Inner Game of Golf...

.....Gallwey is music to Murphy's ears.

My coaching technique will never be the same again because of two books,
‘The inner game of golf’ by Timothy Gallwey and
’Golf in the Kingdom’ by Michael Murphy.

Why?

Because what I’ve read in these books contain such magic that my very soul has been touched by their wisdom. There are many other books that have influenced me in my pursuit of coaching excellence but these two stand out for their simplicity and beauty.

I must however mention two other books that have also contributed.
’Golf for Enlightenment’ by Deepak Chopra and
’Zen in the Art of Golf’ by Joseph McLaughlin.

One particular topic comes up in these books over and over again which is concerned with the psychological side of golf. Targeting psychology is becoming the way forward in improving our enjoyment from the game of golf. Go to this page for a fantastic tip I learned from Shivas Irons

So what’s it all about?

The easiest way to answer this is by using this anomaly:
There are over six billion people in the world and apart from a few exceptions, they mostly have fluent, flowing walking styles.

However from the estimated fifty to sixty million golfers in the world, apart from a few exceptions, they mostly have jerky, unbalanced swinging styles.

So where are we going wrong?

Try this.

Explain to a child just what the legs, hips and arms must do to perform the act of walking.

Just where do you start?

Now tell the same child to say ‘left _ right’ as the relevant foot makes contact with the ground and we’re in comfortable territory.

In golf we’re trying to perform motor movements (gross motor skills which are normally learned by the age of two and improved throughout early childhood) by using the ego or conscious mind to run the show. This is like trying to control your breathing during sleep or trying to tell a toddler how to perform a simple act like sitting down.

The good news is golf is a gross motor activity like walking and should be learned by example. So where do we start? Well this is where Gallwey comes in, he writes, "Coaches know a lot about the swing but not much about how to help golfers learn it." [1]

Why else would there be so many clumsy swings out there? My personal coaching journey is centred on this theory and you can learn more about this on the following links:

Quotes:

[1] Gallwey, W. Timothy. The Inner Game of Golf. Random House, New York: 1981 p.26