Intermediate imagery: Creating vivid images

What makes a good image?

One characteristic of good imagery is vividness. A vivid image is crystal clear, like a real life image seen through your own eyes or an HD image on a screen.

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How do you create a vivid image? Use input from your senses to add as much detail as possible to make the image realistic.

Try the activity below to exercise your mental imagery muscles.

Work through each step by adding the next dimension to your image.

You should create a more vivid image at each step along the way.

1st Image: Close your eyes and imagine yourself making the perfect swing, driving the ball down the first fairway of your favorite golf course. Start with an internal perspective, meaning the image is from your own eyes (rather than on a screen you are watching).

2nd Image: Next, make sure the image is visually clear and in high definition. Use color, motion, depth, breadth, and clarity to make the image as realistic as possible.

3rd Image: Add sound to your image. What are the sounds of your swing, the shot, any wind, your playing partners, etc.

4th Image: Are there any tastes or smells, such as freshly mown grass, that are important to your image? If so, add them.

5th Image: Add kinesthetic feeling (i.e., the feeling of muscle movement) to your image. Feel the correct movement of the swing.

6th Image: Add tactile feeling (i.e., the feeling of the club in your hands or the feeling of your socks and shoes throughout a balanced swing) to your image.

7th Image: Add emotion to your swing. For now, just add the emotional feeling of how great it feels to drive a ball perfectly down the fairway. Let your image end with a positive, confident feeling.

8th - 10th Image: Try to create 3 more vivid images of the perfect drive. The repetition will help you create memories to store in your "confidence bank account," a cache of memories you can draw from when you need confidence.

Simple imagery practice such as this can improve your golf game. Short, consistent practice sessions are recommended for maximum benefit.