Golf coaching

A few practical examples. A manager of a listed company who was on the verge of burnout was very results-driven. You could see that in his golf game too: red face, club in the ground, lots of swearing. In two hours of coaching, he literally saw the light, his strokes became calmer and much more relaxed. But above all, he made it a sport to process every disappointment invisibly. He now turns his strength (results-oriented) into his greatest resource. We had a few more conversations, on and off the course, and the burnout never happened. Instead, he has had more success in his work and golf by working less hard.

Another example is a woman who was bothered by the “alpha male” behaviour of her flight crew colleagues. She bottled up the negativity and eventually lashed out. In a coaching session, we quickly discovered that this behaviour was a pattern that mirrored her own authoritarian and strict father, who also had a drinking problem. This made his behaviour unpredictable and even dangerous. During the session, she realised that the “alpha behaviour” of some of the men in her flight was actually a reflection of their own insecurity and therefore very predictable, posing no real danger to her. This made her calmer, allowing her to focus on her own game, let things slide – with increasing success – and no longer be perceived as a bitch. Funnily enough, after a few months, the behaviour of some of those alpha men also changed.

This form of coaching is therefore also intended for people who are familiar with golf but are stuck in their career or family life. Or, conversely, those who are successful in life but are not developing further as golfers.

A few examples of how it works. When do you score a birdie, for example, if you are actually allowed to take 5 strokes on a PAR 4? Many people only call a birdie after 3 strokes, which is nonsense. With 4 strokes, you score a birdie, write down 3 points and can celebrate your success. This gives you a greater sense of achievement and helps you get into a flow more quickly. And what if you also hit your second ball from the tee box into the woods? What do I see in your posture, what do you say to yourself or your flight mates? How helpful is that for your energy? How often do you think, ‘This one mustn't go into the water’? And finally, where is your conscious breathing in your “pre-shot routine”? Just a few questions.

The coaching will initially take place at my practice in Veldhoven, where we will also use our golf clubs. Depending on your needs, training can also take place on the course.

It is even possible to focus the coaching entirely on the mental aspect of golf, without any other “coaching questions”. To this end, I have developed a number of workshops (largely based on NLP Neuro-Linguistic Programming) that can be taken individually or – much more fun and cheaper – with a group of golfing friends.

The topics I cover there are as follows:

• Universal principles of success
• Use all your senses
• The balance between body, mind and breathing
• Know what you think and the effect it has
• Making choices
• Internal communication
• Feedback
• Match tips

If you follow the suggestions from this workshop, you can easily reduce your handicap by at least 2 points in a very short time, depending on your current HCP.