PUBLISHER’S INTERVIEW

[Copyright 2010. All rights reserved.]

What are golf’s “three noble truths”?

The word “noble” is highly significant. I borrowed it based on my long study of Buddhism. Here’s why. 2500 years ago, Buddha wandered for seven years looking for truth and enlightenment. Then the Buddha finally got fed up. He said, “Okay, that’s it!” He stopped wandering, sat under a fig tree and vowed to keep meditating until he found truth and attained enlightenment.

Twenty-four hours later, he discovered his four truths. His truths deal with life as suffering, the root of suffering, the end of suffering and the path leading to the cessation of suffering. Buddha called his four truths “noble,” meaning worthy — not aristocratic. Unfortunately, Buddha’s original Sanskrit term (arya-satya) was poorly translated.

By noble, Buddha meant worthy for all people — high-born and low-born alike. Immediately after his enlightenment, Buddha delivered his “Sermon at Benares” to announce publicly his four noble truths.

Like the Buddha, I wandered aimlessly searching for golf truth and enlightenment. I too got fed up. That’s when I resolved to sit still, ask questions, and look deeply within. What took the Buddha one night, took me over ten years. During this long period of intense immersion and reflection, I examined my habits, values, goals, and tendencies. I studied many subjects, including Eastern religion, golf, psychology, religion, science, sport, dance, education, anatomy, etc. Also, I played, practiced, read, discoursed, studied golf film and filled many notebooks with my findings.

Subsequently, I formulated my three truths: awareness, balance and unity. Let me briefly define them. Awareness denotes paying attention to exactly what’s going on. Balance denotes avoiding extremes. And unity denotes finding wholeness. These noble truths represent a worthy path for all golfers (high-born and low-born alike). The book defines and illustrates how these truths - once properly understood and applied - lead to learning, growth, enjoyment, and peace of mind.

This book is my “Sermon at Benares.” My inquisitive nature fueled my search. On my search, I encountered many deeply inquisitive golfers. Inquisitive golfers are committed code-breakers aiming to decipher golf’s cryptic and mysterious message. Whether you decipher golf’s cryptic and secret message doesn’t matter. Your reward isn’t what you get from it. Your reward is what you become from it! My truths transformed me. Whether my truths will transform you is an open question. Transformation is a gift you must give to yourself.

What induced your most recent mental and physical swing changes?

Unashamedly, I’ve changed my thinking about the weight shift and pivot. My old thinking – producing inconsistent results — was seriously flawed. Invoking my “yardstick for failure” – namely, my inability to strike the ball crisply eight times out of ten — I changed my thinking and doing.

All behavioral and cognitive changes entail risk. One of the major obstacles facing stunted golfers is risk-assessment. You need a measured, balanced, logical, and scientifically based approach to changing what you’re thinking and doing. Growth depends on your ability to select the best and most accurate advice among a host of competing and contradictory sources.

Your mindset determines your thinking. Your thinking determines your swinging. Your swinging determines your game. And your game determines your peace-of-mind. However, everything begins with a growth mindset.

Before you can assess your swing thoughts, you must assess your mindset (i.e. your cognitive framework). If you’re satisfied with your game — your distance off the tee, greens in regulation, putts per round, ball-striking ability, etc. – then don’t change what you’re thinking and doing. However, if you’re not satisfied with your game, change your thinking and doing.

To initiate change, assess your risk-propensity. In sum, weigh the potential gains and losses associated with your swing changes. Are you patient and persistent enough to see your game get worse – before it improves? Do you want a “swing-change” – in the form of a major breakthrough — or a “swing-adjustment” – in the form of a compensation or quick fix? Establish upfront a context or framework for your swing changes.

Researchers — like Dr. Amos Tversky at Stanford University — have studied the risk-propensities of decision-makers. Tversky found that people avoid making changes that may yield negative results. In sum, most people make changes based on anticipated losses – not anticipated gains.

“The threat of a loss,” Tversky writes, “has a greater impact on a decision than the possibility of an equivalent gain.” It’s no wonder that stunted golfers cling to flawed methodologies.

Don’t be either risk-averse or risk-happy – but risk-balanced. Adopt a growth-mindset and assess the associated risks involved. By taking a calculated risk in changing my weigh shift and pivot, I grew immensely.

Previously, I shifted my weight – as experts advised – by moving my upper torso off the ball. However, this proved problematic. When I moved off the ball and lost my center in my backswing – no matter how hard I tried — I could not consistently regain my center at impact. Finally, I said, “Enough.”

In searching for a centered-pivot, I came across the website and on-line videos of Andrew Rice www.andrewricegolf.com.

Rice – having scientifically analyzed the “best practices” of world-class golfers — offers some brilliant swing advice about the pivot, weight shift, left arm/torso relationship, steep shoulder turn, footwork, and other matters.

Accordingly, I learned to retract my right elbow straight back in the backswing as if I were starting a lawn mower, shooting an arrow at the ground, or punching the ground with my right arm (precisely as Martin Hall and others advise). Suddenly, everything seemed to make sense. The risks paid off royally!

Attached are selected Andrew Rice videos that may invite some breath-taking and profound swing changes of your own. These changes – albeit risky — promise to yield substantial and lasting rewards.

1. Andrew Rice: “Shift Weight, Stay Centered – or Both?”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0h0Sc3wy0go&feature=related

2. Andrew Rice: “Shoulder Pivot Drill”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WlR2KVPCuXk&feature=channel

3. Andrew Rice: “How to Stay Centered and Pivot Properly”:

”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8yufXud-3Go

4. Andrew Rice: Swing the Arms Inside and Narrow”:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ac1nnFbIl2k&feature=related

How will understanding optical illusions help golfers improve their swing?

Before I discuss optical illusions, let me remind you that the most important issue you must resolve in your golf swing is this: “How should I synchronize the swinging of my arms and the rotating of my body?”

