better. Your back feels better. Your kidneys feel better. You have less headaches. You’re more clearheaded. You sleep better. You make better choices. I mean, it’s amazing, Raul, the cause and effect that come from just having a regulated nervous system, man. Like, I can’t get over just how crucial it is to be able to do this and how it spills into so many parts. A lot of people like me though until like the last few years since we and I talked about it didn’t even know this kind of thing existed. I I didn’t my entire life pretty much. I just I didn’t know this was a thing. golfers much less people outside of that practice. I thought meditation was the thing where you’re in sitting on a mat humming thinking about but you were thinking about something else not that bring yourself back. Yeah. And that’s because there’s different versions, right? There’s different different medic different medications, different meditations. And this is the grand tip for the end of the day uh for the end of this podcast is this type of meditation that you should be doing that’s going to help you on the golf course. And it’s again there’s different types of meditation, right? where somewhere you’re focused on the breath. There’s other ones where you’ve got visual rehearsals, right? Where I’m visually rehearsing, let’s say, playing around. Uh there’s 48 breath, there’s square breathing, there’s 44. There’s lots of different versions of meditations. There’s guided meditations. You can self-med. There’s so many different things. But one of the ones, and this is the final tip at the end of the day, it’s going to help tie all of this together, is a meditation that you can sit in that we did earlier, and you freaking loved it. And it was just wow placing because you can have awareness on breath. You can have awareness on so many different things. You can create scenarios that don’t even exist and put awareness on it. Right? So that’s anxiety, right? It’s incredibly creative. So the other thing that we can do, what I love to do that’s especially helpful for golfers is meditations where we um I want you to lock in and place your awareness on a certain part of your body. So earlier and you can do this right now if you’re in a position to do so. You don’t have to close your eyes. If you want to, you can. But this is super super super simple just to kind of give you an idea. So you close your eyes and I want you to just kind of take a deep breath. And then I want you to place your awareness on your right foot, specifically your big toe. And while you’re sitting there, I want you to notice that you can put awareness on this toe. And then go to the next toe and the next one. Then go to your foot and notice your foot. Kind of wiggle it. Then place your awareness on your knee. Notice now your awareness is on your knee. Then I want you to switch to your other foot on the other on the other side. Wiggle that foot. Then that knee. Now up to your hips. Now I want you to put all of your awareness in your hands. Put them in your fingers. Kind of wiggle the fingers. Now open your eyes. So what I want you to notice is that you can place awareness in different parts of your body. And the reason I finished on hands last is because as a golfer, my hands are what connect me to my club. This is the heart source, right? This is like where club and human become one, right? Like this is where the swing becomes one, right? So, um, I love having these meditations, especially before rounds where I put a lot of awareness in my hands because if I’m constantly aware of what pressure my hands are using, then it has a big impact on how I hit the ball. It’s going to affect my putting, it’s going to affect my chipping, it’s going to affect my driving. I’ve noticed so many times, right, from Crenshaw and Tiger Tips, right? You know, keeping this constant uh pressure where we’re just not choking the crap out of our club, right, is so crucial also to hitting good shots, right? I I I acknowledge as a golfer who’s been spending 30 years playing this game that grip pressure matters. So, why not have a little meditation where I place body awareness? Because that’s one of the first things that fades away when we’re anxious and we’re depressed, right? We lose sense of our body, especially fine stuff. Like I was telling you earlier, when we lose our [ __ ] the big movements are fine, right? We can hit big drives. Doesn’t mean it’s going to go straight, but suddenly the chips and the feel shots are freaking gone. You’re so tight and tense. You’re so tense and you’re so full of adrenaline all your awareness is on the anger that what your body is doing and feeling or the opposite like for me after like a birdie streak I’ll be so pumped and excited that’s that’s a positive I guess for me uh adrenaline but also bad for the swing correct the next shot I tend to usually do better yeah because the pathways of excitement and fear are very similar Mhm. So they’re traveling down the same place. They’re going to generate the same, you know, the same feelings and even excitement will generate some, you know, some of the very similar adrenaline to, you know, a fear spike uh of adrenaline. So yeah, not to mention the attachment goes up for birdies and now I want to protect my score and there goes the mind, right? This isn’t a body thing. This is a These are stories that the mind spins and then the body inherits whatever the mind is. Oh, dude. Yeah. Yeah. So, I’ve seen that in my game. It’s just so hard. When you’re out there, you’re in it and you’re just you’re like, “Yeah.” Yeah. It’s tough, man. It’s tough. This is This is a good reset, basically. Like, if you feel like you feel those moments, use