Feel vs Technique

[AmandaJR]

This element of the game I find fascinating and makes me wonder how much to go with feel and try not to think about technique/ball flight laws etc when out on the course.

Today was typical for me as I found the left side with my drive nf the 10th and 11th holes (Par 5's). Both times I had a tree to my left just getting in the way of my preferred line down the fairway and picked up my 7 iron knowing I required a strong draw shape to get enough distance to leave a wedge to the green but also stay on the fairway and miss the overhanging branches. Both times I nailed them - really nailed them, and they were my shots of the day (birdie/par). At no point did I contemplate what I had to do technically to achieve the shot shape and not even sure I really 100% know that anyhow. I stood there, saw the shot and hit it - simples.

Then stood on the 13th Par 3 with the wind howling off the left and a similar shot required but thought about how to achieve it and thinned it through the back of the green.

I guess it comes down to the Bob Rotella preaching of trusting your swing on the course and playing in the trust mode rather than technical mode...sometimes hard to have the courage to do it though!

Gotta love this game

 

[Mungoscorner]

Technique is ultimately more reliable and consistent than feel.If your having a bad day,you can check the basics to find the fault and try to correct it.If your a feel player,and something is slightly off with your swing,it's much harder to correct.
I have to admit to being a feel player,on a good day i can shoot around about level par at my home course,if my touch is slightly off it's as likely to be a 92 as a 72.

 

[bluewolf]

I like to think of myself as more of a "feel" player. If I think too much I tend to suffer. If I just think about the ball flight rather than the mechanics then I have a higher success percentage. Might just be a mental thing.

 

[JustOne]

I'm not a feel player, I don't believe the clubface is in contact with the ball long enough for that type of 'feel' or that I can create a specific shot just by willing it to happen. There is an 'automatic' type of feel when you play the game to a sufficient standard ie you are needing to hit a shot under branches and you just somehow 'know' how to do it, but that's not really feel, or is it?

 

[JustOne]

Weird..... My reply has been sent to a moderator for approval


I'll try again here...

I don't believe in 'feel' as the clubface isn't in contact with the ball for long enough, likewise I don't believe in producing a shot just because you 'hope' it will happen, that said, when you are faced with a shot that you need to hit (for example) under branches there is a certain 'feel' that you know how to do that... if you are any good at it

Both the draw/hook shots you played might well have shot off dead straight right and missed the target completely... then what?

 

[Wolfman]

This element of the game I find fascinating and makes me wonder how much to go with feel and try not to think about technique/ball flight laws etc when out on the course.

Today was typical for me as I found the left side with my drive nf the 10th and 11th holes (Par 5's). Both times I had a tree to my left just getting in the way of my preferred line down the fairway and picked up my 7 iron knowing I required a strong draw shape to get enough distance to leave a wedge to the green but also stay on the fairway and miss the overhanging branches. Both times I nailed them - really nailed them, and they were my shots of the day (birdie/par). At no point did I contemplate what I had to do technically to achieve the shot shape and not even sure I really 100% know that anyhow. I stood there, saw the shot and hit it - simples.

Then stood on the 13th Par 3 with the wind howling off the left and a similar shot required but thought about how to achieve it and thinned it through the back of the green.

I guess it comes down to the Bob Rotella preaching of trusting your swing on the course and playing in the trust mode rather than technical mode...sometimes hard to have the courage to do it though!

Gotta love this game

Next time you throw a ball to someone ask yourself how many times did you analyse how to throw ?

The same applies on the golf course i guess, think of the place to land the ball not how to swing it

 

[JustOne]

Next time you throw a ball to someone ask yourself how many times did you analyse how to throw ?

What if you throw it to them and miss?

 

[bluewolf]

What if you throw it to them and miss?

Isn't that what the years if practise growing up are for? I don't think anyone is claiming that you can feel your way to a great golf swing, but that if you practise the technical at the range, then trust that ingrained knowledge at the course.

 

[AmandaJR]

Isn't that what the years if practise growing up are for? I don't think anyone is claiming that you can feel your way to a great golf swing, but that if you practise the technical at the range, then trust that ingrained knowledge at the course.

