[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nOHa94jkqCk] The mental aspect of golf (and sports in general) has always been of interest to me due to my background in psychology and health care. Understanding - or attempting to understand - what goes on in the minds of the world's greatest athletes is something I have researched for many years as both a student of the game and journalist. Many books have been written on the subject of "mental toughness" and preparation, however I have yet to see any real-time demonstrations as to what the top golfers on any TOUR actually "do" in their heads when preparing for a tournament or their next shot.

That is, there hasn't been a demonstration to that affect until the Pro Mental Coach.

Developed by a team of doctors, golf professionals and brain experts, Pro Mental Coach is a computer software program that not only aims at teaching you mental tricks and methodologies used by the game's greats, but also offers simulations that you can practice in the comfort of your own home. I was lucky enough to come across a copy of this software over the holiday weekend, so I decided to throw the CD-ROM into my laptop and prepared to be "mentalized".

According to the program, Pro Mental Coach only requires the learner (i.e. golfer) to set aside one hour a week to boost your mental preparedness aimed at improving your golf game. In the program, I was introduced to a great deal of content that not only discussed how the brain functions in terms of memory, reactivity, and athletic preparation, but also showcased specific examples that allowed me to practice and better understand the content being presented.

Pro Mental Coach is a highly-interactive, educational program presented on a clean format that allows the user to complete various "brain exercises" (including object recognition and muscle reactivity) and compare his or her results to that of the national average. After a few runs through the various exercises on the program, I learned that while I was above-average in muscle reactivity, I tended to let my mind wander a bit during the timed recognition exercises. According to the program, these results suggest that I have a high hand-eye coordination factor while lack the long-term mental stamina to maintain this coordination throughout a 4-hour round of golf.

While many of these findings - and the brain exercises in the program - may seem a little far-fetched at first, the underlying message is one that we all can understand and relate to: golf requires a high level of mental acuity and stamina to perform at your best.

The interactive software ($139.95) is based on proven neuroscience and years of research by the program developers. You can learn more about Pro Mental Coach by visiting their company website or by viewing the YouTube video above.