A few thoughts

I had some time yesterday to sit and put down a few thoughts about this game.

Should be helpful.


Would love to hear your thoughts.


http://www.bradfordprogolf.com/and-now-deep-thoughts-about-golf/#more-952


Have a good day all!

Good read. Thanks for sharing.

Brad

+1 great information

Thanks for sharing Brad!

thanks for sharing. makes me feel like going out to hit some balls now

Good read.

As a struggling beginner and a guy with a quantitative/engineering mindset "go by feel" and "follow your gut" are the last things I want to hear. But I hear it and see where it can come with practice and experience.

EastCoastHack wrote:

Good read.

As a struggling beginner and a guy with a quantitative/engineering mindset "go by feel" and "follow your gut" are the last things I want to hear. But I hear it and see where it can come with practice and experience.

ECH thanks for the feedback! That is a very common response and there is no doubt that every single golfer is unique in how they learn.
Probably the most important part of my job as a coach is to be effective in communication and have the ability to deliver the same content in different ways to suit the different styles of students.

It's something that I have studied and worked very hard at, and am getting much better at.

With that kind of feedback and an understanding of your mindset and style, I can deliver in a way that is perhaps more measurable.

Lets look at the putting bit for example.

On Putting………..
If you’re thinking about your stroke or your technique while you putt, good luck, I don’t like your chances. Much like your full swing, swing freely with the putter without thoughts of technique. Learn to just let it go.
Focus on the line that your ball will travel along as it rolls to the hole. Is it a straight line or a curving line? Imagine how fast you ball will roll along that line, see it slowing down, see it as it curves toward the hole, see it as it crosses the edge of the hole and falls. Where does it cross the edge of that hole? Create a picture in your mind of exactly what that putt is going to look like, become completely aware of the target and just let it go.

I would say that the majority of students that I give putting lessons to have never experienced putting with there attention somewhere other than the stroke or the ball. They wouldn't even know where to begin.
Through a couple of simple exercises, and by asking the right questions, I can get them to experience putting in a whole new way. They may not like it right away, they may not be completely comfortable with it right away but the first step is to simply acknowledge that their attention was in a completely different place than it usually is, and that the experience is different.

This is the point where I will have to shape my delivery to suit the style of the student.

The student who understands "Feel" and "Picture" and "Just let it go", qualitative info, will often adapt very quickly and transition into a new mindset very easily. We likely move on to different exercises much faster.

The student who doesn't connect with words like "Feel" and "Just let it go", and needs more quantitative info, will often state that it is so different from what they are comfortable doing that they will need some way of measuring success.

This is where the discussion will shift to the phrase "Pay Attention to your Intention" and we start to measure your level of attention.

Just an example:

Before: The Intention was to control the length of backswing, then accelerate while keeping the putter face square.

After: The new Intention is to create a picture of the line that the ball will roll along, the speed that the ball will be rolling, and the edge of of the hole that the ball will roll over as it falls. Recognize when you can see that picture in your mind and complete the stroke without your attention going away from the picture.


Then start to measure your level of Attention on a scale of 1 -4.

You see the picture in your mind before the stroke but as soon as the putter starts to move the picture vanishes and your attention shifts to the putter as it moves back. SCORE:1

You see the picture in your mind until the putter reaches the end of the back swing, then the picture vanishes and your attention shifts to the putter as it moves towards the ball. SCORE:2

You see the picture in your mind through the back swing and the forward swing but as soon as you make contact with the ball the picture vanishes and your attention shifts to the ball. SCORE: 3

The picture never leaves your mind throughout the stroke and without actually watching the ball, you simply take the feedback from the experience of impact and imagine how the ball is rolling into the picture. Only well after impact and the ball is long gone rolling towards the hole does the picture disappear and you shift your attention to see the actual result of the putt. SCORE: 4


If you started out with an attention score of 1, and continued to practice with goal of consistently scoring 4, scored each put and could recognize the difference between a 1, 2, 3, and 4, you could learn a brand new skill by playing a simple number game.


I have never ever had a student who didn't improve their putting drastically by learning to shift their attention away from the stroke and onto the picture / target.



