Monday, April 29, 2013

Laughter is the Best Medicine

Generally speaking, I was a very talented player in my teenage years.  I remember playing in a junior tournament at Harley's Golf Course in Union Lake, Michigan and having one of the adults who watched us tee off on the first hole remark, "That is the most beautiful swing I've ever seen.  Don't change a thing about your swing."  All that being said, I never played particularly well in competition.  That is probably what drew me to studying Psychology in the first place.  When no one else was around I played the game beautifully and easily.  When other people were around and there was a "championship" on the line, I got nervous and crumbled under the pressure.

However, I do recall very clearly one tournament that was very different.

I had a friend in my home town who played on a rival school's team.  He was not what you would call your average golfer type.  He dressed in worn, dirty clothes.  His family had cars they were working on as projects in his driveway and his personality was a little bit different than most of the guys we competed against in high school.  He was....more laid back and more rough around the edges.

It just so happened that I got paired with this friend of mine in a regional tournament at Pontiac Country Club.  I think it was called the Waterford Open or something like that.  From the first tee box he got me laughing about one thing or another.  His mannerisms and style on the course just flipped the switch in my normally serious tone on the course.  We laughed and laughed the whole way around.  He also complimented my game and gave me support all the way around.

Almost without even noticing it, I had played the best round of golf I had played in a long time and won the tournament that day.

The funny thing about it was that it was easy.

I had gotten used to playing the game in a nerve-wracking, serious way and this was completely different.  I laughed so much that I really didn't care all that much about the outcome, the laughter was the outcome I was seeking.  That good feeling that comes with being relaxed, supported and in connection.

When I look back, my favorite golf memories are always associated with laughter.  It is about friends taking a walk in the park and enjoying each others company while they smack a little white ball around a field and try to get it into a small hole.  It's ridiculous and wonderful at the same time.

The Importance of Speed in Putting



Reality Check
When we watch the professionals on television it is easy to get a warped sense of reality, especially with putting.  We see a lot of “highlights” of what is happening on the golf course.  Because of this, we see a disproportionate amount of long putts going into the hole.  Here’s a reality check on putting at the professional level.  The best on the PGA tour from 3 to 5 feet in 2011 was Brian Gay at about 94%.  The pros have a really high percentage in this range of putting.  As we get farther away that changes.  Charl Schwartzel was the best on the tour from 10 to 15 feet in 2011 at 29%.  From 30 feet, Kevin Na was the leader with….get this, 2%.  The best in the world from 30 feet makes it 2% of the time!!
What the pros are really good at is speed control.  They may only make it 2% of the time from 30 feet, but their speed is phenomenal.  They will leave themselves a second putt of less than 3 feet most of the time, and they will make that second putt over 90% of the time.
Ideal Speed
The “ideal speed” for a putt is for the ball to have enough speed that if it misses the hole it would end up 18 inches past the hole. 
At this speed, the ball holds its line more true, the ball has a chance to go in the hole (100% of putts left short of the hole do not go in), if missed leaves an 18 inch putt coming back (a high percentage distance for any skill level) and gives you the advantage of seeing how the putt coming back will break.
Simplicity of movement equals consistency of results
The most consistent putters in the game are those who have a very simple and repeatable action in their putting stroke.  It is the same every time and does not have a lot of moving parts.  Most amateurs, however, have just the opposite going on.  You can notice this mostly in the hands.
The professional keeps the hands out of the putting stroke.  They use the big muscles in the shoulders and back to rotate instead of “hit”.  The poor putter has this “hit” in their stroke.  They tend to flip their hands at the ball.  That flipping action in the hands adds a large amount of acceleration into a small space of time and distance.  This leads to inconsistency of speed and distance control in putting…and far too many three putts.
Golfers sometimes describe a putt that went farther than expected as having “gone off in my hands”.  This gunshot metaphor points to that little flick of the hands in the putting stroke that causes so much inconsistency.  The small muscles of the hands and arms are inefficient and unreliable, especially when there are nerves involved during a pressure situation.
In the coming weeks I will be talking about the grip, posture, alignment, ball position and stance as it relates to putting.  We will look at how we can set up in order to produce this consistent, stable putting stroke that will produce more one putts and fewer three putts.

