You may know about left brain vs right brain theory. Have you ever thought of the ramifications for your golf of trying to play with your Left Brain in control?

The theory says that your Left Brain is better at doing some things and your Right Brain is better at doing other things.

Left Brain is good at math, logic, accounting, engineering, etc.

Right Brain is good at creativity, imagination, art and music.

You may not know that the Left Brain is clumsy and un-athletic while Right Brain is where the "natural athletes" operate best.

Now consider playing golf-

You need good Left Brain ability to gather all the data, figure out what shot to play, what target to hit to, etc.

You need good Right Brain ability to actually play the shot, to be athletic over the ball.

You must not mix the two!  This is a trap that most golfers fall into. This is one of the biggest reasons for inconsistency. Left Brain cannot play a lick, yet most are doing Left Brain things over the ball.

Are you still considering the details of the shot while moving into the shot or over the ball? Do you change the shot or target while over the ball?

Do you step into your stance very carefully, focussed on aligning your feet very exactly? Do you check the alignment of your feet, your hips and your shoulders over the ball?

Do you check your grip, your posture over the ball? Do you instruct yourself to keep your head still over the ball?

Do you carefully align the club face or the putter to the line of the shot, trying to get it exactly right?

Do you pay close attention to how you are going to move the club and then on how you are moving the club in the swing? Do you have multiple swing keys you are monitoring and controlling while swinging?

Are you making sure you do your pre-shot routine exactly the same every time, trying hard not to leave anything out?

These are all examples of a player operating in a Left Brained way.

The Left Brain is a klutz, yet you try to take control with it all the time. You are judging what you are doing with it. You are trying so hard to do it right with your Left Brain.

Here is a simple exercise to highlight the difference between Left Brain and Right Brain operating.

Sign Your Name- just like you would sign a check or a letter.

Then draw two horizontal lines one third of an inch apart. This time when you sign, the bottoms of the letters of your name must touch the bottom line but cannot go below it except for the tails that normally go below for lower case letters like g, j, p and y. Every letter must touch the bottom line and no strokes can go above the top line. Letters below the bottom line or not touching it lose a point.

How easy was that? How smooth? Or was it difficult, perhaps even impossible? How many points did you lose?

In the first signature, you were signing without control, without the Left Brain directing your movements and you signed easily. In the second try, your Left Brain was directing the movements and carefully judging how you were doing. The outcome was more important because you did not want to lose points. You were challenged to perform. Arousal may even have risen if you are very competitive.

In most other sports, operating in a Right Brain, athletic way is part of playing that sport. You are reacting to a ball or another player and you don't have time to think about how to do it or to be careful about what you are doing. When you do, it usually screws things up. This is why some basketball players play great shots from the floor but when they have all the time in the world without interference to shoot the foul shot, they can struggle.

When you struggle with your golf, do you try to fix your swing mechanically on the course? Is your Left Brain directing the corrections and then trying to make them work? After the round, do you run off for a lesson or to the practice tee and work some more in a Left Brained way to perfect your swing, to check your alignment and your fundamentals, to find solutions? After all this is the model for playing better and learning to play golf isn't it?

Are you training yourself to play golf with your Left Brain all the time?

An effective Mental Routine will have you using your Left Brain for what it is good at and then using your Right Brain to play the shot. You can see a great video of an effective mental routine on our homepage at the bottom with our compliments.

Always finish your practice on the range with shots to different targets using a full mental routine. Then play golf on the course with a full mental routine for every shot, no Left Brain controlling and swinging allowed!

Call us or one of our GolfPsych Instructors to help you develop your Mental Routine and get your Right Brain in the game!

One of the most subtle and destructive game ruiners is over-arousal. You don't recognize when it is happening, things just don't work right. Your thoughts and emotions raise it easily. Others may be more aware of yours than you are. Sometimes it means we swing too fast or hit too far. Stone hands are common in the short game.

