Curls
Journeyman Pro
Ever say to yourself “I’m a good golfer really, I just have 1 or 2 meltdowns where I hit a brutal shot and it goes to pieces for a hole or two. It comes out of nowhereâ€.
I've long been aware of staying in the now, thanks to Zen Golf by Joseph Parent and his advice on "anyways" (which boils down to - if you're about to hit a shot and realise something's wrong but think "I'll hit it anyway" - STOP! Step off, it won't end well). Staying in the present means not dwelling on the past (I find the Tiger line excellent - pick a line on the ground, say at the tee box, and say "Okay, I'm raging about that missed putt, but when I step over that line it's done, forgotten, move on and focus on the next shotâ€). It also means not living in the future, something I was particularly guilty of, projecting my score to the 18th, figuring out how many shots I could drop and still get cut or worse still, thinking about how great it was going to be telling the lads about my great round whilst stood on the 14th. All invite mayhem.
However.
I only recently figured out something else which is staying in the “hereâ€, as opposed to the “now†above. I guess the most obvious example of this is when you’re on your backswing and there’s a noise (even a subtle one) from somewhere, inevitably it distracts you and you mess up. But what does that actually mean, distraction? What if it’s happening without the noise?
Back to the noise example. You didn’t take your eye off the ball, no one shoved you off balance, in theory you should have been able to swing fine. Plus I’ll wager if you were expecting that noise (say, you knew a train was passing - far louder than other noises that put you off), you could block it out and swing well. But your brain knows the train isn’t dangerous as long as you’re not near the track… We’re hard-wired to direct our senses at anything unexpected. If, for example, you’re aware of someone watching you from a distance somewhere behind you, as you step up to the ball your brain (for want of a better term, consciousness might be more acurate) may actually be over there, rather than over the ball where you would prefer it to be. It’s not necessarily the pressure of someone observing (it might be that too, but that’s not the point I’m making). It’s the fact that you are acutely aware someone is on your radar and your brain is focussing its significant sensory efforts on that person’s position, lest they move or make a noise, because that’s what your system is for. You sort of get used to your playing partners standing where they do and have faith they’re not going to move. You’ve done this 100s of times and nothing bad has happened so your brain is okay with them (basically Cognitive Behavioural Therapy!). But something or someone else, somewhere foreign is an unknown. You are very much in the now, but not the here.
And then there’s the sudden unexpected bird flapping in a tree that you hadn’t bargained on, again your system is built to react to it in case it’s danger. It’s more than just knocking you out of your rehearsed routine, it’s an inability to maintain balance because whether you know it or not, when you swing well your brain is centred (well, it should be!). When distracted it moves. Think about all the horrid shots you’ve hit distracted and ask yourself how many of those did you finish nicely balanced on? Think about those meltdown/out of nowhere shots. Balanced? Thing is you weren't doing it consciously, so immediately after the poor shot you may have attributed it to something else. Are you a better range player than course? What's the real difference? Could it be the enclosed, distraction-free, "safe" (for you - and your brain) envirnoment?
It’s been a revelation for me. I’m not there yet but just being aware of this means that if I feel like I'm becoming I’m distracted I can make a concerted effort to say to myself “STOP, shut it all out, bring your brain back over the ball, focus on the shotâ€. Just like I learnt to do with drifting into the future or dwelling on the past. Looking back I can trace so many poor shots to being somewhere else, so I’m hoping I can stay in the here AND now more often. I think some pople just do this naturally - good for you! I have to work at it.
Someone once said Tiger wasn’t the best anything in the game, but he hit more shots to the best of his ability more often than anyone else. Hopefully this will help your game (if you weren’t doing it already!) and you can cut out some of those meltdowns that seemingly come out of nowhere. If you could cut out just one, what a difference that would make? Imagine all of them.
I've long been aware of staying in the now, thanks to Zen Golf by Joseph Parent and his advice on "anyways" (which boils down to - if you're about to hit a shot and realise something's wrong but think "I'll hit it anyway" - STOP! Step off, it won't end well). Staying in the present means not dwelling on the past (I find the Tiger line excellent - pick a line on the ground, say at the tee box, and say "Okay, I'm raging about that missed putt, but when I step over that line it's done, forgotten, move on and focus on the next shotâ€). It also means not living in the future, something I was particularly guilty of, projecting my score to the 18th, figuring out how many shots I could drop and still get cut or worse still, thinking about how great it was going to be telling the lads about my great round whilst stood on the 14th. All invite mayhem.
However.
I only recently figured out something else which is staying in the “hereâ€, as opposed to the “now†above. I guess the most obvious example of this is when you’re on your backswing and there’s a noise (even a subtle one) from somewhere, inevitably it distracts you and you mess up. But what does that actually mean, distraction? What if it’s happening without the noise?
Back to the noise example. You didn’t take your eye off the ball, no one shoved you off balance, in theory you should have been able to swing fine. Plus I’ll wager if you were expecting that noise (say, you knew a train was passing - far louder than other noises that put you off), you could block it out and swing well. But your brain knows the train isn’t dangerous as long as you’re not near the track… We’re hard-wired to direct our senses at anything unexpected. If, for example, you’re aware of someone watching you from a distance somewhere behind you, as you step up to the ball your brain (for want of a better term, consciousness might be more acurate) may actually be over there, rather than over the ball where you would prefer it to be. It’s not necessarily the pressure of someone observing (it might be that too, but that’s not the point I’m making). It’s the fact that you are acutely aware someone is on your radar and your brain is focussing its significant sensory efforts on that person’s position, lest they move or make a noise, because that’s what your system is for. You sort of get used to your playing partners standing where they do and have faith they’re not going to move. You’ve done this 100s of times and nothing bad has happened so your brain is okay with them (basically Cognitive Behavioural Therapy!). But something or someone else, somewhere foreign is an unknown. You are very much in the now, but not the here.
And then there’s the sudden unexpected bird flapping in a tree that you hadn’t bargained on, again your system is built to react to it in case it’s danger. It’s more than just knocking you out of your rehearsed routine, it’s an inability to maintain balance because whether you know it or not, when you swing well your brain is centred (well, it should be!). When distracted it moves. Think about all the horrid shots you’ve hit distracted and ask yourself how many of those did you finish nicely balanced on? Think about those meltdown/out of nowhere shots. Balanced? Thing is you weren't doing it consciously, so immediately after the poor shot you may have attributed it to something else. Are you a better range player than course? What's the real difference? Could it be the enclosed, distraction-free, "safe" (for you - and your brain) envirnoment?
It’s been a revelation for me. I’m not there yet but just being aware of this means that if I feel like I'm becoming I’m distracted I can make a concerted effort to say to myself “STOP, shut it all out, bring your brain back over the ball, focus on the shotâ€. Just like I learnt to do with drifting into the future or dwelling on the past. Looking back I can trace so many poor shots to being somewhere else, so I’m hoping I can stay in the here AND now more often. I think some pople just do this naturally - good for you! I have to work at it.
Someone once said Tiger wasn’t the best anything in the game, but he hit more shots to the best of his ability more often than anyone else. Hopefully this will help your game (if you weren’t doing it already!) and you can cut out some of those meltdowns that seemingly come out of nowhere. If you could cut out just one, what a difference that would make? Imagine all of them.
