Exactly...and my advice to you based upon my experience is to NOT let your brain override your intuition. I suggest going to the range and thinking "hey, we're gonna have some fun trying stuff". "Who cares about the outcome?". "This swing is weird for me, but, hey body....how would you swing this swing?". Let go.
I found I had some weird subliminal manipulative controlling reflex either in my arms or hands during my down swing that was enhanced with my driver because maybe my brain was possibly saying, "hit it farther, but don't go there". I chalk it up to tension and my brain's quest to control the outcome.
That was The Plan. Mother Nature, the byotch
, had other plans for me.
I think you're fine. Imagine (maybe) DECADES of an overly oppressive instructional mind in golf, then suddenly "letting go"? It won't happen over night. It's a process that IMO you will not recognize improvement until one day your brain gives-in. It's like my piano analogy, my left hand WOULD NOT give-in to relaxing and playing the bass clef notes. I tried to tell it to stop being a butthead, concentrated "real hard", etc. Then one day, out of nowhere, at about 930pm it started to play the notes. The trick is to keep at it and not give-up because your brain likely enjoys has a very dominant influence over your golf swing.That was The Plan. Mother Nature, the byotch
The good news is that, by relaxing, and just working on swinging easily, I had few ground balls and all but one or two of the bucket went where I was aiming. So it wasn't a complete rain-out. But successful experimentation went out the window after that one squall passed. After that I was somewhat preoccupied with the next one I knew was coming. (Barely beat it, too.)
So, another day, I guess.
One thing I suspect is practicing with limited-flight and wiffle balls off the top of the grass in the back yard has not done me any favors. I suspect my body's gotten used to the higher ball height and that's why I'm inclined to skull the ball. So no more of that.
Thanks! It seems hard to trust muscle memory in golf. I think practice swings are the result of the creative side of the brain having a chance to participate. I cannot tell you how many times I've taken several really good practice swings with a 60* wedge, rotation, relaxed, then employ some other swing 5 seconds later. I don't even bother analyzing what happened because that simply supports more internal chalkboard discussions.
The player has to own his swing before he can trust it to unconscious thought during competition. But what if it is a flawed swing with a low percentage of good strikes? Who wants a swing like that?
Don't you think you'd know if the swing was highly flawed?
Was flawed - with a low percentage of good shots, yeah I think so.
Your comment about having a swing first, then unconscious thought thereafter is reasonable. Otherwise I don't see how the pro's can stay in the game week after week. Sure, they practice and work on certain aspects, but at the end of the day they can't take all the mumbo jumbo with them to the course. It has to be intuitive. But even those guys have great and very bad weeks. I tend to think they lose mental focus because they obviously know how to swing a club intuitively.
My comments about a swing first etc?? I said own his swing.
Oh, own his swing, whatever the swing. I get it now.
It's been documented to be 0.2 to 0.25 seconds. So short a time that it is all but impossible for your brain to communicate anything to your muscles, and your muscles too react, by the time the club hits the ball.
What's the main feel / differences you encounter when moving to an SPS? It would be interesting to hear your observations.
