Part 2: Focus on what you can control

(Part two: During the round)

Golf can be very chaotic through the course of a round. Once the ball leaves the clubhead, the ball is at the mercy of the golf course and out of your control. You will have good and bad bounces, putts lipping in or out and unexpected gusts of wind.

It is irrational to completely base your performance on your score due to the unknown. Learn to focus or even base a score on what you can control on the course for an optimal performance state. Here is how to start.

1. Establish a gameplan before the round and make a commitment.

Before your round, decide on something you can control to base your performance on. An example of this would be “being present during the round” or “what you are mindful of during shots”. Leading performance coach Karl Morris describes this as a “commitment” made before the round. After the round, develop a scoring system to how well you kept the commitment. Successful NFL teams will develop a well established game plan before the game and stick with the plan despite early setbacks.

2. Your post-shot reactions

This is always easier said then done. It’s one thing to stay neutral on a good shot, but having the discipline to stay neutral on a poor shot takes work. Rather then getting upset or down on yourself after a bad shot, use the bad shot as a chance to learn from the shot.

Learning from a bad shot first entails understanding why the ball flew that direction. For example if the ball started left and hooked, understand the face was closed to the target and path. Knowing what caused these shots with your swing will give you direction on a solution. Embrace the art of managing your misses. Golf should be holistically viewed as one big learning experience from working on your swing to adapting to playing in your club championship.

2. Being present

You hear this term all the time but I find players don’t completely understand the importance and how to go about doing so. The research is overwhelming on what being fully present during tasks can do to not only your mental health, but golf performance.

Being present keeps you not dwelling on the past or “future tripping” which can trigger unwarranted anxiety. Nerves should be embraced in golf, but not anxiety. Looking ahead (future tee-shot on a difficult hole) and not being present, is a recipe for anxiety.

Being present takes practice so start small. A great way to start is to focus on your feet when walking in between shots. Feel the pressure in your feet, what your feet feel like with each step. If your mind wonders, bring your attention back to your feet. The feet are just one example, there are countless others and find what’s best for you. Before you know it, you will be emerged in every shot and the enjoyment of playing golf.

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Focus on what you can control

(Part One) Changing The Swing

The address position is the easiest part to change in the golf swing. If an adjustment can be made that will influence the rest of the swing, it should be made here. The set-up is a static position, so you have full control over it. If concepts are understood with feedback given (a mirror or video) it can easily be corrected and monitored. Once the club is in motion, a change becomes much more difficult.

Most faults in the swing originate in the set-up. All to often players go directly to the part they want to change in the middle of their swing, not understating their is an origin to what they do. When the origin isn’t fixed, trying to directly change the part in the middle is difficult and will often leave the player frustrated. Even worse, the part they are looking to fix may actually be a “match-up” move by the brain and body. These match-up moves actually counter -balance a previous move to try and make the swing work.

An example of not fixing the origin and understanding the importance of the set-up is when players are trying to shallow the club on the downswing (a common theme on social media). They see the steep shaft from down-the-line and directly try and fix this with different shallowing motions. More times then not, the origin to this is actually in the set-up and/or direction the body turns back in the backswing. If the body is out of position to start and turns back “tilty”, a more difficult match-up is required to shallow the shaft.

Another simple simple set-up position that is often over-looked is the angle of the feet. For efficiency, the lead foot should be slightly flared and the trail foot flared out as well (the trail more flared then the lead). When the trail foot is straight or even worse pointed inwards, a player will often shift their lower in the backswing rather then coil around in the groin and glutes. Trying to get a better lower half coil is almost impossible with poor foot work.

The golf swing is hard to change, so work on the things that are simple and what you have control over. You may not be able to swing it like a world class player, but with proper training you can at least the address the ball like one. When making a swing change, look to fix the origin first to facilitate the change.

