Golf Swing - Remembering It All

There has probably never been a golfer who could remember everything  during a two or three second golf swing. At best, one would probably do well to remember two to three things while actually swinging.

The challenge is to remember all of what happens during a golf swing, particularly in the brief  period of time it takes to make a swing. Somehow the memory task has to be simplified.

Consider the following suggestions for consolidating and simplifying the memory task in golf.

Note Card. Write down on a note card important things to remember about the swing, and keep the note card in your golf bag or locker for quick review before playing. Nothing is more frustrating than taking six holes to remember a swing thought that was working so well the last time you were out.

Pre-shot Routine. Arrange in sequence the steps leading up to the actual swinging of the club. The sequence is a countdown that begins from behind the ball, looking down the target line. Once the line is determined, the ball is approached and the clubhead is placed behind the ball square to the target, followed by the proper alignment of feet, hips, and shoulders parallel to the target line. With the proper grip assumed and the body in position to begin the swing, another glance is made toward the target, the head is turned back toward the ball, and the swing is ready to go.

Note that the above preshot routine involves the more static considerations of a golf shot. Once these factors are set in place, they do not require any further attention, and full focus can be directed toward the dynamics of the swing. In other words, once the countdown of the preshot routine has been completed, forget it and pay attention to only what is critical for blastoff.

Everyone develops a personal preshot routine. The important thing is that the routine, whatever it is, be repeated consistently every time a shot is made. If the preshot routine gets interrupted, stop and start all over again from the very beginning. One touring pro has been known to actually put his club back in the bag and take it out again if he becomes distracted during his preshot routine.

The preshot routine is not only a valuable memory device, it is also somewhat of a security blanket under pressure. It's something familiar that can be turned to in the heat of the action; it's a routine that will run off automatically when you are under stress.

Swing Thoughts. Once the preshot routine is completed and the actual swing is at hand, the only thing to be thinking about from this point on is the thought necessary to produce a proper swing. That swing thought might contain an upper limit of three components that would fit the 1-2-3 tempo of the golf swing, something as simple as "back-and through." On the other hand, the swing thought might be slightly more complex and prescriptive. For example, if the golfer had trouble avoiding lateral body movement on the backswing, difficulty keeping the head down, and a tendency to stop before finishing high on the follow through such as "still-down-high."

When really having trouble playing, revert to just one or two swing thoughts. The ones I always resort to in desperate times are to relax my hands and for arms, and see the contact between the club and the ball. Of course, during the swing, I simplify this by thinking "relax-and-contact".

The bottom line is that you can't consciously process very much at all during the actual swing, particularly those swings that occur during an actual round. After going through the preshot routine, you just have to pull the trigger and let it happen. Don't wait too long to pull the trigger, either. It only takes a fraction of a second for a distracting thought to creep in between the completed preshot routine and the smooth beginning of the golf swing. The actual swing is kind of a leap of fait. You get ready with preshot routine, you get set completion of the preshot routine, and you leap smoothly begin the swing without any definite assurance of what the ultimate outcome will be. Of course, the more you  practice, the more confident you will become of a favorable outcome.

Monitor. Lastly, once a few reliable swing though are discovered, don't take them for granted. It's easy to read them off a note card, say them during the swing, assume they are being faithfully executed, but actually be doing something quite different from what the swing thoughts suggest. Consider how easy it is to say, "keep your head down," while just as quickly lifting it up. Close self-monitoring is necessary lest a golfer slip into bad habits.

Expert golfers will often be seen, after a poor shot, stepping aside and making a few practice swings., Most certainly they are engaging in error correction, reviewing their swing thoughts before the next shot rather than during the next shot.

The key is to simplify the memory task to only a few unifying, overriding principles that can fit right into the tempo of the swing. The ultimate goal would be to get to the point where you don't have to think of much of anything during the swing. A grooved, well-practiced swing simply runs off automatically.