NEUROSCIENCE IN GOLF
with Brielle Paolini
Brielle Paolini - Intro to Neuroscience of Golf
YOUR COACH
DR. BRIELLE PAOLINI, MD, PhD
Brielle is a Radiologist, Neuroscientist, physical trainer, nutritionist, golfer, artist and people enthusiast.
She has pursued golf throughout her life, including attending William & Mary on a golf scholarship and competing for four years at the Division I varsity level. While in college, Brielle became a Goldwater Scholar and graduated Summa Cum Laude with the highest GPA in the school’s science areas. After William & Mary, Brielle accepted a full scholarship to Wake Forest University School of Medicine where she spent seven years studying, researching and publishing on medical and Neuroscience topics. While at Wake Forest, Brielle participated in the Mind and Life Institute, lectured on High Performance Teams and Mental Toughness and co-founded the Student Wellness Center. Her PhD thesis was on Complex Brain Networks.
After earning an MD/PhD degree, Brielle accepted a residency at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) where she spent a transitional year as an intern and then five years as a Radiology resident.
Currently, Brielle is a Board Certified Radiologist. She is on faculty at a top medical school where she practices Radiology, conducts research, publishes and teaches.
NEUROSCIENCE TOPICS COVERED
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The Pre-Frontal Cortex and Your Swing Fingerprint
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Let Your Brain Fix Your Slice or Hook – The Easier Solution
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Drivers of Golf Performance, Options for Addressing Them, and The Higher Brain vs. The Animal Brain
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Addressing the Brain’s Bombardment of Thoughts, as well as Blind Spots and Mind Wander
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Experience, Fear, Emotion, and Perception
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Dealing with Pressure and Pre-Shot Routine
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Momentum, Interacting with Playing Partners, and On-Course Eating and Hydration
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Drills, Nip the Yips, Major Swing Change, Reshaping DNA, Sleep is Your Friend, and 9 Ways to Stay Healthy and Strong
Neuroscience focuses on how the brain and nervous system develop and react. It’s the basis for understanding cognitive function and resulting behavior on the golf course, and there have many breakthroughs over the past 12 years.
As time progresses, application of Neuroscience principles will revolutionize golf. Almost every week, new studies provide potentially life-changing information. Our MD/PhD Neuroscientist keeps us up to date on developments so we can quickly take new findings from the lab to the course.
Only a generation ago, there was a belief that our brains were static, prone to inevitable atrophy. Now, however, we understand that the brain can rewire and reinvent itself in remarkable ways and we’re the catalysts for making it happen.
We just need to reject old ideas and accept new ones.
The Two Biggest Issues We Encounter
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Mistakes created by impulse, emotional response, or unconscious behavior
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Failure to refine skills through brief, 10-second visualization
We teach players that mistakes are enormously helpful as they open new pathways in the brain that can be capitalized for exponential growth. In our performance sessions, we help players turn impulse into mindful thought, control emotional response through breathing, and monitor unconscious behavior. We talk about how visualization at bedtime helps refine skills during sleep and how it also can be used during pre-shot routines to improve execution.