Instruction
Calm distractions by asking yourself: “What’s Important Now?”
Concentration in golf is simple — just focus on the right thing at the right time. While this may seem oversimplified, sometimes simple is better. When golfers and athletes overcomplicate things, it makes them feel overwhelmed and out of control. What I want to do as a mental trainer and mindset coach is simplify the game to help golfers gain control and enjoy playing golf.
The first key when learning to focus is understanding that no thought is either “good” or “bad.” It’s rather when and how you use your thoughts that make them productive or unproductive. Golfers I work with admit being distracted by lots of different outside distractions, such as spectators. Focusing on spectators during competition will likely detract from your performance, but anticipating distractions beforehand and training yourself to effectively deal with them will give you an advantage over the playing field.
Golf at the highest level is played in front of other people. Spectators are certainly a factor that can distract you, which is one reason Earl Woods used to jingle coins in his pocket to distract Tiger as a child. I do the same thing with athletes I work with to help build their concentration; it’s what we refer to as “in-sport psychology” as distraction training.
There is an appropriate time to consider every thought that comes into your mind, even the negative ones. A lot of golfers I come across have cases of the “don’ts.”
- “Don’t go right.”
- “Don’t go OB.”
- “Don’t go in the water.”
Anyone who’s ever played this game can attest, when you think “don’t…” you often spend more time thinking about that negative than the outcome you want to happen, often resulting in visits to undesired locations of the golf course.
Therefore, we have to find a better way. I like what 11-time PGA Tour inner John Cook once suggested on “Playing Lessons with the Pro’s”:
[quote_box_center]“Its okay to acknowledge where trouble is… It’s okay if it’s your first thought…If there’s trouble right or trouble left, or bunker here, or water there… you’re not going to just block that out. However, you can make that your first thought. Your last thought should be a good positive thought.”[/quote_box_center]
The best time to think of these challenges and areas to avoid is during a practice round and when preparing for your round. The second best time to plan for these “don’ts” is at the beginning of your pre-shot routine when making decisions. A good strategy is to focus on where you “don’t” want to go, so you can then focus on where you want to go – and then continue focusing on where you want to go. So as John Cook suggested, your last thought is then positive.
By anticipating challenges, it makes it easier to stay focused during competition and create a mindset that’s ready to WIN. As Lou Holtz told the 2008 winning U.S. Ryder Cup Team, WIN stands for:
- What’s
- Important
- Now?
It’s a great question a golfer can ask themselves when distracted. Whether distracted from something good, like a birdie, or something bad, like a double-bogey. Asking “What’s Important Now?” can bring you back into the present moment and help you regain focus.
If you’re looking to improve your game or just to try something new, I’m confident using these simple yet powerful suggestions will have you shooting lower scores and well on your way to winning at the mental game of golf.
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Instruction
Clement: Laid-off or perfect fade? Across-the-line or perfect draw?
Some call the image on the left laid off, but if you are hitting a fade, this could be a perfect backswing for it! Same for across the line for a draw! Stop racking your brain with perceived mistakes and simply match backswing to shot shape!
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Instruction
The Wedge Guy: The easiest-to-learn golf basic
My golf learning began with this simple fact – if you don’t have a fundamentally sound hold on the golf club, it is practically impossible for your body to execute a fundamentally sound golf swing. I’m still a big believer that the golf swing is much easier to execute if you begin with the proper hold on the club.
As you might imagine, I come into contact with hundreds of golfers of all skill levels. And it is very rare to see a good player with a bad hold on the golf club. There are some exceptions, for sure, but they are very few and very far between, and they typically have beat so many balls with their poor grip that they’ve found a way to work around it.
The reality of biophysics is that the body moves only in certain ways – and the particulars of the way you hold the golf club can totally prevent a sound swing motion that allows the club to release properly through the impact zone. The wonderful thing is that anyone can learn how to put a fundamentally sound hold on the golf club, and you can practice it anywhere your hands are not otherwise engaged, like watching TV or just sitting and relaxing.
Whether you prefer an overlap, interlock or full-finger (not baseball!) grip on the club, the same fundamentals apply. Here are the major grip faults I see most often, in the order of the frequency:
Mis-aligned hands
By this I mean that the palms of the two hands are not parallel to each other. Too many golfers have a weak left hand and strong right, or vice versa. The easiest way to learn how to hold the club with your palms aligned properly is to grip a plain wooden ruler or yardstick. It forces the hands to align properly and shows you how that feels. If you grip and re-grip a yardstick several times, then grip a club, you’ll see that the learning curve is almost immediate.
The position of the grip in the upper/left hand
I also observe many golfers who have the butt of the grip too far into the heel pad of the upper hand (the left hand for right-handed players). It’s amazing how much easier it is to release the club through the ball if even 1/4-1/2″ of the butt is beyond the left heel pad. Try this yourself to see what I mean. Swing the club freely with just your left hand and notice the difference in its release from when you hold it at the end of the grip, versus gripping down even a half inch.
To help you really understand how this works, go to the range and hit shots with your five-iron gripped down a full inch to make the club the same length as your seven-iron. You will probably see an amazing shot shape difference, and likely not see as much distance loss as you would expect.
Too much lower (right) hand on the club
It seems like almost all golfers of 8-10 handicap or higher have the club too far into the palm of the lower hand, because that feels “good” if you are trying to control the path of the clubhead to the ball. But the golf swing is not an effort to hit at the ball – it is a swing of the club. The proper hold on the club has the grip underneath the pad at the base of the fingers. This will likely feel “weak” to you — like you cannot control the club like that. EXACTLY. You should not be trying to control the club with your lower/master hand.
Gripping too tightly
Nearly all golfers hold the club too tightly, which tenses up the forearms and prevents a proper release of the club through impact. In order for the club to move back and through properly, you must feel that the club is controlled by the last three fingers of the upper hand, and the middle two fingers of the lower hand. If you engage your thumbs and forefingers in “holding” the club, the result will almost always be a grip that is too tight. Try this for yourself. Hold the club in your upper hand only, and squeeze firmly with just the last three fingers, with the forefinger and thumb off the club entirely. You have good control, but your forearms are not tense. Then begin to squeeze down with your thumb and forefinger and observe the tensing of the entire forearm. This is the way we are made, so the key to preventing tenseness in the arms is to hold the club very lightly with the “pinchers” — the thumbs and forefingers.
So, those are what I believe are the four fundamentals of a good grip. Anyone can learn them in their home or office very quickly. There is no easier way to improve your ball striking consistency and add distance than giving more attention to the way you hold the golf club.
More from the Wedge Guy
- The Wedge Guy: Golf mastery begins with your wedge game
- The Wedge Guy: Why golf is 20 times harder than brain surgery
- The Wedge Guy: Musings on the golf ball rollback
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Instruction
Clement: Stop ripping off your swing with this drill!
Not the dreaded headcover under the armpit drill! As if your body is defective and can’t function by itself! Have you seen how incredible the human machine is with all the incredible feats of agility all kinds of athletes are accomplishing? You think your body is so defective (the good Lord is laughing his head off at you) that it needs a headcover tucked under the armpit so you can swing like T-Rex?
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other paul
May 11, 2015 at 11:12 pm
I agree with “What’s Important Now”. I will definitely use that. I usually use “Plan Commit Succeed”. I may even be better off using them together… ????
Jadon
May 11, 2015 at 5:17 pm
What’s Important Now. I like that. I’m going to try it. Thanks for the article.