Golfing Sayings & Myths

Welcome to Chapman's Chapters,
Week #3

This week I am going to debunk three of my least favourite golfing myths and sayings that I hear (or sadly read in golf magazines) all the time. They do grind on me and hopefully all of the golfers that I support through my coaching no longer use these sayings but I'm sure lots of you out there still do. I will also give you some advice on the best ways to change habits and ways of thinking to eradicate these beliefs for the benefit of your golf game.

Let's start with "sayings"
1. Never up, never in

Something I hear all the time on the putting green and is one of my least favourite sayings. Some might say it's true, and yes if the ball doesn't reach the hole it will never go in BUT if the ball is whistling 10' past the hole it will never go in either! The amount of times I've seen golfers sail a putt past the hole, with no real chance of it going in, and then turning and saying, "Well, I had to give it a go!".

Every putt has an appropriate speed that it should be going at the time it reaches the hole. Whether you go with Dave Pelz's 17" or AimPoint's system doesn't really matter but the ball must be travelling at the correct speed to go in, which is not 6' past the hole as the faster the ball is going diminishes the 'actual' size of the hole that the ball could go in.

Ed's Tip: Personally for me I feel that the ball should be travelling at a speed which would take it 10-12' past the hole should it miss or the image of it "pouring" into the hole like water into a glass.

2. Get the putt inside the dustbin lid

Another saying that gets past from "experienced" golfers down to beginners when people think they are helping there friends. For those of you lucky enough never to have been given this advice it goes along the lines of instead of trying to get the ball in the hole (which is the primary objective of golf) but to aim for a 3' circle around the hole. The brain works much better when given precise instructions and a clear image of what you are trying to achieve. You wouldn't aim for the entire dartboard if you wanted to hit the bullseye, likewise you wouldn't aim for the penalty box if you were trying to cross the ball to a specific player.

The closer you get to the hole the smaller the target should be, research into putting shows that good putters focus on the exact point on the hole which they wish the ball to travel over when it goes in rather than just the entire hole. Narrow your focus and you brain will give clearer, more precise instructions to your muscles (remember your myelinated nerve fibres!) to perform the task.

Ed's Tip: Pick out the blade of grass that you want the ball to roll over when it goes in the hole and then focus on the exact dimple on the ball which you wish to strike with the putter. When further away from the hole focus on the 1/3rd of the hole you want the putt to go in (left-right putt = left 1/3rd, right-left = right 1/3rd and straight putt = middle 1/3rd)

3. Keep your head down

Possibly the all time favourite saying when someone miss-hits a shot! They either say or get told that they didn't keep their head down. This advice has ruined many a good golf swing or stopped someone from ever developing a good golf swing in the first place. This saying is especially common advice to female golfers by people who don't know any better. Personally I have never seen anyone lift there head and hit a bad shot, I have seen many people lose there posture and hit bad shots though!

Ed's Tip: take a look at other sports, how many other sports with a rotational movement have people with there heads fixed staring down well after the movement has happened? Baseball, tennis (or any racquet sport), rugby pass, throwing etc. Let your head move with your body, don't try and force it to do something unnatural.

And now "myths"
1. Sidespin causes the ball to curve in the air

There is no such thing as sidespin!! This might come as a shock to some people, especially as it's written about in golf magazines and commentators say it on tv all the time but there really is no such thing as sidespin. The ball spins around one axis. When this axis is purely vertical the ball would fly perfectly straight but in reality it will always be tilted slightly to the right or left and the ball spinning on a tilted axis is what causes it to move sideways in the air. The ball cannot have backspin and sidespin as it can only spin on one axis. 

Ed's Tip: The cause of a tilted spin axis is a non square impact (presuming the ball is hit in the centre of the clubface). Meaning that the path the club is travelling on and the aim of the clubface do not match up. Try and get the clubface matching your swingpath through impact for shots that do not curve as much in the air. 

2. The less loft I have on my driver the further it will go

Lots of people think that low lofted drivers are for long hitters and all tour players use drivers with 8 or 9' of loft and if they use one with a little loft as possible the ball will go further. Although it is true that some tour players do there is also many who use much higher lofted drivers, the new US Open champion Webb Simpson uses 10.5' and the close contender Jim Furyk has used 11' in the past.

Ed's Tip: Get your yourself a properly fitted driver with the correct loft (not to mention shaft and head design) for your swing which gives the correct ball flight to maximise distance. Try something with a little more loft to gain some distance or, if like me, you use either the Taylor Made R11S or RBZ driver add a bit of loft to the setting to see what that does for your ball flight and overall distance.

3. Pyschology is only for good players not beginners

I've coached many people who have said to me when speaking about the mental side of the game that they would "focus on that when they got better and it really mattered". Creating mental toughness and good thought patterns from the beginning is much easier than trying to change these after they have been developed into habits through practice and playing.

Ed's Tip: Find a coach with good golf psychology training and make sure this is incorporated into your coaching program to get the most from your game. We are only as good as the weakest part of our game; technical, tactical, physical and mental. There is no excuse to think poorly. Only focus on what you can control when playing.

How can we change our beliefs?

Firstly, what is a belief?

"A belief is merely our interpretation of the truth."

One of my favourite ways of changing a habit or belief is simply by the process of noticing that you are doing it! Sounds simple I know but it really does work. Without first noticing a unwanted or destructive habit we have no way to change it, when it has been noticed we can then start to alter it to a more favourable behaviour. Find a behaviour or thought that you wish to change and then keep a note of each time you do it during a round, keep a record of this and as each round progresses this number will reduce even without doing anything other than being aware of what you are doing and then replacing it with the thought or behaviour that you wish to have. Let me know how you get on with this.

Hope you enjoyed my blog again this week. Next week I will be discussing fixed and growth mindsets: what they are and how/why they are destructive/constructive. Until then,


Happy Golfing & Learning


Ed

Coaching educational book I am currently reading: The Champion in All of Us: 12 Rules for Success by Steve Backley

General book I am reading: Unseen Academicals by Terry Pratchett

Next on my list: Mindset by Carol Dweck

Next week................Fixed & Growth Mindsets

Ed Chapman is a Class AA British PGA Golf Professional @ Al Badia Golf Club by InterContinental, Dubai Festival City


PGA Certificate in Golf Psychology Coaching - May 2012 

Bibliography
Dave Pelz's Putting Bible
PGA Profile - AimPoint article
Human Kinetics: The Quiet Eye in Golf
Ball Flight Laws Part I & II - Fredrik Tuxen
Golf Digest: What's in the Bag
Joseph Parent - Zen Golf