*Part two of this article will be focusing on what you can control on the golf course, a key to better performance

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Three ways to manage first-tee stress

1. Let your thoughts come and go

Positive thinking doesn’t always work. Ever tried to just think positive expecting everything to go as planned only to be let down when it doesn’t? Afterwards you are left even more frustrated. Although a positive outlook is better then a negative mindset, only preparing for positive outcomes is unrealistic.

Rarely things go perfectly as planned. Golf can be chaotic at times. Research shows mentally rehearsing for both a poor outcome and a good outcome will be more beneficial. This will put your mind at ease and help you develop the tools to rebound from a not so great start. The night before, plan a reaction to how you will grind from a poor start to the round. If a negative thought pops in your mind, let it pass.

2. Actually practice being present

Everyone has heard to be “present” during stressful situations.” However this needs to be practiced and the concept needs to be understood. Being present entails being mindful of something in the current moment. Not just a void mind. This can be as simple as focusing on your breathing or focusing on feeling the club swing when you are on the tee-box waiting your turn.

A common one I found beneficial is to simply focus on the hole ahead of you. Ask yourself the question, “What does a good shot look like here from this tee box? You can think about how the course architect designed the hole. Figure out how the hole should be properly played from the architects view. Even a moment of gratitude of having your health to play golf that day will work wonders.

The beauty of this is it can actually be practiced away from the golf course. Next time you are outside, see how long you can go for a walk staying present to the moment. Practice noticing the buildings around you, then when your mind drifts, gradually bring it back.

3. Understand the concept of attention

This is the holy grail. Where you place your attention during the actual golf swing can play a major factor in the outcome of the shot. “Attention” is simply what you are mindful of during the actual motion. This is massively different then a “swing thought”. There are multiple places where a player can place their attention and it is best discovered through trial and error.

A few examples of where attention can be placed is on the start line of the shot, feeling the pressure move in your feet or simply being aware of your body throughout the motion. Usually, the best places to place your attention is somewhere you can keep it throughout the swing. This helps the player stay committed to the shot. If you have an awareness you know can maintain during the entirety of the motion, you will swing more freely with confidence.

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(Kelvin now offers online lessons and consultations through his website)

How the concept of a punching motion can change your golf swing

Ever wonder how a simple looking golf swing can produce so much speed and power? The answer may lie in the biomechanics of throwing a punch.

Below is an image of a boxer throwing a right handed hook. Note the direction the body moves to produce maximum force towards the target.

As the boxer pulls back his arm, there is not an excess wind-up or big turn to create power. His body is now geared to go forward and around into the opponent. His body would stay mostly level throughout the motion.

Now lets apply this simple concept to the golf swing. At address, the player would have his upper body and mass positioned behind the ball. In the picture below, note the green line indicting his mass back behind the blue baseline over the ball.

From here, the player can coil around his center, much like a boxer positioned ready to punch.

Now the body can go forward and around towards the target, pulled by the arms. Note the body finishing ahead of the blue baseline.

A body that has a lot of left side bend or “tilt” in the backswing, will naturally counterbalance in the downswing. This will often result with the upper body falling back in the downswing. (Pictured below)

The pattern above would equivalent to attempting to punch forward with your arm while your body is moving backwards. Next time you are looking to make a swing change, first check the movement of your body, and see if it is as simple as boxer throwing a powerful punch.

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Recycle old drills to capture that feel

Sometimes it can be beneficial to re-introduce an old swing drill back into your training. Regardless if you felt the drill clicked or didn’t click at that time, you will more than likely notice a difference this time around.

“No man ever steps in the same river twice, for its not the same river and he is not the same man.” – Heraclitus

Let’s apply that famous quote to the golf swing. The first part, “not the same river” can apply to the physical swing itself. Chances are your swing has changed since first learning or practicing the swing drill. You can be more comfortable with the motion or you could have made swing changes over time, making the drill feel vastly different now.

The second part of that quote, “not the same man” applies to you, yourself. More than likely your physiology is different, today, and now at this very moment. Each new day you have changed. Players have gone back to a drill from years ago to find they have discovered a completely different feel and understanding of that particular drill.

