Obstructions to a Zone Mindset

Practice

?I know what you’re saying, “How can I improve without practice?”? You can’t!? You also can’t improve if you are not practicing enough or if the way you practice doesn’t match your needs.? Let me tell you about several golfers who were not improving as much as they thought they should until they met me and found out it’s not how much they practiced, but the way they practiced that limited their performance.

?Scott hit balls every day, silently watch me teach.? One day he came up and asked me if I thought lessons would help him.? I asked him what the problem was.? He replied, “I can’t seem to get rid of this slice.”? “Do you know why you slice?” I queried.? He stated that the clubface was open at impact.? “Great,” I said, but do you know what you do wrong that causes the face to be open at impact?”? “I thought if I hit enough balls that eventually it would go away.”? “How long have you been slicing?”? “Twenty-five years.”? “So, how many more years will it take before you eliminate your slice?”

?Wendy had a great practice that disintegrated into a series of slashes, lunges, and swats when she hit balls.? Her problem was not her mechanics, but her focus on the golf ball that created the condition known as being “Ball Bound.”? The first thing I did was not let her hit balls until she developed a powerful Target Orientation that helped her keep her eyes from moving off the ball without having to mentally focus on it.

Jim was great on the range.? His swing was flawless and hit every ball with every club just the way he wanted.? But he transformed from Dr. Jekyll to Mr. Hyde every time he took that long walk from the practice tee to the 1st tee.? When he would play poorly, he’d immediately go back to the range and start hitting one perfect shot after another.? His practice needed to consider the visual differences between what he saw on the range and what he experienced while playing – all the hazards distracted him from his Target Orientation.

?Jennifer was a great player but her skills faltered when the competition toughened up.? She had great physical skills but could not manage her thoughts, emotions, and energy level every time the pressure to excel intensified.

Just hitting balls on the range was not going to improve these golfer’s issues.? Each required a different strategy, so I tailored their training to magnify their strengths while improving their weaknesses.

None of them practiced only once or twice a week.? They committed to daily practice and so overcome their deficiencies quickly. If you’re not practicing daily, your progress will be slow to non-existent.? Even if you’re working on mechanical skills you don’t need to be at the range to improve.? You just must know how to practice your mechanics without hitting balls.

If you’d like more information about how to improve your practice to achieve or even exceed your potential, message me here or at [email protected] .