Understanding optical illusions will help you understand how to move your arms properly. Most golfers – deceived by an optical illusion – misinterpret how their arms should move.

First, however, let’s briefly discuss what optical illusions are all about.

Optical illusions are visual phenomena that deceive or mislead us. They entice us to misinterpret the true nature of what’s happening. Optical illusions, like swamps, keep you stuck.

What most golfers perceive in the golf swing is not actually taking place. The golf swing is an optical illusion prompting you to misinterpret incoming sensory information.

It’s not enough, however, for golfers to access visual input. Golfers must clearly and accurately assess and interpret this input. Otherwise you can’t create a clear and accurate conceptual blueprint or inner reality.

But here’s the kicker. Even when you clearly and logically understand the illusionary nature of things (e.g. how your arms move), your brain often rejects such logic.

Neuroscientists call this tendency of the brain to reject logic – in the face of sound evidence – “cognitive impenetrability.”

Here’s what I’m saying. You need not only clear understanding. You also need the ability and willingness to accept that understanding. What’s the point of clearly and logically understanding something, if your brain doesn’t buy it? Pay close attention to whether your brain accepts your understanding.

An optical illusion – which misinterprets a visual phenomenon — is your brain’s hardwired adaptation to a tricky viewing situation.

Neuroscientists use the term “pareidolia” to denote the brain’s tendency to misinterpret optical illusions. The term denotes the brain’s tendency to find familiar – albeit wrong — patterns in low-information-content situations.

The term denotes the brain’s hapless tendency to embrace what’s familiar, what makes sense, and what it openly expects – and to reject logic.

Aristotle studied optimal illusions. Having stared at a waterfall for several minutes, Aristotle he started to see surrounding objects shifting upward.

Watch this video featuring a so-called dimensional optical illusion in which wooden balls seemingly roll uphill. Look deeply and ask questions, otherwise you’ll get tricked.

http://www.grand-illusions.com/opticalillusions/impossible_motion/

Scientists classify optical illusions into six types – involving colors, shapes, movements, luminescence, dimensions, etc.

The golf swing optical illusion that I’m targeting here is of the movement-type. The illusionary nature of how the arms move in golf swing deceives golfers. Golfers mistakenly perceive that their arms move sideways and around their body. That’s an optical illusion.

Once I understood that the arms – instead of moving sideways and around my body – actually move upward in sync with the turning of the body, I grew dramatically.

For years, I perceived golfers moving their arms sideways and around their bodies. Finally, I realized this was an optical illusion. The arms – driven by the turning of the shoulders and torso — only appear to move sideways and around the body. They actually move upward.

Finally, I understood and accepted the reality of the proper arm movement in my swing. Finally, I realized – in sync with the turning of my body — I need to lift-up my arms to the right and hinge my wrists in line with my left forearm during the backswing.

Wow-we-wow! When I lifted my arms to the right in sync with my body turn, everything made sense. Everything worked.

Study carefully and repeatedly these two videos by Steven Bann and Brian Manzella – who both discuss the illusionary nature of the arms in the golf swing. Let understanding penetrate your brain.

Steven Bann Video: “Backswing Arm Movement”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_JES-8I-VAk&feature=channel

Brian Manzella Video: “Episode Three”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_JES-8I-VAk&feature=channel

Pay close attention (especially during minutes 4 to 6) to what Brian says about simultaneously lifting-up the arms to your right AND turning the body during the backswing.

Here’s the bottom line: Unless you wake up, ask questions and look deeply, you’re going to get seriously hosed.

To relieve their chronic struggles, what one swing modification would you urge most stagnant and frustrated golfers to consider?

It’s presumptuous to generalize about most golfers. Therefore, I’ll discuss how I put my own house in order.

When I changed how I was using my right arm — I achieved my greatest breakthrough. It was a simple – but a profoundly important – swing change.

Whether this change applies to other stagnant golfers — like me – is an open question. However, I suspect millions of unenlightened golfers are using their right arm incorrectly. Perhaps they need to wake up as I did.

Here’s what I mean. In my previous backswing, I would correctly rotate my left forearm clockwise — but INCORRECTLY rotate my right forearm counter-clockwise.

In my present backswing I continue to rotate my left forearm clockwise. But now I CORRECTLY rotate my right forearm, right elbow and upper arm clockwise. It’s a magical.

Allow me to illustrate. Pretend that you’re holding the club with only your right hand. Now pantomime your backswing. If your right forearm rotates counter-clockwise – i.e. if your right thumb swivels TOWARD your body – you’re screwed. When your right thumb swivels toward your body – instead of away from your body — you’re using your right arm incorrectly. If that’s what you’re doing, consider changing your routine.

When I finally realized what I was doing with my right arm, I corrected a crippling mistake. Changing how I rotate my right arm – now in a clockwise direction — I improved immediately.

Here’s what I now do. In my backswing, I now rotate my right forearm clockwise. Simply put, I rotate or swivel my right thumb AWAY from my torso. (For years, I incorrectly rotated or swiveled my right thumb toward my right ear as so many experts advised.)

Rotating your right forearm clockwise – swiveling your right thumb AWAY from your body — will seem unnatural, wrong and counter-intuitive, especially to golfers who’ve played a lot of softball and baseball.

Bio-mechanically speaking, the swings in baseball and golf are inherently different. In golf, you’re obliged to keep the club on plane and square-up the clubface at impact. In baseball, that’s hardly the case.

Their ingrained habits from softball and baseball undoubtedly prevent golfers from changing how the use their right arm. However, your ingrained and unchallenged habits – vestiges of softball and baseball – will sabotage your golf swing.

Perhaps golfers mistakenly equate the golf club and the baseball bat. Understanding the key differences between the baseball swing and golf swing, you’ll immediately change your ingrained thinking and habits.

