Know Thyself & To Thine Own Self Be True

When we watch golf on television or play with better players, it is tempting to try to hit the golf ball as far as the best players in the world (or the group we are playing with) can.

As a young man, this was probably the prime focus of my game.  Hit it as far as the pros, with the touch and finesse of the short game as a low priority on my list.  Predictably, with this as the prime focus of my golfing world, I ended up being able to drive the ball around 300 yards, but, managed to  be stuck at around a 5 or 6 handicap.  The ball striking was fairly impressive, the score...not so much.

In my late thirties I had the good fortune to find myself teaching golf and preaching being in the present moment to students at Haystack Mountain Golf Course in Niwot, Colorado.  Here, at this beautiful and laid-back executive course nestled at the base of the Rocky Mountains, I had the opportunity to return to the game from a different perspective.  This short, fun golf course taught me the value of knowing myself and building a predictable and reliable game within 100 yards of the hole.

When I started out at Haystack, I would shot about the same amount over par that I would on a full-length course.  My usual score was around 3 or 4 over per nine.  It was obvious that the weakness of my game was in the short game.  By the time I left, it was very common for me to shot Even or 1 under on this course and I even had the fun experience of taking it down to 3 under on one glorious summer afternoon.  I'm still gunning for that course record of 5 under that I witnessed set by CJ Ebel.  Of course, having witnessed that course record personally, I know it requires a bit of short-game magic and a lot of being "in the zone" to make that kind of a round happen.

Haystack Mountain Golf Course, and the short game transformation I experienced there, molded me into the fundamentals/short game/mental coach that I am today.  One of my teaching mantras that I often say to my students is, "Not everyone can hit the ball 300 yards off the tee...but everyone can become an excellent putter and chipper of the golf ball."

As I worked more and more with the short game and worked with my students on theirs, I came to a basic conclusion.  I decided that there is a reason that golf professionals practice shots within 100 yards about 75% of the time.  In this short game practice we develop touch, confidence and understanding of our own physical and mental tendencies.  We watch how one day it all feels so easy and effortless and the next it feels awkward and strange.  Through this experience, we get to explore the question, "What is different in my mind and body today?"  This, I believe, is the true gift of the game of golf to us.  It offers us an opportunity to get to know ourselves better and to see our tendencies, especially in relation to the continuums of trust/doubt, relaxation/tension, confidence/hesitation.

The centering practice of putting/chipping/self awareness has become one of the great pleasures of my adult life.  Through these small swings, I see all the tendencies I have in my full swing and in my mental approach to the game of golf.  I have the opportunity to once again relearn and fully commit to what I am doing and to get to know myself just a little bit better.

When was the last time you carved out an hour or two for yourself to just take a wedge and a putter and go pitch, chip and putt around?  You might just learn...or rediscover... something about yourself and this wonderful, challenging game that we call golf.

In and Out of "The Flow"

As is the case with most things we spend our time with in this life, golf offers us a window into our soul.  Because it is just us and that little white ball, all kinds of interesting inner dialogues take place.  There is no real defender to our goal, just a neutral area of nature that we relate to in any way we choose.  If we are thinking clearly, positively and with trust in ourselves...amazing things can happen out on that neutral field of the golf course.  You may find yourself taking a swing that you were not fully aware you were able to make.  You may find a moment where you and the feeling of solid impact are in total harmony and you can sense the slightest changes to the weight of the swinging pendulum....and then....its gone.  A negative thought, a doubt, a tension creeps into the golf swing and it can feel like the golf swing has become this uncontrollable monster that you will never tame.

You can spiral down that trap door of doubt and heaviness and anger in the game of golf....or you notice how far you have gotten away from that free, easy, relaxed and effortless place and the journey back to your centered self begins anew.  The journey to return back to the place that Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi refers to as "In the Flow".

A sense of humor and lightness of emotion go a long way towards playing the game well.  Find people that make you feel good and make you smile in your soul and go spend some time with them on the golf course.  A great time and a flowing experience will be had by all.

Hawaii - Maui - The Plantation Course at Kapalua

It has been a dream of mine to visit Hawaii for many years.  What a pleasure to get to do so while also playing one of the best golf courses in the world.  The Plantation Course at Kapalua is a beautiful course that winds around the coastline of Maui, up and down the side of the mountain.

The first day at The Plantation Course the wind was howling.  Downhill, downwind shots traveled forever.  I was regularly hitting tee shots between 380 and 400 yards on these holes (my average drive is somewhere in the 270 range).  There is something uplifting about watching a ball fly that far.  The uphill, into-the-wind shots were just about the opposite.  I would smash a driver with all my might and maybe get 210 yards out of it.

