Today, we are going to have a "playing" lesson on the shortest, yet most important, course you play. That's the one that can be found in the few inches between your ears. Your mental game.
A few weeks ago, I picked up on a dialogue between two of our most frequent contributors on the blog, Neil of Oz and Robert Meade. Believe it or not, the conversation was part of a dialogue on the pros/cons of keeping score when playing a social round of golf. I had suggested that perhaps instead of keeping track of the number of strokes you take that you could make note of the quality of your shots. Here's what Neil had to offer:
"Quality not Quantity, now that's something I check often. At the end of the day, just before I go to sleep, I track back on the day's game and mentally pick my "shot of the day". This routine makes me visualise all of my shots which gives me good feedback on what club/shot I'm doing well/poor. My "shot of the day" usually is the one that sets me up for a birdie or par in terms of accuracy/length. Sometimes I'm already asleep before I get to the 9/18th, LOL".
This prompted Robert to add this comment:
"Neil, this may be the most important part of improvement that I only recently have gotten serious about. The mental state of mind concerning our game. Boog and I got on this subject as we both have been reading The 15th Club by Bob Rotella. Boog gave me a web site that will be right up your alley. http://golfstateofmind.com/ Very good stuff. Of course they ultimately have services to sell as does any business, however there is a ton of great free advice on multiple subjects concerning those 5 inches between our ears."
I downloaded their free golf state of mind audios on my mp3. Been listening to it at the gym and on the way to work instead of music. Take a look and let me know what you think. What I've appreciated so far is that they encourage how to move from mechanical and physical swing thoughts to visualization and feel. This is in complete harmony with Surge's "feel the swing and swing the feel" philosophy."
This idea of visualization is a very hot topic on Tour as you can probably imagine. You've seen many players decide on their shot, select a club, take a practice swing or two and then pause for a few seconds as they imagine what the shot will feel like, what it will look like and where it will end up (presumably in the hole!). Visualization is important because it is part of the process where the mind sends the correct signals to your muscles to get them to move in the proper sequence to produce the desired effect. It used to be that people believed that the way to "groove" your swing was through muscle memory. Banging ball after ball on the practice range. Today, with the successful introduction of sports psychology to the game, the focus is on mental memory. And visualization is the way most people develop it.
I say "most people" because that's not the way I do it. I can't visualize things; studies of my brain have shown that the areas associated with the visualization process are inactive. I get to the same place by developing a feel for every shot I know how to make. Now some golfers say that they're a "feel player" which I think is really a cover up for poor fundamentals. But in reality, we are all "feel players" when it come right down to it. If a practice swing feels right, or your grip feels comfortable then you have a good sense that the real swing will be right too. If you have the ability to visualize your shot, then that's great--as long as you can translate the mental image to feel.
That's why we stress that you work on your mechanics and fundamentals on the practice range and never on the course. If you hit a bad shot, just invoke Secret #5 and concentrate on hitting your next shot correctly. If you have a good mental memory of a proper setup and if you learn to take 1-2 practice swings to reacquire the right feel for the shot you are about to hit, you will most certainly improve your distance and accuracy and that will lead to lower scores. Just remember my Surgism, "Feel the swing. Then swing the feel."
Keep it [visually] vertical!
The Surge
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