For example, here is a baseline drill I have students revert back to on a regular basis. The foot-back drill both cleans up the set-up angles and gets the lead and trail side of the body moving efficiently.

This is a great drill to get the feeling of set-up angles and how the lead and trail side of the body can move in the backswing. However, further down the road, this drill can be used to get the feeling of covering the ball at impact, a multi-purpose drill depending on where you place your attention or how you feel.

As Nick Price once said, “Every player has two to three habits that cause problems, we have to be on the lookout for them.” Developing baseline drills you can revert back to helps these tendencies stay in remission and can help keep the structure to your swing.

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Changing your golf game through journaling

I started journaling in my daily life roughly a year ago. I would journal before bed as a daily reflection and to prepare for the next day. It quickly had a profound effect on my mental health.

It didn’t take long to realize journaling needed to be implemented in my golf game. I had read about great players including multiple major winners using journaling as a tool to bring out the best in their game. I was always reluctant being unaware of the research and science of the benefits.

I had been using a golf performance app designed by Karl Morris (Mind Caddie) for note keeping after my rounds. I then started using the journaling portion of the app. After more research, I changed to a classic physical journal to handwrite in.

Sitting down and spending time writing into a journal is massively beneficial for multiple reasons. In short-form, here are the biggest reasons why journaling can be beneficial to your golf game and mental health, which in my opinion, are correlated.

1. Makes you mindful and present

When you sit-down and write in a journal it makes you present in the moment. The act of writing on paper with a pen makes you focus your attention to what you are currently doing, writing. This can be used as a distraction for your brain to take a step back and view what you are journaling about with a different perspective.

This brief break from your influenced thoughts also gives you time to reflect. Imagine reflecting on your round when you are more clear-minded not fresh off a bogey on the last hole. Creating this habit also trains your brain to be mindfully present on the moment, a skill that can be trained and will undoubtedly improve performance.

2. You can become what you think

People often become what they tell themselves. If constantly tell yourself you are a poor putter, then you will become one. As Harvey Penick once said, “Make sure you go to dinner with good putters.” The energy of players attitudes around you will undoubtedly contaminate your thinking. Start the habit of changing the story.

For journaling, I have found it helped to write down the three best shots I hit during that round. Our brains naturally focus on the bad shots, as that has more of an impact on our thought process. Taking the time to write down the good shots reverses that natural thought process and can change your brain over time to what you have done well.

3. Programming commitments

The typical day ahead of you rarely goes as planned. In golf, you are almost certainly going to be faced with obstacles. Whether it be an unexpected change in weather, playing with a slow playing partner or just physically not feeling up to par, setting a commitment will help you weather the storm.

Before your round write down a commitment you can maintain throughout the round. Examples include, “I will be a good playing partner despite what happens on the golf course today” or “I am going to do a great job of learning from my bad shots today”.

With this commitment in writing, it will serve as something you can control during the round and can revert back to mentally. Focusing on the controllable areas will steady the ship when things go awry. Focusing on outcomes you can’t control, can put you in a mental tailspin.

4. Accountability

Holding yourself accountable for the day is a great tool to keep yourself in check. For daily life, processing what you did well and didn’t do well will promote self-awareness giving you clarity on changes that need to be made. After your golf round, this time of reflection will serve as how well you held your “commitment” on the round.

As for my end of the day journaling, I have a section titled “Well/Not Well/Improvements Needed”. This usually contains one or two sentences where I have to self-reflect on those areas and how I can improve. Once this part of journaling becomes a habit, you will find yourself not wanting to have to write-down the “Not well” part of the day. This indirectly forces you to be mindful and take a better approach to daily situations.

5. Facilitates a swing change

Making a swing change is difficult for even a professional player. The best way to go about it? Focus on building a new brain circuit on top of going to the range trying to build “muscle memory”.