It affects some of the 8 Champion Traits in negative ways. Your focus will expand increasing awareness of things around you. Rabbit Ears are a common symptom. You are more easily distracted by external things or odd thoughts.

Your brain will get more active. This can make it harder to make decisions and reduce your intuition. Paralysis by Analysis is likely. Green reading gets harder.

You will be more emotional than you usually are leading to emotional reactions sooner and greater than normal, reacting more to missed shots.

If you are more dominant than the average person, then you will get more aggressive. If you are more submissive than the average person, you will get more defensive.

Since most of us are not trained to recognize our level of arousal or control it, this can be most confounding. It makes the problem with our game really mysterious. When we work on our game later or go to our teaching pro everything seems fine.

What most players don't realize is that arousal has a range from really low to really high. It is not like a light switch, all on or all off.

You most certainly will notice it when it is really high. Muscles will get tight. Heart rate will be high. Blood pressure rises. Breathing will be shallow and quicker or you may hold your breath. Focus is fractured and awareness jumps. Time may seem to slow down. Movements will be quick and clumsy.

On the low end of the arousal scale, you can be very relaxed and placid. Nothing matters and focus floats around. You may do things without any thought. Sloppy is a good description. Lack of motivation is likely. Couch Potatoes live here.

In between the high and low ends there is a lot of space.

Sport Psychology has long talked about the Optimum Level of Arousal for Performance in any sport. In Olympic Target shooting they are trying to shoot between heart beats so the optimum level is very low but not un-focussed. They are very focussed on the target.

A football lineman has to be fast and strong and smart. They must be on the higher end of the scale but not so high they can't think well or wear themselves out too quickly.

Through our research, we have found that the optimum level of arousal for golf is actually a range around the middle of the scale. A bit higher for driving the ball and the long game then lower for putting and short game. With our Mind Meter, we can actually help you define your optimum levels for golf.

The classic example of an untrained player without this knowledge but good physical skills goes like this:

Let's call this player Tommy (no offense to all the Tommy's out there). Tommy has just played 4 holes and is walking to the next tee box, a "reachable" par 5. He is in one of two minds.

Tommy Upbeat has been playing well and hits his driver pretty far so he sees this as a great opportunity to pick up some shots. These thoughts raise his arousal to a 7, slightly higher than the optimum 6 for driving.

Tommy Negative has not been hitting his driver well, so he is anticipating a poor shot and immediately figuring that he is going to give up shots to the field on this easy hole. These thoughts raise his arousal to a 7, slightly higher than the optimum 6 for driving.

Tommy tees off with this heightened arousal and luckily hits a great drive down the middle, far.

Tommy Upbeat is happy, excited and proud. This is great. This gives him a great opportunity. His arousal stays around a 7.

Tommy Negative is surprised and pleased but immediately goes something like. "Oh great, now I'll look really bad if I don't hit a good shot on the green." His arousal stays around 7.

Tommy only has 6 iron in.

Tommy Upbeat is licking his lips and rubbing his hands. He hits it on the green about 18 feet. Great opportunity for an eagle or certain birdie. "Yippee!" Arousal at 7 or higher.

Tommy Negative hits it on the green, thank goodness, to about 18 feet. Then starts worrying about his putting which has not been too good lately, or about how bad he will look if he putts poorly. Arousal at 7 or higher.

Tommy arrives at the green, arousal around 7, but optimum for putting is about a 4 on the scale. Tommy is a long way from optimum putting.

He can't read it and his feel for the speed isn't very good. Over the putt he doesn't feel comfortable.The first one is long or short but never on a good line. From 4 feet, the second one is too careful and never makes it to the hole or is pulled or pushed. Three putt. Tommy walks off the green very disappointed and feeling like he has double bogeyed one of the easiest holes.

Sound familiar? Either way?

I was generous in keeping Tommy's arousal around 7 and letting him hit some good shots in this example.

Arousal above optimum shows up first in your short game. Think of your short game as a very sensitive arousal indicator. 

