Continuing on from Lags thread here, Shanks, Waffles and I were having a rave I thought we might continue here? Developing the mind, attitude, or just why it works sometimes and not others.
Seems a lot of Pros nowadays have Psychologists as well as coaches, how do you/we access our ‘zone’?
Some good articles in the golf school that I’ve enjoyed re the mind/attitude btw.
What’s your take on the art of golf?

Well done Stinky

To mention as previously, I played today and concentrated on course management and error reduction and found myself in the zone, clear mind, fearless and concentrating on the shot presented. Now I am 6 hours after the game and my mind is still focused.

I will start this off because this is what interets me the most of all the golf instruction and golf school articles.

We all get caught up way too much in the science of hitting the ball rather than the art of hitting the ball.

The mind controls the body and therefore all the scientific thoughts you apply to the technique are not worth anything unless you have learnt the art to controlling your mind.

I know I am still trying to master this. I know the science of this, worry about the process not the outcome etc etc

Tell me this how is it you know you are going to hole a certain putt and you know you are going to miss others. It is not down to just the science of technique.I would argue it is the art of controlling your mind which controls your emotions, expectations etc

I know a lot of pros are putting more effort into this art than their technique because they can all golf their ball pretty well nowadays.

Interested in anybodys thoughts. .

More confidence in your technique also breeds a quieter mind
The less the technical side is in the head whilst playing the better
The range is for swinging, the course is for thinking and then just allowing the body to do what it does without limitation

Just to let you know Shanks,
Shome is a pro whos opinion I respect the most here.

Waffle, is he a current pro or recently retired? Thats great that somebody that has played the game I presume at the highest level is willing to contribute.

I will now go read his posts.

I follow the tours a lot especially the big show and the nationwide so I probably can have a stab at who he is unless he would prefer to remain anonymous which I would understand.

No doubt some of the “expert” sledgers on the site would have already denigrated him and if he did “come out” might sledge him further given their lack of class.

Read all his posts mate, you won’t find out who he is, there is a thread about guessing his name, and with you I respect his anonyminity

The two are not mutually exclusive.

there has to be a certain degree in ability, the science of technique must be right. However, once on the course, you have to allow the art to flow.

As per Karl Morris, I like to describe golf in 4 stages, similar to how we learned to drive a car.

Stage 1. Unconsciously Incompetent – we are poor at what we are trying to do, but don’t even know it.

Stage 2. Conciously Incompetent – we have tried the game, even taken a few lessons and now know how poor we are.

Stage 3. Conciously Competent – we have had a few lessons and played for a while, we now know when we ar eplaying well or badly.

Stage 4. Unconciously Competent – we are at a stage where we stand behind the ball and envisage the shot we want, there are no conscious changes to the swing, but the shot height and shape are as we want them.

If you are ‘thinking well’ it will make absolutely no difference if your level of ability is not up to the job. If you have good technique, then thinking well is basically all about staying out of your own way and letting the art flow.

Can you talk about the zone Styles ?

I’ve been there a few times, I’ve spoken about the longest time I was ever there on my blog before.

Basically I was playing a match. I missed a birdie putt on the 9th hole that would have put me 5 under par. There were shots where it was like the club was jumping out of the bag at me, I was picking clubs that seemed crazy but was hitting them in stone dead. I was dropping putts from everywhere. It was a weird experience, highly enjoyable. Once I was aware of it though it disappeared.

Recommended reading:

Mental Management for Great Golf: How to Control Your Thoughts and Play Out of Your Mind – Bee Epstein Shepherd.
Every shot must have a purpose – Neilsson & Marriott.

Great to hear you have been there

the zone/trance is impossible to access consciously.
like stinky, I’m a beginner (crap) golfer but ok musician.
I’m in a trance most times I’m playing well. No control, but ticking all the boxes (so to speak).

Never had it with golf because I’m a begginer. It’s an overload. The zone/zen is when you make no conscious decisions . . . just flowing.

Same with everything. Just takes time. To me, TGM is zen training. A thousand little pieces being joined together into a (seemingly effortless) gesture.

Zen/zone is a mental/physical discipline. Not turning the brain/thoughts off, but letting the body do what it can do.

(art is a science)

I’ve had some great rounds for no apparent reason
Was my swing better? Was I feeling better?
I know driving to the course in my car people have cut me off or are driving slow and I’m out the window screaming, but once before one of my really good low important rounds someone cut me off, stopped in front of me, you name it they did it and it didn’t phase me one bit.. I just copped it and kept going without even raising my heartbeat and went out and played and 5 hours later signed for a low score when it mattered most. Was I already in the zone just in the car? Had I decided to not let anything worry me that day that was beyond my control?
How do you explain it? Can you get there in the zone more often?
Or does it just happen sometimes?

There was a story about Tiger walking to the 1st tee at Augusta a few years (05 I think).... he walked straight by the head of Nike who pays him millions and his own mother who was wishing him luck. Just looked right through them…is that being in the zone to be able to block everyone else out? even your own mother and main sponsor

There’s a great clip in The Legend of Bagger Vance movie where Matt Damon has everyone cheering, talking, carrying on as he is addressing a shot and then all of a sudden they all disappear- like a fog wraps them up and takes them away-it just becomes him, the ball, the hole
Very cool if you haven’t seen it ….................................................
and Tiger is the master at not letting outside influences bother him that’s why he is the best- he controls his own destiny as he knows he has no control over what anyone else does

I like Carey Mumford’s formula for building a belief system…

Trust – know who/how you are and be able to let go.

Acquire Knowledge – the more accurate the better.

Manage Your Skill Development – 32 ball drill.

Confidence – acheiving levels of success through the above.