Rotating your right forearm – as well as your right upper arm, right thumb, right palm, right wrist axel, and right elbow — clockwise will achieve wondrous results.

Rotating your right forearm clockwise (1) keeps the club on plane, (2) keeps your grip solidly intact, (3) allows you to achieve a late hit (i.e. so you can hit from behind you), (4) keeps your swing-triangle together, (5) allows your right elbow to bend inward toward your right hip (i.e. to effect Harvey Penick’s “Magic Move”), (6) allows your hands at the top to remain below (not above) the grip, (7) creates more snap in your release, and (8) preserves your swing radius. These benefits — accrued from properly using your right arm – are bountiful.

In the following selected videos by Jeff Ritter, John Jordan and Ed Hanczaryk, please pay very close attention to how they use their right arm in the backswing. Observe precisely what they’re doing. Bobby Jones asserted that the surest path to improvement is to understand WHY and model WHAT the experts are doing that you’re not doing. In brief, most experts use the right arm quite differently than you do — or quite differently than you suppose. It’s wake-up time.

THEIR RIGHT ARM ROTATES CLOCKWISE. THEIR RIGHT ELBOW FOLDS INWARD. THEIR RIGHT PALM FACES THE SKY. THEIR RIGHT THUMB SWIVELS AWAY FROM THEIR TORSO.

1. Jeff Ritter Video: Faults & Fixes*
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xgqIcJMYieE

2. Jeff Ritter Video: Backswing Sequence: The Right Arm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FRYZiA23JVg

3. Jeff Ritter Video: Backswing Sequence: The Left Arm.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vEGsLn6yQsE&feature=channel

4. John Jordan Video: The Swing Plane
http://australianseniorgolfer.com.au/625/golf-swing-plane-simply-explained/

5. Ed Hanczaryk Video: Hit it Farther With a New Training Aid [Scroll down to the final video]
http://www.awarenessgolf.com/

I hope this points you in the right direction.

Should golfers challenge conventional thinking?

Absolutely and positively, yes. Golfers must wake up and examine WHAT they’re doing and WHY they’re doing it. Growth-minded golfers must switch from conventional thinking to revolutionary thinking. As I previously mentioned, this was especially true in how I was using my right arm. My conventional thinking was hopelessly flawed. If you’re not improving, change your thinking.

For example, millions of stagnant golfers have blindly adopted Ben Hogan’s conventional methodology. Hogan’s methodology is characterized by a flat and stationary swing plane represented by a sheet of glass – with a hole to accommodate the golfer’s head — that extends from the ground to the golfer’s shoulders.

Hogan also advocated the pronation and supination — or rolling over — of the forearms to square up the club face at impact.

Hogan’s method – which most experts teach – is not wrong. That’s not the problem. The problem is that Hogan’s methodology is hard to master. Some critics call the Hogan Swing a version of Russian roulette.

Mastering the Hogan method – involving the rolling of the forearms, the turning of the body, and the opening and closing of the club face traveling at high speed — demands split-second timing and tedious practice.

Why adopt a methodology that demands exhaustive practice? Did you know that Hogan developed his swing by spending eight hours a day, five days a week, hitting 1400 practice balls at Shady Oaks Country Club? Is that what you want — a high-maintenance methodology?

From a simple return-on-investment (ROI) perspective, Hogan’s high-maintenance and low-yield methodology may not be the one for you. Given the problems associated with Hogan’s conventional swing methodology, then why do over 90% of all golf teachers and learners keep using it?

A theory — called “The 100th Monkey Phenomena” — may help explain why millions of golfers persist in using Hogan’s conventional methodology.

In 1952 Japanese scientists on Koshima Island observed how macaques monkeys learned to wash their sweet potatoes in the ocean. Once this new behavior started, it rapidly spread throughout primate colonies on surrounding islands and to subsequent offspring. Simply stated, the idea of washing their sweet potatoes in the ocean spread widely among these primate colonies.

Enter Lyall Watson, a British ethnologist, who studied the research findings of these Japanese scientists. Dr. Lyall Watson – in his pioneering work entitled LIFETIDE (1979) — introduced a theory to explain the propagation of certain behavioral habits. Watson called his controversial theory “The 100th Monkey Phenomenon.”

Watson suggested that after the 100th monkey came along and washed its sweet potatoes in the ocean, then ALL monkeys adopted the same practice. The 100th monkey, according to Watson, was the critical number required for a new idea or practice to become a widely accepted convention.

When a certain number of members adopt and practice a specific method, Watson theorized that particular method becomes a “lifetide” or unchallenged convention. Thereafter, the rest of the population simply follows suit.

This “100th Monkey Phenomena” may partially explain why Hogan’s high-maintenance and low-yield methodology outlined in his THE FIVE LESSONS (1956) has become the conventional approach.

However, I urge golfers employing Hogan’s methods to examine what they’re doing and why they ‘re doing it.

Ask yourself whether washing your sweet potatoes in the ocean – like all the other monkeys – really makes sense. Maybe it’s too big of a hassle to lug your sweet potatoes down to the ocean. Maybe it’s easier and better to wash your sweet potatoes by rolling and rubbing them on the dewy grass nearby.

If you’ve never considered another method, how do you know if washing your sweet potatoes in the ocean is the best approach?

When you trade conventional thinking for revolutionary thinking, you create a framework for growth. That’s what happened to me. When I defied Hogan’s conventional thinking about the swing plane being a stationary and flat pane of glass, for example, I grew immediately.

Then I discovered, among many other things, that the swing plane – being more bubble shaped – actually rotates with the torso. I discovered that Hogan’s conventional flat and stationary pane – represented by his pane of glass — was actually retarding my growth.

Accordingly, I invite stagnant and frustrated golfers to examine unconventional approaches, including The Mike Austin Method which offers many rich alternatives.

