Mystery Meat
Ben Hogan Fan
" you think , you stink"
Overthinking! Have you ever tried to just go with the flow?
Erky
New member
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I am having a lot of trouble with this right now. On Saturday at LIITA, I wasn't thinking at all. Just swinging easy and glad to be back on the course after several weeks off. I played well. On Sunday, I tried to work with a couple simple swing thoughts and played horrible. It got worse on my Tuesday round after work. Generally speaking, when I focus on the target, I play well, and when I focus on a swing though, I play poorly.
This is a great mental approach to the game. Focus on the target and not the swing and ball as much: http://www.golfchannel.com/media/dr-bob-winters-stare-down-your-target/
This is a great mental approach to the game. Focus on the target and not the swing and ball as much: http://www.golfchannel.com/media/dr-bob-winters-stare-down-your-target/
moosejaa
Mr. Inconsistent
Is there a happy medium with this? I'll get up there sometimes without concentrating and get too quick among other bad habits.
I'd love to just think during practice but the "range" swing doesn't always make it to the course.
I'd love to just think during practice but the "range" swing doesn't always make it to the course.
I've tried to simplify my thinking over the years, get a yardage, visualize a shot to play (based on conditions), pick a club, visual the shot with practice swings, MAKE THE SWING!
I've actually found quite a bit of success with my simplified approach, even in my short game and putting, when I start to think and become too technical is where I get in trouble.
I've actually found quite a bit of success with my simplified approach, even in my short game and putting, when I start to think and become too technical is where I get in trouble.
Mark_UK
Legal Alien
I used to over think everything. One of the 2 lessons I've had in my life started off with the pro saying I had a sound golf swing and the problems were in my head. I was also told by a regular playing partner that I was constantly tinkering with my swing. That, along with me watching Bubba Watson carve a 60 yard slice into the middle of the fairway on the opening hole of Celtic Manor at the Ryder Cup made me have a change of attitude. Now I just tend to stand there and hit it whilst working with what the golfing gods have given me.
I am on the opposite end of the spectrum. I find that thinking about a lot of variables (swing, weather, score, etc...) keeps me more focused on the round at hand. The less that I think, the more complacent I come with a possibly mediocre round. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy having a "laid back" round of golf, but I also really enjoy scoring well. However, I will say that there is a fine line between being conscious of what is going on and to being overly concerned with all things surrounding us (which we have no control of, oftentimes).
Elty McMillan
New member
This is what happens to me when I'm playing by myself. I get frustrated with a bad shot and I start losing concentration and not focusing on the shot I'm hitting
GenErr
Well-known member
After 50+ years of golf, I'm cursed with the swing I have. My only thoughts at address are to keep my "head height," and feel the clubhead go through the ball. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. But that is golf, isn't it?
Floor-is
New member
When I go with the flow it won't go really well. I lose focus, aiming is off, putting is bad too. There is the in-between area where I'm best.. Get up to the ball, look at distance, think about where to land, pick club, stand behind ball for the line, get up to the ball, practice shot when needed, get in position, focus on right leg, hit it.
Seems like a lot to many, but once you make a process out of it, it can be done quickly and efficiently.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Seems like a lot to many, but once you make a process out of it, it can be done quickly and efficiently.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Acuna
Member
I did this today and it worked well. I only had one swing thought and that was tension in my right quad (I'm a lefty). Once that was wound up, I just turned through to my finish.
I am just starting out but I really think there is something to this. At the driving range the other day I just relaxed, thought about nothing and hit the ball. These shots were long, consistent and straight with my irons.
Then I switched to my driver that I have been hooking right badly, started thinking (head down, feet straight, weight on left foot, etc) and as usual I hit it way right. Need to learn to relax...
Then I switched to my driver that I have been hooking right badly, started thinking (head down, feet straight, weight on left foot, etc) and as usual I hit it way right. Need to learn to relax...
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I think the bottom line is simple. It doesn't matter. You can either hit good and consistent ball striking or you cant. Over thinking, over crowded thoughts can certainly hurt and the range is perhaps the better place for that but so can under thinking hurt too. One does need to know and think even if its a very simply thought like " ok, just swing the club as you know you can" That itself is still a thought. I think when one feels like they just go with the flow and are not thinking is just an illusion. Truth is your swing just happens to be pretty good that day so it seems like its because your not over thinking but that's only because there isn't much going wrong. Make a few bad shots in a row and you will then think more what it is that went wrong or how to make the adjustment if you can. You didn't start the poor striking because you started thinking. You are simply now thinking because of the poor strikes.
