How Self-Hypnosis Can Transform Your Golf Performance with Ken Holloway

video a hypnosis one on one for golfers. It's on YouTube. The biggest myth about hypnosis is that you have to be easily swayed, gullible, weak witted, dim witted, not the sharpest crayon in the box. And people are proud to say, yeah, I can't be hypnotized. Once you understand hypnosis is you'll understand it's something that anyone could do. It's just a matter of choice. Now. The other myth is that once you're in the hypnotized statement, let's just call it trance.

Once you're in trance, that you're under the power of the hypnotist.

game really tuned in. And that's with self hypnosis. Now, we have had someone on before about hypnosis self hypnosis, but the person wasn't a golfer.

was one of them, I don't know. They say, oh, the most important, you know, Bobby Jones, right the six inches between your ears. So I didn't realize how important the mental game was to golf. But what I discovered, quite by accident, is that you could use hypnosis to incorporate all the principles of the mental game and plant them directly into the subconscious mind where most of us live and when we're playing golf. And to me, that

was a revelation. I knew it was powerful, and I knew it was it was profound, and I knew that was going to create a program just for golfers that just focuses on golf, and that that's why we're here today.

things about the mental game of golf. For example, getting emotionally upset and losing your cool that would be one of them. Choking under pressure would be one. Losing your focus, giving up on your preshot routine that helps you stay grounded and consistent, all the various kinds of things, all the aspects of the mental game that help you achieve

peak performance. The hypnosis program goes right directly into the subconscious mind and it gives you cues like saying a keyword or having a key technique or taking a cleansing breath and so forth that helps you recenter yourself and get your game back on track. And it starts with

getting your head straight. Okay. So I hope that answers your question, because you know, like James Siegmund says, if you hit a bad shot, then you don't own it, you objectify it and go you turn into a teaching moment and you say, if I could do that shot over again, how would I do it differently? And that turns it into a learning opportunity, And that's how champions

how their mind works. So I like to help golfers make the most of every moment and every opportunity that they have on the golf course to play golf up to their best of their ability and to reach their full potential and enjoy being in the moment and playing excellent golf, because that's why we're all there, you know, we want to hit the shot that keeps us coming back. Right. And when when I discovered the hypnosis was was so powerful to help people on every single one of these points.

That's what helped me create my program and make a career out of this. Not to mention, I've hypnotized thousands of people all over.

an example of creating a situational comedy. And then they respond with a queue and although nothing actually happened, then the woman's having a reaction like, you know, you keep your hands for yourself, mister, and then the audience laughs. See so.

partner and we've been partners thirty one years. And we bring up about twenty people and we do an induction on the stage where everyone can watch, and then it takes about, you know, six minutes or so, and then and then we keep about the best eight people out of twenty and make a show out of that. So each of these eight people, that's our recipe for success is to do a show with about eight to ten people.

in your lap. Then we come along and lift up someone's arm and let go, and if the arm stays up, then paying attention, and if they aren't plops down, then we know that they're following.

And so if I if I we eject them off the stage and I have an assistant say oh this guy, Yeah, he's faking, he's out of here, and then that way because we would be like an affair. So we'd be like doing two shows a day for a week or something like a county fair, a county fair, state fair. I thought you said an affair, Like wait right, what now? There we did. We got we got to do three seasons of Six Flags Magic Mountain and that was alast

the Golden Beear Theater. The show it was so loud, so you know, just the best energy in the world, and it was a good place to hone my craft. So uh, that's to answer your question. That that's how we had various techniques. And of course On and I trained together, so she knew she knew what to look for as well, and she could just tell.

all wrong. But if you go in with an attitude of this could be the shot of the day, this could be my best shot, that's really gonna help you. Now. My problem with the hypnosis part and listening to the audio. I was in a room by myself. It was dark, right, there was one small light on in there, and I was very comfortable. But you know, we've talked many times, people say, don't think about a pink elephant, and what else are you gonna do is think about a pink elephant.