Wow! I have no idea if that makes any sense to anybody other than me.
Hope so.


Have a good day all!

Excellent post, Brad. Thanks!

Brad: This is very helpful and I think it will help me ALOT.

I'm actually signed up and taking lessons from Chris

I'm having horrible putting since I started golfing so I know whatever I am doing now needs to change. I'm too mechanical and too concerned on keeping the putter face flat on impact. On short putts, the fear of missing is even worse!

Your post makes great sense and I'm going to try that out....... NO LOSS anyawys

Hi Brad, great article. In particular, i agree that visualisation is such a key aspect of the game. it applies not only to golf but really to every other sport. i used to run competitively and my coach would spend a considerable amount of time helping me to visualise the race. However, the unique thing about golf is that it may be hard for a beginner to visualise the flight of his ball for a 7iron or even the path of his putt, because more often than not, he doesn't even know what the "proper" flight of his 7iron is like. Personally, whilst I was always conscious of the benefits of visualisation, i only started being able to 'purposefully' visualise my shots and putts after having played about 2.5 years. Do you think it is possible for beginners to benefit from visualisation, or does it require a certain amount of competence and consistency before it will start 'making sense' to a golfer?

on a related note, i really like your website. I've read quite a number of your posts and I find them very interesting and insightful. I am particularly interested in your workshops. do you have anymore of those coming up?

scottycollector wrote:

Do you think it is possible for beginners to benefit from visualisation, or does it require a certain amount of competence and consistency before it will start 'making sense' to a golfer?

on a related note, i really like your website. I've read quite a number of your posts and I find them very interesting and insightful. I am particularly interested in your workshops. do you have anymore of those coming up?

Thanks for your thoughts and feedback!

On your question about visualization I would say as a rule, you should have the ability to make consistent contact and have a somewhat repeatable swing but there are always exceptions and every single golfer is unique and will respond differently to this kind of thing. Also, not everyone has the ability to visualize. It's actually not a very easy thing. If you look back at the initial post I talked about swing thoughts and the idea of something called a "sensory connection" it's important to understand that visualization is only one kind of connection, but paying attention to certain feelings or things like sound can serve the same purpose as the visualization. Some golfers will swing it better while visualizing, for others visualization is difficult but putting there attention into a different sensory connection like a feeling will work better. When discussing this kind of stuff with my students I first try to explain it all in a way that makes sense to them, and then we do some experimenting where they will experience two or three different kinds of sensory connections and choose the one that works best for them.

Although there are many areas that can effect a golfers performance, the majority of work I do with students is on technique and the mental game. My job as a coach is to have a toolbox filled with mental game and technique related coaching tools and know which tool to use when based on my communication with the student.

Hope that makes sense.

As far as the workshops go, while I think that the content is very strong and I still believe in them completely, it was very challenging for me to schedule workshops and have people commit to attending them. In order for me to keep them affordable, for golfers and still profitable for me, I need to have a minimum number of people commit to the workshops. It has been common for me to schedule a workshop, have 6 people say they were coming, and only have three show up and pay. I will gladly continue to put on the workshops if I could figure out the scheduling and get people committed.

I will gladly take any suggestions on this matter as well.


OK,

gotta teach the kids now.

Have a great weekend all!

that is really insightful. Thank you for sharing. It made sense to me.

Thanks for sharing. Especially the first part on the SETUP. Always wondered why a setup that felt and works great one day just seems so awkward the next day. Now I know that's normal.

Been busy at my new job and finally found a quiet moment to make one of my occasional long posts, and what better than to contribute to this thread, started by the guy who taught me how to golf.

I started with Brad in April 2009 having tried learning from my friends for about a month. I soon figured out that I should not be taking tips from guys who were struggling to break 100. So with a game somewhere above 130, I approached Brad with the objective of breaking 100 within 3 months. I missed that by 3 weeks but over the course of the next 2 years, built a decent foundation. For those who have not played with me, I guess I can be considered a decent golfer. Major milestones in my game:

Aug 2009 - broke 100 Palm Villa
Nov 2009 - broke 90 MBGC
1 May 2010 - broke 80 Palm Villa
Dec 2010 - broke 80 for the 2nd time, MBGC
Oct 2011 - best round, Tering Bay, 1 over

All from white tee

Things I have not achieved:
1) break 80 from Blue Tee
2) even Par or better from any men's tee
3) Play consistently below 90 from blue tee

I learnt many things from Brad about how to play the game, and along the way, I guess I learnt how to be a good student. I would just like to reflect on what I think makes a good student teacher relationship as well as what I found made learning golf easier.

