According to Wikipedia a mantra “means a sacred utterance, numinous sound, or a syllable, word, phonemes, or group of words believed by some to have psychological and spiritual power”. Mantras are personal and self-motivating. They are words that inspire an athlete to excel and stay focused. Every athlete should have their own mantra. It can be original or one that is borrowed. It can be one word or a whole sentence. But it must be something that you can remember and always turn to when you need it. It must inspire you to get through whatever obstacles you struggle with both on and off the golf course.

Here is a great article on some mantras from athletes in the 2012 Summer Olympics. Two of my favorites from this list are “breathe, believe, and battle” and “if you think you can’t, you won’t and if you think you can, you will”. Two of my mantras through my life and golf career have been “forget about it” and “get it done”. I had a “forget about it” sticker that I got at the beginning of the 2002 US Women’s Am. It certainly helped me get over bad shots and bad holes through that week of 6 matches and over 160 holes in 6 days. Now I catch myself using the “get it done” mantra with my business and during workouts. I have a tendency to procrastinate on occasion so I remind myself to just “get it done”. This also works well during my Crossfit workouts when I catch myself slowing down or taking long breaks, I remind myself to “get it done” and finish strong.

So take some time to think about your own personal mantra and what areas in your golf game or life you need some extra motivation. You can have different ones for different situations. Write them down and put them somewhere that you will see each one when you need it: in your golf bag, inside your yardage book, on your bathroom mirror, in your locker at school.