Marcus Tullius Cicero, a Roman philosopher, statesman, lawyer, political theorist, and Roman constitutionalist of the first century BC, said it best, “Man is his own worst enemy.”
The sport of golf is one of the few sports, where the individual player is solely responsible for the outcome of the game. In golf, a player can blame no one but him or herself for his or her performance.
Golf is a physical game, but more so, it is a mental game. The athleticism of the individual is important, but mental focus and clarity are far more important to a player’s ability to perform well.
Obviously, the goal in golf is to get the ball into the hole, in as few strokes as possible. More important than learning a specific technique, to enable the possibility, is to understand the learning process in the game of golf.
If you learn to hit the ball fast and straight the first time, then you will naturally lower your handicap. So, for those who are truly interested in improving their golf game, one should strive to make the first stroke hit its mark.
A lot of times, this means that the player must return to the basics. This means that a player must focus on golfing fundamentals, to ensure that when the ball leaves the tee, it is traveling straight, to accurately reach its’ destination.
An ancient Latin proverb suggests, “A chain is only as strong as its weakest link.”
Top golfers are top golfers, because they consistently focus on the fundamentals of golf. Starting with a grip, and then addressing the ball, moving into the backstroke, ensuring the accuracy of the forward swing, executing a correct release, and casting appropriately, the golfer has a lot of steps that must be executed flawlessly, for the ball to travel far and straight.
When I was in junior high, one of the football coaches said at the beginning of the season, “You must win the first game, if you want to have an undefeated season.” The truth in that statement is so obvious that many people will overlook its wisdom.
Its’ wisdom will also apply to your golf swing. If you do the first step incorrectly, then each subsequent step will be made more difficult, as you will be working harder to try to compensate for your weakest link. Your golf swing is only as strong as your weakest fundamentals.
When learning your golf fundamentals anew, your body will be in conflict with your mind. Your body is already attuned to your previous swing – in your subconscious, your body already knows how to swing a golf club. Suddenly, the conscious mind is trying to direct the body to do things in new and different ways. As a result, the conscious mind and the subconscious mind will commence into a wrestling match, for control of the body.
This process leads to great frustration for the golfing student. Until the conscious mind has practiced the new style or technique, over a length of time, the subconscious mind will attempt to revert to the original style or technique.
It is not enough to learn a new style or technique for your golf game. Your conscious mind must retrain the “motor skills” of the subconscious mind, to accept this new training. Until the subconscious mind accepts and internalizes the new training, the conscious mind and the subconscious mind will remain in conflict, causing the player to perform badly. It is always darkest, before the dawn…
As the conscious mind is retraining the subconscious mind, teaching it new motor skills, the conscious mind must stay focused on the new technique, with the understanding that the subconscious mind will attempt to regain bodily control during the swing. This is the reason that learning new golf techniques is such a challenging and frustrating endeavor.
Typically, when a player notices that the new training has negatively impacted his or her game, the players’ instinct is to abandon the new style or technique, in the false belief that the new techniques are the problem.
But, when you anticipate the natural progression of learning a new style or technique, and the subsequent battle for control between the conscious mind and subconscious mind, then you can choose to persevere until the subconscious mind incorporates the new training into its arsenal of trusted motor skills.
For golfers who practice daily, it could take as little as three weeks to retrain the subconscious mind to effectively demonstrate the new golfing styles and techniques. For golfers who practice less frequently, the process could take up to three months to complete.
During the process of retraining your subconscious mind to demonstrate the new techniques in your golf swing, you must practice patience and persistence with the full knowledge that this process takes time and repetition.
Most golfers have learned to play golf in a way where the swing leads to blocking. For those who do not understand the terminology, that is a process where the body blocks the fluid movement of the swing.
Most players learn to compensate for blocking, by manipulation of the swing through the wrists. However, if a player chooses to manipulate the swing, rather than to eliminate the blocking, then consistency will only be as reliable as the players’ timing and execution of the manipulations.
The easiest way to improve one’s game is to eliminate blocking, thereby eliminating the need to manipulate the swing. This process begins with understanding the swing plane of your club. It is not necessary to like Ben Hogan, in order to learn the importance of the swing plane from Hogan. All of the great players in this game have acknowledged that when Ben Hogan reached his prime, he was the single, most accurate, ball striker to ever play the game.
Many golf instructors acknowledge that Ben Hogan’s classic book, “Five Lessons, The Modern Fundamentals Of Golf” was a good book, but it fell short of teaching the magic of Ben Hogan’s swing.
I know that you have heard this saying, “Some people do, and some people teach. A few people can do both.” The jury is still out as to whether Hogan was simply unable to teach people the magic of his swing, or if Hogan did not want to share the most important ingredients of his successful golf swing.
Either way, Hogan’s “Five Lessons” should only be considered as a starting point in learning the fundamentals of golf.
Hogan’s swing plane concept may feel unnatural to most people who pick up a golf club. However, Hogan’s swing plane concept is one that successfully eliminates the blocking problem.
All golfers tend to demonstrate some level of blocking in their swing. Even the great Tiger Woods tended to block, when joined the professional golfing world.
If you are a serious golfer, and you have studied the career of Tiger Woods, you may have noticed that Tigers’ game has improved since he joined the PGA. In recent years, Tiger Woods has demonstrated on the golf course that he has worked hard to eliminate blocking in his swing.
Tigers’ willingness to work hard and to improve his golf swing has enabled him not only to stay at the top of his game, but also to bring consistency to his game. It has been through Tigers’ consistency that Tiger Woods has won as many tournaments as he has, to become a household name.
Man is his own worst enemy…
If you would like to learn to become a better golfer, you must understand and accept that your golf game will get worse, before it gets better.
Your subconscious mind will struggle with your conscious mind, in its desire to never have to change. Your subconscious mind prefers living in a safe and sane world, where things will always be the same. But, with practice and repetition your conscious mind can win the battle to convert your subconscious mind to a new way of thinking and doing.
Only when your golf swing becomes something you can do, without actually thinking about it, will you begin to see great improvements in your game and your handicap.
If you commit yourself to learning how to improve your golf game, and you commit yourself to retraining your subconscious mind to learn new motor skills, then with time and practice, your golf game will become better.
There is no such thing as an overnight success, even in the game of golf. Becoming a better golfer will require an acceptance and appreciation for the process of retraining the subconscious mind. As you seek to improve your golf game, you will need to commit yourself to overcoming your subconscious desire to avoid the struggle and failure, which are a necessary byproduct of the process of personal growth and development.
This article published here.
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Winchel Blanc provides golf tips to those who want to improve their game. In his “Golf Master: Golf Instruction” ebook, you will learn the golf tricks of the trade the pros and leading instructors don’t want you to know. I guarantee that within an hour, the techniques you adopt will cut your handicap in half! Let Golf Master teach you how to golf with confidence, with passion, with determination and with precision. Learn more at: http://online-golf-specialist.info/
Read more articles written by Winchel Blanc
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