That's the way I see it and I can get way too techy on the course with a head full of swing thoughts and stuff it up completely. I have had lessons on the shots I'm trying to produce and have worked on them on the range and course but it feels like I play my best golf when I decide where I want the ball to end up, the club/shot required, look at the club, look at the ball, imagine the flight and step up and hit the blasted thing...

Then again the things I've learnt techy wise from my coach and on here mean I understand what is required (mainly) so can achieve it, but also can usually work out what went wrong if it does.

 

[Tiger]

Great piece in this months GM with young Rory and a story of him shaping shots for fun on the range and being asked how he did it. His reply I think draw and I hit draw, I think fade and I hit fade. Similar thing covered in Harvey Penwick's Little Red Book about seeing a shot and then hitting it. I think this is applicable to certain types of people more than others. In terms of putting I don't think about how long my backswing needs to be I look at the putt and stroke it letting my brain figure it out. If I go to a new course after a few putts on a practice green to get the pace my brain will start to adjust.

I think if you do something enough times that it becomes 'natural' you have a greater ability to tell your brain do x and have it do it for you.

Interesting question Amanda

 

[Lump]

I can't do technical thoughts atm, I need to see the shot I want to hit, step up and swing. Bad things happen when I think about my swing. So I suppose I'm very much a feel player. Never properly thought about it though.

 

[AmandaJR]

I think I have natural feel and much of my short game is based upon just that. But...I have also had to learn the technique to achieve the shot I see in my imagination. I think it's why it's the part of the game I love the most and a chip played exactly as I saw it gives me way more pleasure than a long drive executed exactly as I saw it.

We have a 9 handicapper who has worked extremely hard on the technical aspects of the game but imho has no feel or natural sense of what's required to send a ball to a particular destination in a particular way - would definitely miss if she threw a ball and would throw it like a girl too! So by the same token that if a "feel" player's touch is a bit off the scores can rack up, then she suffers the same if her technical game/swing fail her as she has no feel to fall back on.

I guess the ideal is of course a good blend of both....one can be learnt though and the other is "natural talent"?? That's a whole new topic though and have just bought "Bounce" which is meant to be a good read on the subject (from another thread on here).

 

[HomerJSimpson]

I hate being taught technically. I have to feel the club in the right place rather than how it gets there. I'm trying to get as far away from technical thoughts. Went down that road four or five years ago and screwed myself completely.

 

[bluewolf]

I hate being taught technically. I have to feel the club in the right place rather than how it gets there. I'm trying to get as far away from technical thoughts. Went down that road four or five years ago and screwed myself completely.

Thats pretty much how I feel Martin. If I concentrate on clubhead positioning etc, I lose tempo and can't hit the ball for toffee. But, if I concentrate only on tempo and shot visualisation I have much more success. This is especially highlighted in the shortgame. If I picture where I want the ball to land, and how high I want the ball to go, I have much more success than if I concentrate on how far back I want to swing the clubhead. I'm not claiming this to be the best way, just that it's the way that works best for me.....

 

[JustOne]

I don't really have any technical swing thoughts, once the set up is good I just swing. I have a couple of swing thought but they are not technical more to do with a good turn down towards the ball or where I want to set my weight, and one for the way through.

 

[Hobbit]

I think (good) feel has to be backed up with technique. Everyone learns feel from technique, i.e. if a shot ends up in the right place we 'log' the feel associated with it as the right feel.

Head full of swing thoughts and technique; I've never done that out on the course but I have spent hours on the practice ground grooving a technique/thought/movement. My thoughts during a round are alignment and slowly back - anything else is a distraction. Seve once said, "play with the swing you've taken out on the course. Don't try and change it mid round." It seemed to work for him.

 

[devdor]

When I was an amateur, I practiced a lot on different techniques. I agree with Lump's opinion, I used to worry about my swing whether it was good or bad or it just didn't have consistency. If I focus on doing technical moves without any 'feel', the outcome won't be good.