I’VE LEARNED HOW TO PLAY
This is a conversation with one of the wonderful young tour players who has been out there grinding it out on the tour for several years and is now finally having a bit of success in this tough/wonderful sport of golf. I hope you can pick out a few details of our conversations the last time he was here that will have a benefit to your own personal game. This will not read like a novel and will be a bit scattered but grab what you can and hopefully you can navigate to your talent level a lot faster armed with this knowledge. I am glad we can provide our readers this inside conversation.
IT’S DIFFERENT NOW
He shared it was a lot different now then it was the last few years with some of that difference being in experience of day to day life on the road and playing with good players but it was a lot different due to understanding his personal game management and personal course management. This was a great big statement for me personally as he was sharing that he knew how to manage his “game management.” What this means is regardless of how sharp he is during certain periods he is now able to manage himself on all holes based on his feelings that day. Let’s face it some days you have your “A” game feeling and other days you have to manage yourself a bit, almost survive if you will. This breakthrough took his game to another level as he no longer has those big numbers but manages himself well enough to score even in those conditions. He also shared that he has learned to score on the holes he should score on and manage himself tactically on the holes that are not scoring holes. When he played smart golf this way he would find many times that he could catch a birdie or two on the non scoring holes as well putting himself in at least position to score. Overall just a bit more tactical out there using his safe shot a lot more when things felt a little off and scoring on the holes he should score on.
MORE FREEDOM
I am learning how to get freed up during play a ton more often. Even though we speak of this constantly it still takes time and experience to learn how to be free when you play competitive golf. He shared he has learned how to be a lot more comfortable when he plays and also how to practice that in practice sessions. Since this young man knows the swing real well it took a bit of time for him to stop tinkering with it constantly. We as teachers can say these things but students have to buy into the times for tinkering and the times for not tinkering much. How are you learning more freedom then? What are your “cues?”
I learned I have to be much more visual without a lot of analyzing. As you know I have loved to analyze everything. It’s ironic I am finally learning this. More often I am working on trying to consistently relax and go with the conditions that are in front of me. I am learning how to understand my already pretty darn good golf swing rather then perfect it. This is huge!! I loved this comment and glad I wrote it down during this conversation. I hope you can grab a ton for your own game just from these few words.
WHO’S TALKING
You’re not going to believe this but I am finally recognizing the little conversations I have with player 2 out there. Even though we talked about this for ages I can see clearly how player 2’s voice creeps in there and tries to teach me how to play and do things that are not in my best interest. It’s ironic that students miss this quite a bit and they think that they are just preparing the shot in front of them only to take several years to understand that the little guy tends to make them a bit more dutiful and doubtful causing a bit of anxiety and tension. I’ve replaced this he said with a lot more “see it do it mentality” based on the conditions set before me. Knowing it is the right shot based on the conditions and not allowing any more conversation about it. I guess what you have always called being decisive with full attention or “paying attention to your intention.”
LEARN, PLAN + EXECUTE
This is what I simply try to do. These are my cues and I try each day to practice this in my practice sessions as well so it will become a bit easier to do this in weekly competitions.