A new movement first starts in the brain, so we should focus more on creating a strong memory of that movement. The best way to do this is simply write down in your notebook what you are working on. This can include distinct feels on the motion. To take it a step further, develop the habit of writing it down before bed, as the research shows before sleep is the optimal time to learn.

From reading biographies about philosophers, presidents, CEO’s, Athletes, and top performance experts, journaling has always played a role in their lives. Only needing paper and a pen, anyone can do this at anytime. Start small with your golf journal, form a productive habit and see where it takes you.

Work Cited

Morris, Karl. “The Mindfactor Course”. Holiday, Ryan. “The Daily Stoic”. Nichol, Gary “The Lost Art of Golf”. Dr. Julie Smith, “Why Has No One Told Me This Before”

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How a change in awareness can influence your body turn

A simple change of awareness can help you understand how the body can naturally turn in the swing. An important concept to understand, the direction the body moves is the engine to the swing. Research also shows the direction the body turns can be just as important as the amount of turn.

Golf is hard because the ball is on the ground yet we are trying to it hit forward towards a target. With our head looking down at the ball, it’s easy to place our attention (what we are mindful of) on the ground, losing awareness to where we are going. This can make the body move in all sorts of directions, making hitting the ball towards a target, difficult.

But imagine if we looked out over our lead shoulder with our attention to the target and made a backswing. Being mindful of the body, the body would naturally turn in a direction and amount that would be geared to move towards the target in the swing. (Imagine the position of your body and arm when throwing a ball). After proper set-up angles, this will give the look of coiling around the original spine angle established at Address.

With this simple awareness change, common unwanted tendencies naturally self-organize out of the backswing. Tendencies like swaying and tilting (picture below) would not conceptually make sense when moving the body in the direction we want to hit the ball.

A great concept or drill to get this feel besides looking over your shoulder is to grab a range basket and set into your posture with Hitting Angles. Keeping the basket level in front of you, swing the basket around you as if throwing it forward towards the target.

When doing the drill, be aware of not only the direction the body turns, but the amount. The drill will first help you understand the concept. Next make some practice swings. When swinging, look over your lead shoulder and slowly replicate how the basket drill made your body move.

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How to generate speed with a “shorter” swing

A common complaint when golfers see their own swing on video is how long their backswing actually is yet they feel they have no speed or power. This long backswing is usually caused by “over-rotation” and can easily lead to bad contacted shots and a loss of distance.

Amateurs are always impressed with how simple looking golf swings can still produce such high ball speeds. Current number one player in the world Jon Rahm usually comes to mind.

A simple, short looking golf swing just doesn’t have to be for professionals. When attempting to shorten a swing for simplicity that still produces speed, conceptually understanding how to shorten your swing for speed and repeatability is crucial. Here are three key components.

1. The set-up

It starts with the set-up position. The key here is to have the trail shoulder below the lead shoulder. This is established by a slight tucking of the trail arm, making it bent and soft. This will put you in a good position for an efficient takeaway. Note the green lines in the video below.

2. The takeaway

The first few feet the clubhead swings back will set the sequence for the rest of the swing. Since the clubhead has to travel the furthest in the golf swing, it needs to move first. When the clubhead moves first, the shaft will then move the hands and arms. The arms eventually pull the shoulders, chest, and finally hips around to the top in that sequence. This enables the club to travel a great distance without much body turn required to do so. This is demonstrated with a trail arm drill and feel.

3. Direction of the upper and lower body

The direction the body moves is also critical to an efficient, shorter golf swing. After set-up angles are established (part one) the body can coil around its original angles established at address. This is best felt through a “pull and grab” motion. Note this is just the feel of how the lead and trail side of the body moves, not how the arms work in the swing.

A shorter looking golf swing that produces speed and high ball speeds doesn’t simply lie in the look of the shaft reaching a shorter distance at the top of the swing. There is an origin to this look of simplicity for the swing to still be dynamic.

