Ultimate Golf Blog

Tiger won the US Open with a torn ACL, a fractured tibia and more pain than humans undergo during torture. The man is absolutely amazing. Did he do it for himself? If you listened to his interview or the comments Steve Williams made about the tournament, he did it for the fans.

Prior to stepping on the first tee, according to Steve Williams, Tiger was having difficulty walking 9 holes due to severe pain every time he swung the club. So how was he going to walk 18 for four days straight, let alone play golf?

His pain helped him focus as much as it hurt his golf swing. Yeah, that sounds absurd, but I’ve seen and experienced similar situations where somebody felt there was no choice (maybe Tiger did) so they kept going despite the pain.

Think about what had to go through Tiger’s mind every time he made a golf swing. Once he decided on the shot, he had to make a swing that would give him the best shot he could make without doing any more damage to his injury. In other words, once he was committed to a shot, his mind was completely on the movement AND blocking out the pain so it didn’t affect the movement.

All of you golfers with back injuries probably know what I’m talking about. It isn’t easy.

But in Tiger’s case, the major distraction of the pain and the injury forced him to focus on the same thing every time. No distractions, just movement. The shots weren’t always perfect. Who could expect that? But Tiger is so mentally tough, he was not only able to keep playing, but focus to make his best swing on every shot.

What Tiger had to do at the US Open is to use his huge distraction of his injury and his pain to focus on the task at hand. And that’s the key; staying on the task at hand without distraction.

I’ve seen this before. My brother was playing in Little League regional chanpionship baseball game as the pitcher. It was his turn in the rotation, but he developed an earache so bad, no amount of pain medication short of morphine would stop the pain. He felt that if he didn’t play, he would let his team down. Not only was his fast ball hotter than I’ve ever seen it, he also hit 2 home runs in that game … a long way out of the park. Lots of focus plus a little anger at having to deal with the pain.

My wife played softball on her college team. In one game she hit a base wrong and fractured her ankle. The problem was that they were a few players short already and leaving the game would force a forefit. She opted to stay in, so they moved her to right field, but the opposing team knew it and kept hitting the ball there. She hung in there and they won the game. Focus.

In my case, I was enlisting in the ARMY as an Interrogator. To get the position, you have to take a language, which meant taking a special test and passing it, which very few could do. This test was essentially 4 hours of learning and becoming relatively profficient at a new language. But the language was completely made up, so there was no way to stack the deck. The night before the test, I was served some bad food at the hotel the ARMY placed me in and had a major case of food poisoning. I threw up all night, had no sleep and was in absolute pain from the top of my head to the bottoms of my feet. Imagine a full-body migraine on top of no sleep for 36 hours. When they saw me that morning, they didn’t want to give me the test. I could have stayed another night and recovered, but taking another chance like that in that flea-bag hotel wasn’t going to happen. I had to sign a waivor in order to go ahead with the test. I not only passed the test, but got a higher than average score. Focus.

Back to golf… Focus on the task at hand.

So what is the task at hand in golf? Is it the shot or is it the swing?

This argument goes to the whole Past, Present, Future thing. The shot is in the future, and you’ll never get there, but the swing is in the present, which makes the swing the task at hand.

Since every swing must be a little different to account for the constantly changing variables that affect each shot, the shot variables have to figure in to the swing in such a way that you can make the proper swing and stay focused on it to get the proper outcome. That’s what Tiger does better than any other golfer in the world.

You see, focus isn’t just in the mind. If you have a picture of the perfect swing, but there is no connection of mind and body, the body won’t be able to make that swing consistently.

So is muscle memory the connection? I’m sorry but it isn’t. It’s not the connection simply by the way athletes try to train muscle memory. They use repetition and rely on the muscles to somehow know just what to do. But where does that “muscle memory or knowledge” come from? That’s right, the mind! Your mind has to tell the muscles what to do, so the memory is in the mind, not the muscles. Since the muscles change state as they warm up or cool down, the signals your mind has to send must constantly change to adjust for conditions. So there are an infinite number of changes the mind has to make every time it tells the muscles to move, if every movement is to be consistent.

So if Muscle Memory won’t do it, what is there? That’s why Golf Swing Control was created. Because there is a system in the body that is always constant, because the forces it has to work against don’t change. The force I’m talking about is Gravity and the system in your body is Balance Feedback.

Balance feedback is like the measuring system that the body uses to constantly adjust the signals it sends to the muscles as they change state. The Balance Feedback system works 24/7 while you are in movement, but few people even realize that it is there. Why, because it works quietly behind the scenes and only gets noticed whenever you trip or lose balance. If you have ever done that, you probably remember instantly moving your arms or legs or leaning one way or another without any thought. That’s the system at work.

