Do you know who the first professional golfer was to hit the 9 million dollar mark?

My guesses would have been Arnold Palmer or possibly Jack Nicklaus.

It was Tom Kite.

Tom has had a remarkable 19 PGA wins, 7 Senior PGA wins and 1 major, the 1992 US Open. Tom also shot 62 four times while playing on tour.

In the 1980's he played in 53 consecutive events without missing the cut, which tied him for sixth overall with Vijay Singh in the PGA record books at the end of 2004.

Tom's consistency and his great short game have been his biggest strengths.

How has Tom Kite been able to continually play winning golf throughout his career?

Kite is a big fan of the most basic principles of mental toughness: positive self-talk.

He says, "You have to think effectively. Seeing the negative side of what happens on the golf course is not effective thinking."

How To Stay Positive on the Golf Course

There are two steps to learning the art of positive self-talk.

The first is understanding that your thoughts and beliefs have a profound impact on your decisions.

Psychological studies on self-talk (the idea that what we say to ourselves matters) over the past 25 years has shown that human beings don't do things based on what happens to us.

We do things based on what we THINK will happen to us.

We don't go to work because we get paid...we go to work because we THINK we'll get paid. You don't miss a putt because you missed your last one.

You miss it because you missed your last one and you THINK you will miss your next one. This is no small distinction.

The second step to learning how to positive self-talk is to genuinely understand what positive thinking IS.

Positive thinking doesn't mean that telling yourself you're playing well when you aren't...or telling yourself you're confident and cheerful when you aren't.

It means telling yourself that the negative events you are going through are temporary.

If you hit a bad drive, you think, "Now my nerves are settled so I can really drive the ball."

If you hit a bad putt, you think, "I can use what I just learned about reading the green on my next putt."

This is the essence of positive thinking: making sure you view negative shots as a natural, yet TEMPORARY phenomenon during your golf game.

It worked for Tom Kite. Why not you?

I'll talk to you again soon.

Your friend,

Lisa Brown