Sunday, April 28, 2013

Mental Tips and Musings



Golf is a game of good misses
Ben Hogan, one of the greatest strikers of the golf ball who ever played the game, said that he hit about 2 perfect shots in a round.  The rest of the time he had “good misses”.  Even the greatest players who have ever played the game make a lot of mistakes in this exceedingly difficult game.  It can be very helpful, when you make a less-than-perfect swing, to have this understanding of the difficulty of the game you are playing.  Those who can let go of “mistakes” and can return to the present moment in a fresh way tend to do better than most and get much more enjoyment out of the sport.  Selective memory is a great trait to have as a golfer.  Totally forget about poor swings as soon as possible.  Don’t give them the satisfaction of your attention (emotionally and mentally).  On the other hand, be like an elephant with swings where the ball comes off the clubface like a knife through butter….always remember the feeling of that moment.

Tension:  The killer of the golf swing and the enjoyment of the game
A sport that requires a person to turn away from the target to hit the ball straight is a recipe for physical and mental tension.  Under pressure, our instinct to control the outcome tends to become stronger and most players get into a linear mental outlook on the game.  This tension and attempt to be “straight” causes all kinds of problems in the golf swing and in the mind.  As a result, a player can end up fighting themselves all the way around the course. 
To deal with this tendency, try this….Take dead aim at the target in your set up, then totally let go of it in the swing.  Swing the golf club like you’re hitting it out into a huge green field.  Ironically, this is what will produce the straightest shot…a swing free from tension.

Play the game
When you play the game, just play the game.  Competition is not a place to be tinkering with the golf swing.  Great golf requires a mind free from words and “technique”.  A calm mind is a creative mind…an artistic mind.  As Bagger Vance says, “You’ve got to figure out how to stop thinking without falling asleep”.  That is the optimal state of mind to be in to play golf. 

The importance of a pre-shot routine
Cultivate a pre-shot routine that helps to settle the nervous system down.  A physical action that you repeat over and over again keeps the mind and nervous system occupied with a series of actions that is familiar.  With the nervous system calm, the mind will quiet down.  With a quiet mind, anything is possible.

Breathe
It sounds cliché.  That being said, the breath is the most powerful tool at your disposal in cultivating a strong mental golf game.  Short and held breaths tell the nervous system that you are in the middle of a life-and-death situation.  Let’s be real.  Golf is not a life-and-death situation.  We may treat it as such, but, it is not.  If you find yourself emotionally rattled in the middle of a round, remember this.  Every moment is an opportunity to return to a calm and centered state.  When you are feeling “off center” ask yourself this question.  Is what is happening in this moment going to kill me?  If there is a Grizzly Bear in the middle of the fairway in front of you, then by all means, let your nervous system guide you.  If not, then a few deep breaths might be in order.  Those breaths are like a messenger to the nerves that says “Okay, I’m going to survive this.”  The breaths will help slow down the heart rate and will begin to open the mind up to be creative and artistic once again.  Our “survival mind” is really good at keeping us alive in life-and-death situations.  We make rash decisions because we need to do so to survive.  That is a very helpful thing to have as a living being.  However, this mindset can be devastating to the golf game. 
Let your emotions be your guide.  If you are feeling frustrated, angry, impatient, etc. notice this and make the choice to change your emotional state.  You have the power to do so.  It all starts with being aware of it, making a choice to do something about it and breathing. 

Envisioning what you want
Get in the habit of envisioning exactly what you want to happen.  This is powerful for your golf game as well as for your life in general.  Picture that ball piercing through the air and bouncing down the middle of the fairway or rolling up next to the hole.  Feel the sensation of your body producing that shot.  Experience the satisfaction of hitting that shot…all before you actually hit it.  If the mind can see it and believe it, the body has a much higher chance of producing it.