So when you tell me to sit still and relax and feel the heaviness of your legs and your arms, I start itching and twitching and it's like I can't I can't sit unless I'm going to sleep. I can't sit still like that so I struggled with it a bit. Can you hypnotize me? Now? You can't do this? Over it?

what a hypnotist does. It's a hypnotist acts in that role. So all forms of hypnosis are self hypnosis because it takes place in your own subconscious mind whoever's using the hypnosis.

yeah I'm not susceptible to hypnosis. Right, you've probably heard that, right, maybe you said it yourself.

And see, that's that's an incredible myth, and that's it's prevalent, and that's what most people believe because hypnosis has been stigmatized, and so believe me. Well, let me let's start with a question. Have you ever been to a movie at a theater and you were so moved it brought you to tears? Of course, could you tell me what movie it was?

So you felt normal and natural in every way, didn't you? Yes, Okay, without even thinking about it. Okay, So you weren't aware of your conscious awareness because you relax that and just enjoyed the movie at a subconscious level. And that's where our emotions run. Okay, So being in a theater watching a movie and relaxed and just enjoying it, you're still you.

You still feel normal in every way, and if you need to be interrupted for something important, it happens instantly, no big deal, right, And that's what hypnosis feels like. So people think that they're going to feel weird. I didn't myself when the first time I got hypnotized. I'm like, oh, this is going to feel weird. I'm going to feel like I'm buzzing or something something weird. Right, I'm going to feel like I'm not myself or something. But that

never happens. Okay, Being in a state of hypno Being in trance is similar to just being in a state of daydream. Now, I got another question for you, Fred. Have you ever been driving home from work and all of a sudden you pull up in your driveway and you're like, holy smokes, I don't remember driving for the last ten minutes. Right, Has that happened to you?

could be anything, right, Yeah, exactly. So that is precisely what it's like to be in a hypnotic state. Okay, so you're still you, you still have conscious that flows, I mean exactly, Yeah, and we'll come back around to that. So so you're still you, You still feel normal in every way, you still have full cognitive function and awareness. But but your brain is in a in a in a you know, it's vibrating in a theta theta zone. So that's what it's like to be. So if everyone's

had these experiences. Anytime you do something boring and repetitive, like taking a shower, driving home from work, going to a movie theater where you relax, the body, the body's doing something rope and your subconscious mind is just going all over the place having a great time. Right, That's exactly what hypnosis feels like. So anyone can do it anytime they want, and in fact, everyone gets into that

state often whether they're aware of it or not. And the job of a hypnotist, as I mentioned earlier, is like being the guide. And I said, all hypnosis is a form of self hypnosis. So if you came to me and said, hey, my golf game's pretty good, but I just suck on these short puts under pressure, I get the yips and I just can't control my putting. I get the yips and it just frustrates the heck out of me, right, so we could do a session together.

I can help you relax. It'd be like you know, walking into a theater, turn off the lights, sit down in a comfy chair, right, just like get a theater. And then so I hope you get your body relaxed, and then I will give you suggestions. And the suggestions will be Fred. Every time you step onto the green, the color green, you feel the grass beneath your feet, and you feel relaxed, You feel in control, and you see the putt and you know you can make the

putt and you feel relaxed and full of confidence. And when you set up to the ball, you feel the weight of the club in your hands and you feel the ground under your feet and you know that you're going to make a nice smooth stroke and the ball's going to go in. Bubba buah blah blah. Right, So these are suggestions I would give you, But again I'm the guide. Everything that's important, is happening, is in your mind. Okay, So does that kind of make the picture for you?

And if I said, if I said, hey, Fred, as long as you're hypnotized tomorrow, I want you to go rob a bank and bring me all the cash. Okay, you would reject thatuggestion because that's not something you would want to do right so anytime, and it's called a suggestion for a reason. It's not a command. So this ties in with a myth I said earlier about people think that they're under the control of the hypnotist. And see, that's a myth because I can only give suggestions. I

can't give commands. No one's under my command. Now people are free to choose to follow the suggestion or not. But you always have your conscious awareness, just like being in a theater driving a car, So you're always able to reject any suggestion that you want to and that's important. And once people understand that, then they know then they have understanding and they no longer feel threatened by it. Then then it becomes a matter of going, well, hey,

