Should I Give Up Putting Practice - Or just quit golf altogether?
- Thread starter blehnhard
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Frans@France
New
saw this link on the dan plan. Thought it is in line with this thread : link : The New Neuroscience of Choking : The New Yorker
Virtuoso
New
Golf rehab for the inner poor sportsman began.
Firstly, I explained to him that one of the aspects of golf that made it so great and exciting was the level of uncertainty. Even if we could guarantee a certain outcome, it would be extremely boring, just like watching a movie and already knowing how it ends. But we can't guarantee an outcome anyway....at least not a successful outcome. We were doing a pretty good job of creating a bad outcome with his meddling. So, I told him to sit back during the stroke and wonder about the outcome, but not to try to influence it.
Secondly, I wanted to give him job, because he is utterly incapable of doing nothing. I told him, "I do actually need your help. I need to know exactly what happened during the stroke and exactly where the ball went compared to what I thought would happen. I need you to be totally engrossed in it. You must be an extremely attentive observerer but it must be passive observation, not active. Get a clip board and take notes as you watch and then give me a report afterwards. This is a very important task because having a good feedback mechanism is critical for performance improvement."
Then he said, "Well, I think I can do that, but what if I see something bad happening before my very eyes? let me at least throw you a warning."
Me: "Giving me a warning will degrade your ability to observe my natural instinct, AND it will disrupt my natural instinct. How can you give me accurate feedback about my performance if you change my performance mid-stream?"
He was beginning to see the insanity of our former approach, that we were essentially working at cross purposes, and that my natural instinct to roll the ball down my intended line could only be improved if it was allowed to be judged on its own merits.
Then he actually said something surprisingly on-point: "But, wait a sec, I'm using the same eyes you are. How can I tell exactly what the ball is doing for it's entire roll if you keep your eyes pointed down at the turf after you've struck the ball? I can't give you a complete appraisal of what's really happening...and it makes me anxious when the ball disappears like that."
to be continued...
Firstly, I explained to him that one of the aspects of golf that made it so great and exciting was the level of uncertainty. Even if we could guarantee a certain outcome, it would be extremely boring, just like watching a movie and already knowing how it ends. But we can't guarantee an outcome anyway....at least not a successful outcome. We were doing a pretty good job of creating a bad outcome with his meddling. So, I told him to sit back during the stroke and wonder about the outcome, but not to try to influence it.
Secondly, I wanted to give him job, because he is utterly incapable of doing nothing. I told him, "I do actually need your help. I need to know exactly what happened during the stroke and exactly where the ball went compared to what I thought would happen. I need you to be totally engrossed in it. You must be an extremely attentive observerer but it must be passive observation, not active. Get a clip board and take notes as you watch and then give me a report afterwards. This is a very important task because having a good feedback mechanism is critical for performance improvement."
Then he said, "Well, I think I can do that, but what if I see something bad happening before my very eyes? let me at least throw you a warning."
Me: "Giving me a warning will degrade your ability to observe my natural instinct, AND it will disrupt my natural instinct. How can you give me accurate feedback about my performance if you change my performance mid-stream?"
He was beginning to see the insanity of our former approach, that we were essentially working at cross purposes, and that my natural instinct to roll the ball down my intended line could only be improved if it was allowed to be judged on its own merits.
Then he actually said something surprisingly on-point: "But, wait a sec, I'm using the same eyes you are. How can I tell exactly what the ball is doing for it's entire roll if you keep your eyes pointed down at the turf after you've struck the ball? I can't give you a complete appraisal of what's really happening...and it makes me anxious when the ball disappears like that."
to be continued...
duckjr78
New
Curse you for choosing that particular point for pausing!
Virtuoso
New
Hmm, I was skeptical, the inner poor sportsman was hinting that I should do something that went completely against the advice of every putting guru on the globe.
Me: "You want me to look up at impact?"
Him: "Well, don't say it like that. I just want to able to record every revolution of the ball. You're the one always preaching about impact face angle. The truest measure of face angle happens at the very beginning. Just roll your eyes out of impact with the ball."
Still skeptical, we went out to roll a few putts. Hmm, not bad at all. But he actually wasn't happy. I wasn't rolling my eyes off impact in perfect sync with the ball. He complained that the eyes were late and had to catch the ball and refocus after they caught it. Then I would start early and the ball would catch my field of view and zip through. The inner poor sportsman was really barking about it (what niether of us noticed was that the ball was staying extremely tight to the intended starting line).
But even after a decent amount of practice, I still couldn't get my eyes to roll off with the right amount of precision.
Frustrated, the poor inner sportsman said, "Look dude, don't get all pissy, but I'd like to have control of your eye movement."