The Ben Crenshaw design is gorgeous and well laid-out.  For example, the downhill, downwind iconic 18^th hole at The Plantation Course is 663 yards from the tips.  However, because the prevailing wind is downwind on that hole and the fairway is like a ski slope, it plays significantly less than that yardage.  I hit Driver, 4-iron over the green there the first time around.  In contrast, the holes heading back up the mountain and into the prevailing wind are usually in the range of 380-400 yards in length from the championship tees.  These holes tend to play the longest of all of the holes with a stiff breeze as you have to knock down a long iron to get the ball to fly back to the hole.

The wind is probably the biggest defense the course has.  The second biggest factor in pushing scores high on the 77.2 rated course is the greens.  Many times during the course of our three rounds at The Plantation Course I found myself befuddled by my misreading of a green.  I would clearly see an uphill putt when it actually was a significantly downhill putt.   When a putt rolls twenty feet past the hole on a ten foot putt, you have to tip your hat to the designers on creating such a visually deceptive putting surface.  I figured out by the third round that you couldn’t rely on your eyes to read these greens.  By the end, I was walking my line on every putt, letting my feet read the slope of the green.

I was impressed by the welcome and service we received from the staff at The Plantation Course.  Our starter, Dennis, warmly greeted us and gave us the lay of the land.  The outside staff was there at every turn with assistance and a cool, wet towel after the round.  Generally speaking, the experience exceeded my expectations at every turn.

As I said previously, the price tag for a trip to Hawaii is very high, no matter what your itinerary.  This probably comes as no surprise to anyone.  The surprise for me was the overall customer service experience of the trip.  With this high price tag, I would generally expect a rather high level of service at every turn.  Instead, however, the customer service was disappointing on the island (with the exception of our treatment at The Plantation Course).  If great value and great service for the price are priorities for you in your travels, I would not recommend Hawaii as your destination of choice.

That being said, it is hard to put a price tag on the experience of watching the sunset on the Pacific or seeing a double rainbow, as we did on our afternoon round on the first day at the Plantation Course.  It is a magical and breath-taking place and I feel grateful for having had the chance to visit there.

Mahalo and Aloha

(Thank you (Gratitude) and Hello/Goodbye)

A Few Things that Stand Out about Japanese Culture to a First-Time Visiting American

1. Masks

A few minutes after getting off the plane, you are sure to run into an individual wearing a paper mask/mouth covering.  To be honest, the first thought that crossed my mind was, “Oh my God!  What kind of horrible condition would cause a person to have to walk around all day with a covering over their mouth?  Maybe if I look like I’m interested in that thing over there, this poor person won’t feel like I’m avoiding them like the plague.  Dear God, it could be the plague….run!”

The reality is that in Japanese culture it is a norm to wear a mask such as this when you are feeling under the weather.  As a culture that is heavily based on the greater good and a collective, team mentality, it makes total sense to protect others around you from illness.

2.   Picture-in-Picture Television/Audience Participation

When I first turned on the television here in Japan the first image that I saw was that of a special interest show.  The odd thing to my eye was the small picture-in-picture box in the corner of the screen that featured the close-up faces of members of the audience.  This small box would get a few seconds of facial reactions from an audience member and would then switch off to a new audience member.  I have no idea what the show was talking about but I’m pretty sure that these reactions were a little over-the-top for the material being discussed.  But then, if I was an audience member and was a featured part of a show for a few seconds, I suppose I would give them my most compelling reactions possible as well.

I thought this might simply be a feature of this one program on this singular network.  However, I turned the channel and there it was again.  It seems that television is a community thing as well here in Japan.  The show is not just about the host, guest and material being covered, it is also about the people who are there supporting the show by being a member of the audience.

3.       Helpfulness/Tipping

When we arrived at Narita Airport, my traveling companion asked a gentleman working there if he could point him in the direction of the nearest ATM.  In America, I have grown used to a person in that kind of situation half-heartedly pointing in a direction and giving sometimes general directions that may or may not be accurate or detailed in nature.  This kind man, however, bowed and seemed grateful for the opportunity to help.  Not only did he give accurate, detailed directions to get to this ATM, he walked us there.  Mind you, it was not a short walk.  I’d estimate it was somewhere in the neighborhood of two or three football fields away.

