Do You Know What You Don't Know?...49
Most of our misses are from misunderstanding
Having hosted years of very exclusive golf clinics, Jack Nicklaus (yes, the Golden Bear) wrote that the questions he was asked made him realize that golfer’s travails were less a matter of practice and desire as they were a matter of “inaccurate and inefficient knowledge.”
I like to guide players to the understanding that there are no “physical” mistakes in golf. While any twist of the shoulders, bend of the knees or flick of the hands can result in a missed shot, such physical actions are directed by our brain. Our mental concept of what needs to be done during the swing directs the brain to activate the body. There are no “physical” mistakes. They are all “mental” mistakes.
To take that to its logical conclusion, we return to Nicklaus’ observation that it is “inaccurate and inefficient knowledge” that has us sending problematic instructions to the body producing the dreaded missed shots. The obvious solution does not lie in more practice but in replacing our mental concept with one that is 100% effective and as simple as possible.
A prolonged annoyance with our ball flight should be seen as a matter of “not knowing what we don’t know”. There are specific and simple solutions to producing satisfactory ball flight. Know what you should know and put those misses from misunderstanding in the rearview mirror.
Swing to the target,
Ed
Have a golf buddy who would enjoy these tips?