One of the topics discussed at the PGA Level 3 Seminar in Advanced Teaching & Golf Club Fitting is the mental game, specifically “the mental or psychological skills needed for a player to effectively manage his or her emotions and think effectively” out on the golf course. The mental game is essentially the effective management of emotions and flawed thinking. If you can conquer your feelings and your mind, then you can perform at your best.
When you’re working with advanced players, the mental game is even more critical. The greater the mastery of the physical skills of the game, the more vital the mental skills of the game. In fact, according to the Course Manual, “top players claim 70-90% of their results depend on their mental performance,” which is a staggeringly high number.
But how do you teach the mental game, and more importantly, how do you monitor a player’s mental improvement? Again, the Course Manual offers several suggestions to help players mentally get out of their own way when playing: using logical and positive self-talk, setting realistic goals, focusing on the present and what to do (as opposed to what not to do), playing with confidence, and focusing on the elements of pre and post-shot routines.
Those are great suggestions, but for the most part, they are largely intangible. Teaching the fundamentals is a lot easier by comparison. The progress is more measurable. Either a player can chip or he can’t. Either she can hit the ball out of a bunker or she can’t. But advanced players don’t typically need help in these areas. They need help being able to perform their best under pressure.
That’s where Opti International Performance Optimization comes in. I first learned about Opti International and the mapping of brainwave activity from Sue O’Connor at my last putting lesson in January. She told me it was something I should look into, but I was forced to put it on the back-burner in order to complete the pursuit of my PGA Class A Certification. Once that was done, I knew Opti was something I wanted to add to my Certification Portfolio. If I did, I would not only be the only one in Tucson to be Opti Brain Certified, I would be among a select few (about 50 currently) to have the Certification nationwide.
Opti International was launched by Arizona State University professor Dr. Debbie Crews in 2014 to help people “be better than their best.” Opti stands for Optimize Performance Through Integration and is based on over 30 years of research done by Crews using patented algorithms during her coaching career as an LPGA golf trainer. Crews combined the portability of the Muse brain-sensing headband with specially-written evaluation apps to train people to get their brains into their good state of serenity or synergy.
“From about 30-35 years of watching brain patterns of elite athletes, we figured out that at the last second, right before they initiate motion, what we see in their brain is a very balanced, beautiful place,” rews told ESPN’s “Enhanced” for an episode of the documentary series called “Mind Gurus” in July of this year.
“And that’s what allows them to perform well.”
Muse is a powerful, compact electroencephalography (EEG) system that utilizes dry sensor and bluetooth technology to measure and access brainwave data anytime, anywhere. It has seven finely-calibrated sensors — two on the forehead, two behind the ear lobes, and three reference sensors to detect and measure brain activity.
I may be dating myself, but it looks like an old Sony Walkman headset except that the wire runs across your forehead instead of along the top of your head. It’s legit. To date, the Muse headband has had more than 80,000 users. The technology is certainly portable, and more importantly, it’s affordable.
In just ten to 30 seconds, an app collects the data from the sensors and maps them into colorful frequency bands so you can see the patterns of the brain’s electrical activity on your smartphone, iPad, or mobile device. The three main apps are Opti Brain (the brain measurement app), Opti Train (the neurofeedback app), and Opti Golf (the golf-specific neurofeedback app). With Opti Train, you’re learning the skill of changing your brain to get into a place that it synchronizes and/or is efficient for your best performance. For performance, you train synchronicity or synergy.
Opti Brain measures four different frequencies of brainwave activity: theta (meditative), alpha (learning), beta 2 (high active processing 2, positively-related to performance), and beta (active processing, negatively-related to performance). The warmer the colors (yellow, orange, and red), the more brainwave activity. The cooler the colors (blue, teal, and green), the less brainwave activity.
Dr. Crews’ research has found that the left hemisphere quiets during the final 4-6 seconds before motion. The right hemisphere balances or becomes slightly more right-sided during the final one second before motion, and the last second before performance can be more predictive of performance than the first second of actual motion (conscious thought).
The Muse headband also measures heart rate. Heart rate drops an average of six beats per minute in the final three seconds before motion begins. This is purely a function of attention. Individuals over 60 years of age show just the opposite during “best performance.” Heart rate and EEG activity increase during the final seconds before motion begins.
What sets Opti apart from other brainwave technologies? Probably the biggest difference is that Opti doesn’t influence your brainwaves, it trains you how to control your brainwaves. It doesn’t do anything to you, it teaches you to hone a skill through self-regulation. By training just ten minutes a day for ten days, you can see measurable improvement.
The training apps require that you lower the volume of music playing by focusing your attention on the task at hand. When you can do that, that’s an indication that you’re in the state that’s going to be optimal for your performance. When you find you can’t lower the volume of the music anymore, you know your brain, which is just a muscle, has had enough. Compare it to the mental fatigue you feel after playing in a tournament. The fatigue is usually more mental than it is physical.
Another thing that sets Opti apart is that it was built from performance backwards. It trains the patterns in the brain, not levels, and it trains the skill of creating synergy, synchrony, and balance in the brain. Opti will never make you like anyone else or a standard measure. There is no ideal brain, just the best version of yourself. Opti makes the intangible more tangible. Now, a player’s mental progress is quantifiable. While coaches and teachers facilitate what to think, Opti trains you how to think.
“We train patterns in the brain, we don’t train numbers,” says Dr. Crews. “We don’t train you to a level. We’re not training a state. Everyone has their own unique patterns.”
The proof of concept is in Dr. Crews’ research. She had three highly-skilled golfers complete three Opti training sessions. In Session 1, a resting EEG was recorded by the Opti Brain app for 30 seconds and ten, ten-foot putts for a baseline. This was followed by a 30-putt set while using neurofeedback provided in the Opti Train app. Session 2 included two 30-putt sets, and Session 3 included two 30-putt sets and ten, ten-foot putts recorded in the Opti Brain app for post evaluation.
The result? The Opti Feedback Group made 16% more putts than the physical practice control group. The large effect size (indicating the meaningfulness of the result) and the practical application of a 16% increase in putts made is important.
Consider that in a round of golf in which a golfer has 36 putts (two per hole), a 16% increase in putts made is equal to 5.76 fewer strokes. At the professional level, that can be the difference between missing the cut and finishing in the money!
Don’t take my word for it. Try it out for yourself! Engage your subconscious mind to unleash your potential by scheduling your Opti Brain session today. Whether you’re a Member at La Paloma or not, you can email Dan directly at dbubany@danbubanygolf.com.