BOERNE, Texas – Dec. 17, 2004 – GolfPsych, golf's leading mental-game services firm, has announced the 2005 schedule for its Tournament Player Schools - the only golf academies dedicated solely to enhancing mental-game skills.

Nineteen weekend schools have been slated for January through July, at two separate locations in Texas: the Tapatio Springs Resort in San Antonio, and the Doral Tesoro Resort in Fort Worth (see below for full schedule). According to GolfPsych CEO Jon Stabler, spring and summer schedules will soon be released for GolfPsych's Toronto and Chicago schools, with more dates and North American locations to be released later in 2005.

"We're growing because our schools help you understand your personality - then we provide the tools and devise the specific mental strategies you need to perform your best," says Stabler, who co-founded GolfPsych with Dr. Deborah Graham, one of golf's most respected mental game coaches. "It is all about performance."

GolfPsych has worked with more than 300 PGA, LPGA and Champions tour players since 1981. During that time, GolfPsych students and clients have earned victories in all four majors and hundreds of PGA, Champions, LPGA and Nationwide tour events. Graham and Stabler are also co-authors of "The 8 Traits of Champion Golfers" (Simon & Schuster, 1999), the seminal, in-depth study of the personality traits that separate major champions and frequent tour winners from the rest of us. The book's findings are based on scientific studies conducted by Dr. Graham in 1981 (LPGA), and both Stabler and Graham in 1989 (PGA and Senior PGA Tours).

GolfPsych Tournament Player Schools (TPS) are personally conducted by Stabler and other GolfPsych Master instructors, including Henry Brunton, national coach and director of player development for the Royal Canadian Golf Association, and one of Golf Magazine's Top 100 Teachers; Lou Solarte, director of golf instruction at Cantigny Golf Club in Wheaton, Ill. and The Hideaway in La Quinta, Calif.; and Jon Sinclair, director of instruction at Cleburne Golf Center in Fort Worth, Texas. All TPS instructors apply their understanding of personality to golfers who seek demonstrable improvement in performance, consistency and enjoyment.

In advance of all Tournament Player Schools, students take an in-depth personality assessment to determine their mental-game strengths and weaknesses. With these results in hand and aided by continual biofeedback analysis, TPS instructors lead classroom sessions in goal-setting, thought and emotional control, health and nutrition, and creating viable mental routines. Then it's off to the golf course for individual, videotaped playing lessons.

"Most golfers today are too left brain - and the left brain is a klutz," Stabler says. "The left side of the brain does all the analyzing for us, and all the worrying. When you stand over the ball and you're trying to process 10 different swing thoughts at once, that's the left-brain run amok. Much of what we do at Tournament Player Schools is teach our students how to play golf with the right brain - the athletic, reactive side of your brain. This is what Champions do, but we can all achieve this with guidance, encouragement and practice."

Adds Brunton: "We've been conducting these schools for four years now and before the school actually starts, when players describe for us their weaknesses - the thing they most want to work on - it's quite often consistency. They all desire greater consistency, but the main reason for inconsistency is this mechanical, left-brain approach to swinging the golf club and playing the game. Studies have shown that the time it takes to swing and hit a golf ball varies between .93 and 1.23 seconds. It takes .25 seconds for the brain to send out a single thought and receive feedback. If you're swinging mechanically - obsessing over where your feet, knees, elbows and shoulders are, whether you're open or closed, whether you're going to lay it off or get back to parallel or whatever - you literally cannot physically accomplish all that in 1.23 seconds. What's more, it's not athletic."

At Tournament Player Schools, students are shown how to clear their minds and play golf athletically and reactively, with their right brains. "There are big paradigms to break down; much of the golf world encourages the mechanical approach," Solarte says. "But some students take to this right-brain, athletic approach immediately and the results are quite astonishing. Others realize just how far they must go - but that's still a huge step forward. Self-awareness is the first step and that's what we give them. We show them what good mental is all about."

Level I schools are designed for players who have not participated in a GolfPsych school or seminar before; they are limited to 8 students per session and tuition is $599, which includes the personality assessment and GolfPsych Report (a $195 value when purchased on their own). The more advanced Level II schools are reserved for Level I graduates; they are limited to 3-4 players and tuition is $1,299, which includes two nights accommodation.

To learn more about GolfPsych Tournament Player Schools, or to contact the Certified GolfPsych Instructor nearest you, visit www.golfpsych.com, or call 888-280-GOLF.

GolfPsych Tournament Player School
2005 Schedule

Tapatio Springs Resort, San Antonio, Texas, USA
Jan. 7-9 - Level I
Feb. 18-20 - Level I
March 18-20 - Level I
April 8-10 - Level I
May 13-15 - Level I
June 24-26 - Level I
*
Jan. 14-16 - Level II
Feb. 4-6 - Level II
March 4-6 - Level II
April 22-24 - Level II
May 27-29 - Level II
July 8-10 - Level II

Doral Tesoro Resort, Ft. Worth, Texas, USA
Jan. 21-23- Level I
Feb. 25-27 - Level I
April 22-24 - Level I
May 20-22 - Level I
July 22-24 - Level I
*
March 18-20 - Level II
June 10-12 - Level II

Cantigny Golf Club, Wheaton, Ill., USA
TBD

Angus Glen Golf Club, Markham, Ontario, Canada
TBD

Contact: Hal Phillips
Phillips Golf Media
207-926-3700
onintwo@maine.rr.com