what are those suggestions. If they can help me with my golf game, I'd love to hear them, right, And I want to make this happen because here's the thing. I don't want to run out of time here. But when you start out in life, you are a sponge. You are recording everything, everything, all five senses, full blast, being filmed and recorded in your subconscious mind, and almost everything important in life that we learn how to do and how to process things, we're done with that by

the time we're six or seven years old. And most people as adults, those are the programs they run their whole life. For most of us. I think there was a book. I haven't read it. I think everything important I learned in kindergarten something like that. It's probably a good book anyway. By using hypnosis as an adult, you know, if you're in your forties, fifty sixties or whatever, and like you think, gosh, am I ever going to get

better at golf? I'm so frustrated. You know, by using hypnosis, you can rewrite the subconscious program that isn't serving you, like getting the yips on a short put under pressure, right, okay, and you can replace it with another program that works better. And then then the only thing left is repetition. Okay. So you have to listen to the program, you know, every day for you know, maybe two or three weeks whatever, and the longer you listen to it, you reinforce the

new program. It occurs over time, but all you have to do is listen, okay, And you could do as you're drifting off to sleep at night, so it doesn't even take time out of your day. You just play the tape. I call it a tape. Play the program, listen to it as you're drifting off to sleep at night, and then all of a sudden you're out on the golf course and you start getting amazing results, and you'll

know it's because of the hypnosis program. And the kicker is that once that new program is in your subconscious mind, it'll be there as if you've had it your whole life. It's it's who you are now.

my work done. But it's now and not now does that make sense at all? So it's hard for me to get into that state, at least my first time around. I mean, I'm definitely willing to try it again.

on the planet that speaks English. What I would say is, if you buy the program and for some reason it doesn't work for you and you're not happy, you can get your money back.

ground beneath you. Right. So we want you to be in the present moment of golf. We want you to be focused on exactly what you're doing, and so we want to make we want to keep you centered and grounded. Okay. So a lot of the suggestions are worded in that direction that, Hey, you're walking around the golf course, you see the target, you see a golf ball, you feel the way to the club in your hands, you feel the ground beneath your feet. Take one of these cues

and make a word out of it. That helps you think of all the good, powerful and positive suggestions that you want to use in your subconscious mind.

you take a practice swing. Right. When you come out of that practice swing, you feel the weight of the club in your hands as you're imagining the shot you're about to hit. This is a mental rehearsal, right, and a physical rehearsal. And then when you finish that backswing and you hold that finish, that's where your balance is, right, and you're thinking, my keyword is balance. Now I'm going to go step up and and perform this shot beautifully. I like it. So think of your keyword balance every

time you do your pre shot routine. Yeah, that's going to help work great. Well, they it's going to help you stay balanced, or excuse me, it's going to help you stay in the present and stay centered and focus on your objective, which is to hit the shot you rehearse onto your target.

And so when I contemplate bring on a new golf coaching client, uh, that person, I will talk about their golf journey and we'll figure out if it's a good fit for me to work with that person. And part of that is to assess their full game and see where they can make the most improvement and the least amount of time and effort. So I focus on an immediate improvement and then a long term improvement.

above the ground. Life is beautiful, right, And so when you work on the mental game, you're kind of like tipping the scales in your favor, so you can set yourself up for success to enjoy peak performance during your round of golf. And I happen to believe that, you know,

hypnosis can make a big difference in that regard. And yeah, so I've got lots of materials that people can well, you know a lot of people have been following your podcast, which focuses on the middle game, and that's what attracted

us to each other. But I've created a variety of free resources on YouTube and on my website, golf coachbuddy dot com where people can come and learn more about how the mental game works, why it's important, and how you could use hypnosis to improve your mental game, because if you want to be honest, you know, your mental game can make or break your performance on the golf course.

