In early spring, 2006, during the first round of the Honda Classic, John Daly injured himself trying to put the brakes on his swing after being startled by the flash of a camera. Sounds crazy, a camera flash messing up a golfer's swing. And, even crazier, hurting himself by straining muscles in his rib cage, trying to stop his swing in motion before impact.
First of all, let's look at why he would want to stop his swing? He was trying to avoid flinching his muscles before or at impact because that would likely cause a bad shot. And since he was hitting a driver, a usually long blast by Big John, if he flinched, who knows where the ball could go. A good guess is it would not be good for Long John's score, even if he found it. The second question we need to look at is why he would likely flinch because of a camera flashing or clicking, or sudden noise during his swing.
Golf is played in relative quiet, and calm, and fans remain still. No other athletes in the world have such a tranquil atmosphere to play their shots when surrounded by fans except for chess and checker matches. Why do golfers need quiet and stillness? Some say because it has always been that way. Golf has always been a gentleman's (and gentlewoman's) game, with total respect for your opponent during your match, especially while he is hitting a shot. This respect thing carried over to the fans when watching a tournament, and has remained the norm for the history of playing golf and for watching tournament golf at all levels.
All other sports with fans sitting in stadiums and arenas are wide open to yelling and screaming, horns blowing and the use all kinds of noise making devices. Because of this, with the baseball, basketball, football, soccer, hockey players playing right through this bedlam of noise and movement, golfers have been described as pansies, sissies, babies, and pampered poodles because, 'They need their quiet and stillness to hit that little old golf ball.' People just can't understand, never mind accept, that maybe there is a real good reason that quiet and stillness is needed. There is a good reason. I call it the Flinch Factor.
The Flinch Factor can be described as when one is making body and thus muscle movements of a highly complex nature, there is always a range of time in that motion that if startled by noise or movement the player can flinch, causing a break and disruption in the flow of the motion. In the case of a golfer, this break in the flow of motion will cause a bad shot that can be very costly (OB, wet, lost).
For golfers, the range of time and motion that is susceptible to flinching is in the transition at the top of the backswing to impact. And, I would say specifically from when the shaft is around parallel to the ground to impact, the area many instructors and players call the hitting or impact zone. Hearing a noise, seeing a flash or seeing movement, in one's peripheral vision, especially with that movement appearing to be coming closer to your club in the downswing where you sense you may hit whatever is moving toward you, are triggers for flinching.
But why do only golfers seem to suffer from flinching? We never hear of baseball pitchers, basketball players at the free throw line or quarterbacks or field goal kickers ever complaining of the noise and the fans in the stands moving and jumping around causing them to flinch. Why? Because they were doing it , being noisy, before they started their play making and continued while these players made their shot, swing or kick. Even if the noise and motion intensified, it does not affect them because they remained focused. Many athletes say they don't even hear the noise and see the movement. But why do golfers hear and see everything? Because of the quiet and stillness when they started their swing. Once that calmness is broken in the flinch zone of their swing, they can and likely will flinch. It is as inevitable to happen to them as to you when you hear the peace and calmness broken by a siren, train whistle, shriek or crash of a car accident.
In defense of golfers, I have a test I will suggest fans in other sports try during a game to see if these other athletes really focus better and are immune to flinching. I have played baseball and basketball, and I know that there is a flinch zone in these sports that can and will cause a player to flinch in motion. The next time a player is at the foul line getting ready to shot the game winning free throw, or the pitcher is ready to throw an important pitch, or the kicker getting ready to kick the extra point or winning field goal, the entire stadium must go to 'dead silence.' The players can't even hear breathing, the quietness is deafening, like nothing ever heard of in stadium sports'¦like the quietness at a tournament prior to playing a shot.
AND'¦at the exact moment in the players free throw, pitch or kick, a split second before the release of the ball or the hitting of the ball, everyone yells, screams and jumps up. I'll bet the farm the player flinches, and throws a brick at the basket or a pitch that is not a strike and that the kicker misses. The key here is once the noise and motion is started before the swing, or throw, there is no problem for any athlete to maintain concentration and perform well, including golfers! Golfers play on holes along the side of roads and railroad tracks. Cars constantly going by, the train coming, blocking them out is no problem. Heck, now we see golfers practicing wearing head sets listening to music. But an unexpected horn being blown or person yelling at the wrong moment in the swing in the flinch zone, likely will cause a flinch for the golfer as well as any other athlete performing his sport.
The Flinch Factor and zone are real and do exist. Golfers are more prone to being affected by the nature of our game. It is played in quiet and stillness that starts when the player begins his address and lasts until after impact. Look at the Phoenix PGA Tournament on the par three hole 16, which is golf's answer to mass mayhem in the stands. After every player hits his tee shot, the fans erupt in yelling and screaming like nowhere else in the golf world.. Yet, with all the noise and mayhem, why and how do the golfers hit good shots and not flinch? Because there was dead silence and calmness before the shot and until the split second after impact, the end of the Flinch Zone.
I REST MY CASE IN DEFENSE OF GOLFERS'¦AND FOR THAT MATTER, ALL ATHLETES.
The Surge!