Saturday, April 27, 2013

Grip It and Rip It


Assistant golf professionals across the country can attest to the benefits of playing the game quickly.  After spending the day in the golf shop, an assistant pro usually has an hour or two of daylight left in the day to get in some golf.  This entails playing as many holes as possible before the sun dips below the horizon.  Personally, I have found that playing golf this way improves my game significantly.  I get up to the shot and hit it, with very little in the way of thinking.  In fact, some of the best scores I have had in my life have been when I was playing “speed golf”.
It is not necessary for you to run around the golf course, rushing to get from one shot to the next to enjoy the benefits to your game of “speed golf”.  The key moment where this can be applied to how we play the game in general is in the pre-shot routine.  I consider this to be the moment in time between when you make your decision about the club and shot you are about to hit and the actual hitting of the shot.  A lot of golfers spend too much time in this process.  This leads to tension in the body during the swing, doubt in the mind about what you have decided and slower than necessary 
play for your group and the rest of the golf course.

The Benefits of “Speed Golf”
·         More athletic and relaxed body to make a swing
·         Clear and response-able mind
·         Quicker pace of play
·         More energy in reserves for golf and life in general

Challenges of Implementing the Change
When you first work on limiting the time between your decision and swing, it can feel like you are rushing.  You may notice that your mind “blanks out” and that you have a sense of panic about swinging.  This is actually a good sign.  Just commit to implementing the change in your game and your comfort level with this will increase over time.

Golf as Sport – Utilizing Your Instincts
Most sports involve reacting to things in our environment.  Whether it be a linebacker trying to tackle you, a baseball humming in at 100 mph, etc., most sports are about relying on our instincts to “play”.  Golf is unique in that much of these instincts are seemingly not required to play the game.  There is no active defense, only the passive defense of the hazards of the hole in front of you.  The ball is just sitting there waiting for us to do something with it and it is generally considered bad etiquette to wave your hands in the air, making loud noises as a person is trying to play the game of golf.
However, the reality is that we will play the game better if we play it in a more instinctual and reactionary way.  When we “grip it and rip it”, we are creating the kind of pacing where our athletic instincts kick in.  You might be surprised how well you play when you “grip it and rip it”.

Thursday, April 25, 2013

Golf and Yoga - A match made in heaven

There has been a surge of interest in yoga in recent years in the West.  People are finding the benefits of taking some time out of the day to stretch out the muscles in their bodies and to give their mind a time of stillness and peace.

After being introduced to yoga in my time at Naropa University in Boulder, Colorado, I began a fairly regular practice of it in my home at night before going to bed.  Later, I began to add these stretching poses to my routine prior to a round of golf.  Now, whenever I hear my body or mind crying out for some attention, I go through some poses and pay attention to the parts of my body needing some help.

What I have found in the practice of yoga is that I not only experience a relaxing of the body when doing the poses, I also find that my active mind begins to slow down and I feel more centered and calm in general.  Somatic Psychology practitioners across the country can attest to the absolute connection between the body and mind and that working on one encourages health in the other.

In golf we are talking about a game that is highly mental and your results are heavily influenced by how "in the zone" you are or are not on any particular day.  We are also talking about a game where long, loose relaxed muscles are much more beneficial than tight, short, tense muscles.  The connection between golf and yoga are plain to see for anyone who has participated in both activities.

I know that some of you reading this will be deterred by the word "yoga".  I can appreciate that.  If that is the case, let me describe a few helpful stretches related to one part of the body that may improve your physical and mental health and will increase the likelihood that you will play and enjoy the game of golf more.

Before getting into the description of the stretches, let me first give some general guidelines for stretching that will provide maximum results.

1.  This is not a competition.  We will not get yelled at if we don't touch the floor when we are stretching our hamstrings.  We always want to gently move into a stretch, breathe and take our time in the motion.  Our muscles respond much better to this slow and gradual movement.  If you feel pain, pull back slightly.  In this case, "no pain, no gain" doesn't work very well.  The muscle will contract and resist the stretch if we push ourselves to the point of pain.  We will also slightly injure ourselves and the process of elongating and relaxing the muscles over time will become a slower one.  This is the image of the tortoise and the hare.  For maximum benefit, you are going to need to be the tortoise.

