The Karate Kid and Golf Skill Acquisition - Part 4

If you’ve read my earlier posts, you know that this series is dedicated to the influence that the 1984 movie, The Karate Kid had on my golf coaching.? I used the lessons I learned to create a training system that focuses on precision learning and the attentional focus necessary to master the golf swing. It begins with stop-action drills to “physically” memorize the important positions and movements of a fundamentally sound swing.? This is followed by Target Orientation training to keep the mind and eyes quiet throughout the swing.

?Because becoming “Ball Bound” is a problem for many new and experienced golfers I had to alter the adage, “Keep your eyes on the ball,” to “Learn to swing without your eyes moving off the ball,” to more accurately describe the concepts of “Quiet Mind” and Quiet Eyes.”? Unfortunately, some golfers are so severely affected by this malady that I had to insert a transitional exercise between the development of a sound practice swing and hitting balls.? This is referred to as a “Focused Practice Swing.”

?In this protocol, golfers complete their pre-shot routine and Target Orientation process setting up to a tee placed in the ground without a ball.? Once completely Target Oriented, they swing the club before answering three questions about their experience.? Number one, what is the first thing they saw when they completed the swing.? If they are fully Target Oriented, their eyes move instinctively to their pre-selected target.? They do not have to try and find it.

?Next, did their swing produce the same precise movement pattern they developed in their practice swing.? They tell by the feel of the swing and an evaluation of their finish position.? Was it correct?? This is confirmed through slow-motion video of the swing.

?Finally, did the club hit the tee?”? We’re taught to “trust our swing” and “let the ball get in the way of the swing.”? If you’ve developed precise swing fundamentals and a powerful Target Orientation, the ball, or in this case, the tee has no choice but to get in the way of the swing.? The goal of this exercise is not to hit the tee but to learn how to swing while Target Oriented so the tee gets in the way of their good swing.? If they concern themselves with hitting the tee, they are still ball bound.

?Once they consistently complete the swing precisely as developed while remaining Target Oriented throughout the Focused Practice Swing, they begin making the transition to hitting balls.? Sometimes the golfer must switch between “Focused Practice Swings” and hitting balls until they reduce their fear of missing and trying to use their eyes to ensure they hit the ball.? Once they acquire this skill, they begin working on making the transition from practice to playing.

In the movie, The Karate Kid, Daniel practiced the drills and then his karate moves either in the presence of Mr. Miyagi or in peaceful isolation.? When he went to the competition he was now performing in front of hundreds of competitors and onlookers.? He had to keep his focus on his opponent so as not to lose the precision of his skill.? We must learn how to reproduce the same skill level while playing that we developed at the range.? Unfortunately, golf courses share very little in common with practice ranges.

?Golf courses are landscaped with trees, bushes, ponds, rivers, streams, sand bunkers, and areas of out-of-bounds intended to distract golfers’ attention, which then ensnares errant shots.? Practice ranges are nothing more than open fields.? I use two strategies to help golfers make the transition from practice to playing so they don’t transform from Dr. Jekyll to Mr. Hyde as they take that long walk from the practice tee to the first tee.? These strategies include simulation training and the 10-ball game.

?Simulation training recreates the situations on a golf course that golfers experience problems with while playing back on the range.? For example, if golfers have difficulty hitting to tight fairways, I have students set up between two yardage markers (most ranges have yardage makers to help golfers identify how far they hit their clubs), hitting 10 balls and then evaluating their performance.? The goal is to hit the first and last balls successfully as well as at least hitting 7 of the 10 balls.

The first shot is important because it’s like any shot hit when playing.? If you are consistently successful in the simulation exercise your self-doubt diminishes while playing.? Because we are not always perfect, we may continue to falter on occasion.? By being consistently successful on the 10th ball in practice we increase our confidence in our ability to hit good shots, even if we’ve failed on a previous shot during the round. Finally, you want to hit at least 70% of your shots well during the simulation exercise to reduce your general fear of failure when playing.?

In the 10-ball game, golfers go through their pre-shot routine and Target Orientation process before each shot.? In this example, if the ball rolls to a stop within the predetermined lines created by the yardage makers, they have successfully hit the ball in their imagined fairway.? If a shot is not successful, it’s not because their mechanics failed, it’s because they lost the appropriate focus.?

?After a failed hit, they do not try to analyze what they did wrong mechanically because that fills their head with extraneous useless information, making it difficult to focus on the next swing.? Instead, they are taught to clear their minds, relax their bodies, and increase their positive energy to help them sink deeper into their Target Orientation on the next swing.

Most course conditions can be simulated in practice with a little imagination.? The other major difference between practice ranges and golf courses is the consequences of hitting bad shots.? While at the range, if you hit a bad shot you put down another ball and hit again.? Unfortunately, every mis-hit experienced while playing adds to an ever-escalating score.? Since the goal is to score at or below our expectations, scoring higher produces fear, uncertainty, and frustration.?

All these experiences trigger the fight-or-flight reflex, releasing powerful hormones into the bloodstream, affecting our physical, psychological, emotional, and behavioral systems, making it even harder to perform as well as we expect (or hope), both in the round we are presently playing and in future rounds.? How our performance is affected and, more importantly, what we can do to instantaneously transform our nervous system from fight-or-flight to a state of peak performance is discussed in my next post.?

All comments and questions are welcome and can be directed to this platform or emailed to [email protected].

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