Game enlightenment lesson

We need to take a step back in time

Introducing!!!
'game enlightenment lesson'

I was discussing the main theme of this site with a very knowledgable man (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. Our conversation led to me writing this 'game enlightenment lesson' page. 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, you have probably forgotten more about the swing than anyone could ever teach you.

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

Dave came back with the obvious question,

"What is 'mindless golf'?"

I told him to bear with me and continued,

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

This is the basis of this 'game enlightenment lesson'.

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 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 when they 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. In short a game enlightenment lesson.

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 him what Gallwey points out in his book, 'The Inner Game of Golf', "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 (game enlightenment lesson). Unfortunately as a coach who must earn a living from this game, I sadly only steal the odd couple of holes here and there. 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.