In Reply to: We've often talked about how important visualization is when posted by ej on February 05, 2026 at 12:13:59
to visualize a positive outcome if you have actually experienced it. But sometimes it comes/evolves from a different source.
Here is a little story. When I was just learning to play golf (after I quit playing baseball), I had that over the top baseball swing and all it was resulting in was a big slice. I was trying to figure out how to break that and hit a draw. I stumbled on to this book that described positive thinking and positive visualization. It actually described the feeling and positioning of the body and arms and swing motion to break a slice and hit a draw. I was sitting in a recliner at the time as a 30 year old and closed my eyes and tried to visualize doing what I had just read. Next day on the driving range I started visualing that process and amazingly, I started to hook the ball rather than slice. Just took some refinement to convert that hook to a draw. From there I went on in my 40s through my 80s to be a scratch golfer.
Positive visualization is particularly important in being a good/great free throw shooter too. I often see really good FT shooters closing their eyes at the line before they go through their routine and I understand what they are trying to do. I never closed my eyes though as in my mind, I felt like every shot was going in and didn't have any fear of missing. In basketball and in golf too, fear of failure leads to failure more often than not. That's the reverse of positive visualization.