Format: Stableford
Venue: [Home course]
Score: ?
Handicap mark: 15
Themes in reply: Practising; opinions.
Dear Colin,
Thanks for getting in touch.
I’ve played some golf and generally enjoyed it with some really good holes and steady putting most of the time. Tuesday’s round was fairly typical of the way I play: some good but with my ability to self-destruct.
We started on the 17th. Good drive, slightly pushed second, good pitch on and 2 putts.
18th – Pushed but long drive, good second back to fairway, wedge on to green 2 putts, almost a birdie.
1st – Good 4 wood, utility wedge to green, 2 putts, almost a birdie.
2nd – Good 9 iron just left into bunker, out for 2 putts.
3rd – Pulled but long drive to just close to trees, second 9 iron hit trees, chip into bunker, out but 2 putts for 6.
4th – Good 4 wood, slightly pushed 6 iron, pitch on 2 putts for 5.
5th – Good 9 iron, 2 putts, almost a birdie.
6th – A good drive, good 5 iron, pulled 8 iron, pitch and 2 putts for a 6.
7th – A pulled drive onto the 8th fairway, a duffed recovery back towards the 6th fairway , a cracking 3rd with my 4 wood which landed in the bunker and unfortunately was resting against the front lip. Just out with a chip and 2 putts for a 7.
8th – A cracking drive, a cracking 4 wood which landed in the bunker. A carbon copy of the previous hole with the ball against the front lip. Just out with my next – a chip – and 2 putts for 6.
9th – A very good drive, a slightly pushed second, pitch on with 2 putts, almost a 4.
10th – A good 7 iron, just off the green, 2 putts.
11th – A fairly good 4 wood, a pulled second, pitch on with 2 putts for a 5.
12th – We now had a bit of a wait before I pushed my 4 wood into the rough, good recovery into the bunker, out and 1 putt for a 4.
13th – Terrible drive, way out to the right and I failed to find the ball.
14th – Slightly pulled 8 iron into the LHS bunker, out too cleanly and into the RHS bunker. Almost hit the pin but scored a 4.
15th – Good drive, reasonable 2nd, pitch on and 2 putts for 5.
16th – Pulled drive with recovery wood and lost the ball, probably through the back.
As you see a mixed bag.
I’m not really settled on what I am trying to do with my swing. I’m having thoughts about relaxing my body, about completing my shoulder turn, about my timing which is easy when I complete my turn but not at other times. I just feel more confident if I am able to hit more golf balls ie practice.
Bye for now,
Matthew
Dear Matthew,
Thanks so much for the round report. It is great for me because I know the course. I get similar reports from John but they are more difficult because I am not so familiar with his course.
I assume your report is from the Seniors competition. What did you score in the end?
Practising – My view on practising in your particular case (but this probably applies to most golfers) is that it fails on two important levels. First, it reinforces your belief that there are mechanical bits of your game that you can fix by practising. This is wholly unhelpful simply because it encourages you to allow your logical, reasonable, fact-driven conscious brain to dominate the act of hitting golf balls accurately. My discovery is that the application of accurate force is achieved by normal subconscious processes that have evolved to exploit the fact that our jointed limbs can swing and can therefore harness the wholly predictable force of gravity. The challenge of games is to allow those natural abilities to work as they were designed by evolution to work. This involves consciously getting the conscious to NOT interfere with the subconscious process but rather to make it HELP the subconscious process.
For example, the first step in the method is to consciously allow your subconscious to absorb the conditions of the shot by consciously NOT allowing concrete opinions to surface; opinions such as: “…it’s a downhill lie, I must flex my knees more than usual…”. The important point here is that you DO have to flex your knees more than usual, but your subconscious will see to that anyway. If you allow a conscious opinion to surface it will interfere in the subconscious process and it will distract you from your real job which is to evoke a perfect pendulumic rhythm.
In your e-mail you write: “I`m not really settled on what I am trying to do with my swing.” That is because you are allowing your opinions (relaxation, shoulder-turn etc) to surface at the wrong time. There is nothing innately wrong with your opinions, it is just that they get in the way. To feel settled about your swing you simply have to follow the method of: absorb/visualise/evoke/let the shot happen.
Secondly, practising on the range does not allow you to practise the bit of playing golf that you need to practise the most: that is, taking the rhythm of a successful shot to the next shot. For example, if you play a perfect pitch and you know it was perfect because you timed it beautifully, and you can still easily sense the rhythm you found for that shot, then the trick is to play the resulting putt with exactly the same rhythm. If the putt feels good then take the rhythm on to the next tee shot, and so on.
Also, in general terms, practising fails to provide the competitive context that the subconscious requires to provoke it into attempting the perfect application of force. As imperfect shots accumulate in the unpressurised context of a practice session so the conscious mind is encouraged to go looking for reasons and to attempt potential solutions. None of this is at all helpful for reasons mentioned already. The only useful practice I can think of is to challenge somebody to a putting contest on the practice green at £50 a hole!
“… with my ability to self destruct” – You don’t self destruct. This is an opinion you hold that doesn’t withstand the light of analysis. It is true that you hit a number of shots that were not successful but there isn’t a golfer in the world that doesn’t. What you think of as “self destruction” is a completely normal part of a game that requires its participants to propel a very small ball, vast distances, to small target areas using long sticks.
What actually happens is that you fail to time a shot perfectly (there is near-perfect “timing” because the ball does fly relatively accurately) and then instead of simply taking on the next shot as an independent attempt to apply an accurate force (that is, move the ball from position A to desired position B) you analyse the failed shot in the time available before the next shot, form an opinion as to the reason for the failed shot, attempt to rectify the “fault”, and in the process do a good job of de-railing the subconscious process that is trying on your behalf to apply an accurate force to the golf ball you are now staring at disconsolately. The miracle is that your natural timing is so good that all your conscious attempts to interfere and take over the process through rational, reasonable analysis mostly fail and you hit lots of perfect and near-perfect shots.
I’m really happy that you are enjoying your golf: it is very encouraging.
As for me, my web site has taken another step forward. It is very slow progress but at least it is moving.
Regards,
Colin
