Part of the joy of coaching the game of golf is constantly looking for better ways to get players to improve. Sometimes this involves challenging some of the existing myths that abound in the game. Advice we take as gospel because it has always been there.
A question that I often ask an audience when I am presenting my Mind Factor workshops around the country is: what was the best round of golf you played last year?
A question that I often ask an audience when I am presenting my Mind Factor workshops around the country is: what was the best round of golf you played last year?
Once I have managed to get everybody with a memory of their best golf, I then ask them to drill down a bit deeper and write down the three best full shots they hit during that round.
Lots of furrowed brows ensue and it takes a while but most people eventually get there and write down the three best full shots they hit that day. I then ask everyone to think again about those shots.
If they only had one single word to describe how those shots felt, what would that word be?
Time and again the words coming back are ones such as effortless, free, relaxed, flow and smooth. The subjective experience of most golfers on their best shots is generally one of flow and rhythm. Yet the problem for many of us is we don’t seem to be in that flow too often.
The flow of your swing can be disrupted by myriad factors. High up on that list, from my experience, is having a head full of technical commands. This is a great way to disrupt your flow as you try to swing through a series of conscious commands.
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This type of thinking can work to a degree on the range but on the course it can be deadly. I am all for working on and improving your technique but to try to take lots of thoughts out to play is asking for trouble.
The other loss of flow is a paradoxical one and a trap many golfers fall into. Often when we are struggling with our game we are told by well-meaning friends that we need to slow down.
The problem with this command is many golfers then tend to slow down in the wrong place. They make an ultra-slow backswing, tense up at the top and then start the downswing like a mad axeman.
Great players have a unique flow to their swing that is not necessarily slow. The club flows into the backswing and then most crucially the change of direction is a smooth one. Good flow in the swing can actually cover up a multitude of sins. I am not saying flow will make a bad swing into a good one but you will definitely get the best out of what you have currently got.
Flow is what I call a big thought. It is an overall sense of motion as opposed to a piece by piece approach. A great by-product of better flow in your swing is you will more than likely gain some yards as you make better strikes and apply force at the right time.
So for the foreseeable future perhaps leave slow behind as a concept and explore the possibilities of finding your own best flow. In effect, don’t go slow, go flow.
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