Good golf basics...

The power is in the silence.

Habit ‘Three’

Activate the power source.

I am going to explain one of the golf basics I have adopted in last few years. Have you ever noticed that the longest and purest shots are also those with the minimum amount of effort? And when you aren’t hitting it well, any increased effort is to no avail.

Why is that?

The problem arises when you try to find extra power instead of allowing it to happen. Allow me to elaborate. I often play basketball with my kids and when I have a free throw, I have a spot marked, about 20 feet out, from where I prefer to shoot.

I remember reading a phrase in Harvey Pennicks’ “Little Red Book”, where he suggested that one of the golf basics for accessing the best power could best be explained as ‘controlled violence’. I used to have trouble with the word violence but when I began to tap my natural inner strength, I realized that I could administer my power to its violent limit.

I am now going to explain how I tap my ‘natural inner strength’. In fact it’s as easy as preparing to swat a fly. If I lift up my hand and imagine I am about to swat, then I can feel it. Yes it’s definitely there. I can feel it running from my naval up to my throat. It’s a warmish, rich feeling that I can easily tap into in my pre-shot routine before I swing.

If you think about it we shouldn’t be fast enough to swat that fly but when we summon the power and speed from within we can accomplish the task. It doesn’t even matter if that fly happens to be on your thigh. You still swing at top speed and something from within dulls the pain that you would normally feel if you had swatted your leg in this manner.

If you want to master the third of these good basics then do this: The next time you want to summon your inner strength, lift your hand to feel that warmth and you will be able to access it. As the Shaolin Monk said to Grasshopper, “You will realize the power when you feel the inner flow

Habit ‘Four’

Comfortable silence.

I find the zone when I can fall into a comfortable silence on the golf course. I do believe that Dave Pelz has so much success with his putting metronome because its’ ‘tick…tick’ creates this comfortable silence. His students are so busy controlling the swing rhythm with this device that their thinking minds are silenced.

I love this term and when I drop into this golf basics state, I find myself enjoying everything that golf and nature has to offer. I hear psychologists suggesting that we should be using self talk and affirmations but to do these we must involve the conscious mind. I prefer to give the conscious mind very little scope and like Pelz’s metronome silence it as much as I can.

I have discussed various ways of silencing the conscious mind on other pages. I do however find Gallwey’s ‘back…hit’ the easiest and most reliable. Read a little more on this link about this technique!

An angler drops into this state for hours on end and the last thing you’ll hear him say is anything about having difficulty finding it.

I take part in both pastimes and always reach a deeper state of awareness and concentration when I’m fishing. I am however improving my ability to enter into this state during my golf round by using these golf basics, and it’s down to simplifying my center of awareness.

Don’t forget, this has to be achieved for hours on end by the angler and the golfer only has to adopt it for less than a 15 second stretch. That’s why the awareness must be centered and this is achieved by using the body monitor as explained on the foolowing link: Click here!

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