This is one of the reasons better players often report they were hitting it great tee to green but couldn't buy a putt. Arousal slightly high for putting will mean lots of lip outs or slightly off line or speed problems or just uncomfortable over the putts.

You must work to lower arousal from tee to green on every hole. Breathing, relaxing, thinking of pleasant things between shots. Enjoy the day, remember good times or a good movie or favorite songs between shots. Any thoughts that create excitement, anxiety or fear will raise arousal. Focussing on the round between shots is generally unhelpful and easily raises arousal.

If you care about playing well, you will not have to worry about under-arousal while competing.

Any of our GolfPsych Instructors can help you find your Optimum Arousal range and practice in it. We use our patent-pending Mind Meter in our schools and on the course to raise awareness quickly and help you learn to do this with our patented Zone Training System.

Now you know one of the big reasons golf can be so frustrating.

Failing to perform in competition is not your fault because our golf culture and industry is constantly giving you bad advice.

They mean well. They certainly want you to play better and enjoy the game more. But somehow when the chips are down, you usually struggle. If the advice was good then you should be playing your best in competition.

So, is it premeditated? Do they know that you will probably struggle even though you are trying to do everything they tell you and use the equipment they recommend?

I am sure they are aware that most of us struggle to perform well in competition. This is the norm. It keeps us coming back for more instruction and searching for answers.

They are making money giving the instruction. Players keep coming back. There are occasional rounds of brilliance and slow improvement, some of the time. So they keep dishing it out, like they always have.

It's kind of like the 800 pound gorilla in the room. We all know about it but nobody is making a big deal about it.

In our experience, this is true at every level in golf.

It can make you crazy when you consider how things seem to change when you go to compete.

You get a lesson and while on the lesson tee with your Pro, you feel like you understand and the swing is working well. You may be hitting the ball better than ever. You take that thought or instruction and practice it. It's working. You are expecting good things in the next competition.

Then it is tournament day. A number of different scenarios are possible. You may warm-up well or not. You may hit the first tee shot well or not. You may play the first few holes really well or not. You may play the front nine well or not. You may play the back nine or most of the back nine well or not.

At some point in the round or the next round, that thing you are doing stops working. It is unexplainable to you. You were going gang busters and then it's gone. Something is off or wrong. Things aren't working as good as they were. Your performance confidence drops.

What happened? Was the advice good or not? It had you going better for awhile, so for awhile it was good advice. Since you did not keep it going and play consistently well over time in competition there must be something missing.

And there is...

(I go into this and what to do about it in greater detail on our homepage, www.golfpsych.com.)

They are training you like you are a machine capable of repetitive action. They set you up in a perfect environment to hit the ball or roll the ball well. They tweek and adjust until everything is just right. You hit the ball well many times.

You repeat this action because they promise repetition begets perfect repetition. You are training muscle memory, whatever that means. As if you are a machine and if you can get the set-up and the movements just right then everything will be grand.

There is one little problem with this scenario, YOU ARE NOT A MACHINE.

You are flesh and bone, muscle and tendon, nerves and brain. You are not the same every day or from moment to moment. Your thoughts change. Emotions come and go. Memories show up. Your level of arousal is changing with the thoughts. Your level of arousal is also changing based on nutrition and physical effort.

Often the instruction you have had pushes you to focus on doing certain things very carefully. This can easily have you operating in a left-brained and mechanical, perfectionistic way, focussed on the swing not the shot...which is very harmful to athletic performance.

They are not teaching you how to train your brain and body to work together to play golf well in competition. Until you learn to control yourself you are not in control of your body or your golf.

That is, with no understanding of thought control, awareness of arousal and an ability to control it, or an understanding of how to put yourself in the best mode for good ball striking and putting; you are out of control.

A mentally untrained player or one that falls into the mechanical, left-brained trap will not be consistent because the player himself or herself is ever changing and less athletic.