Balance feedback sends reliable signals we can use to make our golf game efficient and consistent. You simply have to ask to see the feedback and learn how to use it.

This is why I often say that Golf Swing Control is for golfers who want to go beyond ordinary instruction. It’s also why golfers of all handicaps, using different style swings can all see great results.

If this makes sense, take some time to read other blog posts and look further into Golf Swing Control. If you like what you see and decide to use Golf Swing Control with your golf program, I’ll be here to answer your questions.

Yes, it’s all about focus. Focus is the factor that separates Tiger from every other golfer in the world. Don’t you think it might help you too?

Oh, by the way, don’t go out and hurt yourself to get better focus. There are somebuilding blocks that must be in place before that will help. What am I saying? Getting hurt is NOT a good idea!

Hit’m well,

Tracy

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I had this question via email and thought it might help other golfers. The question was: Do I need to buy new clubs or can I get and old set fit for me?

If you have a set of clubs already, there’s no need to buy new ones. If you go to a reputable clubmaker, he can fit those clubs to you. There are some caveats here.

First, your setup routine should be proper, complete, and a habit. If the setup is wrong, the clubs will not be properly fitted.

Second, the clubs should be fitted using a strike board in combination with watching the resulting shots. If you are hitting a different shot every time, the clubmaker will have no clue what to do, so find a swing that fits you and stick with it for the fitting.

If the clubmaker suggests that there may be an issue with the swing, listen, stop the process and get back to work on your movement (without hitting golf balls) If you work on movement without the distraction of hitting golf balls, you will create a consistent swing pattern that will assist a clubmaker in fitting clubs to your swing.

Clubmakers can do wonderful things to help golfers hit the ball better. If you look at the golf clubs on the market, manufacturers now make clubs for slicers and those who hook the ball. (Notice I didn’t say hookers?) The problem with special clubs is that if you ever decide to fix the swing, the clubs no longer work for you. It’s best if you can to get the swing down first and then get the clubs to match.

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If you’ve been reading my blogs, you know that I have a bad back that has actually been healing over the last 7 years, lately due to a specific running style. The good news is that I can now practice  and hit more than a bucket of balls and experience little to no pain. The bad news is that the change has caused me to change my golf swing. No, no, not from what I teach. It’s only that if you have seen my video, I have a little too much head movement during the backswing. Compare my backswing to Tiger’s and you’ll see what I mean.

Golfers have asked why I have so much movement. It was a deviation that allowed me to play with my back as bad as it has been for the last twenty years, Now that the back is better, it’s time to get back to the golf swing I am teaching. The good news is that I hit the ball even better with the “real” golf swing. The bad news is that in the last three months, I’ve played only 6 rounds with that new golf swing and have had only two weeks of intermittent practice to make that swing my own… Which means, I can lose that swing at any time, and I do. How do I get it back? The same way I teach my students to do it.

First, I want to emphasize that the tenets I teach apply to me and every golfer I teach. When I play golf or hit golf balls, I play through my feet, which means I play by feel. If something doesn’t feel right, I could be lost, and I have been from time to time, because the immediate frustration interrupts my ability to think and recover. If I’m playing with a student, my mind is on their game, so my game is usually my B or even sometimes my C game. It’s tough being a teacher playing a C game, but there are usually extenuating circumstances. Plus, I stay busy so I don’t get to play or practice much, and it is a new swing.

So first, I do practice at home, at night, with a weighted golf club, using super-slow golf swings, and I emphasize getting the right feel in my feet and hands (just like I teach my students to do). That alone usually gets me around the golf course reasonably, but now and then, I lose what little grip I have on my new swing and I have to get it back.

Recently, I had a month from Hell. I had golfers getting ready for tournaments, one son graduating from High School and getting ready for Marine Corps Boot Camp, two major remodel projects in my house (Do it yourself projects), my mother in Pennsylvania in the hospital for emergency surgery, and relatives (my wife comes from a family of 9 who like to stay up and party) staying at my house to celebrate my son’s graduation. Oh, and I had David  from Spain in town for lessons. David only knew a small part of what was really happening behind the scene.

David and I played two days while he was here. He wanted to see great play. I wanted to get him something he could take away that would allow him continued his improvement. With all that was going on, my concentration on my game was not there. I was doing my best to keep an eye on him and hold together a C game. It was almost embarrassing. I never was able to get my swing working the way It should, and deep down I was frustrated… So if you’ve felt that way, I know how you feel, believe me.

