Just about every day someone writes a question about getting bogged down in mechanics when they swing. They ask how they can develop and maintain a good rhythm and tempo. They ask how and what to think about when making a swing. Bill asks about all these points in his question. Let's see if I can help simplify some of these issues for him and everyone else.
Bill Sikes says:
Don,
I have been working on the PPGS for over 4 months and am convinced it is the swing for me if only I could get and keep it. I envy my best friend (a scratch golfer) because he has the PPGS and is the most consistent player I know. His rhythm/tempo are almost perfect. When asked what he thinks about, he says, 'I don't think of anything, I just swing'. He's played that way all his life and never had a lesson. He has 'natural ability.'
Granted, I'm a 'Type A' with a mind cluttered over the years with info from Golf mag, Golf Channel, etc. I practice every day and often I state, 'I've found it!' only to lose it later. I've read all your postings, viewed your videos, and one thing I don't think you've completely addressed is what one should think about to initiate and complete the swing. I have used every conceivable swing 'mantra' (i.e. swing, set, through; 1,2,3; swing up, swing thru, etc, etc). One will work for a while and then it won't. It is impossible to think of everything you have taught related to making the PPGS. What should my MENTAL THOUGHT(S) be?
I am so close to getting this and will not give up trying'¦success comes through failure.
The Surge says:
Starting with rhythm and tempo, the first issue is recognizing your personality as that is what defines you. Bill says he is a 'Type A,' as am I. Basically Type A's are high strung and think and move and are built for speed like a race car. Then there are gazelles and other super fast animals that are speedy, yet smooth and graceful, as we want our swing to be. The other end of the spectrum is the turtle, it just ambles along, but it gets from point A to B, slow but sure.
You are what you are, and your rhythm and tempo must reflect your personality and nature. Type A's can't be successful in life, work and swinging a golf club trying to think, walk, talk, work and swing a golf club at turtle speed or try to look like Ernie Els, Geoff Ogilvie or Chad Campbell and, if you remember, Julius Boros. If a Type A fights his/her nature and tries to slow down, he/she falls down. The opposite is true for the turtle defying its nature and trying to run places like a gazelle. We are what we are. Recognize it and be it.
Bill states that he does not think I have fully addressed how one should initiate and complete the swing. He goes on to say that mantras and swing counts have not worked. For starters, mantras and swing counts have to match one's personality. A count too fast or slow for one personality will not work. Trying to emulate another's swing speed is as difficult as trying to talk their speed. I am (you may have noticed) a fast talker, but have you ever heard Brandt Snedeker talk. He leaves me in the dust.
Mantras and swing counts work, but I also believe that mantras and swing counts may not work for everyone, even if they get the correct speed and rhythm. I know this because they don't work for me as they clutter my mind with too much noise to swing and I can't seem to keep them consistent. Heck, I can't chew gum and swing at the same time, but I can talk on the phone. I use a hands free ear piece and can swing or putt and talk while practicing or playing casually, but I never do it in playing seriously for score or in tournaments.
I have tried counts and mantras but they just don't work for me. We actually worked with DJ on a mantra for putting. His Mantra for his putting stroke from takeaway to impact is saying 'MAKING MONEY.' He even had it engraved on the back of his putter with $$$$ signs.
There is also mental visualization that Ben Hogan is noted for using. It is also stressed heavily by sports psychologists in their training of athletes. For us golfers, this is where we stand behind the ball and see ourselves in our mind addressing the ball, swinging, and hitting it, then seeing the exact flight we desire with the ball landing at the target. This definitely works as it sets the mind to trigger the right muscles to setup correctly and then in the swing to fire the right way and in the right sequence. Visualization takes practice and dedication to learn, perfect and maintain. It produces good results if one can master it.
Not only am I bad counter and mantra maker, I am not a good visualizer. So what is left for me or you to do if these don't work? The question now becomes, is there anything else that can help golfers, as Bill asks, to initiate and complete the swing? I think so and it is what I do.
I play by sense and feel. When I start analyzing the shot I have to play, I enter a super mode of observation and evaluation. I look at the lie if the ball is on the ground. I measure the yardage walking it off and/or shooting it with my laser. I check the wind direction, temperature. Then I decide on the flight trajectory, shot shape, and with all these facts I finally decide on the club to use. I 'sense and feel it' in my mind more than I see it.
This sensing produces 'the feel' I need to have in my setup and my swing to produce the shot I desire to hit. (Note: many players use the term 'Feel Player' as an excuse to be lax with their setup and swing fundamentals. I have had many talks with students, and most notably with DJ, about this cop out to, as I call it, maintaining 'Technical Excellence' in the setup and swing. ) For me this sense of feel is the trigger to tell me the exact 'Technical Excellence' setup and swing I need and must have to successfully execute the shot.
I change the mechanics and thought process of setup and swing through feel to just correctly 'melt' into my setup and then just 'Swing the Swing.' I think this is what Bill says his friend is doing when he says 'he just swings.' He, like me, has removed mechanics and too much mental thought interference. We just 'Sense and Feel' the shot we want to hit and then we setup and 'Swing the Feel' needed to execute that shot.
Tomorrow, I will outline how I transfer this sensing and feeling to swinging through my practice swings.
The Surge!