Your arousal has to be optimized for that particular shot. Your thoughts must be controlled to manage emotions so they don't raise your level of arousal above optimum. The approach to the shot must enable you to be your most athletic while swinging or putting. Careful and defensive are sure signs of left-brained thinking and playing.

So the golf industry has been telling you how to be successful, except they have left out a huge part, how to perform well in competition. The advice is bad because it is not complete. This is not your fault. So failing to perform in competition is most likely and not your fault. You are not trying to play poorly, are you?

To start performing as well as you know you can, you need to get the mental game training that we offer. Our Mental Game Builder Package has everything to get you going in a hurry.

Our Mental Pre-Shot Routine video will help you understand the principles of using your left brain and right brain to focus and play your shots athletically. This is one of the most important foundation skills for your mental game. It is free at the bottom of our homepage.

Here's to finally getting complete good advice and performing well in competition like you deserve.

You may know by now how much we prefer science and facts to anecdote and popular concepts. This one is an eye-opener.

A recent article on Mercola.com revealed the results of a study on Vitamin D in the US. (You were expecting me to talk about hormones, well Vitamin D is a hormone)

For years we have been told that it is easy to overdose on Vitamin D and that you must be careful not take too much. Wrong...

For years we have been advised to take other vitamins regularly with little emphasis on Vitamin D. Wrong...

For years we have been advised that getting sunlight on our skins enables our bodies to make all the Vitamin D we need. ...But what about the rabid advice about protecting our skin from the sun's harmful rays... This causes us to avoid sunlight, wear gobs of sunscreen and cover up...

This new study has found that 95% of older and younger people in the US, and 85% of the rest of us are not getting enough vitamin D. This hormone plays a huge role in the way your body functions.

There are all kinds of results from too little Vitamin D in our bodies, all bad. They include increased susceptibility to cancer, weakened imune system, more colds and flu, on and on...

Think about the impact of the seasons. In Summer you can get plenty of sunshine but in the Winter for those farther North this is almost impossible. Therefore Vitamin D levels are lowest in the Winter for all and worst for those farther North, JUST WHEN YOU NEED IT THE MOST...

Could this be why we have a colds and flu season??? Aren't those viruses around all the time?

So How to Get Enough...and...How Much is Enough or Too Much?

The Guidelines printed by Mercola are as follows: Deficient if you have less than 50 ng/ml in your blood, Optimal is 50-65 ng/ml, Fighting Cancer is 65-90 ng/ml, Excess is over 100 ng/ml.

There are 3 ways to get vitamin D, make sure you are getting D3 not D2 which is ineffective:

1. Sunlight on your skin. The color of your skin, the location, time of year all help determine what is healthful for you. You need to expose at least 40% of your skin on a regular basis. Sun block does prevent sunburn but not cell damage and it blocks production of D. Overdoing sun exposure and burning your skin does not increase vitamin D production.

2. A tanning bed with lights that produce sunlight like rays.

3. Vitamin D3 supplementation.

It is very important that you monitor the levels of D3 in your blood. Mercola recommends 2-4 times a year to have your blood tested. In my recent blood test I had 38.3 ng/ml, even though I live in South Texas and get regular sun. I want to raise this level so I am taking 5,000 iu per day. (Everyone is different, you need to get a blood test. Fortunately you do not need a prescription to get this done by a local lab.)

Only Supplement with the Right Kind of Vitamin D

There is one other thing you need to be aware of if you choose to use an oral vitamin D supplement and that is that there are basically two types – one is natural and one is synthetic.

The natural one is D3 (cholecalciferol), which is the same vitamin D your body makes when exposed to sunshine

The synthetic one is vitamin D2, which is sometimes called ergocalciferol

Once either form of the vitamin is in your body, it must be converted to a more active form. Vitamin D3 is converted 500 percent faster than vitamin D2, and is clearly a better alternative.

