Do you wonder why you play golf so inconsistently relative to other complex life skills you have mastered after applying similar effort? Why all that time developing technical skills on the range does not translate to performance in competition? I work with excellent PGA coaches who help build great golf swings appropriate to an individuals physical attributes. Learning technical skills in golf however is akin to laying foundations to a house. You also need to be taught how to STOP staring at your foundations in order to build your house. Just think how you learned to ride a bike, drive a car, play a musical instrument and you may struggle to notice the attentional focus shift which occurred when you learned to TRUST your actions. It happened naturally. It does not in golf. This is a critical stage which happens AUTOMATICALLY when you master any other life skill which you deny yourself UNIQUELY in golf by the way you continue to be taught, practice and play.

 

This is also why elite Professionals also struggle to perform consistently or do you believe it is their technique which fails them under 'perceived' competition pressure? Unfortunately, even Professional golfers continue to doubt their technical skills due to their lack of understanding and training in attentional focus skills. When you actively work at developing attentional focus on range you begin to trust your technique but it is physically IMPOSSIBLE to trust under perceived competition pressure that which you constantly doubt in your practice. Can you think of another life skill where you continue to doubt your physical ability once you have learned it? I doubt it. Your DOMINANT practice mentality determines performance under 'perceived' pressure except on those occasional days when golf seems simple and effortless and you wonder why?! Maybe, just maybe, your focus was in the right place at the right time.

 

It is important to understand that there are 3 distinct PSYCHOLOGICAL phases involved in learning how to play golf, beyond techncial skills acquisition:

 

Phase 1. Internal Focus - traditional technical instruction where your attentional focus is on conscious control of your body movement and physical self. Unfortunately, this is where most golfers begin and end their golfing lives due to the lack of systematic attentional focus training in practice (Examples: The Golf Machine, Stack and Tilt, The Plane Truth etc. and a number of other methods teaching how to SWING golf clubs efficiently). Clearly, developing a technical proficiency is an important stage of learning to play.

 

Phase 2. Proximal External Focus - self awareness development where your focus is shifted away from body on to club head movement or ball flight. The minority of golfers who discover this phase recognise how it develops trust in their technique faster than Phase 1 learning (Examples: Instinctive Golf, NeuroLearningGolf, Extraordinary Golf etc. and just a few others). A step in the right direction but psychologically the focus is STILL on improving technique and swing development. When and how is TRUST developed?

 

Phase 3. External Focus - On range, applied, systematic Attentional Focus golf instruction where your focus is moved entirely AWAY from your technique in practice and play and on to your TARGET. This is where you perform ALL life skills successfully. Externally focused. This has NEVER been coached systematically in practice and play. Until TOG.

 

Where do you think you are you on the psychological learning curve today? Be honest with yourself for TOG will reveal why you find consistency and performance so elusive.

 

Where do you think your ATTENTIONAL FOCUS is today when you practice and play as you swing or putt? What about in Pre-shot? Transition? Post-shot? WHERE is your Focus?

 

If you are reading this you may have a repeatable PHYSICAL pre-shot routine. Do you have a repeatable MENTAL routine? What occupies your Attention? Eyes? Ears? Thoughts?

 

IF you wish to remove ALL the statements in this picture from your play and more importantly your PRACTICE, you are on the path to understanding Target Oriented Golf.

 

                                                      

 

 

Target Oriented Golf - The Evolution of Golf Instruction: Coaching the Mind to Trust the Body & Swing.