In the book ‘The Golfing Machine’, Homer Kelly explains that the golf swing can be broken down into 24 basic components,
each having around 144 component variations and statisticians have calculated that there are over 400 quadrillion
permutations, good luck then in finding what works for you.
What has been discovered in the Mindfit approach to the learning process in golf is that with a ‘Can Do’ mindset amazing
things can and will happen. Whether on the golf course, in business, at school or in life, having the right mindset is the key
to development. Henry Ford said “whether you think you can or you think you can’t, you are right” – it’s the way you view
it and your attitude towards it will be what counts.
THE FIRST TEE
The first tee or pressure shot is something that all
golfers struggle with, this is because more factors
are playing a part in the golfers brain, not only does
he/she subconsciously analyse the 400 quadrillion
permutations we previously mentioned but
now the emotional factors of being
watched, winning or losing all
come in to play.
Advances in neuroscience now occur almost daily but it has
only recently been accepted that our brain, once considered
to operate like a computer, does in fact have an amazing
capacity to process information. Once it has the right
information to work with, learning happens, as long as we
allow it to happen.
Jonny Wilkinson from rugby union
famously uses imagination to handle a
massive number of permutations when taking a
penalty kick. In essence his penalty kick is the same
as a golfer taking a shot.
Then I find a tiny dot dead centre between the posts, or
wherever I’m aiming. I visualise the line of the ball to the
dot, as if it were on a wire attached to it. Then I have a kind
of ‘centring’ response, where I visualise all the power going
from my central point down to where it needs to be, down
my left leg and exploding from my left foot. I really feel that
sensation. Then I really focus on the exact point on the ball
I am going to hit and the part of my foot that I want it to
come off. Then I send the ball up the wire.
He said, “As soon as you know you are going to kick you
fall into that routine, which more or less shuts you off from
everything. So I set the ball up, move back a certain number
of steps, check everything is in line, do a visualisation of the
path of the ball – where it is going to go and where I want
it to go. Then I move to the side so I am now ready to kick.
The routine then continues in a visualisation kind of way,
but it’s actually more of a sensation; I imagine the feeling I
have when the ball hits the foot, the perfect feel of how I
want it to feel when it hits my foot, where I want it to hit my
foot – what it’s going to feel like when it goes right.
So I don’t stand by the ball and say, “I am going to kick
this, I feel fantastic.” It’s that a ́ͽ