Vitamin D2 also has a shorter shelf life, and its metabolites bind with protein poorly, making it less effective. Studies have even concluded that vitamin D2 should no longer be regarded as a nutrient appropriate for supplementation or fortification of foods (although it continues to be used). So if you choose to use vitamin D supplements make sure it is in the form of vitamin D3.

Please be aware that nearly all the prescription-based supplements contain synthetic vitamin D2, so if you receive a prescription for vitamin D from your doctor, you’re most likely receiving the inferior vitamin D2.

Personally, I have chosen to supplement with about 5,000 iu of Vitamin D3 orally per day. Since starting in December I can report increased strength and stamina, more clear thinking, improved eyesight, harder nails and so far no colds or flu. I am becoming a big believer.

D3 Supplements from 2 high quality sources that we can recommend:

Mercola.com has an oral spray of D3 with nano particles that you spray under your tongue 2 times a day. Each spray is about 1,000 iu, so 3 sprays each time, 20 seconds for each spray before swallowing, for 6,000 iu per day. (We have no affiliation or connection with Mercola, we make nothing from this recommendation)

Trace Minerals has a great tasting oral liquid. Take one teaspoon per day for 5,000 iu of D3. Keep the opened bottle in the fridge. This is the one I have chosen personally. It is simpler for me to remember once a day.

Both come in one month bottles for the same price. We are a distributor of Trace Minerals and you can order the liquid from our website. I currently have it in stock. Just Click on Trace Minerals D3 to order yours.

We guarantee you will like it or return the unused portion to us for a full refund of the purchase price within 60 days. Your order will ship priority mail and should be there within 3-5 days of your order.

Please Don't Wait, especially during these Winter Months when your levels of D3 are naturally lower than healthy levels. A one month bottle is only $14.97 plus shipping.

Full Disclosure- We are not making very much on this product. The recommended retail is $20.99. I felt we needed to match Mercola and we want you to be healthier, part of our mission. Please take advantage of this offer for your health and a great 2010.

(Please keep in mind that we are not professional health care providers. These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease. If you are pregnant, nursing, taking medication, or have a medical condition, consult your physician before using this product.)

Self-Sufficiency is one of the 8 Champion Traits from our research on the PGA Tour players.

It means your prefer to make your own decisions and guide your own ship. This can easily mean that you are trying to figure this game out by yourself. You might take lessons but you are always judging whether the instruction works for you.

On Tour the Team approach is standard procedure for most Tour players. They have gathered a group of experts in every area that can help them play or manage their business. They have a swing coach, a fitness guru, a physical therapist, a sport psychologist, expert club fitting and a professional manager. They may also have a nutritionist, a massage therapist, a travel agent, a PR coach and an orthopedic surgeon. They will get the best they can in every area they think can help their performance.

This is the definition of a professional. One who actively does everything possible to perform their best.

This is now almost required to compete at that level.

What we find with most golfers today is that they are working hard on their game and doing something on the fitness and flexibility side. But it tends to stop there. Especially with younger golfers.

This natural preference for doing it yourself, being your own boss seems to offset all the media discussion of the Mental Game and how important it is. Most players will say Mental is 90% of the game. But this is just the politically correct thing to say. They tend not to work very hard on the mental side.

The media and other mental gurus tend to offer simplistic suggestions of what you need to do mentally. You may have a view of the mental game as being pretty simple and no practice needed. Just remember to think about some particular thing when you are playing and you will be OK. Then if your play is not up to your standards you will go looking for solutions through your physical game.

So ask yourself this question and be brutally honest with yourself. Are you going to work seriously on your mental game this year or would you rather not?

If you would rather work on other things, why is that?

Don't worry about preferring not to. This is only natural. There is nothing wrong with you, especially if you have Champion levels of Self-Sufficiency. But you are preventing yourself from playing your very best and progressing faster by avoiding working on your mental game.

If you are really motivated to improve your performances, then you have got to put some serious time and effort into your mental game.

Tag, You're It!