2.  Breathe.  If you notice you have stopped breathing, just return to your breath and the feeling of your muscles slowly releasing and stretching out. 

So, there it is.  Take it slow and breathe.  No problem....well, you might be surprised.

HAMSTRINGS

A yoga instructor I once worked with said that tight hamstrings keep people up at night.  It is as if the mind, feeling the tightness of the hamstrings, believes that you are preparing to run from an attacker or something similar that has a life and death quality to it.  It is kind of hard to fall asleep when the body is constantly preparing to run somewhere.

I tried both of the stretches I will describe here and I can say that if I do them and I take my time, I fall asleep like a baby soon after.  I notice that while my hamstrings stretch out, my mind quiets down.  With a relaxed body and a quiet mind, sleep soon follows.

I am speaking here about hamstrings related to falling asleep and sleep is, of course, helpful to having a calm and centered mind in golf and in life.  However, stretching the hamstrings is helpful in many other ways and is an important aspect of any yoga/stretching routine.  The quiet mind that I am speaking of could just as easily be called being "in the zone".

Stretch 1

Find a doorway.  Lay down with your rear end at the base of the opening of the door.  One leg lays on the floor and the other gets propped up on the door frame.  Lay on your back with the leg you are stretching in a straight position.  Lay at a distance from the base of the wall that allows you to keep your leg straight while stretching the hamstring, without pain.  Start at a 45 degree angle and move closer to the wall until you reach the stretch of the hamstring.  After a minute or two, move to the other side of the door and do the same thing with the opposite leg.

It is important to always stretch both sides of the body.  If you do one action to stretch in one direction, it is a good idea to do the same thing in the other direction or on the other side of the body.  This keeps the body in balance and avoids injury.

Some nights I will go back and forth, with some other stretches mixed in to balance the body, until I can feel that my body and mind are ready for bed.

Next time you find yourself tossing and turning in your bed and sleep seems far, far away, try this stretch and focus on breathing and the release of your hamstring. 

Stretch 2

Generally speaking, men tend to have tighter hamstrings than women.  If you walk into a yoga studio anywhere in the country that is offering a beginner yoga class you will see this difference clearly.  Most of the women are touching the floor and most of the men are hovering up at their knees.  With this in mind, it is important for men to avoid the temptation to push themselves too far with hamstring stretches.  Again, you slowly move to the point of feeling an enjoyable stretch and you hang out there.  The only award for pushing yourself too far is the limp you will be walking with the next day when you push to the point of pain.

Toe touches are quite simple and everyone is aware of how to do them.  I like to start out with a wide stance and slowly bend down towards the ground.  When you reach the place of "the stretch" it is tempting to push from that place towards the ground.  It is as if we all have a cruel gym teacher in our heads telling us to "touch the floor!"  Instead, I like the image of slowly floating down.  If we hang out at the place where our hamstrings are stretching and breathe, we will notice a slow floating action take place where we effortlessly move closer to the floor. 

After mixing in some other stretches, I will come back to this stretch and move my feet slightly closer together for the next "float down towards the ground".


I have focused here on one particular body part in relation to yoga/stretching.  Of course, there are many other stretches that focus on other muscles and groups of muscles and a good yoga/stretching practice covers the body in its entirety. 

If you have an interest in further information/guidance on practices such as this, feel free to email me at presentmomentgolf@gmail.com.  I am also in discussions with a yoga teacher in the New York area to offer a golf & yoga retreat at some point in the coming year.  Check back for updates to my 2013 schedule of appearances.

Enjoy the walk in the park,

Steve



Sunday, April 21, 2013

PRESENT MOMENT GOLF WEBSITE GOES LIVE

I am very excited to announce the formation of Present Moment Golf, my Golf Instruction and Life Coaching business.

