Welcome to my world: Matt Stilwell Coaching, helping you unlock your full potential TO SHOOT LOWER SCORES AND PLAY BETTER GOLF
Hello and welcome to the first blog by Matt Stilwell Coaching! My name is Matt and I'm Founder of Matt Stilwell Coaching - a world where I help people play better golf and drive towards their goals by developing a more positive mindset.
How on Earth did I get here?
Well, I come armed with over 10 year’s business coaching experience, helping people and organisations win high value contracts by being brave in their approach and focusing on the opportunity rather than the risk.
Alongside this experience is my love of the game of golf. I have 35 years playing this brilliant game and I quickly discovered that deploying a change in mindset had a profound positive impact on my own performance. Something that over the course of the next few months I'll be sharing with you in more detail through this blog and through my podcast 'The Positive Golf Mindset'.
There are a huge number of techniques, exercises, hints and tips that have a massive impact on our behaviour, emotion and ultimately our performance.
I focus on the world of golf, but the truth is, the power of a positive mindset, how we recognise it and how we deploy it, is a life skill.
"Success in this game depends less on strength of body than strength of mind and character"
That is a quote by the great Arnold Palmer, which beautifully underpins what the game of golf is all about. It also begs the question, why do we only spend our time on the mechanics of the game, leaving the mental side of the game to chance or neglected altogether?
We practice mechanics at the range, we practice mechanics in a traditional golf lesson, but we don't spend anywhere near enough time honing and training our minds to be at it's best. Of course there could be a myriad of reasons for this, but whatever it is, we have a real chance to make a huge difference to our game, our outlook on life and our happiness in general. And those of us that recognise the huge benefit it brings are seeing the difference on and off the golf course.
The 'pinch me' moment
There was a specific 'pinch me' moment when I realised that investing time to work on your mind was something that the professional sports person, entrepreneur and the best business leaders in the world did as standard practice. They inherently understood the power that this brought to their lives. Professional golfers have a mechanical coach and a mindset coach. However, this isn't something that us amateur golfers pay anywhere near enough attention to.
I was stuck playing off of a handicap of 14, until I started personally deploying my own coaching and mindset tactics. With no extra practice, or playing time, I got my handicap down to 9. My game improved because I spent time working on my mind. My life outside of golf got a lift as well - my awareness of my actions improved, my confidence increased and I saw the opportunity in everything. It was at that point I knew this was something I needed to share with others.
Cultivating the right mental attitude has a massive impact on your success. Discovering how working on your mindset delivers profound improvements to your behaviour and performance - is life changing
So, I decided to help people develop a positive mindset to simply play better golf - I realised I can help people take control of their emotions and resolve the major mental challenges that get in the way of achieving their goals.
As I'm in a sharing mood, there is something else I'm compelled to share. That is the joy of playing at Royal St George's a couple of weeks before the British Open. It was such a great honor. Grandstands were up, the course was in emaculate condition, it only felt right to fully commit to the experience and rock a pair of high socks as well...
I'll let you be the judge of whether that was a good idea or not. For me, it was never a question...somebody pinch me!
Maybe it's time to work on your mindset too
Playing at this great course only served to reinforce the need to work on my mind as well as my body. This place, if you don't approach it with the right mindset, will eat you up. If this is resonating at all with you, then I'd love to hear from you in the comments or on email.
Keep your ears open for my new Podcast series 'The Positive Golf Mindset'. Check out my website for my exciting 1-2-1 coaching programmes that focus on your biggest challenges to really make a difference and take your game to the next level. I have brand new content coming your way soon so look out for that as well..
Get in touch to arrange your free consultation and learn how developing a positive golf mindset will unlock your full potential.
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