• Dr. Valiante Brings His Fearless Golf Academy Into Homes with DVD

    Posted on September 28th, 2009, 7:59 am by admin

    Orlando, FL (September 15, 2009) – Until now, the only way for most golfers to learn the mental game of golf was to read a book at home, or pay hundreds of dollars per hour to meet with a psychologist to explore their fears. Golfers now have an alternative.

    Dr. Gio Valiante’s new Fearless Golf Academy DVD allows golfers to build their confidence and focus their attention.

    Dr. Valiante has trained the minds of some of the best golfers in the world with his mental conditioning program, Fearless Golf. In fact, Dr. Valiante’s golfers have accumulated over 30 victories on 4 worldwide tours from such players as Heath Slocum, Justin Leonard, Stuart Appleby, Chad Campbell, Vijay Singh, Camilo Villegas, Justin Leonard, Bryce Molder and Matt Kuchar.

    By combining research from diverse fields in performance psychology, Dr. Valiante has created a program that has had measurable results with golfers at all levels. Fearless Golf is based on the principle that golf is as much a mental game as a skills game.

    “My program teaches golfers to get rid of the extra baggage that clutters their minds, which allows them to remain clear and focused on their way to playing fearless golf,” said Dr. Gio Valiante, a professor and researcher at Rollins College.

    In the Fearless Golf Academy DVD, viewers are part of a foursome being taught by Dr. Valiante; and are instructed to focus their attention, regulate their motivation and intensity, keep their composure, and protect their confidence.

    “The new DVD is meant to be infotainment. It’s informative, entertaining, and interactive,” said Dr. Valiante. “My biggest challenge is that I don’t have time to get to everyone who requests my help. Therefore we shot the video so that viewers would feel as if they were being taught by me in person. Even the drills are hands-on.”

    Shot in high definition, Fearless Golf Academy DVD is narrated by golf historian Peter Kessler, and includes insights from tour winners such as Appleby, Tommy Armour III, Matt Kuchar, and Camilo Villegas. The strategies work for men and women – young and old – at all skill levels.

    Dr. Valiante’s new 3-disk DVD set is available at a price of $99.95 plus shipping. Also included is a bonus DVD with 12 drills. To learn more about Dr. Gio Valiante’s Fearless Golf System, or to purchase the 3-DVD set, visit www.fearlessgolf.com.

    About Fearless Golf. Dr. Gio Valiante’s groundbreaking research resulted in Fearless Golf Academy DVD and Fearless Golf: Conquering the Mental Game (Random House, 2005). Endorsed by the game’s top players, Dr. Valiante provides a vision for competitive golf that allows golfers to remain fearless, focused, and committed to each and every shot they hit. Dr. Gio Valiante is currently a professor at Rollins College in Winter Park, Florida . He serves as the mental game consultant to the Golf Channel, Golf Digest, and the University of Florida . In addition, he has worked with many of the game’s top players including Camilo Villegas, Stuart Appleby, Justin Leonard, Chris Dimarco, Chad Campbell, Heath Slocum, Notah Begay III, Charles Howell III, Tommy Armour III, Bryce Molder, Matt Kuchar, and many, many more. Fore more information visit www.fearlessgolf.com.

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  • Sport Psychologist Dr. Gio Valiante interviews Heath Slocum

    Posted on September 14th, 2009, 10:00 am by admin

    1 comment Golf Psychology

  • Big wins this week

    Posted on September 1st, 2009, 11:55 am by admin

    Guys!

     

    Well, it’s been an exciting week for me and for Fearless Golf as we had 3 wins on 3 different tours all in two weeks!

     

    Last week Samantha Richdale (Duramed Future’s Tour) won the Turkey Hill Classic to lock up her LPGA Tour Card for the 2010 season.

    • Roberto Castro won his second EGolf Tour event to push his winnings over $100k for the year, and move atop that Tour’s money list.
    • Heath Slocum won the Barclays Classic to make it 3 in a row for Fearless Golfers in FedEx Cup events. So, by applying the techniques that coach teaches you, and that I try to reinforce, you can see that success happens!

     

    Regarding Heath’s win last week, the things he said perfectly capture what your coaches and myself are trying to teach you! In this case, Heath was able to hit shots in the clutch, coming down the stretch with Tiger Woods, Ernie Els and Steve Stricker chasing!

     

    Heath said, “I’ve worked with Gio Valiante quite a bit on this. All I can do is play the golf course. That’s all I was doing. The people that I’m chasing or are chasing me, all that stuff is kind of irrelevant. I really was just trying to play the golf course. I just kept telling myself, “Hit this fairway. Try to hit this green in the best spot possible. Try to make the putt. As corny as it sounds and as easy as it sounds, if you stay in that routine, I tend to play better. The tournaments that I’ve played better in, I’m just better able to do that. I don’t worry about who is ahead of me, who is behind me. I’m focused right on the golf course and the task at hand.”em>

     

    Using that as a launching point, below are a few keys to effective performance in golf that we discuss in Fearless Golf!

     

    1. Stick to your routine. Every time. Regardless of the situation.

     

    2. Play “golf” rather than “golf swing”. As we say, “do all your thinking behind the ball. Once you’re over the ball, be athletic!”

     

    3. Love your short game (the stats tell the same story every year on every tour: short game matters!).

     

    4. Get in the habit of asking yourself “what’s my target?”

     

    5. Immerse yourself in the process, rather than the outcome. We tend to:

    • Win tournaments by not thinking about winning.
    • Shoot great scores by not thinking about a score.
    • Beat other golfers by not thinking about other golfers.

     

    Thus, immerse yourself in the process of playing the golf course, one shot at a time, to the exclusion of everything around you!

     

    6. Swag. The way that you move matters. If you move like a slug, with  your head down, feet shuffling, you’ll tend to feel lethargic. Great golfers (athletes in general) move a certain way. Think of Tiger, or Camilo, or Lebron … move and feel like an athlete on the golf course!

     

    7. Be aware of your grip pressure. As tension or pressure builds, our grips tend to tighten, thus affecting rhythm, tempo, and mechanics of the swing. It’s a good thing, on a regular basis, to soften your grip pressure (if you watch the tape of Heath’s win, you can see him tightening and softening his hands as he walks down the fairways on the back 9).

     

    My best,

    Gio

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