the who, you know, whether you’re on the T- box or the next bunker shot just to reset. And that’s with, you know, the way we take on the mental game is that, you know, we’re sort of installing these new programs and these new safeguards, right? Like a car before didn’t have lane detection systems and now you all the cars come with it, right? This is the same thing. Like we’re just this car that didn’t have these detections before to keep us on the Model T right now. Yeah. Going down. Yeah. Just you know, I’ve got a Fred Flintstone car over here. Yeah, for real, man. Um, but yeah, it’s it’s just amazing, man. It’s I am always mind blown by this stuff. And um I’m so glad you’re doing this, dude. Especially make these videos coming out because it will help other golfers that are watching and listening to this on their own time if they have to. If they forget now, they can always come back to these videos and the clips that you’re going to be uploading where they themselves can practice it. Cuz if I forget, you forget on the course, imagine how they forget. Oh yeah, man. they can always go back to an episode or a clip that you say to kind of like, oh, this is what he mentioned and then kind of keep keep the practice going, basically. Yeah. Yeah. And again, the goal is just to pass this to as many golfers as possible. If you have a friend who struggles with this or another golfer in your life or someone who’s picking up the game, you know, be sure to send this over to them. Uh, the goal is just to help as many people as possible. And I think that as a golfer and, you know, playing golf since I was nine, um, I have an affinity or I have a love for other golfers. you see someone wearing a tieless hat or something out and about in the wild and you’re like, “My friend.” Uh, I see you, bro. I see you. I see you. I love the sort of Harvey Pennic idea of like if you’re a golfer, you’re my friend. You I think immediately, especially in today’s climate, it’s nice to be able to have this place where we can all sort of agree and unite on this culture. Heck yeah, man. Yeah. The golf culture, especially here in Austin and in most places. Love it. Love it. Oh my gosh, man. This community is just so freaking cool. Shout out to you guys. Shout outs to you guys, my fellow ATXers. Much love you guys. Lots of love for you guys. Love this community. So yeah, the the goal is just to spread this out to as many people as possible. Um I I truly truly truly believe it has the power to to help a lot of people and as we were saying earlier um there is a way to just destroy yourself through golf and I think a lot of us have done it. And I think that there’s a way to um to heal yourself through golf, right? Just the way you can heal yourself with food and you can destroy yourself with food, right? It’s the same thing. Double meat cheeseburger. Hey man, there’s a time and a place for everything. Um, I want my cheeseburger today. But, um, yeah, there’s just a lot of different ways to do things. And, um, you know, this is just a really cool way, man, because like I said, if you’re gonna adopt these things, they have to be done through reps, right? You’re going to learn a piano song, you got to sit there and you got to put in the time. And I think that that’s the really unique part about golf, right? Is that we have the time. You have the ability to do reps again and again, naturally installed with the way we do things. You’re on the range, it’s reps. You go out into the course, it’s reps. You’re on the putting green, it’s reps. we have this beautiful, beautiful opportunity as golfers to be able to install these things and install them quickly because again, in order for a human brain to adopt them, we need reps. You need lots of reps, you know. So, and the thing that I appreciate is is this is not just for the 100% golfer. This is for the average Joe or girl that’s out there that’s that’s going through life that has those struggles, ups and downs, whether you’re studying for an exam, you know, or you just had a baby like me and those those crazy un like you the like you don’t know what’s happening next. you’re tired, you’re frustrated to get over those little moments. There’s those are these little key tips to help you just that you didn’t have before. Just get over that next step. Yeah. You know, just keep pushing forward and that mindset and the breathing really helps you get centered. And then if you’re a golfer, it’s a it’s a bonus. Heck yeah, man. I I think that that’s the other goal that we want to do is we we we want to invite more people into the game and help them know that this isn’t just about a game. that, hey, these golfers are doing things a little differently. And how amazing that, you know, they’re very aware of their mental health, they’re very aware of their body health, their physical health. Um, and even as we dive deeper into all of this, the spiritual aspects of doing all of this, we’ll eventually get into that as well as we get deeper and deeper. Um, but yeah, for people that have never played golf, I I I want it to be, you know, 10, 15 years from now, maybe it already is, but I want it to be a well-known thing in the future to where it’s just like, oh yeah, man, you’re struggling. You know, you got some some mental health issues, man, you you should go play some golf. Which kind of sounds funny, right? There’s a lot of folks out there like, no, that’s not what you do when you’re you need some mental health. You want to stay away from the course. But again, there’s just lots of different ways to to go about doing this. And um I’ve I’ve done the way I’ve I’ve I’ve played golf or should I say I’ve golfed in a way that that