(For those who follow TGM, be sure to read Chapter 14 in the book before you study the following).
Trust comes First!
Trust itself is not a myth. But the concepts about trust that are often found in golf literature have created myths around it.
Before that discussion, however, there is reason to say a word about "myths." The way the word is most often used, one might be disposed to see it as pertaining to things that are false. But that won't quite measure up. Myths may not be "factual," but they most often point to a "truth" or set of "realities" that aren't easily explained, haven't been carefully researched, or have some other mysterious context. As such, a myth may start out with a vital origin, but become distorted by the degree to which importance is applied to it, compared to how much is actually known about it.
Trust is such an issue (in golf, at least, and there is evidence that its misperception is universal and in all our life-walks).
It is regularly touted as something golfers must learn to do and we have all noticed the "pleas" or urgings, coming from those who do want and try to help us, that we “must learn to trust our swings.”
Fact: Trust comes first. In human life, we go through principal learning stages (as defined by Erik Erikson). The first such stage is "Trust vs. Mistrust." We have no choice about dealing with that period since it will be put upon us in the first year of life and we, indeed, have nothing -that is NOTHING - to say about it. It is done TO each one of us in some way or another, without our permission. It comes from those around us and what we learn there becomes the prototype experience that tends to inform how we will trust, how much and in what way, for the rest of out lives. Some get the high side of comfortable dependence on others. A few come through with remarkable balance between the trust and mistrust (ideal). The rest get the low side and that points to mistrust of people and processes. A person can change that, given enough time and resources, but it is an arduous process and takes a tremendous amount of comprehension of how it works and what is involved, not to mention a lot of time, to bring that off.
The upside of all that is that instead of waiting for change to occur, one CAN decide, pre-determine, commit to, trusting, even if the first year of learning was off the map.
So trust comes first just because it is the first, and only, (in that first year, that is) learning task for every human being, and it comes to each one of us in the first year of life. No one is exempt.
Having said that, in golf, trust is the first order of business, too. But here, it involves a committed decision to do whatever it is you set out to do - trust yourself, trust your instructor, trust the messages you get from sources you decide to trust.
The myth is that somehow, after we work on something for awhile, we will learn to trust it (or as the “gurus” often put it – you must). Then, so they say, when that happens, we can take it to the course without having to think about it and we'll be on "automatic." Magic is not very reliable in golf.
The real deal is that we must start with trust to get to that point. In turn, that leads us to the knowledge and skill, followed by confidence. So trust comes first and leads the way though knowing, understanding and skill development to confidence, but only IF we understand the process and the order that commands it. One can only commit to the trust it takes to get there. Sure. It's optional. But we all pay a high price for the "wrong" option.
So the “trust myth” is, was and likely will continue to be a substitute for failing to understand that what we are really looking for is “confidence” in ourselves and our games, which must be preceded by trust, knowledge and skill, and all that is involved with them. So the myth formed around a need to reach the confidence level in our golfing experience, but if we keep thinking it's trust we are after, we may not reach the level of confidence we really seek.
Should you wish to dig more deeply, vist the following URL about Erikson: http://www.duq.edu/~tomei/ed711psy/c_erik.htm
Trust comes First!
Trust itself is not a myth. But the concepts about trust that are often found in golf literature have created myths around it.
Before that discussion, however, there is reason to say a word about "myths." The way the word is most often used, one might be disposed to see it as pertaining to things that are false. But that won't quite measure up. Myths may not be "factual," but they most often point to a "truth" or set of "realities" that aren't easily explained, haven't been carefully researched, or have some other mysterious context. As such, a myth may start out with a vital origin, but become distorted by the degree to which importance is applied to it, compared to how much is actually known about it.
Trust is such an issue (in golf, at least, and there is evidence that its misperception is universal and in all our life-walks).
It is regularly touted as something golfers must learn to do and we have all noticed the "pleas" or urgings, coming from those who do want and try to help us, that we “must learn to trust our swings.”
Fact: Trust comes first. In human life, we go through principal learning stages (as defined by Erik Erikson). The first such stage is "Trust vs. Mistrust." We have no choice about dealing with that period since it will be put upon us in the first year of life and we, indeed, have nothing -that is NOTHING - to say about it. It is done TO each one of us in some way or another, without our permission. It comes from those around us and what we learn there becomes the prototype experience that tends to inform how we will trust, how much and in what way, for the rest of out lives. Some get the high side of comfortable dependence on others. A few come through with remarkable balance between the trust and mistrust (ideal). The rest get the low side and that points to mistrust of people and processes. A person can change that, given enough time and resources, but it is an arduous process and takes a tremendous amount of comprehension of how it works and what is involved, not to mention a lot of time, to bring that off.
The upside of all that is that instead of waiting for change to occur, one CAN decide, pre-determine, commit to, trusting, even if the first year of learning was off the map.
So trust comes first just because it is the first, and only, (in that first year, that is) learning task for every human being, and it comes to each one of us in the first year of life. No one is exempt.
Having said that, in golf, trust is the first order of business, too. But here, it involves a committed decision to do whatever it is you set out to do - trust yourself, trust your instructor, trust the messages you get from sources you decide to trust.
The myth is that somehow, after we work on something for awhile, we will learn to trust it (or as the “gurus” often put it – you must). Then, so they say, when that happens, we can take it to the course without having to think about it and we'll be on "automatic." Magic is not very reliable in golf.
The real deal is that we must start with trust to get to that point. In turn, that leads us to the knowledge and skill, followed by confidence. So trust comes first and leads the way though knowing, understanding and skill development to confidence, but only IF we understand the process and the order that commands it. One can only commit to the trust it takes to get there. Sure. It's optional. But we all pay a high price for the "wrong" option.
So the “trust myth” is, was and likely will continue to be a substitute for failing to understand that what we are really looking for is “confidence” in ourselves and our games, which must be preceded by trust, knowledge and skill, and all that is involved with them. So the myth formed around a need to reach the confidence level in our golfing experience, but if we keep thinking it's trust we are after, we may not reach the level of confidence we really seek.
Should you wish to dig more deeply, vist the following URL about Erikson: http://www.duq.edu/~tomei/ed711psy/c_erik.htm