Instruction

Your mind controls your golfing destiny, so stop segmenting your abilities

Published

8 years ago

Jun 18, 2016

While teaching at a corporate outing this week, I had an interesting conversation with Stan Utley and Mike Shannon, two of the world’s best putting instructors. The topic of the conversation was how the mind of a golfer works while putting.

Many golfers intrinsically understand that their attitude controls their destiny on the course, and can make or break them when their score counts, but it was interesting how insistent Utley and Shannon were that golfers must believe they are good putters regardless of their daily outcome. They reminded me of something in my own game that I’d like to discuss with you, and hopefully it will help you become a better putter in the process.

When discussing the belief system of the brain and body, I think back to a book I read when I was trying to play golf for a living called Psychocybernetics by Dr. Maxwell Maltz. He was a plastic surgeon who said the way you see yourself influences your actions and shapes your entire future.

Let me paraphrase a passage in his book that hit home with me.

A patient walked into his office with what she perceived to be a crooked nose, and that made her very insecure about her looks. Measuring the amount of the misalignment, Dr. Maltz noticed that it was hardly noticeable to the human eye, but in the mind of the patient it was huge. He went on to explain to the patient that what she wanted him to alter wasn’t worth the time and money, so he initially refused to do the surgery. The patient was persistent, however, and he complied. What Maltz noticed over the course of her recovery was that her entire perception of herself changed, and she began to feel better about herself. He found that over time that her life began to improve; she was more successful in her personal life, and married a handsome husband years later.

Why?

Her perception of herself was better, and thus she became more open to allowing things to happen within her life. He concluded that a her perception of herself determined her path of your life, and more broadly, if you see yourself as beautiful you act beautiful, and so on.

Now, I am not suggesting that you can just think yourself into being a great golfer if you have terrible mechanics; however, I will say that if you took Brad Faxon or Brian Gay’s attitude regarding putting and put it into the brains of most PGA Tour players’ brain they would become instantly better with no mechanical change whatsoever. Obviously, you need some type of mechanical competency in order for this to work, but after that I believe it is all about attitude and what you as the player allow yourself to come to believe as true. Let me give you a personal example that supports my thoughts.

I am and have always thought of myself as a great driver of the golf ball. My drives do not go very far, but they usually go very straight regardless of the amount I play or practice. Like all players, however, I have gone through struggles off the tee for a few rounds, but it always seems to come back.

Why does my driver tend to “work” for me over the long term? I think it has a lot to do with my attitude regarding my driving ability. Whenever I have a poor driving round, I always say, “It was just a bad day, so forget about it.” The worst case scenario is that I might have to practice for an hour or two regain the proper feel.

Here’s an example of the opposite.

I am a self-admitted bad putter, and have thought of myself that way for most of my golfing life. I’m guilty of going to the course many times wondering just how many strokes my putter is going to cost me. Anyone can see that my attitude about my putting is self-defeating, and when I miss a lot of putts during a round, it only makes me feel worse about my putting.

But what if I took the attitude I have with my driver and transferred it to my putter? I know I would be a much better player and a much more consistent putter over time.

So here is the secret. In order to be the best you can be, you must have unwavering confidence in your abilities, and convince yourself that you are a great putter regardless of the actual daily outcome. It sounds simple, but is more difficult when put into practice. But as Dr. Maltz showed in his book, your perception becomes your reality, whether it be your looks, your career, or even your putting.

For your golf game, and the rest of your life, I suggest you check out Dr. Maltz’s book. There just might be something there for you. As for me, I’m going to take Mike and Stan’s advice, and learn to feel the same way about my putting as I do my driving. While so many instructors refer to golf as several games within a game, it’s really just one. Why should I approach the putting green any differently than I do the tee box?

Thanks Mike, Stan and Dr. Maltz!