hurt me. I’ve I’ve golfed in a way that wasn’t good for my mind. And I’ve like I said recently I’ve only recently started to play golf. I’ve been golfing for a long time but I’ve recently started to play golf where it became fun. It became a game. And I remembered that what I should be doing out here because for so long I had forgotten. Like I said, I was the worst case I had ever seen because I mean, these are freaking three decades worth of habits, man. You know, so important to catch it early. So important to catch you early. And before we go, Rao, please let the folks know what you got going on, man. They can find you. Yeah. So, right now, we still got the Road to Scratch series season 1 on my YouTube channel, Ral Golfs. That’s ending pretty soon. And it’s going to end, here’s a little tip. I haven’t said it yet on my channel, but it’s going to end with me registering for a golf tournament here in Austin. Yeah, he’s helping me out. And then season two is going to kick off with me prepping for that tournament. Love it. I’m so excited for that. Raul works hard, so hard, you guys. He’s incredibly inspiring. If you’re not following Raul’s channel, you need to jump on Raul’s channel. Follow his journey. He is a phenomenal phenomenal person and golfer. You’re going to want to follow his journey and see what he’s going what he’s up what he’s up to. He’s currently working his mental game and making massive massive improvements in that department. It’s work, man. Every single time I’m trying to remember, but like you said, just keep coming back. keep coming back. As long as you doing that, you’re an example of folks I love to work with, man, because you’re stick you stick with it. You stick with it and you’re going to stick with it. And I just love that. Like when you when when you come across someone that’s like, “Hey, I’m going to pick up the guitar.” And they don’t give it up. 10 years, they’re still doing it. Yes. I love that. When you just stick to things and and let them grow. Uh very very proud of my friend here. So, make sure you check out his channel and be sure to go in there, subscribe, like his stuff, and comment and keep up with his journey cuz it is a fantastic fantastic journey. Keep at it, bro. I’m so proud of you. All right, golfer. So your homework assignment, start your meditation practice, jump onto YouTube, whatever channel you want, whatever identified, whatever kind of calls to you, start that practice. Then we can take our loading of the hoop practice and start installing that pre-shot routine at the range, on the putting green, and on the course. Lastly, we’re going to want to take that last meditation tip, right? So if you don’t find a tip or a video that you want on YouTube, best thing you can do I can recommend to you is at least have that body scan meditation where you know we start at our feet, we work our way up and then we lastly finish on our hands. If you want to just focus on the hands, you can do that as well. But we want to be able to kind of show that we have this ability to sort of The goal is that yeah to really know what our hands are doing and be able to acknowledge that like oh I can move focus not just from outside thoughts but I can also intentionally place focus on my body. And for golfers we want to place that attention on our hands 100%. So golfers after you’ve practiced your loading the on the course um and on the range let me know if it pops out in life. It should. I want you to try it out. See where loading of the who works for you. Maybe it’s on your way to work. Maybe it’s on maybe it’s in the shower. Maybe it’s in between a stressful situation at home. Uh you know, maybe it’s for no reason because we also want to make sure that even when things are good that we’re we’re popping this out as well, right? Not just when things are stressful, but of course, you know, we want to use it when it’s things are, you know, have gone ary or whatnot. But yeah, the goal is to make sure that this is popping up in real life. So, let me know where that works best for you in life. And once again, a big thank you to all the golfers that have tuned in to this mental game podcast. Be sure to stick around for episode 3. The goal for every single episode is to sort of link each episode to make sense with each the next episode. So, everything that we talk about in episode 1 connects to episode two and so on and so forth. So, uh really really great to be able to connect episode one to today’s episode. So, be sure to stick around for episode 3. really appreciate you all tuning in. This has been episode two of the Golf Psycho podcast. If you have any questions, if there’s a part of this podcast that really stuck out to you, please leave that in the comments. If you had a big aha, I would love to see that in the comments. DM him. DM him on Instagram. Yeah, appreciate it. You guys feel free to follow us there as well. Um, even something that we hadn’t thought of or we didn’t discuss or you were hoping that we would touch on, maybe we can touch on it later, but we’re deep diving into something maybe that you might have mentioned. Yeah, we’re going to keep deep diving as you know, we’re just getting started with our episode. So, subscribe. Yeah, be sure to subscribe. Send this to a friend. U Yeah, the goal is to get this out there to every single golfer, you know, as many golfers as possible. And your way, man. Yeah, man. Appreciate you. It’s going to be big. Yeah, appreciate you. But, uh, good luck. Go try out loading the Who. Try it out your next range session. See how it works for you and come back and let me know how it went, man. Would love to hear how it went. Peace. Much love you guys.