For many years I have been searching for a way to combine all of my various skills and training into my work.  This has been challenging to realize in working for others due to the seemingly unrelated nature of my talents.

I am a teacher.
I love the process of teaching a skill to someone and doing it in a supportive, caring and patient way.

I am a counselor.
My presence is calming and I am able to sit with someone in their struggles and difficulty.

I am a golf professional.
I love the game of golf and the lessons it teaches us about life.  I love the spirit of the game and what it has always meant to me in my own life.

I am a monk.
I thrive on peace and tranquility.  I love simplicity and reducing life down to that which is necessary and supportive of overall health and happiness.

I am a gypsy.
I love being on the move, new challenges, new vistas.

I am a writer.
I enjoy and have skill at expressing myself in the written word.

I am a creator
I love the creative process and producing something unique.  I love independence and the ability to set my own agenda.

After taking an honest look at how I would integrate all these various skills and interests, I decided that I would have to create this ideal job.  That is what Present Moment Golf is about and I am excited about it!

I will be offering the following services at Present Moment Golf.


Online Video Golf Instruction (via email submission)
Real-time Online Golf Instruction (via Skype)
Sports Psychology Coaching Sessions (via Skype and In-person)
In-person Golf Instruction (various locations throughout the year)
Play with the Pro Golf Vacations
Life Coaching Weekend Retreats


Check out the website at www.presentmomentgolf.com

Sunday, April 14, 2013

Envisioning What You Want

Try this little exercise.

Get into a relaxed position. Clear your mind. Now….DON’T THINK ABOUT PINK ELEPHANTS!

How did that go? If you are like most of humanity, you couldn’t help but envision pink elephants.

Now, imagine you are standing on the tee box of a particularly challenging golf hole. Let’s say there is water all along the left side of the fairway. You notice that your palms are beginning to perspire as you say to yourself, “Don’t hit it in the water”. You take a cut at the ball and, sure enough, there it goes out into the middle of the lake.

The funny thing is that if you were just hitting balls on the driving range, you would rarely make such an attempt at the ball. What is going on here?

Well, the mind is a powerful thing…and it doesn’t quite grasp the concept of “Not”.

When you hold the image of the lake in your mind, your brilliant mind/body connection goes to work to figure out just how to accomplish the movement it would take to send a ball careening into that shinny blue collection of water out there.

So, if you ever experience such a phenomenon when you play the game, you might just take a moment and smile instead of experiencing frustration. Your brilliant system just figured out a way to hit the exact shot that you just envisioned in your mind. If you think about the possibilities of what this might mean for envisioning what you DO want, you might start to feel a little excitement.

When you fully grasp the power that your consciousness has in the game of golf, you can begin to relax more when you play. You can breathe deeper and have more faith in yourself. You can walk down the fairway, your steps a little lighter without all the burden of your doubts and negative thoughts.

If you see what you want to have happen, the chances of it actually happening increase dramatically.

Not only that. When you turn your attention on what you want and the positive possibilities, your whole consciousness will follow. You begin to smile more. Your breath begins to deepen. You begin to enjoy the beautiful walk in the park that golf can be.

Some days are easier to do this than others. It’s not something you need to beat yourself up about if you are not getting it on any particular day, particular hole or particular shot. However, whenever you realize this negative mind state, you have the freedom and the opportunity to begin to experiment in another direction. Envision what you want, relax, trust, breathe, smile…swing.

And be humble enough to laugh when it doesn’t all go perfectly. This is a challenging game.

Sunday, April 7, 2013

Recovering from Disappointment

We all want to play our best at this challenging game called golf. We read magazines, watch the best players in the world on the television, invest in the best equipment possible and we take golf lessons from professionals. We’re looking to perfect our games and to have the feeling, as much as possible, of rolling in birdies and eagles. We even have dreams of the pinnacle of perfection, the glorious hole-in-one.

Hitting a poor shot is so hard for each and every one of us to take. When we go through a stretch like this, it can be helpful to remember two important things.


