We golfers are a weird lot. When we experience success on the golf course, we try to reverse engineer our process, thinking, mechanics, and whatever else happened during the round and attribute it to something we deliberately did. Then we have the secret sauce. Once captured, we simply replicate for every shot in every round and presto! We are a better player. So, here’s mine from today 😊
It started on the range last weekend. I had watched a lesson with Lee Trevino where he stood conventional wisdom on its head and recommended to the student to, “not aim at anything and just get a consistent ball flight. Once you see that, you can start aiming.” Have you seen this video circulating? I love the Merry Mex and tried this for about 10 balls before dispensing. That tip is for the birds. . .you should always be aiming at something. After a reset, I tried a visualization exercise in my pre-shot routine. From behind the ball, I tried to envision the exact ball flight I wanted. I held it in my mind’s eye, and astride in my setup, continued to visualize the ball flight. This was the only thing I was thinking of. As soon as I looked down at the ball, I pulled the trigger. Results were impressive. 11 GIR and a 4-over round after five straight weeks of not touching a club. I used this technique for full swings and all short game shots.
After the round, I thought about how relaxed I felt all day, and determined it’s related to swing thoughts. The number of swing thoughts you retain is directly proportional to the amount of tension in your body. Kill the swing thoughts; release the tension. It works.
Playing without swing thoughts is not easy and requires practice. Go hit a bucket using these simple techniques of shot visualization and practice your short game focusing only on the trajectory and landing point for your shots. See if that doesn’t free you up for some great golf. Let me know how it goes.
Play well!
All About Golf 
Brian,
Visualization is definitely the key to great golf. Many professionals admit they never hit the ball until they can see the shot in their mind.
I am 100% supporter of this technique. It is proven, it is consistent and it produces lower golf scores. Now if I could just stay in the moment and use it all the time. 😉 Now that would be something.
Great round and I am glad to hear you are back playing.
Cheers Jim
Jim, it was a little weird because of the high trusting factor (not using any swing thoughts). Just sighted the target and pulled the trigger. I was very pleased because we got dumped on for three holes on the back and I managed two pars and a bogey with all the distractions of going from a fine day into full rain gear.
Definitely nice to be back playing and I am looking forward to my November mini-tour of the eastern shore.
Thanks,
Brian
Brian, I have a technical question. A friend has a free blog site, gets plenty of visitors and support, but no comment. Wondering if free blog sites don’t permit commentary.
All blog sites permit commentary, free or paid. This site (WordPress) is free and permits. You need to turn on comments in the configuration page to permit others to comment. Assuming that’s done, they should ask provocative questions to engage and encourage commentary. If you have the site, shoot the link over to me and I’ll take a look.
Thanks!
Brian
Tried that. Thanks.