About a week and a half later, the relatives went home, my mother was ok, both projects were almost finished and my son had left for Boot Camp… in other words, the smoke cleared and I could once again see where I was. I had a minute (literally, one minute) to reflect on what happened on the golf course for those two rounds and it hit me. I had neglected the one drill I used to groove the new golf swing. If I had not been so distracted and remembered that drill, I could have been playing much better… So I decided to give it the acid test.

Instead of practicing (even at home), I decide to go out to the golf course cold… armed only with the golf drill that I used to groove my new swing. Believe me, I wasn’t armed with a swing as the first tee shot showed, but the object was to go from a lost swing to a found swing (a relatively new and little-practiced golf swing) while playing on the golf course. Yes, I practice exactly what I preach.

The results? I was in the woods on #1 and recovered for bogey, birdied number two with a tee shot to a foot and finished the round in four over par. Not bad for no practice and no swing starting out. On a few swings, I used my swing drill to actually hit the shot. My playing partners thought I was nuts… until they saw the shots.

What was the drill? It’s killing you to know isn’t it? Patience is a virtue… especially in golf. The drill I used was very simple, yet very effective. I take my normal stance and before I make any move toward a backswing, I turn only my wrists until the club is parallel to the ground and the handle is pointing towards the target. From that position I swing, keeping my club on a balanced swing plane and feeling the swing in my feet. But the trick to making this drill work is the real secret.

It’s the secret to making any golf drill work. You see, every drill is designed to force your body to do something correctly. Every time I use the drill, I try to be very aware of what part of my swing the drill forces into a correct movement. I want to feel exactly what it feels like and then look for that feel in my normal golf swing. When I can transfer the feel to my normal golf swing, the drill has done its job.

I want to emphasize, it’s not the drill, because every pro has a different drill that gets them back, but rather what you do with the drill in your mind that makes the drill work. The key is your awareness of feel.

If you’ve ever hit a few hundred golf balls and gotten nowhere with your golf swing, think about what was happening in your mind. More than likely, you were thinking and trying something a little different every few shots. I’ve done it too. If you’re going to practice, find a drill that gets you to swing properly, practice the drill and use your awareness of feel to transfer the drill’s proper movement to your golf swing.

I don’t practice hitting golf balls… I practice FEELING hitting golf balls. It makes all of the difference between frustration and improvement.

Give it a try and let me know how it works out.

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I often have golfers ask me what the difference is between the golf swing and the golf shot. What I mean is that the golfer complains to me that he can swing the golf club well during his practice but when comes time to hit the shot, the new swing is nothing like the practice. This is probably one of the most aggravating times during a round of golf in the one place amateur golfers can make the biggest improvements.

The difference between the golf swing and the golf shot is merely the intention of what you wish to do. During a practice swing, your only intention is to swing the club so the swing is nice and smooth. During the golf shot the intention is different. During the shot the intention is to hit the ball. When the ball figures into the equation, your thoughts change from one of the present, to the future. When you have to make a golf shot, now your worry is where the ball will go.

So you might think, “What’s the difference?” The difference is the time period in which you are thinking. You see, when you’re making a practice swing, your mind is in the present, and therefore is thinking about the body movements needed to make the practice swing. When you’re thinking about the golf shot, the mind is in the future because it is thinking about where the ball will go.

Here’s the problem. When your mind is in the future, what is controlling the movement of the body? When your mind is in the present, both your conscious mind and your subconscious mind are directing your body to make the swing. When your mind is in the future, your subconscious mind is trying to make the swing but your conscious mind is interfering by thinking about something that you can’t control; the future. This is why the mental game is so important, even for amateurs.

So now you wonder, “how I fix this?” The answer is not easy because it requires determination and practice. But the answer is easy because all it really requires, is awareness. For you to gain control over the situation you need to be aware of where your mind is while it is happening. At first, practicing awareness is not easy, but as you go along becomes easier and easier. It’s almost too simple. All you have to do is monitor your thoughts. For example, when you’re getting ready to hit a shot, you need to know if your mind is worried about where the golf ball will land or how you will hit the golf ball. If you thinking about where the golf ball land, you have to keep in mind that half of your mind is interrupting the thoughts of the other half of your mind. In other words the conscious and subconscious are arguing with each other.

When the conscious and subconscious minds disagree, the conscious wins. That’s just the way it goes. The job of the conscious mind is to give commands, ask questions, and generally to be in charge of the brain. The job of the subconscious mind is to do everything else. Your memory, actual thinking, dreams, and all functions of the body are controlled by the subconscious. So it has a lot going on. With all this happening, the subconscious has to set priorities. The functions of the body, balance, and anything else needed to keep you alive come first. Golf is not on that list. This is important because if the subconscious has to choose between your golf swing and a critical function of the body, your golf swing ends up on the back burner. Add to that the confusion created when the conscious is distracting the subconscious during the golf swing and you have little hope for a good swing when hitting the ball.