When I commented to my traveling companion, a Japanese citizen, about how impressed I was by this, he said, “This is the Japanese way.  We are fulfilled by the opportunity to help others”.  He also said, “Japan is a non-tipping society.  All that Japanese people ask for is authentic appreciation for their helpfulness.” 

4.        Quiet Amid Throngs of People

Despite the huge amount of people and bustle to the city of Tokyo, there is an amazing amount of quiet and order to all the movements of this throng of people.  For example, we are staying in a rather large collection of apartment buildings that are arranged in a circular pattern around a park.  In the evenings there is a light, lilting sound of children playing, the faint murmur of a breeze and not much else.  With thousands of people occupying such a small space, I anticipate the sound of radios blaring, horns honking and people talking loudly and late into the evening.  Instead, it generally sounds like a country get-away spot in the middle of millions of people.  The quiet is refreshing, rejuvenating and calming to the soul.

5.        Smaller Portions

My traveling companion, a regular at the golf course I teach at in Colorado, is known for ordering a “half beer”.   I always found this a little peculiar and I wrote it off as a unique quality of this one individual.  After all, who orders a half beer when you can supersize your order for only a dollar more?  However, now that I am here in Japan, I am beginning to appreciate the cultural value of smaller portions.  Sake, a rice wine, is enjoyed in very small glasses and is sipped slowly.  In general, everything is done slowly, taking great pleasure in the taste and overall experience of whatever you are doing.

I’m sure it also has something to do with the size of people as well.  I stand out like an American in Tokyo with my 6’2” body.  I constantly feel like I have to lower myself to everyone else’s level.  The bowing helps.  I can never really get full from a meal here though.  I think I’ll have to place a double order from now on…or maybe I can get used to not stuffing myself full every time I eat.  Food for thought.

6.        No Dryers

My friend estimates that only approximately 1-2% of people in Japan have a clothes dryer, and most of those are probably from foreigners living in the country.  Instead, the balcony or porch of a Japanese home is equipped with hanging poles and lines.  Every day as you look around the apartment complex here there are clothes and linens hanging on all the balconies.  The daily ritual includes a shower, clothes washing and then hanging the clothes up to dry.  There really is no such thing as a laundry basket.  Clothes don’t stay dirty that long.

7.        Bike Garages

When we first arrived, we passed a line of people with bikes.  As we passed I noticed that they were in line in a bike parking garage.  They would give their money to the attendant, get a ticket, and then they would put their front tire of the bike in a metal rail system like you drive into at the car wash.  The attendant would then push a button and the bike would be pulled in and up two stories on a mechanical hanging system like you would find at a dry cleaners. 

8.       The Train

Anyone with claustrophobia issues should probably avoid the busiest trains in downtown Tokyo.  To say that you get packed in like sardines would be an understatement.  An American teaching here told me that one time he got so squeezed in that he cracked a rib….from riding the train!  He reassures me that they run more trains now after Japanese woman began complaining about being groped in these packed in situations. 

My friend tells me that they used to employ “pushers” on the train station platforms to push everyone possible into the trains.  Again, he reassures me that he hasn’t seen this happen in a while.  I get short of breath just thinking about the sinking feeling you must have when a sea of humanity is pushing in on you from all directions.  Anyone feel like taking a walk?

9.       Sleeping on Futons

I am not really talking about futons in the usual American understanding of the term.  Basically, take the frame away and you are left with a 1-2 inch thick mat.  The Japanese fold this mat up as part of the daily routine, opening the room up to additional uses during the day.  At night, the fresh linens, which you have washed earlier that morning, are laid back out on the floor on top of this futon.  Things are always fresh, clean and in order.

10.    Cleanliness of the Streets

With all the people and traffic in this huge city, I am amazed by how clean everything is.  I find myself imagining similar places in New York City or Chicago and finding no trace of the usual trash and urine smells I would generally associate with such places.  A single piece of trash stands out in this place and it is my sense that this piece of trash doesn’t hang out there for long.

11.   Morning Greeting to Ancestors

In the mornings we rise and kneel before a shrine dedicated to the ancestors of my friend.  Sticks of incense are lit for the loved ones in our life that are still alive and we say “good morning” to all of those who have passed on before us.  In our minds, we tell them about the day gone by and our hopes and dreams for the day ahead.  We ask for their blessings and protection as we move into the day.

More to come....

Let Your Finish Be Your Teacher

One of the mantras that my students hear from me on a regular basis is, "When the teacher is not there, let your finish be your teacher."

