Cure your Hook! Cure your Slice! Hit it Fat? Here’s the Fix!

These are titles we have all seen to the many golf articles, golf programs, golf tips and golf books professing to be "The Answer to Lower Scores."  But there is another approach to better golf. Read on….

Typically these kinds of videos and articles are from: the “Flaw and Fix it” school of thought. This school of instruction focuses on the negative rather than the positive. For example, the negative approach: when a shot is not to our satisfaction we mentally try to figure out what went wrong and how to fix it. This requires analyzing, diagnosing and implementing a “fix”. The “fix” may or may not work depending on the accuracy of our analysis, diagnosis and last but not least our implementation of the "fix". The “fix” is typically something we try to do that is physically different.

The positive approach: when a shot is not to our satisfaction we mentally resort to what we know to do. If our golf instruction and training has been grounded in a “mental concept” of what we need to do to swing the golf club correctly, then we can dismiss the errant shot as “we didn’t do what we know to do” and go on about our business of doing what we know to do. ….that’s a mouthful…..in essence it is knowing what to do, Hmmmm, now I’m just repeating myself…… No analyzing. No diagnosing. No, “I’ve got it, here’s the fix and I hope it works.” The positive approach has more to do with what we do with our minds, is much more focused, clear, clean, and decisive and will be the correction we are looking for. The positive approach keeps our mental game intact. Besides, it is the same answer for our bad shots as it is for our good shots, “That was a great shot, how did I do that?” Hopefully you can answer, “I just did what I know to do.” You do reinforce your good swings and shots, don’t you?!

Knowing what is wrong is not the “diet” of champions when it comes to finding out what is right. There are too many wrong ways and to figure out precisely what went wrong and implement what we think is the fix can be a time consuming, discouraging route of trial and error. Our attention and intentions become “unfocused” as we scroll through the list of physical things “not to do” or the long list of things “to do” to prevent hooking, slicing, topping or whatever. If golf is 90% mental and 10% physical we have just turned those percentages around to 10% mental and 90% physical….our mental game is “toast”.

Learning what it takes to swing correctly is simple and easy, for those who know the difference between simple and easy, so simple that the challenge is one of perfecting the things we know to do, the correct things. Thus, the need for repetition….the same things over and over and over…single minded attention, focused intentions, relentless, clear and decisive in what we know to do, to what we want to do. Every time we swing! That’s the hard part!

So, what do we need to do to make good swings? Find an instructor who thinks and teaches in this manner, 90% mental game, 10% mechanics. Otherwise, trying to figure it out on your own can be like a “do it yourself root canal”, the instruction book in one hand, the drill in the other and here we go. Hope this works!