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Many golf instructors teach students the finish position
as a way of learning the mechanics of the swing. Focus on a
balanced, tour-like pose, the thinking goes, and many of the
components of the swing preceding the finish will fall more
easily and effortlessly into place.
From the standpoint of the mental side of the game, there is a
corollary to this physical finish position - something I like to
call the post-shot routine. The post-shot routine is nothing
more than an "emotional finish pose." Quite simply, you decide
how you want to feel emotionally after you hit any shot before
you hit the ball.
Most of the time, we don't manage our thoughts and emotions
after our golf shots; they manage us. I often jokingly say that
we become like dogs chasing our tails, never quite knowing what
direction the tail is going to wag. Hit a good shot and (of
course) it is easy to be happy and calm. Hit an errant shot,
which is something we are always going to do, and we often react
with immediate anger and frustration.
The biggest problem with emotionally reactive golf is the severe
leaking of mental and emotional energy and the building of even
more tension and resistance in the body. Once we give away
enough of our ch'i (life force energy), it becomes very
difficult to get back to the task at hand, which is hitting golf
shots from a calm, focused state of mind.
This leaking of energy might be likened to stopping a train that
is going 500 miles per hour on a dime. We simply can't slow down
emotional reactivity that quickly. The best way to keep an
emotional train wreck from happening is by keeping the mind/body
calm before things get revved out of control.
Make it a habit these next few weeks to work into your golf game
a post-shot routine. Identify in your body the feeling you want
to experience before you hit any shot, and then make it your
only intention to on maintain this calm emotional state from
beginning to end. Be very patient with yourself, as reactivity
(an extremely automatic subconscious response) is likely to
creep back in.
In time, Mind will begin to rearrange itself, and maintaining
calm under any condition - in golf or life - will become just
that much easier to do.
For more information you may contact Tim
Kremer at
info@myspiritofgolf.com
Please visit his website to learn more:
www.myspiritofgolf.com |