1. Trust your coach - he can see you, the guy on the Internet, golf channel or golf digest can't

2. Don't be afraid to tell him u don't understand what he is saying, or that you don't really "get" the drill he asked u to do - a good coach will find a way to get you to understand and if we were that good at teaching ourselves, we would not need lessons in the first place

3. Find the time to practice in between lessons, ask your coach how to practice and follow that - hitting 1000 balls with a half swing might be boring, but trying to murder the ball with your driver over and over again is only going to ingrain that horrible push slice

4. Develop all aspects of your game - Driving, woods, hybrids, irons, chipping, pitching, bunkers, putting, trouble shots, course mgmt, mental focus, emotional control, etc. While it is arguable which aspect is more important, the simple fact is that you'll need some basic competency in every area to shoot below 100 occasionally

5. Golf with your coach - let him see all the f#%kups u make on the course, I can promise that he will accurately diagnose what you need in your next lesson much better than you can

6. Stop getting angry, and when you can't help it, don't stay angry - be it during a game, or even during a lesson, I have never had any positive results by getting angry

7. Set realistic and achievable targets with your coach - have an honest discussion and be open if he tells u that you may be currently physically incapable of achieving what you want. If both of you don't buy into a common goal, it'll be tough to get there.

8. Give yourself enough time - don't expect to fit all this into 10 hours of lessons. Investing in lessons is more important than equipment. Food for thought, I stopped lessons with Brad about 18 months ago due to work commitments, and while my game has not gotten worse (at least once I found the time to practice and play regularly), it has not improved either.

Tbc ...

Well said Derek,

I have played with you a number of times and have seen the hugh improvements over the last few games. To say you are a decent golfer is an understatment...

Now that you are in your new job. here's wishing you all the best in it and now that you have more time for golf, I am now looking forward to having a game with you when you are next in town!

I agree with Derek and Blee.

To improve , ones need to have coach and practise.

If you don have coach and don practise, then one need to tone down one's expectation and potential.

Nett.....one who practise and has coach WILL be better than one who don have coach and don practise.

Duval_S wrote:

I agree with Derek and Blee.

To improve , ones need to have coach and practise.

If you don have coach and don practise, then one need to tone down one's expectation and potential.

Nett.....one who practise and has coach WILL be better than one who don have coach and don practise. Henceforth, the former should give strokes to the latter.

No wonder I'm always the ... Cos I no coach n never go range...

Will you give me strokes next time we play??

Bro Chien

Some people (you) just so talented .. No coach n never go range but still can play in low 80s .. What the hell wrong with me?

I'm not la Bpk...

I always get to buy lunches and dinners.. I think either I enjoy doing that or my friendly flight mates enjoy me doing that...

@bro Derek - thanks for sharing. It is very interesting and encouraging. In general most ppl take this route to learn n improve their game.

In Chien's case, some ppl have more talent. Very likely better psycho-motor skills, or v good ball sense due to previous experience in other sports.

@bro Chien - $$ save from coaching n range still more than buying ur kakis lunches n dinners haha...

punkrockpga wrote:

As far as the workshops go, while I think that the content is very strong and I still believe in them completely, it was very challenging for me to schedule workshops and have people commit to attending them. In order for me to keep them affordable, for golfers and still profitable for me, I need to have a minimum number of people commit to the workshops. It has been common for me to schedule a workshop, have 6 people say they were coming, and only have three show up and pay. I will gladly continue to put on the workshops if I could figure out the scheduling and get people committed.

I will gladly take any suggestions on this matter as well.

How about making people pay in advance eg. at the time of signing up? Can be done through interbank transfer or paypal.

I will gladly do that.