There are a number of reasons that this has become something that gets included in my lessons on a regular basis.  The first is that I see so many people hammering balls on the range with little or no connection to what their body is doing to produce the result they are creating.  Instead, they emotionally react to the result of the shot and miss out on a wonderful learning opportunity. 

When you train yourself to emotionally react to the result of your shots, you train yourself to get tight and anxious under pressure.  The body tenses up and tries to guide the result and all kinds of horrid things are bound to happen.

However, if you have the discipline to hold your finish and notice the sensations in your body after a swing, you begin to train yourself to be in your body and to notice the relaxed, rotational effort required to hit a solid golf shot.

I used to talk about "Pre-Shot Routine", now talk about a "Complete Shot Routine".  I want my students to have all the great qualities of a good pre-shot routine (grip, alignment, posture, ball position, the waggle to stay relaxed, etc.) but I also want that routine to continue on after the ball has been struck.

I encourage my students to notice three main things about their finish that will tell them if they made a solid move at the golf ball.

1.  Weight on the front heel - Most amateurs end up with their weight on their back foot when they hit the golf ball.  They are trying to scoop the ball up and help it up in the air.  Golf is a strange game and usually the opposite is true of what our natural instincts are.  Instead of scooping the ball up, we have to compress the ball and trap it between the club and the earth (hitting down to make it go up).  If we finish with our weight in balance on our front heel, we have made this kind of rotational effort into the ball.

2.  Body turned to face the target - A good swing is about relaxed, rhythmic, rotation.  We know we did these things if our body ends up rotated to face the target at the end of our swing.  The knees should be close together with hips and shoulders at least rotated to face the target. 

*Sometimes you will see young and flexible players at the top of the game rotated past the target.

3.  Relaxed arms and shoulders - The shoulders in a good golf swing stay fairly relaxed and down in the sockets.  At the end of the swing, the arms fold back around the body.  In a poor swing, that is about helping the ball up in the air, you will see the arms and shoulders up in a lifting, helping motion.

Next time you go out to the range, I encourage you to practice a "Complete Shot Routine" that includes checking in with these three things following every swing you make.  You will be training yourself to stay relaxed, rhythmic and rotational in your golf swing on the range and when the pressure mounts on the course.

Chipping/Pitching Phil Mickelson's Hinge and Hold Technique

Short Game Practice

Golf courses charge their customers for green fees, range balls, carts, etc.  However, the use of the practice putting green/chipping green is almost always free of charge to use.  I would argue that if more people practiced their short games, golf courses would think about charging to use that portion of their facility.  Sadly, most players are much more interested in slamming drivers out on the range than practicing this vital part of the game....the short game.

One glaring difference between professional golfers and amateurs shows up in practicing the short game.  The average pro practices putting, chipping, pitching and sand shots around the green around 70% of their overall practice time.  I would estimate that the average amateur devotes somewhere in the range of 10-20% of their practice time to the touch shots around the green.

Haystack Mountain Golf Course in Niwot, Colorado (my teaching location for the summer) features the most beautiful and secluded short game practice area.  I call it my "zen temple".  It is tucked back at the back of the property, surrounded by trees, and features the sound of a creek warbling by.  It is hidden and the area is generally not known to most of the visitors to Haystack.

It is in this short game practice area where I spend a good portion of my summer months.  In addition to being my favorite spot on the property (followed close behind by the bridge between #4 and #5 with a stunning view of Haystack Mountain), it is also the place where I practice what I preach about the importance of practicing the short game.

I believe there are a couple of main reasons that people avoid practicing their short games.  The first is that most people derive much more enjoyment out of smashing a golf ball as far as they can than they do watching a putt roll into the hole.  The second is that most folks get bored fairly quickly with putting and chipping, without much of a goal or competition to their practice.  In this article, I hope to offer some games/competition that will make practicing your short game more interesting and will keep you out there more often and for longer periods of time.

UP AND DOWN PERCENTAGE GAME

One game I really enjoy playing in the short game area is the "Up and Down Percentage Game".  This is a simple game that simulates playing and measures progress on this important skill in the game of golf.

Take 10 balls (very easy to figure out a percentage with 10) to a location and chose a hole to play 10 shots to.  Use the same club and general type of swing (chip, pitch, flop etc.)  Hit all 10 shots and then putt into the hole. 

Create a pile for those that you get up and down and a pile that you do not.  If you chip one in, you can decide if you give yourself a bonus up and down.  When I play this game, I remove a miss from my miss pile and add it to the make pile if I chip one of them in.