I’ve come to belive that Life Is Physical because it is moving. The movement can be viewed as complex but it can also be viewed as simple if we only look, Look, LOOK….until we don’t have to look any more.

Can’t remember the last time I watched myself tie my shoes!

I have been lucky to experience being in the zone when I was young and as Showme and others have said there was no apparent reason. Had a big argument with my family went to golf annoyed and was still focused on argument during front nine rather than golf. Nothing special 1 birdie 1 bogey. Back nine starts and I have let go of the argument and things just click – not focusing on golf, just letting things flow. 6 birdies 0 bogeys. Remember walking up the 18th hole thinking “I am 5 under – wow” and then just letting the thought go to play my next shot.

To me that was the secret – letting the thoughts go. Often I have been playing well and have started to focus on my score and what could happen rather than letting go of them and letting things ‘happen’.

Tiger has an amazing gameface.
Adrenal glands can help the pro (or hinder the joe)
Rhythm and routine (superstition) has worked for a couple of thousand years.

Philsla, ok musician? There’s some humility for you!!!

I’ve heard that Federer is totally calm before his matches. He chat’s relaxed with people and seems polite and friendly, not at all focused on the game or even thinking about it. Then he just goes out there and plays. I guess the zone must be different for people too.
I guess there must be a sense of calmness and relaxation, but there must be a strength as well because the body must be strong (but relaxed) to achieve the tasks at hand.
I do like the point that no matter how in the zone you are, if you don’t have the skills, you can’t perform the task. Guru would say the 32 ball drill is to help move the skills from the conscious to the un, then the creative mind can take it on. Like my mate philsla says, “Zen/zone is a mental/physical discipline. Not turning the brain/thoughts off, but letting the body do what it can do.” Of course the body has to be taught first.

Anyone into MMA? Check out Fedor, no hype, no pump, just the best.

“Zen/zone is a mental/physical discipline. Not turning the brain/thoughts off, but letting the body do what it can do.” Of course the body has to be taught first.”

yep. ofcourse.
we don’t “Look, look, look” at our own shoelace tying . . . but I watch my 3.5 yr old doing it.
That’s me at golf.
It’ll be awhile before it’s deep and habitual. But, that’s the aim.

D2BG, Nice….

Anxeity is always lurking and lives in the past and in the future. How hard is it to be in the present….BLOODY HARD… ‘cause its always moving…

I’ve had meditation experiences where I’ve seen a river come to a complete halt, all sound stopped, all thought stopped…nothing but the view of a river that wasn’t moving.

Once I recognized that the river had stopped my mind wanted to talk about it and label it by saying “The river has stopped.”

Well, the next thing I saw were big bold letters against the back drop of the stopped river….THE RIV…

As soon as I saw those letters the river began to shimmy and vibrate. That caught my attention, the letters disappeared and the river came to a stop again.

Did I find the Zone? Or did the Zone find me? Or did we find each other?

Stay thirsty my friends.

The mind does control the body. Its much easier to swing the club without tension. Tension tends to come from one of two places, either an injury/tiredness or mental.

We have all had days where every shot seems to come off.

And no doubt we have all had days where one bad shot has resulted in anger or frustration that leads to tension and the breakdown of our swing and ultimately the game.

Control your mind you will control your body.

Thats what I think the pros mainly use the shrinks for. Control of emotion.

in my experiences, the zone is a biological survival mechanism at first (like when yr in a car crash, things can seem very slow, clear and focussed) . . . then, you can start to confect the feeling.

Like most people, when I first started performing music, it was like a life or death battle. Vomiting. real anxiety. total fear. It is intense. This cripples alot of young musicians, but if you can perservere (eventually realising that you won’t actually die helps), you can harness that incredible energy.

Pressure makes ‘perfect’

I did some research years ago into extrinsic and intrinsic learning and its impact upon motor skill development and performance under pressure.

Basic idea was that extrinsic learning consists is rule based eg: alot of the golf instruction thread. Intrinsic learning is more a feel thing and letting your body (not mind) learn by experience. Intrinsic is more difficult to develop the skill but under pressure performance is meant to be better.

Under pressure the extrinsic learner returns to the rules to control movement (changing it from unconscious to conscious). Since the intrinsic learner does not have these rules their movements are not impacted by pressure.

Of course problems exist with the intrinsic learning if you are not playing well (i.e. you have learnt a swing fault) and I believe golf is such a complex sport to master that this type of learning is not optimal, but the concept of the rules creating problems seems solid. Focus on what you have to do to walk or tie your shoelace and it can easily become disjointed or difficult (unconscious to conscious)

Interesting you say survival. I’ve found that trying the ‘kill’ or ‘win’ idea doesn’t work at all. This sets up too much anxiety with past and future, will win, will kill, lost yesterday now’s my time etc. Survival is just that, in the now, just worry about the moment and keep going. Shot by shot you could say? Just a thought.

I think that something that has to be born in mind is that golf is a learned skill the same as playing a musical instrument.

I have heard the argument that we should play like we are tossing paper into a basket. If I were to suggest the same approach to someone who was a novice at playing the guitar then accomplished musicians would scoff at the idea. Golf is no different.

Yes we want to be free of mechanical thoughts when playing, but we need proper mechanics to play half way decent in the first place.

D2, I’ve find myself there too often, not trusting I know the shot so doing the technical rundown (unconscious to conscious) and getting all confused trying to control my body, total mess it is too. That’s the problem with golf, no reaction to the ball, too much think time. For me it’s result driven too, I want/need this shot so the anxiety sets in and I don’t trust the work I’ve done. The pre shot routine thread was good for this, getting into the space of action/reaction for the shot.