Fred Funk Shoots Shotgun?

PGA Tour Pro, Fred Funk is known for his ability to keep up with the young guys on the golf course but this week we had a chance to watch him shoot a shotgun too. Lanny has been working with Fred Funk on his mental game this year. In fact, Fred and Sharon have really been instrumental in helping us assist the Pro golf community over the past year.

Fred is on a "Limited Elite" program where he received mental training guidance from Lanny Bassham throughout the year as well as 3 days of intense Individual Application Training in person. Fred and Sharon Funk came to Texas this week and spent time working with Lanny on Monday morning in our offices and then Lanny assisted Fred on the golf course for the afternoon. Tuesday, Lanny wanted to show Fred what shooting is all about and took him and his son Taylor out to the Dallas Gun Club to experience Sporting Clays! They are pretty good shots too! After all, Sporting Clays is kinda like golf with a shotgun - each station is different like each hole is different.

They had a great time! Sometimes it's fun just to do something new and exciting for a change! We tell our students all the time that to have that "Let's Just Have Fun Today" attitude and your performance will stay in line with your ability. So our goal for our Limited Elite Students is to not only help them with their mental game for their sport but also to have fun at the same time!

Fred and Sharon have an amazing family and have been incredible people to get to know. We have been blessed to have them in our lives and a part of our Limited Elite! Thank you for all you do!

Wednesday, Lanny and Troy took off to Madison, Mississippi for the Viking Classic to watch Fred play. They will stay for a day or two and then head back home. Since we work with such a wide variety of sports we do not get the chance to watch our students compete very often. It really is wonderful to be able to coach them during the competition time every now and again.

When a Door Closes - Look for the Open Window

(pictured is Helen Bassham, Jun Lee and Lanny Bassham)

Last week we had a wonderful visit from a friend of the family, Jun Lee. If you have read the book "With Winning in Mind" you may remember Lanny mentioning a student named Enchul Lee who is an Olympic Gold Medalist. Jun is his sister.

When we lived in Seguin, TX many moons ago, Lanny ran an international shooting school for rifle shooters from across the globe to train. Enchul became a part of our "shooting family" back in the 80's and we had the pleasure of getting to know his entire family. In fact, his mother chose to move toSeguin with her 4 kids to give Enchul the opportunity to train with Lanny full time!

Jun was an aspiring golfer and was very talented growing up. We went to school together and I remember she was always very dedicated to her sport and performance. She has spent her whole life competing with golf and has also trained with Lanny on Mental Management. Two years ago she moved back to Texas from California to train with Hank Haney in hopes of playing for theLPGA . Her dream crashed when she was injured and could no longer properly train golf. She can play a round but she can't hit buckets of balls due to her need to take breaks.

Unwilling to let her love of golf out of her life she searched for other ways to fulfill her. For quite sometime she had thought of the possibility of designing a clothing line for women who play golf. Something fashionable, yet with fabric that can breath and a design to allow you to move the way you need to when you play. She said she hated the fact that after playing she felt she would need to change before going out to grab a bite of food because what she was wearing looked too "golfy". She also said that some of the golf attire is difficult to truly move well in and not just play but compete in comfortably. Due to her new injury and inability to train full time she began her adventure of design. Her company "Styles By Jun" was born and she is excitingly promoting her new line across the country!

After spending time at lunch catching up, Jun brought in some samples of her clothing. We were all extremely impressed with the quality and style of each piece! Very nice job, Jun! In fact, I want to buy much of it for myself....and I don't golf, I just like the way it looks and feels. Most of it you can wear anywhere.

What is interesting is that her door to the LPGA was closed due to an injury but a window was opened and she is living a dream where she can still make difference in golf and she has found a new passion and strength with design and business ownership! Sometimes we need to look around when our world seems like it is falling apart to find that open window of opportunity.

If you are interested in learning more about her business "Styles By Jun" please check out her website www.stylesbyjun.com or send her an email j@stylesbyjun.com She is currently selling her designs through Golf Clubs and Golf Resorts across the country. Her hope is to have an online store for individuals to purchase in the future.

