Drew Schmenner • The Desert Sun • June 13, 2009

PALM DESERT — Change fires up Dr. Travis Fox.



“There's no greater drug in the planet,” Fox said.

Like Hank Haney fixing Charles Barkley's atrocious golf swing, the self-dubbed “psychological evangelist” lives to give people the keys to transform themselves and then others.
That is the mission behind Fox's Million Minds Project, an online community aimed at helping facilitate change.

Fox also has found a niche in sports, having worked with numerous professional golfers as well as the Virginia Military Institute men's basketball team, and this month he is coming out with “Get Psyched: Secrets to Lowering your Golf Scores.”

The book is a culmination of Fox's own transformation. Before he was able to reach out, he had to look within.
It all began on the golf course.
A fragile mind can be as deadly to a golfer as a hitch in a putting stroke. One imperfect shot can set off a cavalcade of errors like Jean Van de Velde's infamous triple-bogey on the final hole at Carnoustie that cost him the 1999 British Open.

Bad shots suddenly started to haunt Fox when he was a talented teenager aspiring to play on the PGA Tour. Growing up in Marina del Rey, he was competitive in junior events, but his unhealthy pursuit of perfection began to cripple his game.
“I literally couldn't get out of my own way,” Fox said.

He got disgusted by shots that would thrill most golfers.

“It went so far that I could literally hit a shot 10 feet from the pin, but I would be so upset because I wanted to be 10 feet on the other side,” Fox said.
Offered a chance to walk on at Arizona State, Fox failed, but he was dogged in the pursuit of his dream. He called his father and told him he was withdrawing from ASU to turn pro.

“It was the biggest ego statement I've ever made,” Fox said.

He lasted only six months on the Golden State Tour, a professional mini-tour in southern California.
But what plagued Fox on the course inspired him in the classroom. The mind fascinated him.

Fox went back to school, earning doctorates in hypnotherapy and psychology. One of his dissertations tried to solve mental shortcomings on the course.


Titled “Are you Afraid of the Bogey Man?”, it looked at how various psychological methods lowered golf scores.

Fox then became a life coach, developing his own psychological methodology with lectures, corporate trainings and other events. Satisfied with his work, Fox decided to apply it to his roots.
He returned to golf.
“It was the ultimate test of mine, at least in the sports world,” Fox said. “It's you against you.”

It worked. In 2005, Fox launched a successful infomercial on the Golf Channel called “Are You Afraid of the Bogey Man?” and started to coach professional golfers, including Jose Maria Olazabal and Bernhard Langer.
His visibility on television led to an unlikely partnership. Virginia Military Institute basketball coach Duggar Baucom recognized him at a PGA tournament in 2008 and asked him to work with his team. Fox agreed.

The “head coach” unlocked the Keydets' potential. Players started to believe in themselves. Picked to finish seventh in the Big South Conference, VMI surged to national prominence with a record-breaking start and finished second in the conference.

Currently Fox is releasing a book based on what he first researched for his dissertation, called “Get Psyched: Secrets to Lowering your Golf Scores,” as well as expanding his online presence with the Million Minds Project and video streaming.

For a teenage golfer who thought it was all about him, he has come a long way.
“It's not about me,” Fox said. “It's about the message, and the message is very simple: Reaching the world, one mind at a time.”

Fox went back to school, earning doctorates in hypnotherapy and psychology. One of his dissertations tried to solve mental shortcomings on the course.


Titled “Are you Afraid of the Bogey Man?”, it looked at how various psychological methods lowered golf scores.

Fox then became a life coach, developing his own psychological methodology with lectures, corporate trainings and other events. Satisfied with his work, Fox decided to apply it to his roots.
He returned to golf.

“It was the ultimate test of mine, at least in the sports world,” Fox said. “It's you against you.”
It worked. In 2005, Fox launched a successful infomercial on the Golf Channel called “Are You Afraid of the Bogey Man?” and started to coach professional golfers, including Jose Maria Olazabal and Bernhard Langer.
His visibility on television led to an unlikely partnership. Virginia Military Institute basketball coach Duggar Baucom recognized him at a PGA tournament in 2008 and asked him to work with his team. Fox agreed.

The “head coach” unlocked the Keydets' potential. Players started to believe in themselves. Picked to finish seventh in the Big South Conference, VMI surged to national prominence with a record-breaking start and finished second in the conference.

Currently Fox is releasing a book based on what he first researched for his dissertation, called “Get Psyched: Secrets to Lowering your Golf Scores,” as well as expanding his online presence with the Million Minds Project and video streaming.

For a teenage golfer who thought it was all about him, he has come a long way.
“It's not about me,” Fox said. “It's about the message, and the message is very simple: Reaching the world, one mind at a time.”