And the body follows the mind, and every shot exists first in your mind's eye, So the better you are at what's the one thing everyone says they want in golf?

way to go there, Alice, you know whatever? Yeah right, it gives you a bunch of grief and talks you know, surly right, you would never hire that caddy again if you went back this the same guys. No, no, no, no, no, I want somebody else. This guy's a jerk, right right, So why would you talk to yourself that way?

no longer run. You know. It's like for someone who's smokes cigarettes, right, they have all these cues that make them want to light a cigarette, you know, open a beer, get in the car, or whatever it is, right, Yeah, And when a person makes decides that they're not going to smoke anymore, all those cues are still there, right, the program's still running. There's a neural pathway blaze emblazoned in the brain that says, hey, every time you walk

into a bar and order a beer, you light a cigarette. Right. Well, so unless you don't go into bars and order a beer anymore, you're still going to put yourself in a situation where you used to want to light a cigarette. Right, So now you have to new you have to have a new neural pathway in your brain for your brain to follow that serves you better, that's more healthy, that you extinguish the old one. By attrition, you come up with a new one that takes its place, see, and

then you follow that new one there. And hypnosis makes it possible because how else are are we supposed to directly communicate with our subconscious mind. You would not believe how powerful the subconscious mind is. For example, someone who's afraid to fly, You put them on a big, giant sound forty seven, right, and and all of a sudden they have a panic attack, right, and like, oh, just

calm down, it's all safe. You know this plane is you know, twenty years old, it's not going to crash, right, there's redundant systems, they got four engines, you know, the pilots. You give all the reasons in the world why it's safe. Right, But they're having an emotional response. I no, I'm panic attack. It's fight or flight. Their heart rates pumping, you know, their blood, there's fight or fight. The hormones are pumping, and they're having an attack and it's real in their mind,

and chemically it's real, right, the neurochemically so. But it started in their mind. That's where its genesis is, that's where it lives. So when they think of getting on airplane, they're gonna have a panic attack, right, now to a lesser degree. That happens when you walk onto a putting green.

You walk onto the green and you set up for let's say a lag put and you think, oh, I got this, and you're not get passed, and it rolls, you know, eleven feet by right, You're like, oh no, now now I'm gonna I'm not going to be able to make this pot. Now I'm in a three pot. Then you start feeling awful. Then your heart starts pumping, and then and then you know, you start feeling jacked up, and now you're a bundle of nerves, right, and if that happens, you probably are going to miss the putt,

but now you know why. So with hypnosis, you can extinguish that behavior, just like quitting smoking, and put a new behavior in its place that that works better for you. And this is something you can make a conscious choice to do.

going to be a successful program. So I had all that in mind as I created it, and I spent about a year putting it together, and then I spent another year rewriting it, reworking it and optimizing it with the latest statistics about good strategy on the golf course. And so here's what I did. I created the Hypnosis Program, which is an MP three track. It's about twenty four minutes long. And then I created a companion program that's

a PDF and it's about sixty pages long. And what the PDF does if you just sit and read it, and it talks about how hypnosis works, and it talks about the importance of the short game, and it talks about using good strategy around the golf course. So I'm setting you up. It's like an alley oop. Okay, I'm setting you up to have the thoughts in your conscious awareness to go, Yeah, you know now that I think about that is a good idea. I would like to be able to feel more relaxed when I step onto

the putting green. So I accept the idea of that. Right. Then the hypnosis gives it to you. It puts it right into your subconscious mind when you're doing your self hypnosis. Okay. And so those come together with a welcome video that tells you how to use the program, how to do the hypnosis. And then there's also some bonus programs. Because I don't know about you, I love golf tips, right, so it's like, hey, what are they.

and kn's Top ten pre shot Routine. So these are all programs that come as a bonus and they come with the program. You get them for free. You can't buy them separately. They only bundle with the program. And the reason why they're there is to help you turbo charge your results that you get from the hypnosis. So

altogether it's a great package. And normally I sell it on my website for ninety seven dollars, okay, but for being on your show today and I know you have a dedicated listeners and if they'd like to buy the program, I'm offering a twenty dollars discount with a discount code for golf Smarter. So if you go to my website golf Coachbuddy dot com, backslash pros it's easy to find on the website, but the page pros.

your heart's content. You go out play your heart out use the program, follow the program, and up to sixty days if you're not happy with it for any reason whatsoever, no questions asked, you just let me know and we'll give you all your money back, so there's really no risk.