Castor Hades
New member
Every time I'm able to free my mind and do this I hit shots that would make the highlight reel on the golf channel. It's weird how my mind gets in my way.
Esbjorn
New member
The golf swing is about 2.5 seconds. That isn't a whole lot of time to think about things. Going with the flow is the best way to play, in my opinion. I know the moment I start tinkering or thinking too much, my game goes downhill fast. The only thing I have going through my head is making sure I'm relaxed and just picturing what I want to do with the club. If anyone follows the Manuel de la Torre concepts, they'd know what I'm talking about!
Chump Fries
Captain Awesome
I think most of us would "not think" if the ball went where we wanted it to. I'd play a 60 yard slice or hook all day if I could make it do it the exact same all the time.
When I play basketball, I can through the ball towards the hoop I a myriad of ways (normal, between legs, hook shot, even backwards) and I can usually at least hit the rim.
Unfortunately, golf isn't near as forgiving. We're talking about trying to hit a target a LONG way away for drives within a 30-60 yard area or get a ball within 5 feet of a hole when chipping from 20 yards away. That's asking a person I be way precise.
It's not hard to hit a golf ball. Precision is what makes the game so hard and the margin for error is so large. Not to mention we put punishments (rough, sand, water, OOB) just yards away from perfection that it is very punishing.
The other thing about golf is the concept of par. I consider myself to be a well above average golfer and I normally shoot in the low 80s. Not many other sports tell you "you're not good enough". When you play basketball or tennis or something else with equals, you don't feel you have to play at Lebron levels to be good at the sport.
Because of "par", we constantly think we have to do better, which leads to thinking about what we did wrong instead of allowing us to be happy with a 90 or 80 or whatever.
That is also the beauty of the game. That's what draws us in. The never ending battle to get better at a solo game that we can enjoy with anyone else regardless of their abilities.
Golf is about you and the course. No golfer will ever be content, so we must think about our flaws or fail to get better.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
When I play basketball, I can through the ball towards the hoop I a myriad of ways (normal, between legs, hook shot, even backwards) and I can usually at least hit the rim.
Unfortunately, golf isn't near as forgiving. We're talking about trying to hit a target a LONG way away for drives within a 30-60 yard area or get a ball within 5 feet of a hole when chipping from 20 yards away. That's asking a person I be way precise.
It's not hard to hit a golf ball. Precision is what makes the game so hard and the margin for error is so large. Not to mention we put punishments (rough, sand, water, OOB) just yards away from perfection that it is very punishing.
The other thing about golf is the concept of par. I consider myself to be a well above average golfer and I normally shoot in the low 80s. Not many other sports tell you "you're not good enough". When you play basketball or tennis or something else with equals, you don't feel you have to play at Lebron levels to be good at the sport.
Because of "par", we constantly think we have to do better, which leads to thinking about what we did wrong instead of allowing us to be happy with a 90 or 80 or whatever.
That is also the beauty of the game. That's what draws us in. The never ending battle to get better at a solo game that we can enjoy with anyone else regardless of their abilities.
Golf is about you and the course. No golfer will ever be content, so we must think about our flaws or fail to get better.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Good.Shepherd
New member
All of golf's great mental teachers, and many of it's great players, have cited "overthinking" and unhelpful thinking in golf as the single greatest limiting factor in someone's game. Even Ben Hogan said that he didn't win much across the 1930's because of his mental game more than anything (Lord knows it wasn't time put in on the practice tees).
To be really simple about it, I break it into two different categories:
1. The rational parts of the game: these are the parts that take direct, logical, and sequential analysis.
2. The intuitive parts of game: intuition is how we know things without rationally thinking about them. Like catching something tossed to you, or knowing approximately how far to throw a horseshoe.
Both of these parts of the game are ungodly important. Neither is a step child. But they both have a context and a place. They have a sequence, and the right things in the wrong sequence are the WRONG THING. ie: ready, FIRE,... aim?
