Praise for Winning Golf
Winning Golf provides readers with several practical training exercises that they can put into use immediately to improve their scores. The compilation of mental advice by Dr. Miller, with input from world class athletes and yesterdays and todays stars, makes the book entertaining and relevant. It is a must read for any level of golfer trying to bring their game to the next level!
Derek Sprague, past president of the PGA of America and general manager of TPC Sawgrass, Ponte Vedra Beach, FL
Saul Miller brings to bear his extensive experience working with athletes from many sports on ways of rising to the mental challenges that golf provides. He has worked with golfers of all abilities, studied how the best players manage themselves and their games, and offers practical suggestions for a winning mental game. If you want to develop what Dr. Miller terms right feeling, right focus, and right attitude, this is the book for you.
Lorne Rubenstein, author with Tiger Woods of The 1997 Masters: My Story and winner of the PGA of Americas Lifetime Achievement Award in Journalism
Golf is a game where you can go from feeling very relaxed to experiencing stress within minutes. Conscious breathing is just one technique Dr. Miller describes in this fascinating book that will help everyone reduce their stress level before an important shot and generally play with more consistency and impact.
Bob Gelesko, Golf Professional, Rams Hill Country Club, Borrego Springs, CA
Guaranteed to improve you as a player! Winning Golf simplifies the mental game and has many practical applications for everyday life.
Eric Wang, CPGA Teaching Professional, Victoria Golf Academy
Winning Golf: The Mental Game provides great insight into the mental side of succeeding on the golf course and in everyday life. Saul has really touched on several areas where high level players and weekend warriors struggle whether they actually realize it or not. A great read and for me a great tune up to regain my mental edge on the course.
Rhein Gibson, PGA Tour Pro and Guinness record holder of the lowest score in a round (55)
Dr. Saul Miller has written another wonderful book about the intricacies of performing at the highest levels. He has worked with many athletes from many different sports and has helped them to realize the importance of understanding themselves, their emotions, their minds and, most importantly, the intimate connection of mind and body.
Winning Golf dives into the golfers mindset: an area that is so often overlooked. It offers some real solutions to performance anxiety. Theres also great advice from golfers, as well as athletes in other sports, regarding improving performance by developing greater self-awareness. Being a player who competed at the highest levels, I always knew how important the mind is, and I read numerous books on the subject. Every golfer who wants to succeed to the best of their abilities must include the knowledge of how the mind/body connection works. Dr. Saul does a good job of bringing the player back to center with mindful breathing. Yes, it takes discipline anything worthwhile does. This is a book that every serious golfer needs to have on his or her bookshelf to help start on this journey of self-awareness that is so important not only in golf, but in life.
Jim Nelford, Lifetime Member of the PGA Tour, TV golf analyst, innovative instructor, and member of Canadas Golf Hall of Fame
Dr. Sauls techniques helped me play the best hockey of my career, particularly during our winning Stanley Cup season. These techniques continue to serve me in life and on the golf course. Reading Winning Golf and continuing to work on the exercises prescribed will improve your performance and pleasure playing golf.
Bret Hedican, 17-year NHL veteran, two-time Olympian, TV broadcaster, and recreational golfer
I enjoyed working with Dr. Saul Miller in my formative years as a professional on the PGA Tour. Sauls book, Winning Golf: The Mental Game, is an excellent resource for a better understanding of the mental side of golf performance. I highly recommend reading and following Sauls guidance.
Richard Zokol, PGA Tour winner, member of Canadas Golf Hall of Fame, and MindTRAK creator
Dr. Millers book Winning Golf is a must-read for all golfers and covers all the internal challenges we confront in the game of golf on a daily basis.
Keith Maxwell, PGA Professional, Sunningdale Golf Club, Berkshire, England
This is a very clear, comprehensive, and well-organized approach to developing a players mental game. Any serious competitor would do well to follow Millers suggestions and practice his exercises as much as they work on their mechanics and their physical fitness. I will recommend this work to everyone and I think it could be especially useful to young kids who are mature enough. Its a great plan for life in general.
Jim Petralia, member of the California PGA Teaching Hall of Fame and one of Golf Magazines top 50 American instructors
Winning Golf: The Mental Game will improve the quality of your golf... and your life. Trust me, this stuff really works.
Cliff Ronning, 18-year NHL veteran and sub-70 recreational golfer
This book can help you to strengthen your mental game and play happier, better golf.
Nancy Lopez, a true golf icon, LPGA and World Golf Hall of Fame member (48 LPGA victories)
Dedication
To those seeking more success and enjoyment playing golf, a sport they love.
Section One
Introduction
A strong mind is one of the key components that separates the great from the good.
Gary Player
Chapter One
Mapping Out the Mental Game
Success in golf depends less on strength of body than upon strength of mind.
Arnold Palmer
Excellence in any sport is the result of the successful integration of physical, technical, and mental factors. While most athletes and coaches would agree that success on the golf course is at least 50 percent mental, there remains a disproportionate emphasis on training the physical and technical aspects of the game, while mental training is underrated.
But not by winners. As Jim Flick, one of golfs most prolific and influential instructors, stated, Ive found that the player with the best mind trumps the player with the best swing.
The way I see it, the mind is a supercomputer, capable of processing tens of thousands of thoughts, images, and feelings every day, and its always on. Most golfers I work with are healthy people, with sound, high-functioning minds. As such, they are capable of running positive, empowering mental programs. My job as a sport psychologist is to show my clients how to develop and run high-performance programs and how to eliminate negative, anxious, and limiting thoughts and feelings. Thats what Winning Golf is all about.
Max Homa put it this way: I really enjoy working really, really hard. Thats kind of my MO. And I realized that I wasnt spending enough time working on my brain. And that can get to you out here. Its a grind. We have an awesome job, but its very lonely in your brain at times on the golf course. You have bad shots and you start kicking yourself.... If Im going to work as hard as I do on the range, on the chipping green, on the putting green I need to be putting that time on myself. And thats been cool because now I feel like Im just walking around enjoying my opportunity to compete.