Do your homework. Stop practicing and playing. Start learning and understanding. Begin by checking various websites – including those hosted by Dan Shauger, Jaacob Bowden, Mike Dunaway and D.J. Watts – to learn more about The Mike Austin’s Method.

Decide for yourself, what works, what doesn’t and why. You don’t have to re-invent the golf swing. Rather, you have to find an existing, clear, simple, repeatable, sound and practical methodology that works for you.

When you revolutionize your thinking, you’ll discover a better and easier way to wash your sweet potatoes.

How important is club head speed in the golf swing?

Club head speed is important. However, SMOOTH ACCELERATION of the club head is more important. Acceleration denotes the change in speed of an object over time.

Smooth acceleration explains why petite Lorena Ochoa hits consistently longer drives than bigger and stronger Paula Creamer. Lorena starts her back swing slowly — then gradually and smoothly accelerates her forward swing through impact. Conversely, Paula starts and sustains her rapid swing speed throughout.

You don’t want a rapid swing. You want a smoothly accelerating swing. Accordingly, you need three key things: (1) relaxed hands, wrists and arms, (2) a slow and circular takeaway and a quiet transition until your hands are waist high – then a rapidly accelerating club head through impact, and (3) a wide swing arc.

So relax, widen your swing arc, slow down your tempo, transition smoothly, then steadily accelerate the club head through impact.

Smooth acceleration will enhance “impact momentum” – a critical distance factor. Simply stated, smooth acceleration maximizes the collision time between ball and club face.

To step-up your game, understand and apply this basic physics formula: FORCE = MASS x ACCELERATION.

The FORCE (i.e. amount of energy you apply to the ball) depends on your club’s MASS (i.e. its size and weight) multiplied by its ACCELERATION (i.e. its increase in club head velocity over time).

Imagine two different swings with the same club. In Swing #1, the club head starts rapidly and maintains its velocity. It starts AND finishes fast.

In Swing #2, the swing starts off slowly, transitions smoothly — then suddenly accelerates from the moment the hands reach waist–level until the moment the hands pass through impact. It starts slowly BUT finishes fast.

Swing #2 – with an accelerating tempo — applies more force to the ball, produces a forward leaning shaft angle, and generates more power and distance.

When an airplane takes off, it maintains a rapid and constant speed. Then it SUDDENLY AND SMOOTHLY ACCELERATES.

When a car enters the on-ramp of the expressway, it maintains a rapid and constant speed. Then it SUDDENLY AND SMOOTHLY ACCELERATES.

This SUDDEN AND SMOOTH ACCELERATION pushes passengers back in their seats. This is the effect you want in your swing.

The size and weight of the airplane or car represent your club head. The passengers – thrust back in their seats – represent your golf ball. And the respective energy output of the two engines represents your body’s rotational and kinetic power supply.

Acceleration doesn’t alter the mass of the club head, airplane or car. Their mass remains fixed. However, acceleration multiplies the force exerted by the club head, airplane and car. That’s big.

Buy SMOOTH ACCELERATION and sell SUSTAINED CLUB HEAD SPEED.

Study the attached Mike Austin video to attain the requisite kinetic sequencing to attain SMOOTH ACCELERATION.

Mike Austin Video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s1EOt-RQO2g&feature=related

Study the attached Scott Cranfield video to attain the requisite wide swing arc to attain SMOOTH ACCELERATION.

Scott Cranfield Video:

http://www.todaysgolfer.co.uk/Golf/videotips/searchresults/Driving-and-Woods/One-drill-for-width-and-rotation/

Study this video from to attain the correct feeling of connection to attain SMOOTH ACCELERATION.

Learngolf.com Video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OxNIwg9wDGU

What’s the best training device in golf?

Your brain! Unfortunately, most golfers never employ it.

Statistics from the USGA indicate that fewer than one-tenth of 1% of all male golfers will ever shoot a single par round…that the average score for male golfers has remained 97 for over fifty years …that fewer than 25% of all female golfers will ever shoot below 100.

These statistics are the surest indication that there’s something seriously wrong with how golf is being taught and learned… that conventional swing methodologies don’t work…and that the conventional blueprint of the golf swing is fatally flawed.

When I bagged conventional thinking, I discovered my problem and improved dramatically.

I asked myself: “Self, would you hammer a nail by rotating the face of the hammer away from the nail, by spinning your hips and by moving your spine away from the nail?”

I asked myself, “Self, do you want a complex swing motion with a shit-load of moving parts?”

I asked myself, “Self, do you want to employ a complex motion that even tours pros — given the finest teachers, practice facilities, equipment and course conditions – can’t even master?” (If tour pros can’t master the conventional swing, what chance does a cheese-ball like me have?)

Here’s my main point: Don’t let conventional thinking deter you from using your brain. Don’t settle for what mainstream experts claim is reasonable and acceptable. Defy conventional thinking.

Galileo defied conventional thinking when he discovered the heliocentric theory of the universe. The Wright Brothers defied conventional thinking when they discovered the airplane. Golfers must defy conventional thinking to discover a repeatable and low-maintenance golf swing.

Employing conventional wisdom doesn’t allow you to use your brain creatively, independently and powerfully. Conventional wisdom bars you from creating something new and workable.

Stop devoting countless hours to “perfecting your imperfect swing.” Start creating a new and better swing. Trade safety for risk. Swap certainty for doubt.

Thankfully, that’s what I did. Decades of stagnation and frustration finally convinced me that conventional swing methodologies don’t work.

However, not all unconventional methodologies are equal. After examining and testing several unconventional approaches – including Moe Norman’s “Natural Golf” – I settled on the teaching of Mike Austin and his protégés (i.e. Dan Shauger, Jaacob Bowden and Mike Dunaway).

The legendary Mike Austin – who drove a ball 516 yards at the age of 64 – held many unconventional views. I urge you to look deeply into Mike Austin’s unconventional methodology.