After you do this for a while you will begin to get a general sense of what part of your short game needs work.  For example, if you put 8 out of 10 shots in a 5 foot circle around the hole and only convert 4 up and downs, your putting needs some work.  Over time you can get a sense of your strengths and weaknesses in your short game.  You can spend more time and perhaps get some instruction to help you improve these weaknesses and to make choices on the golf course that are higher percentage plays for you.

3 FOOT CIRCLE AROUND THE HOLE

Place 10 balls in a three foot circle around the hole.  Ideally, you want to have a slope to deal with around the hole to force you to play, uphill, downhill, right to left and left to right putts.  Track your percentage of makes. 

The 3 foot putt is an important length in the game of golf.  At the professional level, this length putt is made over 90% of the time, with players who are playing well making 100% of these putts over an extended period of time. 

The idea of putting is to give a longer putt a chance to go in with good speed control, which also leaves you a putt inside this 3 foot circle for a second putt.  When you get confident at making a 3 footer, you can relax and swing the club better on the longer attempts.

3,5,7,9 PUTTING DRILL

Put a tee in the ground or some other kind of marker at 3, 5, 7, and 9 feet.  Start with the 3 footer.  When you make it from 3 feet, you advance back to 5 feet.  If you make it from 5, go back to 7 and all the way to 9 feet.  The trick here is that when you miss from any distance you go back to the 3 footer. The drill is completed when you make a 9 footer.

The great thing about this drill is that it builds confidence on the shorter putts and it gets you in the mindset and manufactured pressure of making a 9 footer to end the drill. 

I love this drill because the longer you do it, the more you are creating the atmosphere of pressure that you experience when you play.  After you have done this drill for 20 minutes or so and you find yourself with a 9 footer to accomplish your goal, you may find yourself a little more excited about the result than if you were just putting a 9 footer on the practice green without this manufactured pressure.

SHORT GAME CHALLENGE

Bring a friend out to the short game practice area and put a small wager on a 9 hole match.  Usually a beverage to the winner is a nice, friendly bet to get the competitive juices flowing without making it too serious of a matter.

Match play is a fun format.  The lowest score on the hole wins the hole.  For example, even if one person makes a 2 and the other makes a 7, the winner only goes up 1 hole instead of 5 strokes.

You can take turns picking the starting location and hole you are going to or you can have the winner of the previous hole make the choice of the next hole and flip a coin to see who chooses the shot on the first hole.

These short game challenges can become a lot of fun and they simulate golf course conditions on a short game level.


I hope some of these games will inspire you to get out on that putting/chipping green and spend some time working on the most important part of the game of golf.

Beginner's Mind

 Present Moment Golf

www.presentmomentgolf.com

In eastern philosophy they have a concept that they refer to as beginner's mind.  The basic idea of this concept is that a mind filled with preconceived ideas about how something works is closed to alternate possibilities.  An individual who is a beginner in an activity is generally more open to new ideas and testing out a number of possible solutions to a problem.

If you pick up a copy of a golf magazine or tune into the Golf Channel, you are likely to be exposed to a multitude of various theories, training aids and keys to make your golf game better.  With this huge amount of contrasting information, it can be easy to fall into a place of quickly dismissing concepts that don't fit into our preconceived idea about the game of golf.

I am not encouraging you to blindly accept anyone's truth about the golf swing or your life as being "the truth".  However, when a teacher comes into your life, I encourage you to drop your preconceived ideas about how things work and listen to that teacher with "beginner's mind".  Fully open yourself to that which is being presented to you.  Ask questions, search for clarification, and seek understanding.  When you have allowed this information to enter into your being, without the blockade of your preconceived notions, then you can begin the process of putting these new ideas through the "test kitchen" of your own experience.

Through this "trying on for size" process, we are assured of growing and learning about ourselves.  Even if we were to totally discard the tenets of the teaching we received, there would still be opportunities to gain clarity about our own philosophy.

Contact Steven Miller, M.A. to inquire about setting up your Golf Retreat with Present Moment Golf. Visit the website at www.presentmomentgolf.com

Get a Grip: Supporting the Lever

“Yeah, I always felt like a man’s grip on his club just like a man’s grip on his world” 
 -Bagger Vance

 from “The Legend of Bagger Vance”

I’ve heard of a number of teaching pros who simply will not change a person’s grip.  They know that if they do, they unravel all the pieces of the puzzle that the individual has used to compensate for their improper grip over the years.  I, on the other hand, believe that if something is worth doing, it is worth doing well.  Personally, I would rather struggle initially with a change if I know that in the long-term it will produce the best results in my life.  That being said, I frequently find myself wishing I was not so keen on doing things the proper way, especially during the inefficient moments of awkwardness that follow making a change in this direction.