The rational side is diagnosis, hypothesis, testing, calculating, note keeping, etc. It's matching the club selection to the shot and the wind and the rough and the environment. It's working on your swing at the range or studying the curvature of a putting surface. It's active thinking.
The intuitive parts of the game, by their nature, require the turning off of the rational parts. Because there are, literally, thousands of variables in any given swing you may make, you're not going to hold them all in your head at once. Just not going to happen. You've reached not only the limits of your rational processing in any 2 second period (the period of the swing), but trying to overfocus on any one part will disfigure your rhythm, balance, timing, etc. You have to shut the brain off and just swing.
The trick is to get it into the right sequence for you. In general, here's a solid framework taken from many of the top mentors in the game:
1. Practice range and and putting green: mostly rational. Focus on what you're doing. Keep notes. Make tweaks. Diagnosis, hypothesis, adjustment, test, review. But by the end of your practice, you should be able to go through a preshot "rational" routine with a club, and then turn your head off and just swing (as you will do in the golf game).
2. Golf game: mixed. When you're looking at your lie, you take a rational approach. Look at the conditions, the lie, your strategy, etc. Take it all in and choose a line, choose your needed swing strength, alignment, etc. THEN, the rational turns off. Trust your choices and commit, and then address the ball. NOW, you go intuitive. Now you just use the swing you brought to the course, trusting that it's good enough to win on that day and at any rate it is a hell of a lot better than a screwed up "swing mechanics" kind of swing.
3. At most, the vast majority of these mentors suggest that if you MUST be rational in your swing, do it in the preshot. Hold no more than one "remember to do this!" thing in your mind at a time, and try only the same one for any 9 hole stretch. And to ensure that you don't sabotage yourself, slow down and have great rhythm no matter what you do. Don't rush through it.
Keep a steady rhythm. Go rational and read, select, and commit. Then address the ball, trust your read and the swing your brought on that day and go intuitive. Throw the horseshoe. Rinse and repeat.
To be really simple about it, I break it into two different categories:
1. The rational parts of the game: these are the parts that take direct, logical, and sequential analysis.
2. The intuitive parts of game: intuition is how we know things without rationally thinking about them. Like catching something tossed to you, or knowing approximately how far to throw a horseshoe.
Both of these parts of the game are ungodly important. Neither is a step child. But they both have a context and a place. They have a sequence, and the right things in the wrong sequence are the WRONG THING. ie: ready, FIRE,... aim?
The rational side is diagnosis, hypothesis, testing, calculating, note keeping, etc. It's matching the club selection to the shot and the wind and the rough and the environment. It's working on your swing at the range or studying the curvature of a putting surface. It's active thinking.
The intuitive parts of the game, by their nature, require the turning off of the rational parts. Because there are, literally, thousands of variables in any given swing you may make, you're not going to hold them all in your head at once. Just not going to happen. You've reached not only the limits of your rational processing in any 2 second period (the period of the swing), but trying to overfocus on any one part will disfigure your rhythm, balance, timing, etc. You have to shut the brain off and just swing.
The trick is to get it into the right sequence for you. In general, here's a solid framework taken from many of the top mentors in the game:
1. Practice range and and putting green: mostly rational. Focus on what you're doing. Keep notes. Make tweaks. Diagnosis, hypothesis, adjustment, test, review. But by the end of your practice, you should be able to go through a preshot "rational" routine with a club, and then turn your head off and just swing (as you will do in the golf game).
2. Golf game: mixed. When you're looking at your lie, you take a rational approach. Look at the conditions, the lie, your strategy, etc. Take it all in and choose a line, choose your needed swing strength, alignment, etc. THEN, the rational turns off. Trust your choices and commit, and then address the ball. NOW, you go intuitive. Now you just use the swing you brought to the course, trusting that it's good enough to win on that day and at any rate it is a hell of a lot better than a screwed up "swing mechanics" kind of swing.
3. At most, the vast majority of these mentors suggest that if you MUST be rational in your swing, do it in the preshot. Hold no more than one "remember to do this!" thing in your mind at a time, and try only the same one for any 9 hole stretch. And to ensure that you don't sabotage yourself, slow down and have great rhythm no matter what you do. Don't rush through it.
Keep a steady rhythm. Go rational and read, select, and commit. Then address the ball, trust your read and the swing your brought on that day and go intuitive. Throw the horseshoe. Rinse and repeat.