She also said that her break from training hasn't negatively affected her golf game. She still loves to play and her scores are actually improving so she is considering heading back to competition someday. Maybe that dream faded long enough for something new to arise but it may not be completely deadafter all.....

written by: Heather Sumlin

Changing Your Self-Image

This article is from our October 2006 MENTALCOACH newsletter.

If you think you can beat me and I think you can beat me, it is all over for me! Self-Image, our opinion about ourselves, can determine our outcome in any performance. So, what can we do to strengthen our Self-Image and also our chances of winning? First, we will begin by reviewing just what causes the Self-Image to grow or to shrink and then we will get into practical things you can do to affect your Self-Image.

Of the three mental processes Conscious, Subconscious and Self-Image, the Self-Image is perhaps the most mysterious. The Self-Image includes your habits, attitudes and your comfort zone. When we perform within our comfort zone our Self-Image is OK with that but when we perform too well or too poorly the Self-Image tends to correct us to perform within the comfort zone. This can destroy a great start and create a crash-and-burn finish or it can lift you out of a bad start into a “score that is like you” at the finish.

When we perform well or when we imagine we are performing well our Self-Image grows. The opposite is also true. Every time we make a mistake or think about making a mistake we improve the probability of making that same mistake in the future. This happens because it becomes like us to perform in the way we are picturing, good or bad. Control the imprinting and you control outcome in the future. Remember, it is much easier to rehearse a perfect performance than to actually have a perfect performance because we can always determine the results in an imagined imprint.

One of the greatest contributors to a poor performance is to exaggerate the effect of a bad performance by thinking about it or talking about it. It is common in a competition to hear competitors talking about their mistakes. Every time they talk about it they imprint a mistake in their Self-Image and, in a way, determine their future performance through that imprint. Bad habits cost competitors titles. I believe that more competitions are lost by mental failure than by technical error. One of the chief contributors to failure is to reinforce a mistake by thinking about it and talking about it immediately after performing.

I encourage you to implement a new thinking pattern to your daily life and sport. I suggest that you decide today to choose to improve your self image by controlling your thoughts after a task. Instead of complaining about your poor performance and dwelling on it, trying imagining you performed perfectly. And try to spend more time thinking about the positives of your sport, business or life and less about the negatives!

With Winning in Mind,

Lanny Bassham

Recommended Tools to help with Self Image Growth:

With Winning in Mind

Freedom Flight

Performance Analysis

Junior Golf Radio Show w/ Troy Bassham

Recently, Troy Bassham was interviewed for the Junior Golf Radio Show on onthegreentv.com.

The show is recorded LIVE on Saturdays from 2pm to 3pm to help Juniors and their parents gain insight into the world of competitive golf. This show is hosted by Bobby Minor who is a motivational speaker, author and publisher of Junior Golf Monthly Magazine.

You can watch Troy's interview online by clicking here.

Troy Bassham is our Director of Junior Development. He spends most of his time teaching Junior players & parents how to apply Mental Management. He also assist in the training we do for PGA Tour Players. For more information on our seminars for golf please call 800-879-5079.

Success Story from Ralph Pinney about his son Cory

Below is an email we received from a Father who wanted to share his son's successes with us! Congrats Cory!! (to share your success story on our blog please send an email to heather@mentalmanagement.com with story and photo)


Heather,

I would like to let you know about my son's success story. Cory is 14 now,
and I've been printing off your newsletters for some time. Additionally,
we have both read 'With Winning Mind' more than once.

Cory has been shooting skeet for 3 years and this is the first year he has shot the subgauges. At the beginning of August, we attended the Junior World Skeet Championship tournament that was held outside of Boston, MA.
Cory did quite well. He received a World Champion gold medal for the the
12ga event for his age bracket. He also received a 3rd place bronze medal
for the 20ga event and a 3rd place bronze medal for the HOA event.
Considering that last year in the Junior World, he came back with only a participation pin becasue his gun broke and he had to shoot with a backup gun, Cory has come a long way in one year.