I don’t expect you to go out the next time you play golf and immediately be able to know where your mind is. This takes a lot of practice. The good news is that you can practice awareness anywhere. During the day when your mind is daydreaming, think about not only what is on your mind, but more importantly, what time zone you’re thinking in. Are you thinking in the past, the present, or the future? If you’re thinking about something that has happened previously that’s the past. If you’re thinking about something that you want to do in the future, that’s the future. But if you’re focused on what you’re doing at that very instant, your mind is in the present. The more you practice, the more you will realize that your mind is rarely in the present.

 Your goal is to try to get yourself into present more often. Simply ask, “what am I doing now?” When you think of the past, well, can you change the past? Of course not. So is that a good use of time? How about when you thinking about the future? Does the future ever get here? When it gets here, it’s the present.

By now you’re probably thinking that this time stuff is really confusing. Try not to get caught up in the meaning of the past, the present, or the future. Just be aware of what time zone you’re thinking in. That’s all you need. Once you know if you’re thinking in the past or the future, you just have to tell yourself to bring yourself back to the present. After all, how can you affect the future except by acting in the present? That’s the real question that you have to keep in mind. If you always ask yourself, “Am I acting now to create the future that I want?” You will find yourself in the present more often.

Okay, so how do we quit thinking about the shot in golf? You have to translate your future thoughts into present thoughts. Instead of thinking about where the ball will land, try to see in your mind what the shot will look like. Once you have a good picture of the shot in your mind, then all you need to do is to translate that shot into a picture of what the club has to do at impact to the ball to make that shot happen. This all happens visually, which is why visualization is so important in golf. When I speak about focus versus the mental game, this is the time period that I talk about. You can think all of the wonderful thoughts in the world, but if your mind is not focused on the shot and what the club has to do at contact with the ball to make the shot, the shot won’t happen. So, it’s a two-step process:1) Increase awareness to know where your mind is: past, present or future.2) Get your mind back to the future by transforming thoughts to present thoughts.

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I recently had the opportunity to meet with some current members who have been using golf swing control for a few years. The purpose of the meeting was to answer questions and gives them further tips to help their game. Many of the golfers asked me how to know where the golf ball is in their stance if they’re looking down range while setting their feet. In order to place your feet properly while looking down range you have to visualize where the golf ball is in your stance. This exercise jump starts the visualization needed in the golf swing. So before you look downrange, take time to put a picture of where the golf ball is in your mind. Then as you look down range, keep that picture in your mind, and place your feet according to the picture.

You see, there is much more to the setup routine than meets the eye. I’m not only getting you set up to the ball properly, but I’m also getting your mind ready for the golf swing. This is important because the brain must give visual instructions to the body in order for the body to accurately create the golf swing to make the shot that you want. Visualization requires practice. Practicing the setup routine properly also helps you to practice visualization

When golfers merely glance down range rather than looking down range and continuing to look downrange as they set their feet, they nullify the purpose of the setup routine. The purpose of looking down range is to take the eyes out of the shot and to engage the automatic balance system in the body and guarantee proper balance once you are set up to the ball. This process happens in the subconscious. If a golfer looks at the ball while setting his feet, the conscious mind takes over and the setup is usually not in balance. This happens because the eyes lie to the brain whereas the internal balance system can not.

The golf swing control program works with both the body and the mind together. As you work with the golf swing control program or any of the videos you see on the blog, try to think about how the routine you’re using is working with your mind as well as your body. For example, the setup routine is not just to get your body aligned properly to the ball, but it is also designed to take away doubt and instill confidence that the rest of the golf swing will work properly. One of the reasons it took 10 years to create the setup routine is because it must be for the mind as well as the body. For the setup routine work and must be followed in detail because every detail has a purpose.

There is one detail I need to explain better during the setup routine that is rather important. Once you set the feet in position it’s important as you move your feet up and down and feel the weight balance under them to pick your feet up in a rocking motion back and forth. In other words, the feet have to completely come up off the ground for the routine to work. I do this in the video but not as obviously as I need to. It will help to exaggerate this step so that balance is guaranteed.

If you have tried the setup routine and you’re not having luck, take a look at the tips I’ve written here and look closer at the details I outline in the routine to see if you may be inadvertently leaving something out. This routine has been proven with thousands of golfers worldwide, so I know that works with all types of golfers and I’m sure that if you follow the details it will work for you as well.

To see a video of the setup routine, click here

Hit’m well,
Tracy

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