Memories and How They Affect Your Golf

Friday, November 8, 2013

The following is a series of tools and techniques that can enable you to really take charge of the way your memory works for you. Make a commitment to use them to find out just how good you can be at golf.

The alternative to using these tools is that you will get to the end of your golfing career and you have lots of memories of potential which have remained UNFULFILLED. As you imagine that now, what would that be like if you didn’t take action on this information?

MEMORY TOOLS & TECHNIQUES The 3 Moments Diary
 

Many years ago, when I spent time working with people who were struggling with life (as opposed to sport), it became painful (but at the same time fascinating) to get to know people who were seriously threatening suicide – to discover the kind of life experience they were having which drove them to the point of making this horrendous decision as to what their life amounted to.

I then wondered that if something so simple as an Appreciation Diary could have such a big impact on people suffering in life, what impact could that have on golf?

Well, I can tell you the results over the past few years for anyone who commits to this exercise have been nothing short of miraculous. And I’m going to suggest to you that doing the same, i.e. keeping your own Golf Appreciation Diary will transform the way you think about your game. As you write out in detail each day your three best moments on the course – it could be a putt, a great drive, the way that you controlled yourself when you had a bad break, it doesn’t matter what it is – so you will begin to change the way you memorise aspects of your game which, given time, will change your outlook.

 

GOLF APPRECIATION DIARY

What happens is this. Each day, as you write out in detail each of the experiences you most enjoyed and appreciated, you SOLIDIFY that experience inside your brain – you literally begin to CONTROL your memory as you decide what is stored in there. I have lost count of the number of people who have said that after just a couple of months of keeping the diary they just can’t seem to remember the bad stuff anymore – and the feeling of self confidence and belief just gets stronger and stronger as they recall vividly the positive moments of each day.

There is a massive difference between TRYING to think positively and actually RECORDING positive events that happen each time you play a round of golf. I don’t care who you are and at what level you play, but each day you go out onto the course SOMETHING good will happen that day.

As you keep recording these moments, the brain rewires itself and then becomes TRAINED to search for uplifting experiences. Not for one minute are we saying you ignore your mistakes, but there is a world of difference between LEARNING from your mistakes and DWELLING on them. Most people are experts at the latter. What you will also find with the diary as you record your peak moments in detail is that you will notice PATTERNS beginning to emerge. You will start to notice the things you do when you are at your best, and these will help you to recognise and identify the INGREDIENTS of your success.

YOUR GOLF – 3 MOMENTS DIARY

• When you arrive home after a game of golf, write out in DETAIL your 3 best moments on the course 

• Make the detail SENSORY rich – i.e. what did you see? What did you hear? How did it feel? 

• Record any of the emotions that you felt 

• Sitting quietly, replay in your mind VIVIDLY the 3 best events from your game

 

Reproduced with kind permission of Golf International Magazine

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A Lesson in Learning

How can we look at the latest swing idea if we haven't got the faintest idea on HOW we put that information into our body as actual motion?
 

For those of you who have spent time with me before you will recognise the fact I firmly believe in good sound technique. I get very tired of people saying golf is ‘all in the head'. No, it isn't! A good swing will hit better shots than a bad swing and no amount of mental training can make up for a dreadful technique. As I have said over and over again, a good mental approach will get the best out of your swing but it won't make a bad swing a good one.

What is so exciting here is starting to look at the latest research on how your brain works to help speed up the process of making the swing changes you and your coach deem necessary to take your game to the next level.

In many ways, this article started to take shape in my mind through a passing comment that I read a few years ago made by the greatest ever British golfer, the six-time major champion Sir Nick Faldo.

WHAT DOES WORK? Internal v. External Focus
 

It seems it is not necessarily the number of shots you hit on the range that is key to changing your swing but rather the quality of your attention and, more importantly, where you place that attention.

