Monday, October 09, 2006

The Secret to Hitting Good Shots

Hitting a good golf shot is one of the thrills of playing the game. Unfortunately (for most of us anyways) it is very fleeting. But there ARE moments when I at least catch a glimpse - so reading this observation below by Johnny Miller made me think of how I can recall those good feelings kinesthetically of a well struck golf shot. For me it is always the feeling of not trying to hit a good shot but of letting a good shot happen. Of course it is somewhat counterintuitive but if you can do it once why can you not do it again? More and more I am convinced it is all in the mind. Take a read below and let me know what you think.

"Everyone has expectations that every shot will be great. The secret to hitting good shots is to stand over the ball saying, “I can’t wait to hit this shot. It’s going to be fun.” Think back to a situation in the past when you hit a similar shot well. If you don’t hit a good shot, know that even the pros don’t hit that many perfect shots. And when you do hit it good, don’t say, “It’s about time.” Instead say, “That was awesome.” Notice the sound that it makes when you hit it flush, the beautiful flight, how it goes up against the clouds and lands softly on the green, where your body was, your weight distribution and your finish. Then press “enter” in your mind and try to suck up all the data and feeling you had. So when you get that shot again, you can remember what you did. Unfortunately, in golf, most people have a bank of bad memories and the good ones they just say, “Well, that’s what I should have done.” If you want to know how to play golf, go watch Gary Player and see how everything is positive and he only remembers the good shots. The negative guys leave the tour early."

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Good tip!

Ray Floyd advocates the same thing. He calls it Memory Banking.

doug said...

curious - where does he communicate this information? in a book?

thx.

Anonymous said...

terrific advice from the one and only Mr. Miller!