We can certainly contribute a portion of his success to the Mental
Management practices learned from the book and newsletters. Cory is very
strong in this area. Especially in not letting misses distract him. He
has a solid pre-shot routine and regularly visualizes shooting an entire round of skeet with the help of the audio I recorded.

Needless to say, Cory's entire family is extremely proud of his accomplishment.

I've included a couple of pictures.

1 Proud Dad,
Ralph Pinney

Lanny and Troy to speak for Eagle U in January

Eagle "U" is a Leadership Camp for teens and young adults ages 14 through 25. Lanny Bassham speaks for their seminars each year on Mental Management and Troy Bassham speaks on finding the best college. It is a wonderful opportunity for young people. Below is an article sent to us from Eagle U, written by Austen Brown.

Seventeen years old, gangly, a self-proclaimed awkward tomboy who had just won Miss South Carolina Teen USA. Sounds quite strange in and of itself, but that was me. Though I’d been modeling for the larger portion of my life, I’d spent most of my years being teased about my weight and features. Then out of the blue, my childhood best friend convinces me that I should do a pageant. I never thought in a million years that I would win! But I am everyday thankful for having had that opportunity. Not necessarily because of the “obvious” reasons, but because of the seemingly smaller parts of the “prize package.”

After winning the title, I was told that I had a scholarship to Eagle “U.” My first question is, “What is an Eagle “U?” And the only answer that I was given was “You’re going to love it.” And they were right. I loved it. I walked onto the campus of Georgetown University an awkward teenager living under her circumstances, stained with a significant amount of self-doubt, a ridiculously low self-image, and a smile to cover up all of my “stuff.” All this while preparing for an opportunity of a lifetime. Not many people would know that I, “Miss Congeniality,” would feel the way that I did but Eagle “U” gave me the chance to be myself with no judgements and nothing but love, support, and amazing advice.

The tools that I learned in those five days of my life would lead me to the most momentous paradigm shift of my still changing life. The study skills I learned kept me on the Dean’s List. The interview skills have gotten me every job I’ve ever applied for. The goal setting I learned has kept me focused on all the things I know that I’m destined to accomplish. The mentoring program helped me “copy genius instead of creating mediocrity.” I was taught to have self- confidence and learned how to be a 10 every day. I learned to have an “attitude of gratitude,” how to love and respect myself enough to go after my dreams, and help other people get “more of what they want and less of what they don’t want.”

Eagle “U” has literally made me a better person. If I could give advice to any teenager, parent, guardian, or any person who cares about a teenager or college student, I would tell them to ship their kid/student to Eagle “U” for five days for the rest of their lives. And when they ask where they’re going, let them know that they’ll love it and rest assured that at the VERY least your student will walk “off campus” a more focused, loving, ambitious, more capable version of themselves. By Austen Brown
For more information on this life changing experience please call: 1-888-7EAGLEU!

The next Eagle "U" will take place January 2 - 6, 2008 (Location TBA but it will be the Dallas/Ft. Worth area)

Mental Management clients receive a discount by using this code #22774 when you register.

Danny Daniels shares his success on the golf course!

The email below was sent to us from Danny Daniels who has seen improvement in his play after applying what he learning from the following products: "With Winning in Mind" on Audio CD, Freedom Flight and What Every Golfer Should Know First About the Mental Game Audio CD

"First let me say that I am extremely pleased with my purchases and thoroughly enjoyed listening, taking notes, and implementing the system. After listening to the 3 different products it was time to take my newly acquired information, knowledge, and sincere desire to the golf course.

I am a 59 year old semi-retired, ex-Fire Chief/EMS Director, that enjoys
playing in amateur golf events. On my first encounter I shot even par for 3 rounds and won an event is South Carolina. I was diligent in my preparation and satisfied with my initial results. My next event was the Georgia State Senior Amateur Championship just outside of Savannah, GA. I was very excited about utilizing my new mental management system for such a prestigious event. I finished in the top ten and can honestly say that the system worked great and my few bad plays were when I didn’t use my system. The following week I played in a huge tournament in Valdosta, Ga. And was the first round leader with a 5 under par score of 67 after making bogey on the last two holes. I went on to finish 5th, my best ever at this venue, but more importantly validated that the system works.