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Create shallow space with your direction of turn

When you dive into social media for golf instruction you will see countless “tips” on how to shallow the club in the downswing. Concepts such as external rotation of the trail shoulder or clearing with the lead side of your body while keeping your pelvis back. A lot of work in an attempt to get more shallow. Although shallowing the club early in transition is beneficial, doing such shouldn’t be so difficult.

This article will discuss shallowing the club but not the way you think and in a way that is often overlooked. Players would benefit more by getting their body into a position in the backswing that allows them to shallow the club naturally in transition. This is done by the direction of turn in the backswing and from an efficient Set-up position, creating what is called “Shallow Space”.

The face-on camera angle is just as important as the down-the line angle. This tells the story of how the body moves to create this shallow space mentioned. Below is an example of shallow space (picture on the left in green) created by a body that has turned around its original spine angle established at address. The body position on the right (in red) will have to work harder to shallow the club, usually resulting in a steep path.

Both positions can be effective, however the body position on the left (in green) doesn’t have to work so hard to get the club back on path. There is no “recovery” needed with the body or a forced movement of the body required to get the club back on path. The back can easily some back into an efficient impact position as well: With the body in this efficient coil position the arms have space to swing down, shallowing the club naturally with the change of direction to the downswing (picture below).

From this position, the shaft can easily be brought around into impact and the trail side of the body will be moving forward and around towards the target. This would be the natural movement as if throwing a ball. Next time you are looking to get the club in a better position and shallow early, first look at your set-up and direction of turn.

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Twitter: @KKelley_golf

How stoic philosophy can improve your golf game and life

Learning and applying stoic philosophy can undoubtedly improve your performance on the golf course. More importantly, it can help with life off of the golf course. As they say, the sport of golf can be a reflection of life.

So what is Stoicism? It’s simply learning what you can and cannot control. Stoics believe we only truly have control over our mind. This entails the choices we make and the actions and responses we take when faced with adversity.

There are three main parts to stoic philosophy. Control your perceptions, direct your actions properly and accept what’s outside your control. We will examine a few quotes from Stoic philosophy and how they can be applied to golf.

“Externals I cannot control but the choices I make in regard to them I do control. Where will I find good and bad? In me, in my choices.” – EPICTETUS

The one thing we do have control over on the golf course is our mind. Not where the ball goes, the bounces we get, or the conflicts we are faced with that day, but rather how we respond to the those conflicts. Our mindset and how we respond to the good and bad of the round is just as important as your swing that day. Start by becoming aware of your thoughts and actions during a round and determining if they are beneficial.

“Your mind will take the shape of what you frequently hold in thought, for the human spirit is colored by such impressions.” – Marcus Aurelius

We eventually become what we think of ourselves on the golf course. Are your telling yourself you are a bad putter? Well you will be. Telling yourself you aren’t good enough to break 80? Well you won’t be. Start changing your story on the golf course. Write down a few things in your notes after a round that you did well on the course. This can include the feeling of a good drive or a great up and down for par. Note taking can change your golfing story.

“Associate with people who are likely to improve you” – Seneca

Want an easy way to get better on the course and see what you need to do to improve? Start playing with better players. Also, don’t play with people with poor outlooks in golf and life. By simply paying attention you can see how certain shots are played or how bad starts to a round can go the other direction or grinded out over 18 holes. This as an easy way to elevate your game and break you out of your comfort zone.

“When you arise in the morning think of what a privilege it is to be alive, to think and to enjoy.” – Marcus Aurelius

Lastly, at the end of the day you are out on a golf course. Feel gratitude towards getting to be out there in the first place. There is no shot bad enough to ruin your round and or day. Conversely, on the other end of the spectrum, playing well doesn’t change who you are. By just becoming aware of these concepts can improve your game this year and hopefully time spent on the course.

Work Cited: Ryan Holiday “The Daily Stoic”, Karl Morris “The Mindfactor Course”

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