Me: "Huh? I thought we discussed this. You were to have no active participation whatsoever."
Him: "I know you're worried that I won't be able to make precise observations if I also try to control movements, BUT this is observation related! I'm making the observations, so i need to control the mode of observation! I promise I won't try to make your hands or arms do anything funky. I just control the eye movement and focus."
Me: "Ok, we'll try it, but if you try to expand your sphere of influence, you're done!"
We went out and rolled some more putts. It did seem like the poor sportsman was doing better with control of the eyes...and could give a decent report afterwards--slight toe, started slighty left, broke more than prediction, too much speed, spun left edge....We actually got in a pretty good groove and everything about stroking a putt felt different. Even getting the stroke started was more seamless. This was because he was always ready. All i would do is ask him if he was watching, and he always said yes. He wasn't nervously trying to figure out where he was going to try to position clubface after it started moving.
And just when I started to think we were making real progress, at least in practice, he stopped and said he had a confession to make.
To be continued...
Me: "You want me to look up at impact?"
Him: "Well, don't say it like that. I just want to able to record every revolution of the ball. You're the one always preaching about impact face angle. The truest measure of face angle happens at the very beginning. Just roll your eyes out of impact with the ball."
Still skeptical, we went out to roll a few putts. Hmm, not bad at all. But he actually wasn't happy. I wasn't rolling my eyes off impact in perfect sync with the ball. He complained that the eyes were late and had to catch the ball and refocus after they caught it. Then I would start early and the ball would catch my field of view and zip through. The inner poor sportsman was really barking about it (what niether of us noticed was that the ball was staying extremely tight to the intended starting line).
But even after a decent amount of practice, I still couldn't get my eyes to roll off with the right amount of precision.
Frustrated, the poor inner sportsman said, "Look dude, don't get all pissy, but I'd like to have control of your eye movement."
Me: "Huh? I thought we discussed this. You were to have no active participation whatsoever."
Him: "I know you're worried that I won't be able to make precise observations if I also try to control movements, BUT this is observation related! I'm making the observations, so i need to control the mode of observation! I promise I won't try to make your hands or arms do anything funky. I just control the eye movement and focus."
Me: "Ok, we'll try it, but if you try to expand your sphere of influence, you're done!"
We went out and rolled some more putts. It did seem like the poor sportsman was doing better with control of the eyes...and could give a decent report afterwards--slight toe, started slighty left, broke more than prediction, too much speed, spun left edge....We actually got in a pretty good groove and everything about stroking a putt felt different. Even getting the stroke started was more seamless. This was because he was always ready. All i would do is ask him if he was watching, and he always said yes. He wasn't nervously trying to figure out where he was going to try to position clubface after it started moving.
And just when I started to think we were making real progress, at least in practice, he stopped and said he had a confession to make.
To be continued...
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Virtuoso
New
And I said: "Oh no, what have you done?"
Him: "Well, I did leave your hands and arms alone, but I was still trying to keep your lower body dead still. I really can't be blamed for that because that is something you always said you believed in. I just assumed you wanted me to keep doing it. But, I think I've found something helpful for us. Obviously, my main task has been eye control, but when you started the stroke, the eye position started changing. My whole field of view was shifting! It was going targetward on the backstroke and going backwards on the foward stroke. I couldn't help but try to at least freeze the lower body even more to help stabilize things. BUT, the more I froze your legs, the more my field of view shifted! The stiff legs were making your head see-saw....and with your head, thus went the eyes."
Wow, this little voice that had once been a nuisance, was now actually saying helpful things. I decided to forget about keeping a solid base and just let my hips swivel imperceptibly during the stroke. I let my legs relax and support the movement. The hip swivel counterbalanced the see-saw effect and the eyes started to stabilize.
The inner poor sportsman was stoked, "That's it, everything is floating in balance, i can see everything clearly....I'm watching, go. Good strike, online, over-read, good speed, in top edge."
Not only were we working as a team, the reports had encouragement in the tone.
To be continued....
Him: "Well, I did leave your hands and arms alone, but I was still trying to keep your lower body dead still. I really can't be blamed for that because that is something you always said you believed in. I just assumed you wanted me to keep doing it. But, I think I've found something helpful for us. Obviously, my main task has been eye control, but when you started the stroke, the eye position started changing. My whole field of view was shifting! It was going targetward on the backstroke and going backwards on the foward stroke. I couldn't help but try to at least freeze the lower body even more to help stabilize things. BUT, the more I froze your legs, the more my field of view shifted! The stiff legs were making your head see-saw....and with your head, thus went the eyes."