In brief, Austin employed a compound pivot, moved the lower spine, tilted his hips, reverse-rotated the right forearm in the forward swing, kept the club head square to the target line, maintained a pendulum-like swinging motion, used both wrist axles in a cranking motion, and adopted a rotating swing plane.

Allow me – as Buddha did — to point you in a new direction. Accordingly, watch this brief Mike Austin Video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZC58_1wYAc&feature=related

Steve Jobs – the computer wizard – vowed to use his brain for only one purpose: “To put a ding in the universe.” If you study Mike Austin’s swing, you’ll put a ding in your golf universe.

Why do golfers need a clear and accurate mental image of the swing?

Creative performers – including the world’s best scientists, artists, and athletes – employ vivid mental images or imaginative metaphors to organize, clarify and guide their thinking and achieve breakthroughs.

When Copernicus imagined himself standing in the middle of the sun, he was able to formulate his heliocentric theory. When Einstein imagined himself riding on a beam of light, he was able to formulate his theory of relativity. When Watson and Crick imagined two, intertwined spiral staircases, they were able to formulate their double-helix theory of DNA’s molecular structure.

Creative thinkers revel in employing dazzling and accurate metaphors to achieve breakthroughs. You need to do the same.

Creative thinkers are smart enough to know how dumb they are. Creative thinkers are honest enough to admit that things aren’t working. If you’re stagnating, it means your mental image – whether it’s yours or borrowed from some so-called expert – isn’t working.

Let’s say you want to draw a Halloween pumpkin (i.e. a jack-o-lantern) on a piece of paper. You need to formulate an accurate and clear mental image of a Halloween pumpkin. Otherwise, you’re stuck. It’s the same thing with the golf swing.

If your mental image of the swing is fuzzy and inaccurate, you’re toast. It doesn’t matter how long and hard you practice. You’re stuck. Copernicus, Einstein, Watson and Crick got un-stuck only when they formulated a clear and accurate mental image.

The mental image that works best for me is that of a swinging pendulum. But I’m not referring to your ordinary, upright, everyday pendulum. I’m referring to a tilted pendulum. I’m referring to an imaginary tilted pendulum that defies gravity. Here’s what I mean.

If I stood perfectly erect at address, I would envision a pendulum swinging from side to side on a vertical axis. However, I don’t stand perfectly erect at address. I lean over at address. My spine angle is tilted. And it remains tilted throughout the swing.

My pendulum, therefore, must swing on a slightly tilted vertical axis. Thus my mental image of a swinging pendulum – as if the laws of gravity are suspended – moves back and forth on a tilted axis. This is important.

Yes, you must swing the club like a pendulum and employ a U-shaped arc. But you must not swing the club like a pendulum and employ an upright U-shaped arc — but a tilted U-shape arc.

Simply stated, don’t expect to TILT your spine at address – then make an UPRIGHT U-shaped swing. Your spine-angle and swing-shape must match-up. Your TILTED spinal axis demands a TILTED U-shaped swing. Once you understand that — everything makes sense.

Try out my mental swing image of a tilted horseshoe. Imagine that your swing is like a large, metal, U-shaped horseshoe like those hefty ones you pitch during family picnics. However, imagine that your swing – assuming a large U-shape — is TITLED. Imagine that the horseshoe – with its base resting on the target line — leans or tilts back toward you at address.

Now you can achieve an accurate mental image of the swing. Once you install that mental image, trace your tilted U-shaped horseshoe going back by standing up the club, cocking (as late as possible) your left wrist, keeping the back of your left wrist flat and setting or bending back your right wrist. Stop tracing an upright horseshoe. Start tracing a tilted horseshoe.

Now trace the tilted horseshoe going forward by un-cocking your flat left wrist, retaining your bent-back right wrist (until well after impact), un-cocking your left wrist, straightening out both arms after impact, then standing up the club again in your finish position.

Use the tilted “wall-to-wall” swing or “tilted U-shape” swing or “tilted horseshoe shape” swing as your mental image. Try it.

What physics principle do all golfers need to understand?

When golfers understand “The Conservation of Angular Momentum” (COAM), they will improve immediately and dramatically.

COAM deals with the behavior of objects – including golfers and golf clubs – that rotate around a fixed axis. When rotating objects remain the same distance from their axis, according to this principle, they speed up. Conversely, when rotating objects move away from the axis, they slow down.

For example, ice skaters spin more rapidly when they bring their arms close to their body. They spin less rapidly when their arms are far away from their bodies.

Simply stated, you CONSERVE angular momentum and RETAIN speed when your rotating object remains at a fixed distance from its axis. You DISSIPATE angular momentum and LOSE speed when your rotating object moves away from its axis. That’s it!

How does this apply to the golf swing? You and your club — representing a mechanical system — rotate around the fixed axis of your spine. If you move your hands and arms away from your axis of rotation – or spine — as you uncoil in your forward swing, you dissipate angular momentum and lose club head speed. In sum, you dissipate power and speed. Case closed.

If you keep your hands and arms the same distance from your axis of rotation – or spine – as you uncoil in your forward swing, however, you retain angular momentum and increase club head speed. You conserve power and speed. That’s the “conservation” part.

Ideally, you want to delay the release of your hands and arms as your club approaches impact. You want your hands, arms and club shaft ahead of – not even with — your club head at impact. You want to conserve – not waste — the angular momentum or rotational forces that you generate in your backswing. Got it?

Consider this. Suppose you’re swinging a broomstick against a tree. Which swing produces more power?

Swing #1: You swing the broomstick and strike the tree so that your shoulders have rotated 90 degrees and your hands, arms, sternum, hips and broom stick are centered or squared-up when you smack the tree.

Swing #2: You swing the broomstick and strike the tree so that your shoulders have rotated 180 degrees and your hands, arms, sternum, hips and broom stick are all open or leaning forward at impact. Swing #2 is what you want when you’re swinging either a broomstick or a golf club.

