July 2007 Issue

I hope you have enjoyed and learned from the 95 pages that I have written so far.

I have been busy over the last 6 weeks with my private lessons and was also underway with Leela who has been playing in the regional finals.

There are a few additions to my website and the most interesting stuff can be found on the 'Extraordinary Golf' pages that I wrote recently. Click here

I have also updated Leela's story which can be found under the heading 'Toddler Lesson' on the navagation bar. Click here

I was recently discussing the main theme of this site with a very knowledgable golfer (I'll refer to him as Dave) who has a lifetime of experience about this game and has played excellent golf for over 50 years. This is what he said to me about my site,

"Although I am sure that your golf info website contains much value, I do believe that a golfer who has received a high standard of coaching and has played at a very high level for almost 50 years SHOULD know what has happened when he makes a poor shot.

With me it is almost always because I have not completed my backswing and/or that I have taken the club back too fast."

I told him that I had a slight problem with his sumation. I retorted,

"You feel you should know why you make a mistake so that you can correct it with the next swing. You know what Dave, "Let your body correct the mistake itself by feeling the jerkiness or bad rhythm of the movement.

If you want my humble advice, you SHOULD change to 'thoughtless golf' for a season."

Dave came back with the obvious question,

"What is 'thoughtless golf'?"

I told him to bear with me and continued,

"In short Dave, If I asked you to bowl a golf ball towards the hole on the putting green instead of using your putter, you would do this in a thoughtless way.

You would be totally unaware of taking your stance, aiming, feeling for the pace or reading the green. And your end result would be surprisingly good, especialy on long putts/bowls.

I adopted 'thoughtless golf' a few years ago and couldn't go back to thinking about my swing. Don't get me wrong, the fundamentals are important but should only be addressed on the practice range.

I try to go through 18 holes without a single swing thought. No easy feat, especially the closer I get to the hole, but I'm getting better at it all the time.

Correct me if I'm wrong but I never saw Jack Nicklaus dwelling too much on swing corrections during his rounds. I have many colleagues who would have corrected most of Nicklaus's game into something robotic.

Look what the coaching gurus did for Seve or Baker-Finch, and more recently Michele Wie, when these players ran into problems.

You have a natural talent for the game. Give it back to nature and you will enjoy the game and achieve some wonderful moments out there on the course.

By the way Dave, have you read 'The Inner Game of Golf' by Timothy Gallwey? I've read it many times myself and just love his approach to helping us to best unveil our human talents. It's a short read with endless gems to take onto the course with you.

My website has been very much influenced by his writings. I feel I can add some of my thoughts to his work, as he was a tennis player and not a golfer."

I summarised by telling Dave what Gallwey points out in his book, "Just because you know where you made a mistake does not mean that you can consciously direct you body to correct it.

Your muscles don't understand English and your mind can't really describe hand-eye coordination."

I hope I am not offending you with my insistence but I have never had more fun or success since I changed over to this way of (not) thinking during play.

My target is to preach my theory on this website and hope that I am not pushing it down anybody's throat. If I am, please let me know.

I have been using these new techniques on Germans and it's nice to relay my ideas in English. That's one of the main reasons I started the site. O.K. that's it until next month.

Please enjoy reading further into the website and I'll send another newsletter in August.