Wow, this little voice that had once been a nuisance, was now actually saying helpful things. I decided to forget about keeping a solid base and just let my hips swivel imperceptibly during the stroke. I let my legs relax and support the movement. The hip swivel counterbalanced the see-saw effect and the eyes started to stabilize.
The inner poor sportsman was stoked, "That's it, everything is floating in balance, i can see everything clearly....I'm watching, go. Good strike, online, over-read, good speed, in top edge."
Not only were we working as a team, the reports had encouragement in the tone.
To be continued....
birly-shirly
New
Raise your hand if you think this thread should be stickied.
Virtuoso
New
Because the inner poor sportsman had previously been discouraging in tone--well, you didn't even have to sense the tone, discouragement and disparagement had been downright overt--it was time to explore what he could do to help the process instead of hurt it. I mean, my whole golfing career, I had tried to shut him up completely...yes, to quiet the conscious mind. It hadn't worked for me, so I might as well try going down a completely unorthodox path.
On the road we were traveling now, I had tried to distract him from the movements of the stroke by giving him the task of recording the results, and subsequently controling the eyes. He then admited to trying to lock the legs and hips, so I had to ask him: What else might be distracting him from complete commitment to those two assigned tasks?
He looked around sheepishly...he hesitated, and said, "Well, If I'm completely honest..."
to be continued.....
On the road we were traveling now, I had tried to distract him from the movements of the stroke by giving him the task of recording the results, and subsequently controling the eyes. He then admited to trying to lock the legs and hips, so I had to ask him: What else might be distracting him from complete commitment to those two assigned tasks?
He looked around sheepishly...he hesitated, and said, "Well, If I'm completely honest..."
to be continued.....
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Hand raised.
Virtuoso, this is awesome! Is this how you work(ed) with the full swing "poor sportsman" too?
duckjr78
New
Hand also raised. I second this question. My putting poor sportsman is irritating at times, but my full swing poor sportsman is a downright evil sonofagun.
Virtuoso
New
Well, these are all my personal experiences so your mileage will vary. What I'm talking about ultimately does apply to every shot I make while playing golf--not just putting. But, the over-arching theme is that you must know why you play golf if you want to understand how to play golf.
mgranato
New
Virtuoso
New
Could I be so bold as to suggest a new avatar for you, Virtuoso?
Great stuff.
ha ha, thanks Mike....but even as "zen" as that guy looks, he is not as much of a virtuoso as the guy that's already in my avatar:
"I felt as though I was driving in a tunnel. The whole circuit became a tunnel... I had reached such a high level of concentration that it was as if the car and I had become one. Together we were at the maximum. I was giving the car everything - and vice versa."
Ayrton Senna
mgranato
New
His movie is on my list while I'm convalescing from shoulders surgery. I'm sure you've seen it, what did you think?
Virtuoso
New
It's pretty good. It doesn't tell you a whole lot about him as a person. If you have netflix, it's definitely worth a watch, even if you're not a Formula One nut.
I think the best vid done on Senna is actually and older one named "A Star Named Senna"....gives you a little more insight into his life and career, and his motivations....and his pure genious.
duckjr78
New
I play golf because it satisfies my "hunter-gatherer" need to see an untethered projectile arching through the air at a target that it will hit sucessfully. My entire game (ie. attitude on the course) goes as my ballstriking goes. I'm a good putter, if not a great green-reader. I have a nice shortgame, as long as I don't have to use it to get up and down for bogey multiple times on the front 9. My success at these aspects of the game is more predicated on my attitude than my skill level. If I'm mentally engaged, the skill level is there. That engagement is tied purely to my ballstriking.
I play to watch the ball come down from the clouds on the general line I want, with the general curvature I want, and land in the general area I want. 95% of my poor full swings are directly related to my inner poor sportsman telling me that I have picked the wrong club or the wrong shot to play. The problem is, the insolent goon won't tell me which one is the right shot or club to hit.
How can I use that information to better understand how to play golf, and ultimatly get more enjoyment out of golf?
Virtuoso
New
Ok, i think a lot of scratch golfers feel the same way you do. Let's delve further into your psyche. Answer the following question:
If given the choice in a casual round, which would you prefer?
A. A well struck middle iron with the right trajectory and curve, finishing at 8 feet, which you will 3-putt.
B. A reasonably well stuck shot, maybe a little thin, that ends at 15 feet, that you will lip out and tap in for par.
C. Middle iron struck fat, ball goes in bunker short, hole out bunker shot for birdie.
Same question for a tournament round, A, B, or C?
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Can I play too?
Casual round B
Tournament C, but the fat iron would bug the hell out of me.
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