To apply this key mechanical principle, you must correctly (1) SET YOUR RIGHT WRIST and (2) EMPLOY LEFT AND RIGHT “FLYING WEDGES” (i.e. Homer Kelley’s term).

Observe these two enlightening videos by Greg Willis and Jack Richie to understand and master these two COAM-based techniques

Greg Willis: “The Right Hand Drill.”

http://mysite.verizon.net/gregjwillis/LESSON1.htm

Jack Richie: “Explaining The Flying Wedges.”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQplJ33oSjY&feature=related

Have you seen Charles Barkley’s golf swing? If so, what are your thoughts?

Barkley’s swing is to golf what the Chernobyl meltdown is to the nuclear power industry. Even Hank Haney — Tiger’s Coach — failed to fix Barkley’s tortured swing. Whether Barkley’s clownish swing reflects failed learning, failed teaching or both is an open question. Barkley – a microcosm of a golfing meltdown — personifies ineptitude.

When you watch this video, recall that Barkley – not your average bear — was a former NBA all-star:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s50K65PNeBU

Barkley’s horrible swing – once properly considered — contains two types of growth-seeds: learning seeds and teaching seeds. All golfers need both. That Hank Haney can help Tiger but can’t help Barkley is an interesting fact. It’s tantamount to a math teacher whose methodology works with honor students and not with remedial students. A viable teaching methodology should work for most golfers. Otherwise what’s the point?

Golfers need a viability-yardstick. If your car works only on Mondays and Fridays, why keep it? If a methodology works only for selected golfers, why keep it? Golf teaching methodologies – even those endorsed by experts — are largely untested, unverified and unscientific. Buyers beware! Embedded in Barkley’s poor swing are FIVE growth-seeds:

Seed #1: Barkley is using the wrong thought patterns. His existing mode of teaching and learning isn’t viable. He needs to scrap everything and start anew. Einstein said that you couldn’t fix a problem using the same thought patterns that you used to create the problem in the first place. When Barkley wakes up, pays attention to what’s happening and changes his thought patterns, he will improve. Improvement doesn’t happen any earlier or any later. Improvement happens when you shine the light of awareness on what you’re doing.

Seed #2: Barkley is thought-bound. His teaching and learning are entirely head-centered. He needs to become sensations-centered. His static or “position-by-position” approach, which is widely endorsed, simply doesn’t work. Bound with mental duct-tape, Barkley is paralyzed by thought. Barkley needs to adopt sensations. Use thought to solve your math problems. However, use sensations to solve your swing problems.

Barkley needs a kinesthetic approach readily engrained by simply swinging a fluffy-woolen ball attached to a thick, 3 1/2 foot rope. Essentially, that’s what Bobby Jones did. The human brain is incapable – even after endless repetitions — to impart the instantaneous neuromuscular responses that a swing (lasting only 1.4 seconds) inherently demands. Your brain-body mechanism doesn’t work the way you think it does. If you don’t believe me, then try teaching yourself to blink, smile and wiggle your ears while you’re throwing a football.

Seed #3: Barkley has got it ass-backwards: he moves his body to swing the club – instead of swinging the club to move his body. He needs to initiate his backswing with both hands – thereby bringing the club over his back shoulder. Next he needs to initiate his downswing with his arms (the area between his shoulder sockets and elbows) – thereby bringing the club into impact then finishing with the club over his forward shoulder. Then Barkley would own a dynamic, unified and rhythmic swing.

Seed #4: Barkley wrongly employs a weight-shift in his backswing. No wonder his balance is whacko. No wonder his timing and sequencing are lousy. No wonder his power is negated. No wonder his center-point moves. No wonder he looks like a contortionist. An effective weight shift – culminating in a simple and natural toe-drag — occurs after impact. Not before! Simply put, stay centered until impact – and then shift your weight.

Seed #5: Barkley needs a “swinging motion” not a “leveraging motion.” Without a swinging motion, you can’t swing. Without a running motion, you can’t run. Without a jumping motion, you can’t jump. However, many golfers think they’re employing a swinging motion. But they’re not. They are leveraging. A swinging motion means moving the entire club in the same direction, at the same time, and at the same rate of acceleration. A leveraging motion does just the opposite. A swinging motion creates centrifugal force. Centrifugal force creates circular club head speed. Circular club head speed creates powerful, straight shots. That’s what I see happening in Charles Barkley’s swing. Barkley provides us with a growth-rich example of a clueless golfer – mired in a failed methodology — who lacks awareness, balance and unity. Other than that, his swing looks fine.

What are dunce-cap golfers?

Dunce-cap golfers are fuzzy thinkers who cling to wrong-headed ideas, unscientific and unproven principles, flawed reasoning, stubborn attitudes, lazy learning, and stunning gullibility. Dunce-cap golfers – doomed to stagnation – share many of the following self-destructive thought-patterns. They mistakenly think that they possess healthy learning attitudes, skills and habits. Therefore, they never bother to learn how to learn. They blindly accept the untested, unscientific and unproven assertions, teachings, principles and precepts of so-called experts.

Therefore, they never challenge what’s often lousy advice – including mine. They foolishly insist on using conscious thoughts and manipulation – rather than mental pictures and kinesthetic sensations – to master the swing. Therefore, they’re never able to perform a complex and nuanced swinging motion lasting only 1.4 seconds. They keep using their body to move the club – instead of using the club to move their body. Therefore, they never acquire the consistent and proper sequencing the swing demands.

They keep employing a “leveraging” motion whereby the handle and club head move in opposite directions. Therefore, they never acquire a “swinging” motion whereby the entire club moves in the same direction, at the same time, and at the same rate of acceleration. They resort to straight lines and brute power rather than circles and centrifugal force. Therefore, they never develop a rapid and effective circular swinging motion employed by even the frailest golfers to smack the crap out of the ball.

