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I would like to
discuss how science can help you play better. I am going to
pretend I know something about neurology, Newtonian and
quantum physics, geometry, biology, and a few more new
sciences I might make-up along the way.
Then I will show you how that information can help your golf
game.
Neuroscience and the Mental Game
I don’t think any golfer will argue the importance of the
mind in playing this game. Great advances are being made
every day on the workings of this 3 pounds of electrical
flesh we call our brain. Why not use this to our advantage?
One thing I know to be true is, what you pay attention to,
and more important how you pay attention, shapes
performance.
EEG Neurofeedback is a powerful way to measure the
electrical activity in the brain, specifically the brain
waves. When a person is sleeping, the waves are very slow.
When in a panic, or when using super fine focus, the waves
go much faster.
Sport psychologists have found that the optimal state is
toward the lower end, called alpha.
Surprising Information
When we picture a great athlete in the zone, it would seem
their focus is lazer-like and very narrow, excluding
everything but the ball. But EEG research shows otherwi se.
Imagine a cow in a very narrow confinement; she becomes
agitated and anxious. Or a plant in a pot that is too small;
stifled and unable to grow.
Put the cow in a larger pasture, or the plant in a bigger
pot, and there is relaxation, growth. The same applies to
golfers. Open a window in your mind to allow some fresh air
in.
Narrow, intense focus tightens the muscles, making motion
jerky and artificial. Open, bigger focus leads to relaxation
and freedom. Isn’t that what you want when you play?
Don’t believe everything you are told
There are 7 or 8 distinct levels a golfer passes through to
high-performance. At every level, you will hear advice from
others as to how to do it. The problem with this free
advice, is that it sends us into that narrow, uptight brain
wave pattern. For example, CONCENTRATE ON THE BALL, is
something we have all heard and even said at some point. I
ask you, are you concentrating on the ball and still playing
lousy? Are you ready for another approach?
Open Focus
Where you pay attention is one thing, but how you do it is
another. Look at the painting of Mona Lisa. For most people,
what stands out is the smile, or some other aspect of her
face. This can be called the foreground. But let your gaze
become more open, and take in the background as well. This
is called Open Focus, and it will help you play the best
golf of your life.
I watched a tournament on TV a while back, and saw Jose
Maria Olathabal stop at the top of his backswing, because he
suddenly felt the wind change direction. He changed clubs,
hit the ball close, and won the tournament. We have all seen
Tiger do this as well; there is no way they would have had
that much environmental sensitivity with a narrow, tight
(up-tight) focus.
Narrow focus doesn’t allow you to feel your body, it gets
you stuck in your head. Open focus allows a free, fresh
swing on every shot. I gave a lesson recently to an athletic
lady, who was thinking of nothing but the ball, and hitting
terrible shots. I mentioned this different way of paying
attention, but was having no luck, until I asked her a
question.
`You appear to be athletic, have you played other sports”
`Yes, I was a competitive basketball player’
`OK; when you dribbled down the court, were you staring at
the basketball, ignoring everything else?
`Of course not. I was aware of the other players, the space
between me and the basket, the out of bounds lines, the
general flow and patterns of the game.’
`Right. Can you imagine doing that in golf? Make it a verb,
not a noun. Imagine your swing as only a part of the bigger
picture.’
Her swing immediately relaxed and began to flow. She started
cracking he ball with authority.
How To Do It
I was working with a nationally competitive player recently,
who can pure the ball pretty much every time. The problem is
short putts. The rest of the game was wonderfully natural,
but on the little ones he was trying way too hard. Just like
the basketball lady, this player had too narrow a focus,
resulting in tension and missed putts.
I had him open up his awareness. The putt is only a part of
a bigger field. I put him through the following exercise:
• Imagine the space between your ball and the hole, but not
the ball or the hole exclusively.
• Next, imagine the same amount of space back, away from the
ball going in the other direction.
• Then, bring the same amount of space straight up from the
ball into the air.
• Then down from the ball, into the earth
• Execute the putt not as the foreground activity, but as
part of the bigger picture, keeping your focus more
expansive.
He lit up; as an advanced karate practitioner, he knew this
feeling, sensing all parts of the opponent from feet to
stomach, shoulders, head, the size of the ring, where the
referee stood, and so on, all at once.
Arnold Palmer described open focus in this way: “You’re
involved in the action and vaguely aware of it. I’d liken it
to a sense of reverie-it is not merely mechanical, it is not
only spiritual; it is something of both, on a different
plane and a more remote one”
The great LPGA star Micky Wright said it another way “When I
play my best golf I feel….like standing back watching the
earth in orbit with a golf club in my hands”
Back to Science
The excercizes I made up, but the science is proven. Open
focus produces slower brain waves, which produces relaxation
and naturalness. Give your swing more space, and a bigger
pasture, and I guarantee you will play better.
Next article: how conservation of angular momentum will help
you to hit the ball further. |
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