Mental Coach for golf and other sports

Does anyone have one? And if so, what kinds of things do you work on (i.e. what type of "training" do you receive?"

Any thoughts on appropriate/minimum age to start working with one?

Know a couple of high school kids that see Rick Sessinghaus, Psy.D. He works with Colin Morikawa among others and although I'm sure they all perceive a benefit to working with him I'm not sure a mental coach would be a good fit for my son. IMO you either have the mental fortitude to push yourself forward, think clearly and manage emotions or you don't. 'Training' your brain with a mental coach becomes a learned action which when implemented on course just becomes another swing thought and that has ruined more careers than any other.

I also believe the Focus Band is a bunch of hogwash.

Never had a formal mental coach, but do think visualization can help. While you could call that a swing thought, I think shot visualization is non-technical and can free up the swing mechanics.

While some may have more natural mental talent, I believe that anyone lacking in this area can improve.

Highly dependent on the individual. I kind of think the vast majority of kids can and will work through what ever there mental issues are which everyone encounters. It's skill you need in life. Having said that some kids just have a hard time and not able to overcome issues and it will become worse as they get older.

We gone a long way with self help books and just simply watching movies that inspire someone to achieve greatness with sports. Think Rudy, The greatest game and others like this. You just need them to believe in themselves. They also have to learn everyone has challenges and you have to overcome them. Generally this is where you need to be a parent and be there for them at a young age.

Some kids though will never work through this and if that is the case you can't break through and in those cases seeking help makes sense. I would just make sure that person was more than just a sports guy and focused on the all the issues.

I think it depends on just how 'mental' the kid is. I couldn't see any reason to hire one until they reach the pro's.

I've played a number of rounds with Dr Michael Lardon, and have picked his brain about the mental side of golf with kids, and he's always laughed at me about it. He says not to worry until the kids decide they want to do this for a living. The pressures go up so much more that it makes junior golf a walk in the park. He says let them have fun, enjoy the game, and work on sticking with routines.

Might be best for the parent to read up on and become familiar with Sports Psychology, such as Rotella, "How Champions Think". Then use some of those Mantras and make them a common language in discussions with your young athlete, and insert them as you deem, especially when a "teachable moment" or opportunity to apply comes about. Things like "Trust your training, Get out of Results and Focus on Process (N.A.T.O., Not Attached to the outcome), Goal Setting, Singular Minded, Various techniques to Clear Mind and stay in present (creating a mindset that focuses on the shot (or situation for other sports) at hand, and doesn't think about the next shot or the previous ie: "never think this is a birdie hole", embrace those feelings you may interpret as being nervous, that is the bodies way of readying itself for something important, etc. There are way too many to touch upon, but as a parent you will spend countless hours involved in the development of your young athlete, so spend some time learning the nuances of Sports Psychology, many of the concepts are just ways to approach situations, and looking at them through a different lens, many times once you hear some of these concepts explained you almost shake your head at how simple it can be and how much sense it makes. You will be surprised how much you can teach yourself and better equip yourself as a parent. Even if you are using a Sports Psych for your athlete, I highly recommend this approach. I work with HS athletes wishing to play golf collegiately (and used to work with many hs/college wrestlers as well previous), and as well I applied many of these concepts to the raising of my own athlete (daughter, lacrosse) with great success (she is committed to play Div 1 Lacrosse at a top school). One thing I noticed whether I was talking with her regarding goal setting and performance anxiety, or one of my golfers, or wrestlers, many of the conversations were very similar.

Although not for young kids, but for teens and up in the SoCal area, Skip Redford Elite Performance is the guy to go to for mental and physical training and is totally golf specific. The guy has done incredible research and his workouts are a quite different than other fitness/mental coaches.

How old are the kids that you’re talking about? Teenagers or younger?

It's all good, I'm sure it's helpful for some. For the elite players I've seen use it there has been no long term benefit.

Depends on how the coach is using it. Jason Day and Justin Rose seemed to have found it beneficial as they were both using it and FocusBand's main coach Jason Goldsmith when they were peaking a few years ago. Again it's not going to make you shoot better scores. It's really a tool to help you access the correct part of your brain that allows you to process data at a faster speed. Right brain activity operates at a slower wave length and allows for a more seamless use of the information being sent to the muscles. However, if your information isn't that great then you're not going to see huge dividends. I can tell all kinds of good stories from my use of FocusBand.

To me focus band is just a placebo effect. It' really no different then a million other techniques or advice that is out there to help people focus. So yes it can help you if you believe in it. This one just adds technology to the equation because a lot people believe in tech. Not much different then those crazy medical devices you see in museums made 100 years ago.

but, but... there's an app. /s

There also scientologists on Sunset that will perform a free stress test using their e-meter.

It's not a placebo effect. You're not taking some sugar pill. You actually have to learn how to quiet your mind to make the thing work. If you already have low brain function than good for you cause it will be easy. However people like me who border with ADD and especially kids with ADHD this thing has done wonders. One of my best friends/mentors has a kid with ADHD that hurts his ability to get through homework. He worked with him on the Focusband and his grades improved.

Again, I can't make this more clear. The device doesn't teach you anything. Just like how TrackMan doesn't teach you anything. All it does is provide feedback. How you use that and how you train that will dictate your success.

I not saying that doing what they tell you will not work. I am sure it probably has some very sound advice behind it. I just don't think it does anything special that you can't find with other techniques or coaching.

What I don't like is the tech part of it is just there to sell it. you could probably spend $20 or $30 on a self help book with the same advice. If you have a bigger issue which I believe some people have your probably better off going to a licensed therapist where they have experience to help. Most kids in my opinion need neither but a lot parents panic and go overboard and in a lot cases the mental part is just part of growing up and take care of itself when they mature..

FocusBand isn’t designed to help those kinds of issues. It’s made to help you find a sound routine. Ur second point isn’t the purpose of FocusBand. And again I disagree. I think there should be more kids seeking help.. I think parent and child relationships create a large part of the burnout factor in junior golf. If you child has issues with anger or being overly emotional then u best seek professional help. If u had a broken bone u wouldn’t splint it urself and wait for it to heal crooked