Golfwize

Ok, I admit it looked funny.

Standing out on a putting green and tapping on my forehead and talking to myself probably got the attention of a few passing golfers. But I was on a quest for knowledge and would not be deterred!

Actually in the end, anyone who might have laughed at me that day would do well to consider modeling my behavior if they wanted to putt better, or improve any part of their game for that matter.

The process is known by several names such as MTT or meridian tapping technique and EFT or the emotional freedom technique, but regardless of what it’s called, it can lead to lower golf scores if you apply it.

If you’ve read or heard much about Chinese medicine you’ll likely recall the term “meridians” being used. Meridians are points along the many energy channels that run throughout the body. An acupuncturist might target one of these spots with a small needle to help stimulate energy or release a blockage of energy in a particular channel.

Another approach that evolved from this system is called acupressure, which instead of needles, finger pressure is applied to the specific points which can also help provide relief or a release from various kinds of issues.

Ultimately this ground work led to some insightful work buy a chiropractor named George Goodheart (nice name for a doctor don’t you think?:) who developed a technique of literally tapping on the meridian points which led to improvements involving many issues.

Several refinements would come out of Goodheart’s initial work and today two of the best known applications are MTT and EFT, which stand for Meridian Tapping Technique and Emotional Freedom Technique respectively.

Both are similar in how they are applied but for the purposes of this article we’ll focus on MTT.

Like acupuncture, MTT is designed to help release trapped or “stuck” emotions that are associated with a particular event or experience. Perhaps at some point in your past, you either had a bad, or embarrassing experience while teeing off. This event was internalized and connected with an emotion of fear, or anxiety. MTT can be used to help release this emotion, and break the connection associated with teeing off.

Here’s a simple description of how the process works. There are points on the hand, head, and upper body that are tapped while a person makes statements in relation to the issue they might be trying to work on.

For a golf related situation, let’s continue with the first tee jitters as an example. A player would tap on the outside edge of the hand, a location known as the karate chop point, and say something like, “Even though I get very nervous and anxious on the first tee, I believe in myself and my abilities and I choose to stay calm and confident in while teeing off”.

You can use just about any statement in reference to your problem and it’s best if you can feel some of the emotion or feeling that you normally might experience on the first tee. In other words, think of the event, of being in the event, and let the normal or common feelings come up to a degree. How intense are they? Make note of this on a scale of 1 to 10, with ten being the most intense.

Go through the normal sequence of tapping while saying a relating statement and then evaluate the degree of intensity you feel after the process. In many cases, you’ll find that the level of intensity has gone down. If it has not, or some emotion still remains, go through the sequence again and continue the process until the feeling behind the event has dropped.

So where do you tap? The recommended process is to start with a set up phrase, stated three times in a row while tapping on the karate chop point on the hand. Then you’ll transition to tapping on the top center of the head. Tap about seven times in succession while repeating the statement or a related statement, then proceed to the inner eyebrow, to the side of the eye, below the eye, under the nose, below the lower lip, then down to the collarbone area and finally under the arm.

As odd as this may sound to someone who has not tried MTT, for those that have used and experienced the results, it would be hard to describe how fast and effective the process can be for some athletes.

At the very least, it’s good to know that going through the routine is a healthy and inexpensive way for a player to help themselves through a variety of game related issues.

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