I preface talking about the grip with these statements because it is such a fundamental part of the golf swing.  Your connection to the club determines much of what will follow and how the rest of your body relates to the golf club.  When you change the grip, you change everything.

Sam Snead said, “Hold the club as if you had a little baby bird in your hand”.  The most common question I get asked from my students when they hear this statement is, “If I held it like that, wouldn’t the club just fly right out of my hands?”  It is an understandable concern and the reason most folks hold the club far too tightly.  This fear of losing control of the club is a reasonable thing, considering the damage a flung golf club could do.  However, once you understand the purpose of the lever in your non-dominant hand, you can begin to feel what Sam Snead was talking about with his little baby bird metaphor.

The Lever

There is a bone at the inside base of the hand.  When you are typing at your keyboard, you are most likely resting on that bone.  To create the proper lever in the top hand of the grip, you are going to want this bone directly on top of the club.  Using this bone and the last three fingers of the hand, you should be able to bounce the club up in front of you simply by cocking your wrist.  That lever is the key to low grip pressure.  If you don’t have the lever, you will have to use tension in your fingers and arms to manipulate the club.  With the lever, you can relax, knowing that the club is under your control without the need for choking it to death.

Bringing the Hands Together

The basic idea of the grip is to get the hands as close together as possible so that they become one unit instead of two opposing forces.  There are three ways that you can hold the club properly.  Which one you choose will have a lot to do with the size of your hands and the relative comfort of fitting your hands together.  Please note that comfort does not exactly equal comfortable.  When most people put their hands on the club properly for the first time they usually say, “Wow….this feels…weird/awkward/terrible/different/awful/etc.”.   Because of the angles involved and the rotational nature of the golf swing, very little about the game comes naturally to us.  Our general instinct is to think in straight lines and this game is far from being linear.  Comfort in this instance has more to do with the lack of pain involved with repeating the same grip over and over again.

The hands should be oriented with the palms facing each other, one palm pointing down the target line and the other pointing directly away from the target line.

10-finger grip/Baseball grip

Usually recommended for individuals with smaller hands

Basically the idea here is to get the hands as close together as possible without connecting the hands in any way. 

Interlocking Grip

Used by Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods…pretty good company to keep

The pointer finger of the non-dominant hand and the pinky of the dominant hand wrap around one another at the base of the finger

Overlapping Grip

Used by the majority of professional golfers

The pinky of the dominant hand wraps over the top of the knuckle of the pointer finger on the non-dominant hand.

Experiment with each of these grips to determine which one feels right for you.

Supporting Underneath in the Fingers of the Dominant Hand

Most players put their dominant hand on the club in a way that they feel “in control” with that hand.  Again, there is nothing natural about the game of golf.  What we want to do with the dominant hand is to neutralize it.  Basically, for most players this will mean making the grip in this hand “weaker” and in more of a supportive role to eliminate the tendency to “use” this hand in the swing.

To get the bottom/dominant hand into this supportive position, hold the club on the pad of the middle part of your fingers (next one down from the tip).  Here is where we really can feel Sam Snead’s metaphor.  In this position, the dominant hand is barely even holding onto the club. 

The purpose of this hand is to support the club from underneath.  Remember the hinge we created with the lever in the non-dominant hand?  The dominant hand only assists in supporting the cocking motion of the wrist.  It does not push from one side to the other.  If you hit a big slice in your golf swing, I can tell you that you are pushing with one hand against the other, trying to go in a straight line….again, there is nothing straight about this game.

Summary

Create a lever in your non-dominant hand

Bring the hands as close together as possible

Palms facing each other

Support underneath in the fingers of the dominant hand

Light Grip pressure

Not sure if you’re doing it correctly?  I encourage you to send me a picture or video of your grip at presentmomentgolf@gmail.com.  I will give you the feedback to help get things neutralized and working in harmony in your grip, the most fundamental part of the game of golf.

Rhythm versus Tempo: Golf as a Dance

Rhythm and tempo are two concepts that are easily confused with each other.  In this entry the difference between the two will be explained and strategies will be offered for how to practice playing in rhythm and to find the tempo that works best for your personality and biorhythms.