They insist on using a static and positional methodology rather than a dynamic and holistic methodology. Therefore, they never develop a unified, rhythmic and total swinging motion. They make no distinction between learning and performing. Therefore, they rarely stop to look deeply and ask questions in order to monitor and assess what they’re doing.

They un-center themselves by shifting their weight to the instep of their rear foot during the backswing – but can’t properly re-center themselves and re-shift their weight at the precise split-second before impact. Therefore, at impact they’re off-balance, un-centered and powerless. They employ mindless, grinding, muscle-memory-based practice sessions instead of mindful, relaxing and kinesthetic-based practice sessions. Therefore, they delude themselves, waste time and effort, and go nowhere. You often marvel at how clownish Harry and Phyllis – your golf partners – look in their dunce-caps. I wonder what they think about yours?

What should golfers know about the weight shift?

Golfers should understand – not know about — the weight shift. Knowing means going about or around the periphery. Understanding means entering the core. When I realized I was lost, I stopped everything. I banished knowing and embraced understanding. I vowed to enter the core – the underlying principles – of golf. Subsequently, I discovered the folly of consciously shifting my weight to the inside my back foot during the backswing.

This popular weight shift method – espoused by many instructors – may work for tour pros who practice endlessly. It didn’t work for me. To understand the weight shift, I needed a new, clear and accurate mental blueprint. My existing mental blueprint was defunct. Eventually, I found the perfect mental blueprint in the domain of geometry. Thank you, Euclid. The golf swing creates centrifugal force by ascribing a big circle. Eureka!

I suddenly realized that an expert golfer is like a human compass. Expert golfers use their bodies to swing the club in a circle. Therefore, the geometry compass was the perfect analogue to understand the weight shift. To draw a neat circle with a compass, you need a center. Having fixed your center, you can then move the pencil to draw the circumference. However, if you shift your center, you can’t ascribe a neat circle. To destroy the center is to destroy the circle. To draw a neat circle, your pencil must pivot around a fixed center. It’s the same in the golf swing.

I resolved my weight shift issue by becoming a human compass. First, as a corollary for the pointy-arm of the compass, I imagined a line emanating from my sternum and entering the ground. That imaginary line – like the pointy-leg of the compass — establishes my pivot point and fixed center. Second, as a corollary for the pencil, I imagined my arms moving the entire club in a circle. No more straight lines! Shifting your weight to the instep of your back foot during your backswing moves your center point. You can swing that way if you wish.

However, you must re-shift your weight in the forward swing to regain your center before impact. But that shift and re-shift method requires impeccable timing. Shifting your center point creates serious timing and consistency problems. To regain your original center point precisely at impact – to re-shift your weight in a swing lasting 1.4 seconds — is nearly impossible. Your brain can’t handle it.

Employing a weight shift in your backswing – as many experts prescribe — becomes a hit and miss situation. Tour pros with a surfeit of practice time can perfect the art of shifting their weight just prior to impact. However, I can’t. I work for a living.

Heed carefully what I’m saying. I’m saying that shifting your weight during the backswing (1) destroys your center and (2) forces you – in that split second prior to impact – to recapture your center. I’m not saying there’s no weight shift. The weight shift happens AFTER impact. To keep your center-point in the backswing and prior to impact, become a human compass. When you become a human compass, you’ll eliminate your vexing timing, consistency and practice problems. How does that sound?

In UNDERSTANDING THE GOLF SWING (2002), Manuel de la Torre astutely writes, “I contend that the weight shift should be maintained equally divided on the feet until after impact and then centrifugal force will transfer the weight to the front foot.”

To become centered at IMPACT, according to de la Torre, become centered at SET UP. Set up with your hands centered in front of torso, weight centered between both feet, weight centered on the balls of each foot, club head centered between the feet, “V’s” of the grip pointing to the center of torso, and club shaft pointing to the center of mass (i.e. belt buckle or navel). Most importantly, the weight shift must happen subconsciously, naturally and automatically. Moving the club back with your hands – and down with your arms (i.e. the area between your shoulders and elbows) – allows your body to respond instinctively. Don’t use your body to move the club. Use the club to move your body.

As Hogan said, reverse your thinking. Knowing about the weight shift – based on popular theories — is one thing. Understanding the weight shift – based on the underlying principles of geometry and physics – is another thing. Simple knowledge tells you WHAT. Deep understanding tells you WHY.

Should golfers use a let-it-happen or make-it-happen mindset

Golfers should use both. You need a make-it-happen mindset to achieve the separate and static elements of your set-up. And you need a let-it-happen mindset to achieve a unified and dynamic swinging motion. Successful golfers who swing with a let-it-happen mindset are blessed. Failed golfers who swing with a make-it-happen mindset are cursed. All control freaks – like your boss and mother-in-law – are similarly cursed!

A swing based on a make-it-happen mindset doesn’t work. The human brain fires too slowly – in a 1.4 second interval — to induce the requisite neuromuscular sequencing that the swing demands. Nonetheless, the most educated and intelligent golfers still swing using a make-it-happen mindset. A make-it-happen mindset implies conscious thought patterns, deliberation, planning, coercion, analysis, focus, forced movements, concentration, manipulation, tension, concern, manual pilot mode – and purposeful effort.

Whereas a let-it-happen mindset implies subconscious thought patterns, sensations, intuitions, feelings, freedom, natural movement, relaxation, looseness, fluidity, autopilot mode – and mindless effort. All mindsets are situational. Let’s say, for example, your brother-in-law asks you to surgically remove his gall bladder. However, you’ve never performed a surgical operation. You’re not even a physician. You’re a licensed and trained Rotor-o-Rooter Service Technician. To remove your brother-in-law’s gall bladder, you’ll need a serious, heavy duty, make-it-happen mindset. You’ll need to employ utmost deliberation, planning, conscious thought, analysis, effort, focus, concentration, manipulation, intensity and concern and some expert guidance. Accordingly, don’t drink prior to the surgery. Pop a few beers afterward.

