Golf swing versus the golf shot
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.
Let’s start there and see who really wants to fix this problem…
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Dear Tracy
Whilst you are quite right that the solution to conscious/subconscious challenge is really very simple, the true realisation of this ability is always work in progress. I think amateurs and even a lot of professionals are too hard on themselves here. It was most revealing watching the last day of the Masters – many of the pros’ swings became arm dominated (as indicated by the angle of their trailing foot post swing) and it was self-evident that many of them were putting “consciously”. Even Tiger openly admitted post round that he was not releasing his putter through impact and, combined with a classic case of putter head deceleration, was dragging the ball left of the intended target. When these things happen, even to the best, the carefree nature of practice is replaced with being overly careful and that (being too careful) is definitely a very strong indicator that conscious mind is uppermost.
The point I am attempting to make is that by seeing the goal of aligning the conscious with the subconscious as a continual work in progress activity, the golfer will not unduly beat him/herself up too much and if Tiger still has to work at it every day, the rest of us mere mortals surely have to do likewise.
Regards
Mike
This is quite refreshing, and confirms things I have been doing blindly, but are working. After reading a few of your articles I have started paying more attention to my alignemnt, my balance and less on attention to swing thoughts.
This has improved my ball striking and accuracy, and my swing over-all.
I guess these thoughts keep me concern with present actions that are taking place in the here and now, and so my body does what it is suppose to do naturally, which is swing the club through the ball.
I used to be concern with many swing thoughts, now the only one I have is am I balanced, and aligned. Everything else fall into place.
Oh yes, your approach to proper setup helps me a lto to ge to this point.
Keep em coming,
Thanks for addressing this issue. It certainly needs to be brought out as most professional golfers will tell you that 90% of the game is played between the ears. I am constantly trying to improve my mental focus and the tips in this article will help me to do just that.
Keep up the great work.
Thanks for re-enforcing the concept that I’ve been working hard to assimilate into my game. I just got off the course after a good ball striking round, although not indicated in my score, by stressing my tempo swing thoughts (one and two) for my backswing and down swing. Once I get into my setup, I’m able to swing as easily as my practice swing and allow the ball to get in the way of the swing. It was nice to hear my partners comment on my new “swing easy, hit hard” swing.
Great thoughts! I read a book last year called “The Power of NOW”. The idea is the same. Keep your mind focused on NOW and the future will take care of you. The other side of that is to avoid letting the past interfere with the NOW. Thanks for the tips.
I agree with a previous writer about the “Power of Now” written by Eckhart Tolle. Consciousness is about being present and “now”. Knowledge of the set up routine, backswing and downswing are, of course, vital. Beyond that, staying present and allowing the body to follow through as envisioned and practiced is all there is. When tennis great Stan Smith came out with “Tennis, the Inner Game” many years ago, he emphasized translating what the eye sees to the body and its ability to mimic that vision. Beyond that, remember, this is a game and staying present will acknowledge the quality of a shot and then move on. Anger and frustration are about the past and future, the “shoulda and coulda” not the present. Read the book!
My game has deteriated badly in the last 4 weeks. Nothing to do with the instruction as when I practice in the bad garden, my swing, which I know from experience, in a good swing 99% of the time. On the course, my swing is good only 5% of the time. My analysis, together with the comments by Tracy, is due to the mental approach. Also a problem is anger. When I start going bad, the anger kicks in, and even though I hit my greatest ever 8 iron shot and a 300 metre drive were both in the state of complete anger, because I was not thinking about ‘hitting’ the ball, this attitude has only worked for 0.001% of the time. The rest of the time it causes a complete miss-hit, causing even greater frustation.
I will now take on board what Tracy has said and attempt to spend more time practicing the mental approach over the actual swing and then I will be back on track to improving my game.
Very interesting……………….just like all the posts you have put together.
Can you do a presentation on an exercise program? I have a troublesome back and am getting a little old but I do work out quite regularily and would like a program which would maximize my effort. I am sure, given the detail you put into all your presentations, that if you put together a work out program it also will be superior to anything I have seen to date. Thanks t.