As we delve a little deeper and begin to understand just how important the focus of our attention is, then it becomes appropriate to look at the incredible work done by Dr Gabriele Wulf at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

Dr Wulf has spent a great deal of her life studying how people learn motor skills and she has come up with some startling research which will have a direct bearing on how quickly and efficiently you change your swing.

 

TAI CHI SWINGS

The other important suggestion I want to make for you to speed up the process of changing your golf swing will actually take us back thousands of years to the Far East.

I am sure you have heard of Tai Chi, an ancient Chinese martial arts discipline (see Jayne Storey's series of Tai Chi-based instruction).
 

Think of it this way:

• If we are unable to do a movement slowly there is little chance of us doing it quickly.

• As part of your programme to change your swing I want you to do 5 minutes of Tai Chi swings. That is, you make your movement but you do it ridiculously slowly.

• When I say slowly, I mean slowly.

• Take your set up.

• Be in balance.

• Then start to make your move and literally try to sense that your mind is ‘in your muscles' – i.e. sense exactly the feeling that you want to ingrain in your swing simply because you are making the movement so very slowly.

• The key thing is that you do this whilst actually going ahead and hitting the shot.

• Do this for just 5 minutes, which will only be a few balls, but you will find that whilst doing this exercise your quality of attention will be highly focused. You will be shining a torch of awareness into your movement, literally giving your brain/body system the imprint of the moves that you desire.

• You will find that after doing this for a few moments you can then return to ‘normal' speed with a much better chance of transferring the learning.

• This is not just my opinion – you have centuries of wisdom on your side!

• As well as helping you to change your golf swing I do strongly recommend that you look at Tai Chi as an adjunct to your golf.

• Anything that helps promote balance, grace of movement and calmness of mind has to be worth looking at.

• It is a fascinating as well as infinitely beneficial art.

When you start to combine all of the information I have provided in this article you really will be giving yourself an outstanding chance to make your golf swing as you want it to be and as permanent as it is possible to be.

Reproduced with kind permission of Golf International Magazine

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Chi-Power Golf Part 19 - 4 Fundamental Actions for Better Golf

 

 

Instead of sitting back on your heels (and easily being pushed off balance!) sit down into the tops of your quad muscles, creasing the area where your legs join your torso – together with emptying your chest, these actions will enhance your connection to the ground and generate more power

 

Using Tai Chi’s 4 Fundamental Actions keeps Craig rooted into the ground at the top of his backswing thus maintaining his lower-body stability as I try again to push him off-balance!

The 4 Fundamental Actions of Tai Chi
 

1) Hollow your chest by breathing out and slightly sinking your sternum
 

2) Draw in the navel and neutralize the pelvis, allowing tailbone to point downwards
 

3) Sit down into the tops of your quad muscles, slightly creasing the tops of the legs where they join your torso
 

4) Fill up your footprints, by becoming aware of your feet in contact with the ground

 

Applying the 4 Fundamental Actions to Your Game

 

At address
 

Relaxation is the key to explosive power and this begins at address where any use of force or tension will rob you of energy and reduce your ability to swing smoothly and freely. Moreover as the mind and body intimately affect each other, tension in your body at set-up will produce mental anxiety.

After driving through the ball and unwinding all your power, you again come to a point of stillness and relaxation, being balanced and rooted into the ground.

Top of your back-swing

Tension or use of force at the top of your backswing is a waste of energy and negates power. In fact, I don’t even like the term “swing” as this implies a pendulum- like motion where there is equal and opposite energy back and through whereas what’s required is a winding up of your energy (torque) so you can release it though the ball.

Finish

At finish any tension or force held in the position clearly indicates you’re still holding on to energy that should have exploded through the ball. At finish you should again be relaxed and rooted – your body now fully unwound and the energy now fully emitted and driven through the ball.
 

To learn more about Chi-Power Golf, visit www.chipowergolf.comwhere you can find out about personal tuition, talks and workshops, and also sign up for a free newsletter, "The Mindful Golfer". To contact Jayne Storey, ring 07986 447250

Reproduced with kind permission of Golf International Magazine

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