Inner Golf Swing
posted in golf psychology |By James Hau
In Golf My Way, Jack Nicklaus writes of the importance he places on visualizing the target and the shot before hitting it:
” I never hit a shot, even in practice, without having a very sharp, in-focus picture of it in my head. It is like a color movie. First I “see” the ball where I want it to finish, nice and white and sitting up high on the bright green grass. Then the scene quickly changes and I “see” the ball going there: its path, trajectory, and shape, even its behaviour on landing. Then there is a sort of fade-out, and the next scene shows me making the kind of swing that will run the previous images into reality. Only at the end of this short, private, Hollywood spectacular do I select a club and set up the ball.”
Much has been written on the subject of visualization and mental rehearsal. These techniques can have a powerful effect on performance, but many people , including myself , do not see pictures distinctly when they visualize. The primary advantage to targeting in this way is that it can give yourself a clear goal in a language it understands: imagery. Before putting, to tell yourself in words
that you want the ball to into the hole is much less effective than actually picturing the ball doing so. You will get the best results if you think of it as a way of communicating a request to Self 2. If you make it in an order in the form of a picture from Self 1 to self 2, you will induce doubt, and then you will try to accomplish what you visualized; probably you won’t get the results you visualized, and you will soon abandon the technique.
It is the most important issue in visualization, using it to make a demand on Self 2, or as a gimmick, undermines trust in Self 2, and your proper relationship to it. Asking Self 2 by offering an image of the results you want is very different from demanding them, and affects the success of the technique as well as your general state.
When visualizing the target, it is best to hold the image in your mind throughout the swing. If you were shooting an arrow, throwing a baseball or bowling, your eye would constantly be focused on the target. Since this is impossible with the golf swing, the best one can do is to “remember” the target constantly. “Remembering” does not mean trying to steer the swing; it simply means holding the position of the target as vividly as possible in your mind so that Self 2 can direct the swing.
Stephen Ladd is a “Renegade” GolfMental Game Coach, pioneering breakthrough energy pyschology techniques, and the creator of Renegade Mindset Techniques for Golf. He has discovered a cutting-edge technique that combines centuries-old wisdom and quantum physics enabling you to effortlessly slash strokes off your score…. in minutes!
He has a brand new mental game technique out there that most of the top players would rather keep a secret. It is called “tapping”. Currently golfers all over the world are using this technique to eliminate tension and anxiety, fear and self doubt and enjoy the game again.
Tapping can help with everything from first tee jitters to the yips to anger management issues. To find out more about tapping , go to my article located at
http://jameshau.com/blog/golfers_use_advanced_tapping_tec.htm