· GENERALLY, YOUR FELLOW PLAYERS ARE SO CONCERNED ABOUT THEIR OWN GAMES THAT THEY HAVE LITTLE MENTAL ENERGY LEFT TO THINK ABOUT YOUR GAME…AND IF THEY WERE TRULY THINKING ABOUT YOU, THEY WOULD ENCOURAGE YOU, HELP YOU AND SUPPORT YOU.

Take it from the pro, the guy who is expected to play well most of the time, disappointing shots happen. Disappointing holes happen. Disappointing rounds happen. Ask any professional, maybe even Tiger Woods in 2010, disappointing years happen. It is truly how we handle these times of disappointment that matters. One truth that I have noticed and tested through my own experience over the years is that golfers (and people in general) are generally more focused on how well/poorly they are doing to be very much concerned with how you are doing.

It is easy to think that those around you are criticizing you, seeing your faults and perhaps even looking down on you when you are not playing your best. But, while your fellow players may be evaluating your game, it is always in comparison to their own game/life. Know that any such comparison is only an attempt to ease their anxieties and to assure themselves that they are “okay”. The reality is that most golfers don’t give our play all that much thought at all. Each of us is so focused on the next shot or replaying the past shot in our minds that we pay little attention to others. While this is sad, because the world would be a better place if we spent more time thinking about others, the realization that most players are caught up in their own little worlds can provide some peace to us when we are struggling with our own games.

The mere understanding that it is only important how YOU think about yourself can free you from a huge amount of anxiety that can be created from fantasizing about what others are thinking about. The reality is, they are most likely thinking about themselves. If they were truly focused on you, they would want to contribute to your happiness and well-being, not make you feel worse about your situation. In my opinion, this desire to contribute to other’s well-being is our true nature…when we are not so caught up in worrying about ourselves and what other people are thinking about us.

Relax. Each shot (moment) is its own universe…just as you are your own universe.


· THE MORE YOU CAN LET GO OF HAVING YOUR ATTENTION ON REPLAYING THE PAST AND/OR WORRYING ABOUT THE FUTURE, THE MORE ENERGY YOU WILL HAVE TO BE IN THE PRESENT MOMENT, WHERE GOLF (AND LIFE) TRULY HAPPEN.

On the PGA tour they have a statistic called “bounce-back birdies”. This statistic measures how professionals do on the next hole following a bogey or worse. This is such a fascinating statistic to me. It would seem that these are the players who have mastered the art of letting go of disappointment.

If you have a passion for the game of golf (which I am assuming you have, based on the fact that you are taking time out of your life to read what I am writing about the game), it can be very challenging emotionally to deal with making swings that are not your best. However, understand that golf is not a game of perfection. We will always have moments of disappointment in this game no matter how long or well we play the game. It is a game where a difference of 1 millimeter at impact makes yards of difference in the end result. It is an exceedingly challenging game and we are going to make mistakes…no doubt about it. It is a game that requires us to be fully in the present moment in order to be successful. At the same time, it is a game that requires us to be able to let go when we did not achieve total “oneness” in our most recent attempt at being in the present moment.

The best advice I can give you is to focus your attention on your breathing for a while when you find yourself holding on to a disappointing shot in your mind or worrying about the next shot in front of you. Your breath takes place in the present moment. You can feel it and hear it. Also, it is an involuntary response. You don’t have to think about breathing. The breath just rises and falls on its own. When our mind goes off into the past or future, it is important for our well-being, the well-being of our golf games and the well-being of the others we are playing with…that we notice it happening and turn our attention to our next breath or two or fifty.

There is a time and a place for reviewing the past so we can learn from it and planning for the future so we can be prepared. However, the golf swing is the time to be totally in the here and now. Those who can master their own minds and emotions can become those who can recover most quickly from disappointments in golf as well as disappointments in life.

As in golf, so it is in life. You will make mistakes in life and you will have disappointments. It is not the mistakes that matter, it is how you recover from those mistakes that shows your true character.

Let go and be in the present moment. Be the “bounce-back” leader.