Training vs Playing Revisited
For those who read Edition #47, below is a quick update on my driver. For those of you who didn’t read it, here’s a quick snippet:
“I proceeded to hit a worm burner shank off the tee six different times throughout the round. Each drive went somewhere around 75 to 100 yards, leaving me with quite a bit left. Driver is historically my best club by far. I had no idea what I was doing differently. ZERO. I was baffled.”
UPDATE: I went to the range, and… everything was fine. My drives were the same old, same old. I have no idea what happened or why I was shanking the ball on Monday. Golf is strange.
Anyway, I’m still working on my swing and thought that this early piece on Training vs Playing was a good reminder to myself and anyone working on swing mechanics.
Training vs Playing
“You cannot hit a golf ball consistently well if you think about the mechanics of your swing as you play. A golfer must train his swing and then trust it.”
- Dr. Bob Rotella
I used the above quote in Edition #8 of the newsletter and thought I’d take a closer look at the subject of training vs playing.
Reading Dr. Rotella's quote got me thinking about my game, which is currently in flux. I’m not playing poorly by any means, but I’m working on swing changes amid the golf season, and with that comes challenges.
One challenge is not trusting my swing during rounds, and two is having too many swing thoughts. They go hand in hand. Most of us are working on something even if we are not in a full-on swing change.
Too often, we play a round and use that time to work on our swing, or we have twelve different swing thoughts going through our head over every shot. It’s an easy trap to fall into and one that I am guilty of quite often.
Dr. Rotella says:
“The time to worry about swing mechanics must be limited, and the place to worry about them is the practice tee and only the practice tee. On the golf course, you have to be like the good free-throw shooter who eyes the basket and lets the ball go.”
But you're probably saying, “Hey Bob, I slice my drives 80 yards right off the moon, I can’t trust my swing for sh#t.” I thought the same thing. I’m not a pro, I can’t just trust my swing like they do.
Here is Bob’s retort:
“I almost never see [an amateur] who improves his play by doubting himself, dwelling on mechanics or trying to correct a swing flaw in the middle of a round. The fact is, most amateurs don’t know exactly what breaks down when they swing badly. If they try to correct their swing, they usually wind up compounding the error. They would be far better off forgetting about their swing mechanics, thinking about appropriate targets and strategy, and making up their mind that they will shoot the best score possible with the swing they brought to the course that day.”
I think the reason we have so many swing thoughts is it gives us a sense of control, and letting go of that “control” is hard to do. <well, and the fact that golf is really hard>
So what should we do?
Being intentional about how you are going to approach the round. Literally, make the conscious decision not to have a million swing thoughts going through your head. Pick the club, pick the target, and visualize the shot. Maaaaybe have one simple thought. Maybe.*
I was talking to my wife about how golf differs from any other sport. And I think one of the most significant differences is that you are reacting to something or someone else in almost every other sport.
Just imagine playing sports growing up—baseball, basketball, football, soccer, etc. During a game, you didn’t think about where your foot placement was or how far your elbow went back for a throw; you just reacted and did it. Practice is when we work on those things. Not the game.
In golf, it’s just you, a ball, and the course. It’s so not intuitive. That lures us into focusing on ourselves and our swing. But we need to do our best on the course to focus outward, much like we did growing up playing sports.
Summary:
Swing thoughts and improvements are for the range not the course
Be intentional prior to the round
Reduce your swing thoughts over the ball. It will only make your game worse
Focus on your strategy and target
*There are some small caveats to Bob’s point. If you tend to get your weight too far back, ok well adjust that and focus on getting your weight forward. The same goes for any other consistent swing flaw that you have. But anything outside of 1 or 2 basic feels or reminders to yourself is most likely doing us more harm than good.
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Til next time.
