It's been a while since my last post to say the least. Three months in fact! This one will only be a short one before touching on to the importance of the long game versus the short game.
The inspiration for this comes from comments from various different lessons, especially beginners or novices. The notion that all swings should be done with no thinking and a clear mind. While I totally agree with this for someone who already has a good repetitive motion (and by good I mean produces a desirable shot rather than technically "good looking") and is on the course playing I personally believe that if you are on the driving range trying to change or create a new movement in the swing this requires conscious thinking to achieve the desired change. And with all change comes a period of not feeling comfortable and less than ideal shots but this is a natural process. I don't think there are any golfers out there who are able to make a swing change without any thought process, especially if they do not do any practice swings and every swing is at 100% effort.
To make a change to the golf swing to give a repeatable motion that produces the desired shot consistently is a conscious change to make. For the brain to fire the correct new electrical signals to the right muscles to fire at the right time for the new swing to produce a new movement has to be conscious for a period of time until it becomes an automatic and subconscious movement. This is a natural learning process that we all undertake to learn new skills, in whatever field they may be. Children tend to learn the best; they watch, they copy, they fail, they try to copy again, they fail better and this cycle continues until they can do the skill they are trying to copy without a notion of failure being bad. It is merely part of the process of learning.
Always remember the important three letter word: YET. If you can't do something use the phrase, "I can't do this YET" rather than just "I can't do this". One simple word which makes a world of difference to our perceptions of being able to achieve the new skill we are trying to learn.
Happy Golfing,
Ed
Ed Chapman
PGA Teaching Professional
Al Badia Golf Club by InterContinental
Dubai Festival City
ed.chapman@ichdfc.ae
Current Book: The Long Way Round by Ewan MacGregor & Charley Boorman
The swing below was performed subconsciously (with a good result on the 17th at Saadiyat Beach GC finishing 8' away) by yours truly but was the products of 000's of hours of conscious thinking and repetition of the desired movement during practice sessions
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