I made a major advancement over the last month and I can’t wait to continue to improve as I hone my management system. By the way, I listen to the golf flight CD while en route to the tournament and it was great."


Thank you to Danny for allowing us to post these comments on our blog for others to see! Congratulations on your recent success and please keep us posted on future accomplishments!

TV Reporter Jeff Crilley Shares Some Secrets to Getting News Coverage

A couple of years ago Lanny and the Mental Management Team met News Reporter Jeff Crilley at one of his Free Seminars. We have enjoyed getting to know him and think his message might be helpful to some of our clients who own businesses or volunteer for non-profit organizations and need to get news coverage. Below is an article we posted in a past newsletter from Jeff. If you live in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area he has a "Do It Yourself" PR group that meets each month. (Lanny spoke for one of hi meetings earlier this year)

TV REPORTER SHARES THE SECRETS TO GETTING COVERED ON THE NEWS

By Jeff Crilley, Author, Free Publicity

Do you have a great idea for a story, but no clue how to get it in the news? Are you tired of pitching press releases the news media simply ignores?

After twenty years of beating the street as a TV reporter, I have a scoop for you: the media needs good stories. But most stories are pitched so poorly, they are lost in the blizzard of faxes that blanket every newsroom.

So, here are five steps to increase your chances of getting covered that even some PR pros don't know:


1) BE UNUSUAL

The old adage about "Man bites dog" still holds true. The news doesn't cover what's normal. We cover the abnormal.

Holding a golf tournament? That's not necessarily news. Check your paper. If
you live in a large city, there are probably a half-dozen tournaments every weekend. But if you created an unusual event, you just might get coverage.

I've heard of tournaments that get great publicity with a helicopter golf ball drop. They sell chances for large cash prizes by writing the person's name on the ball and then hire a helicopter to drop a thousand golf balls over a hole. If your ball drops in the hole, you win. Sometimes the photo of all those balls dropping will make the front page.

2) BE VISUAL

Reporters tell stories with pictures. If the pictures aren't there, chances are the reporters won't be either.

Even the most non-visual story can be made visual if you're creative. Recently outdoor gun ranges all across the country made TV newscasts by inviting reporters out to talk about safety and to show on a target what the spray of gunshot from Vice President Dick Cheney's accident might have looked like .


3) CHOOSE THE RIGHT REPORTER

Perhaps the most common mistake even some PR pros make is trying to sell a good story to the wrong person. Most reporters have a specialty, like "crime" or "business."

So, seek out the reporter who will have the most to benefit from your story. Start studying the news. Before you call a TV station or try and pitch the paper, become familiar with a reporter's work. Don't try and sell an investigative story to a reporter who covers entertainment.

4) WRITE LIKE A REPORTER

If I were going to send a press release to a reporter, I'd write the kind of headline that a newspaper would run. And I'd make the rest of the release so conversational that a TV anchor could read it right on the air.

Why is this so important? A major market newsroom gets hundreds of press releases every day. Often the decision on whether to cover your story is made in a matter of seconds. Many times that well-crafted sentence in the third paragraph of your press release is never read.

5) WAIT FOR A SLOW NEWS DAY

The holidays are the slowest "news times" of the year. When government offices are
closed, so are most of our sources. Take advantage of it.

In fact, take out your calendar and begin circling government holidays. If the government isn't making news, we reporters are scrambling to find something to cover. Pitch even an average story on a day when the media is starving for news, and you're much more likely to get coverage.

There you go. Now you're armed with knowledge that even some well-paid public relations professionals don't practice. If your idea is unique, visual, and pitched to the right person when the supply of news is running thin, you're in!

Jeff Crilley is an Emmy Award Winning Reporter who speaks at no charge on PR. His book Free Publicity is available at bookstores everywhere or online at www.jeffcrilley.com