What Is Interfering With Your Swing?
Is improving your swing at the top of your "golf improvement list?" Did you spend a lot of time and effort this summer trying to improve your swing and are still hoping that will happen? It's likely there are some things "getting in the way" of your optimum swing that you didn't realize...
Recently, I published a post about "What Are You Holding On To That Is Holding Back Your Game," with the main point being that it is a common mental practice (although not usually realized by the individuals) for golfers to hang on to bad shots, bad golf moments, and general negativity which has the unfortunate consequences of weighing you down, holding you back, and leading to less-than-positive golf experiences. All of those "could haves," "should haves," and "if onlys" literally take away from mental energy that could otherwise be put to good use on constructive thoughts that will help your game. There is a lot of mental energy you can be putting to good use!
In the same way, there are a lot of things we do, both mentally and physically, that interferes with our swing. It is a fact that the natural motion and path of the swing is literally "at our fingertips" and is ready to repeat itself smoothly, easily, and effortlessly, but all too often we disrupt the ideal motion by what we think and do. I understand this because I have experienced it myself first-hand. Fortunately, I was able to get to the heart of the problem and figure out what I was thinking and doing to interfere with the ideal, natural swing. The results were so outstanding - including more power and distance - that I wrote a book about it which was just published called GOODBYE HIT, HELLO SWING, PART III - "Swing Power," The Stress-Free Solution for More Distance. The ideas, insight, and drills in the book are practical, do-able, and effective. For starters, here are ten common mental and physical game tendencies (we are usually doing without our realization) that interfere with the natural swing motion, causing errant shots and other problems, even when we think we are doing "all the right things." Read over the list and see if any of these practices are familiar to you. This could be the "clue" you need to "get over the hump" and really make a difference in your swing improvement. Feel free to add a comment about your own experiences with recognizing and "stopping the interference" and enjoying the freedom and satisfaction of the flow of your natural swing motion.
Common Mental and Physical Tendencies That Interfere With The Natural Swing Motion:
1. The mistaken mental belief that you need to use more physical "doing" to achieve more distance.
2. The resulting physical practice of attempting to gain more speed and more distance by using more effort.
3. The physical techniques of trying to "power it out there," "muscle" the shots with your upper body, or "goose it" early on in the downward motion.
4. The physical techniques of deliberately attempting to force more speed toward the ball or trying to power the clubhead at the ball in order to "hit it far."
5. The mistaken mental belief that you are the source of power, or that you have to "create" power.
6. The mistaken mental idea that speed is something that must be produced in a sudden fashion with a sudden " burst" or "jolt."
7. The practice of interfering with the clubhead swinging down on a tilted arc by trying too hard to "make" it happen "right."
8. The practice of trying too hard to groove the "timing" of a perfect release.
9. The practice of focusing so much on effort, trying, and timing that you aren't tuned in to awareness and the feel of the natural swinging action.
10. The practice of not trusting gravity and thus forcing rather than allowing your hands (and arms) to drop by means of the power of gravity (versus your forced "effort).
Rather than continuing to think and practice the effort-oriented approach to trying and trying to power it out there, open up to the idea that these are the mental and physical tendencies you need to address to achieve real swing improvement and more positive golf experiences. Remember - trying harder often means interfering more and actually achieving less (distance).
Here's to a stress-free approach!
Rick Semple
Positive Golfer
Co-Founder, TheHeartofGolf.com
http://www.TheHeartofGolf.com
Recently, I published a post about "What Are You Holding On To That Is Holding Back Your Game," with the main point being that it is a common mental practice (although not usually realized by the individuals) for golfers to hang on to bad shots, bad golf moments, and general negativity which has the unfortunate consequences of weighing you down, holding you back, and leading to less-than-positive golf experiences. All of those "could haves," "should haves," and "if onlys" literally take away from mental energy that could otherwise be put to good use on constructive thoughts that will help your game. There is a lot of mental energy you can be putting to good use!
In the same way, there are a lot of things we do, both mentally and physically, that interferes with our swing. It is a fact that the natural motion and path of the swing is literally "at our fingertips" and is ready to repeat itself smoothly, easily, and effortlessly, but all too often we disrupt the ideal motion by what we think and do. I understand this because I have experienced it myself first-hand. Fortunately, I was able to get to the heart of the problem and figure out what I was thinking and doing to interfere with the ideal, natural swing. The results were so outstanding - including more power and distance - that I wrote a book about it which was just published called GOODBYE HIT, HELLO SWING, PART III - "Swing Power," The Stress-Free Solution for More Distance. The ideas, insight, and drills in the book are practical, do-able, and effective. For starters, here are ten common mental and physical game tendencies (we are usually doing without our realization) that interfere with the natural swing motion, causing errant shots and other problems, even when we think we are doing "all the right things." Read over the list and see if any of these practices are familiar to you. This could be the "clue" you need to "get over the hump" and really make a difference in your swing improvement. Feel free to add a comment about your own experiences with recognizing and "stopping the interference" and enjoying the freedom and satisfaction of the flow of your natural swing motion.
Common Mental and Physical Tendencies That Interfere With The Natural Swing Motion:
1. The mistaken mental belief that you need to use more physical "doing" to achieve more distance.
2. The resulting physical practice of attempting to gain more speed and more distance by using more effort.
3. The physical techniques of trying to "power it out there," "muscle" the shots with your upper body, or "goose it" early on in the downward motion.
4. The physical techniques of deliberately attempting to force more speed toward the ball or trying to power the clubhead at the ball in order to "hit it far."
5. The mistaken mental belief that you are the source of power, or that you have to "create" power.
6. The mistaken mental idea that speed is something that must be produced in a sudden fashion with a sudden " burst" or "jolt."
7. The practice of interfering with the clubhead swinging down on a tilted arc by trying too hard to "make" it happen "right."
8. The practice of trying too hard to groove the "timing" of a perfect release.
9. The practice of focusing so much on effort, trying, and timing that you aren't tuned in to awareness and the feel of the natural swinging action.
10. The practice of not trusting gravity and thus forcing rather than allowing your hands (and arms) to drop by means of the power of gravity (versus your forced "effort).
Rather than continuing to think and practice the effort-oriented approach to trying and trying to power it out there, open up to the idea that these are the mental and physical tendencies you need to address to achieve real swing improvement and more positive golf experiences. Remember - trying harder often means interfering more and actually achieving less (distance).
Here's to a stress-free approach!
Rick Semple
Positive Golfer
Co-Founder, TheHeartofGolf.com
http://www.TheHeartofGolf.com
Labels: golf improvement, golf swing improvement, improve golf swing, mental golf
posted by Rick Semple at 8:10 AM