I recently played in Seattle with an old friend. I mostly played with
an I don’t give a damn attitude. My focus was limited to a 4 count beat for driver and fairway woods and a 3 count beat for the irons.
I used a 2 count beat for putter. The rest was all shot making. I
noticed before a difficult shot if I said, “so what” if it doesn’t go well,
it had a calming effect. It kind of let me off the hook and allowed me
to keep the tension out of my swing.
Turned out to be a very enjoyable round of golf. Shot an 85 in wind
and rain on a course I’ve never played. That’s really good for me.
Been playing for 2 years now.
Your system has helped me a great deal.
I agree with Tom I am 70 also have couple of dodgy discs .
After initial improvement I have struggled to maintain momentum the last couple of rounds.
Admittedly fatigue may be a contributing factor.
Still thin I am -60
However when I am good I am v good thanks to the anual and video.
another really great piece of insight Tracy, thanks. I tried it out this morning on the course and got some good results. Regards Tim
Hey… you guys have just given away the key to my swing which I never discover since I started playing golf 20 some years ago. During the last six rounds I played, I’m consistently had scores in the low seventies from low eighties. That’s 10 strokes off from my average. I’m mow concentrating on my putting strokes… probably “having an icing to the cake”.
Thank you very much and more power!
During a recent pre-round warmup I grabbed my 7 iron and went through the set-up and aimed at the 140 marker on the range just for a target since I normally hit my 7 iron only about 125-130. I swung and the ball landed on the green. Interested, I repeated and again the ball landed on the green 140 yds. away. I told myself, how could this be the correct distance indicated on the range distance board when I only hit the 7 iron 125 yds. All of the following 7 iron shots went 15 to 20 yds short of that green 140 yds away.
I will be more careful what I tell myself in the future.
Thanks for the interesting article.
Gary
Thanks
Once again another great insight - about a week prior to your latest missive - I thought I had an epiphany - and I did - you have just articulated and crystallized my thoughts - leading to my staying more engaged on the golf course during my round.
Last week after reading about bunker shots I holed out from a greenside bunker and then yesterday, after re-reading the section holed out for birdie on a 550 yard par 5 from about 35yards,- with backspin into the hole. Could not believe it……
Thanks Tracy
Hi Tracy,
I have been using your setup routine for a little while now.
I found the tilt before you swing aligning your shoulders to the target helped.
Another thing that really helped more than any other thing was…
Taking the club back 1 slowly but most important was turning the hips to start the swing.
On the downswing I found that again starting with the hip movement first tended to help me achieve a much greater club head speed through the ball, also hitting the ball on a much straighter trajectory.
I feel my game is now starting to come together a lot more.
This actulay happened to me yesterday.
I had played five holes and was not playing too badly, when I got to the following tee a single player was there and gestured for me to play through,
it was a par four with a very slight dog leg to the right you can see the green from the tee.
Anyway I stepped up to the tee teed up the ball and bang. I hooked it big time into the bush.
Not happy I took out another ball teed it up took my time focused on the hip movement and absolutely creamed the ball .
It was the longest drive that I have ever done on that particular hole with only a chocked down sand wedge onto the green.
David
Te difference between practice and the real thing is that in the real thing you only have one shot.
I have found Tracy’s system most helpfull in establishing a routine .
I get the local pro to look at me from time to time as I can’t afford the fare to the USA.
Hi Tracy,
I wanted to let you know that I have been working hard on syncronizing all parts of the swing and have noticed a big improvement in my game.
Your blog showing your set up routine with Eric was fantastic with a lot of information.
I use that type of setup myself now and have noticed a lot more consistent shots , however my ball does not always go where I want it to.
I gues if it did I would be a pro golfer.
Anyway thank you and Kory for the tips and I hope others get the same results as I have.
David
So, if I get this right, and maybe simplify it.
I think the essence is, not just to visualize the ball flight, but to translate that visualization specifically to a swing process, then forget about visualizing the ball flight, and just visualize the swing process you need to perform for that result, and apply that thought process to your shot.
This may help me a lot.
Thanks