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Tom Stickney II

Tom F. Stickney II, is a specialist in Biomechanics for Golf, Physiology, and 3d Motion Analysis. He has a degree in Exercise and Fitness and has been a Director of Instruction for almost 30 years at resorts and clubs such as- The Four Seasons Punta Mita, BIGHORN Golf Club, The Club at Cordillera, The Promontory Club, and the Sandestin Golf and Beach Resort. His past and present instructional awards include the following: Golf Magazine Top 100 Teacher, Golf Digest Top 50 International Instructor, Golf Tips Top 25 Instructor, Best in State (Florida, Colorado, and California,) Top 20 Teachers Under 40, Best Young Teachers and many more. Tom is a Trackman University Master/Partner, a distinction held by less than 25 people in the world. Tom is TPI Certified- Level 1, Golf Level 2, Level 2- Power, and Level 2- Fitness and believes that you cannot reach your maximum potential as a player with out some focus on your physiology. You can reach him at [email protected] and he welcomes any questions you may have.

7 Comments

smizzle jr

Jun 24, 2016 at 2:38 am

while i agree with the article, the fact is she married a successful man.

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Christosterone

Jun 20, 2016 at 3:41 pm

Stephen Hawking’s PhD thesis was immediately debunked by Stephen Hawking….then the debunking was debunked by any and every freshman physics student….his theoretical assertions have been uniformly dismissed by any and all distinguished academic institutions…

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- Snoopy
  
  Jun 21, 2016 at 2:18 pm
  
  In math and science though, a wrong answer to a question is way more useful than NO answer to a question. Most brilliant people have no fear of being wrong, rather, they embrace when they are wrong about something, because then they can set about finding the right answer. I think this kinda ties right back in to this article… instead of worrying about fears and mistakes, you can do better by just believing in yourself.
  
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Steven

Jun 20, 2016 at 1:35 pm

You are spot on Tom. Confidence alone can make a huge difference in how we play. The higher our confidence, the more likely we persist through struggles. The persistence generally leads to success, which then builds more confidence. The good news is faking the self-confidence originally can start the cycle. Craig Sigl has great mental game information. Golf Digest had a great article in July or August 2008 about Hunter Mahan. He talked about changing his attitude and the effect on his game.

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8thehardway

Jun 20, 2016 at 9:14 am

I always thought my ping-pong skills destined me to be great at putting. I was horrible, but ‘knew’ I’d be great; when different techniques failed, I tried different putters until I found one that significantly compensated for my flaws, at which point practice became rewarding and got me where I should be.
Although the same perception should have worked with driving, I framed it hitting longer rather than better – a result rather than a process – and never progressed. I’m going to get that book today. Thanks

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Philip

Jun 19, 2016 at 11:12 am

I think it is a combination of perceptions of ones abilities and expectations. From 12+ feet and out I sink a higher percentage of putts than one would expect, to the point that I believe I can do it, however, I do not expect it – thus little fret. Whereas from 3-5 feet I currently have no belief one way or the other, however, I expect to be able to do it because I sink so many longer putts – thus I can doubt myself if I take to long. Lately after I chip/pitch, if the ball rests 5 feet or less I just walk up with my wedge and putt in with it – since I have no expectation with the wedge I do not start to tense over the ball. A couple of years ago I believed and expected myself to sink everything from 6 feet and in – thus I was an aggressive putter as I did not fear the missed putt. Belief is very fragile – a silly little thing happens and it can rocket – however, just as simple – another silly little thing can bring it crashing down – it is as fluid as an ocean. Nice story.

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- Bill Mac
  
  Jun 20, 2016 at 5:26 pm
  
  You sink all your 5 footers with your wedge? I’m wasting my time.
  
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Instruction

Clement: Laid-off or perfect fade? Across-the-line or perfect draw?

Published

21 hours ago

Apr 24, 2024

Shawn Clement

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

Published

4 weeks ago

Mar 29, 2024

Terry Koehler

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.

Clement: Stop ripping off your swing with this drill!

Published

2 months ago

Mar 4, 2024

Shawn Clement

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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