Rhythm is the steady beat of the drum.  In music this would be represented by the time signature of the piece of music.  In my opinion, golf is best played in a waltzing 3/4 time signature.  That would be 3 beats on the backswing and 3 beats to the finish of the swing.  The emphasis is on the first beat of the measure as we take the club away and again upon impact with the golf ball on the downswing.  Good rhythm is a constant in all great golfers.  When they are playing at their best, you may notice that even the pro's pre-shot routines have the same rhythmic qualities as their regular swing, making the playing of the game look like an artful, effortless dance.

This rhythm, that shows up in everything we do, is a wonderful byproduct of being "in the zone".  When we have gotten out of our thinking mind and have centered in on the trusting, confident, still center of our mind, things tend to fall into a graceful rhythm with a tempo that fits our individuality.

This leads into the concept of tempo.  Whereas all great players have great rhythm, the tempo or speed of that rhythm varies greatly from player to player.  In music we would use the concept of beats per minute (bpm) to determine how rapidly we would tap out the beats in a measure.  To practice a particular piece, a musician might use a metronome calibrated to the correct tempo to help them find the right pacing of the piece. 

In determining the bpm of the swing, it is important to note that we are taking about the space in time between the start of the backswing and the moment of impact.  We are basically measuring the time it takes to get from the start of a measure (the "1" of the counting) to another.

The 1-2-3, 1-2-3 of a professional golf swing can range from 75 bpms (Fred Couples' swing registers close to this tempo) all the way up to 120bpms (Brandt Snedeker comes to mind in this range).  That is a wide range of difference in two of the best players in the modern era. 

This difference can be traced down to biorhythms.  Each of us has an inner drummer that is beating out the rhythm of our daily lives.  We walk and talk and move with this unique biorhythm throughout the day without much deliberation or conscious thought.  It is simply the way we move through the world that feels right to us.

Fred Couples saunters through the world while Brandt Snedeker, for example, struts.

Finding your Tempo

#1
There are numerous apps for the smartphone that offer a metronome feature.  The one I use on my phone is the Mobile Metronome app.  I would recommend downloading an app like this to help you determine the tempo that works best for your game.

#2
Once you have a metronome in hand, try this exercise.  Next time you are out for a walk and find yourself falling into a nice, comfortable stride that feels natural and comfortable for you, pull out your metronome and zero in on the pacing of your steps.  Every time your foot hits the ground, that is a beat.  On the Mobile Metronome app you can tap out the beat of your walk and it will give you a beats per minute calculation.

#3
Have you ever found a piece of music that just feels right to you?  When you hear it, it just feels good in your body.  Next time you notice a piece of music that speaks to you on a rhythmic level, pull out your metronome and see if you can tap out the tempo of the music.  Does it fit into your natural walking tempo?  If it does, you have probably found your ideal golf swing tempo.

#4
Experiment with different tempos in your practice.  Take your metronome to the driving range and putting green.  (Ideally, we would have the same tempo on putting that we do on our driver swing).  Go to extremes.  Try going at 75 bpms and then take it all the way up to 120 bpms.  From there you can zero in on the number that feels natural and most like your swing.

#5
Create a playlist of songs that fit your ideal tempo and listen to those songs with some headphones while you practice.

#6
Once you have found your tempo, practice it in everything you do.  See if you can make your movements in the pre-shot routine fall into the rhythm of this tempo.  Consider each shot to be a song that you play over and over again, just as a musician does to master a piece of music.

#7
Incorporate your rhythm into the space in between your shots.  See if you can stay rhythmic in everything you do, including your walking and talking during the round. 


See if you can incorporate your ideal rhythmic tempo into your life outside of the golf course.  The more we get into our biorhythm, the more we smoothly and gracefully move through our lives "in the zone".  Enjoy the discovery process of finding your tempo and discovering the rhythm of the game of golf.

Present Moment Golf Goes Mobile

Present Moment Golf is officially mobile.  I'm coming to you today from Fredericksburg, VA on my way up to Belgrade, Maine to teach at the Maine Golf and Tennis Academy with Kenny Knox for the summer.

Thank you to the following people for helping to bring the "Present Moment Golf Mobile" (Shaggy) into great shape for the trip and making this mobile golf instruction business possible....

Levi Cunningham - Thank you Levi for all your many hours of help in overhauling the engine and for all your support....while working two jobs!!

Jason Price - Thank you Jason for taking the time to come out and help Levi on your time off, which I know is incredibly precious.

James Cunningham - Thank you James for all your hard work helping your brother get the RV rolling down the road.  The picture I have of you passed out, sleeping with containers of transmission fluid, tells the story of your hard work.

Gary Dennings - Thank you for your expertise and for allowing us to use your garage to rebuild the engine.  That pizza we ordered should be arriving any minute now.

Jerry Boulia (Jerry's Garage in Havelock) - Thank you Jerry for all your hard work in bringing it all together at the last minute.  I am so glad I found the right guy for the job. 

The Kershners (Will, Bonnie, Abby and Hannah) - Thank you for all your support and for helping me to clean and decorate the RV.  You definitely helped to make it feel like a home.

I'm out here "Living the Dream"....or as my niece says, "Living a Dream" :)

Off to Maine!

Steve Miller

Trust the Process

I've been listening closely to a lot of post-competition interviews from the pros in golf and in other sports.  In those interviews, I've noticed a theme that comes up over and over again from athletes who are at the top of their sport.  It sounds something like this...

"I'm just going through my process and staying in the present moment".

Process is considered the series of actions (physical, mental and emotional) that are involved in a routine.  Great players all have a routine that they undertake before every action.  This routine fits their individual personality and tempo.  They focus intently on how well they produce this routine instead of putting all of their energy (and anxiety) on the result of the action they are about to undertake.

When you are focused on the result, you will experience great highs and agonizing lows.  The experience tends to be one of exhaustion as you are constantly in the place of fear and anxiety over what might happen and what those possible results might mean to you.

On the other hand, athletes who are focused on their process can sometimes be hard to read from the exterior.  It can be hard to tell if they just snap-hooked a shot into the woods or made a 90-foot putt.  They react much less to the result of what has happened.  They seem balanced and more "in the middle" when they are playing their sport.  They derive their satisfaction in the discipline they show in carrying out their "pre-shot" routine.  By not being emotionally tied to the result, they are able to remain in the calm, centered place where they can more readily have access to being "in the zone" and where they can notice subtleties about themselves, making it an ongoing growth and learning process.

These players tend to not "shout for joy" as much, but they do tend to have a contented smile on their faces much more than the average golfer when they play the game.  Golfers that come to mind are Matt Kuchar and Fred Couples.  These are the kind of guys who keep their contented saunter around the golf course going, regardless of the exterior circumstances.  A good example of this is a time when Fred Couples made one of the greatest pars ever at the 17th hole at TPC Sawgrass in the Players Championship in 1999.  Fred hit his first shot just a little short of his intended target and it ended up in the water.  If you watch Fred's reaction, there is not much of one at all.  He simply stepped up and hit another one....into the hole on the fly.  The greatest example of the cool customer that is Freddy occurred after he dunked his par shot.  With a smile, he just walked along about the same way he did after his initial shot went into the water....no big deal.

You can tell when a player is tied to the results on the practice range.  There is an immediate emotional reaction to their poor shots and they quickly reach for the next ball, before the previous ball has finished rolling.  These players, so caught up in their emotional reaction to the golf shot they have just hit, are missing the golden opportunity to learn from what just happened.  Players who are instead focused on the process will calmly evaluate their routine and take a moment to notice what is happening to cause their issue.  They possess self-awareness and self-knowledge and are able to learn from what has just transpired to cause their poor result.  These two players look completely different when they practice and when they play.

If you don't currently have a 20 to 30 second "pre-shot" routine that feels comfortable and revolves around relaxation and rhythm, I suggest that it should be your main priority as a player to establish such a routine.  Create it consciously now and take the time to break down the details of your routine to what is important, comfortable and personal for you.  Then, practice your routine and only your routine for an extended period of time.  Train yourself when you practice to let go of the results and to focus on the process of your routine.  We want to be able to have this positive habit in place so that when the "chips are down" and we find ourselves in a place where there is the potential for having anxiety arise about the result of any given shot, we can return to our training on focusing on process to guide us through.

Here are some elements to a routine that you might consider consciously including in your pre-shot routine.

- Commitment to your decision (club, kind of shot, etc.)
- Fundamentals (grip, posture, alignment, ball position)
- Relaxation
- Rhythm (throughout the entire routine)
- Positive Visualization
- Waggle
- Trigger that starts the action
- Commitment to being detached from the result...regardless of the result.  (Hint: If you are having an emotional reaction to the result...you are tied to that result.)

Enjoy the process of creating your process.  After some time, discipline and practice, this routine should feel like a trusted friend and as comfortable as house slippers.

For help in consciously creating such a process, feel free to visit my website at www.presentmomentgolf.com to schedule a Sports Psychology Coaching session.

Steven Miller, M.A.
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