Many situations – unlike surgery – don’t demand a serious, heavy duty, make-it-happen mindset. For example, falling asleep, scratching your head and removing a cold beer from the refrigerator demand a let-it-happen mindset. You can use a make-it-happen mindset in these and similar situations. However, why bother? What’s the point?

Here’s what I saying: The swinging motion – contrary to popular opinion — demands a let-it-happen mindset. Anyone who thinks or states otherwise ignores the research findings of leading cognitive scientists. I achieved golf-liberation when I lifted the curse of my serious, heavy duty, make-it-happen mindset. Shifting to a let-it-happen mindset, I resolved my intractable problems. My nagging swing plane and weight shift difficulties simply vanished. My breakthrough was based on Manual de la Torre’s core advice.

He advises golfers to LET the swinging motion of the club dictate the precise, well-timed and subconscious movements of the body. He urges golfers to LET the movement of the entire club dictate how their body should perform. Albeit he doesn’t express it this way, nonetheless, he advises golfers to switch to a subconscious, natural, sensory-based, let-it-happen, autopilot mental mode.

To use a let-it happen mindset in your swing, do three key things: (1) in the backswing use both hands to swing the club over your rear shoulder, (2) in the downswing use both arms (i.e. the area between the elbows and shoulder) to swing the club over your forward shoulder, and (3) swing the ENTIRE CLUB IN A CIRCULAR ARC — AT THE SAME TIME — AND AT THE SAME RATE OF ACCELERATION. A let-it-happen mindset – allowing the swinging motion of the club to produce the correct body movements and sequencing – will remedy your problems.

Why bother thinking about swing plane and weight shift if you don’t have to. Why bother thinking about swing plane – the address angle of a particular club relative to the ground and your posture – if you don’t have to? Why bother thinking about where, how and when to shift your weight – back then forward – if you don’t have to? Why not LET the swinging motion of your club, naturally, effortlessly and automatically resolve your swing plane and weight shift issues? Give your brain a breather.

Switch to autopilot mode. Switch from moving your body to produce the proper swinging motion – to moving the club to produce the proper body movements. Switch from MAKE to LET. The switch is simple – not simplistic.

After your ten-hour shift as a Roto-Rooter Service Technician — having laboriously used your heavy duty, serious, make-it-happen mindset to unclog a two dozen toilets and drains — are you going to think about arm plane, torso rotation, wrist hinge, hip turn, spine angle and knee flex in order get a cold beer from the bottom shelf of your refrigerator? Or are you going to imagine a cold beer on the bottom shelf – open the refrigerator – and LET your body do its own thing? Swinging a golf club is more like removing a cold beer from your refrigerator than less like removing your brother-in-law’s gall bladder. LET it happen.

Should golfers adopt a “body-focused” or “club-focused” learning and teaching methodology?

Golfers must merge BOTH methodologies. However, that’s not happening. Failed golfers – who represent the overwhelming majority — employ unhealthy dualistic logic. Successful golfers – who represent the precious minority – employ healthy holistic logic. Golf learning and teaching can be divided into two methodologies.

The body-focused methodology – employed by 90% of golf instructors and pupils – stresses the proper movements of multiple BODY parts to swing the club properly and produce effective shots. The body-focused methodology is a classic example of a lousy idea – like spending your money on diet pills – which millions of people blindly embrace. Conversely, the club-focused methodology – employed by 10% of golf instructors and pupils – stresses the proper swinging movement of the CLUB to produce effective shots. David Leadbetter is body-focused. Manuel de la Torre is club-focused. Both methodologies contain valuable elements. Thus, blend the best of both. An intensive body-focused methodology is a failed approach. It can’t possibly work.

First, your body is unique. Unless you have Hogan’s identical body, motivation, and central nervous system, why are you trying to imitate his swing? Develop a swing conducive to your own body. Second, your brain can’t consciously control multiple and rapid body movements during a swing lasting only 1.4 seconds. Unless you’re a robot, why are you asking your brain to do something it’s not hard-wired to do? Give your brain a break. Third, your body’s many moving parts must all operate flawlessly to achieve the desired effect. Unless you can spend literally thousands of hours hitting practice balls, why are you trying to engrain your body with the proper biomechanical sequencing patterns?

Conversely, a relaxed club-focused methodology is a productive approach. First, every club – for every expert golfer — moves essentially the same way. Every expert golfer moves the entire club at the same rate of speed, in a circular arc, and at the same time. Learn one universal club movement that expert golfers — possessing millions of unique body types – all employ.

Given the many differences among individual swings and bodies, a productive methodology must stress universals. When you learned to drive a car, did you primarily focus on moving selected body parts or on moving the entire car? Primarily focus on moving the whole club – not individual body parts. Second, relying on subconscious feelings — rather than on conscious thought – facilitates rapid learning and enhanced performance. When you learned to whistle, did you focus on moving your lips, tongue and lungs to expel air and produce sounds? Or did you intuitively just whistle?

Bobby Jones learned the proper swinging motion by intuitively gaining the feeling of swinging a weight on a rope. Imitate how great golfers learn – not how great golfers move individual body parts. Third, you want a simple – not a complex — methodology. A five minute, club-focused lesson can instantly take the place of dozens of lengthy, physically exhausting and mentally tedious body-focused lessons. Adopt a club-focused methodology. However, incorporate TWO strategic body-focused elements.

According to Manuel de la Torre, these strategic body-focused elements include: (1) using both HANDS to take the club back and (2) using both ARMS – the areas between your shoulder sockets and elbows – to bring the club down. This is an elegantly simple methodology that blends a minor body-focus with a major club-focus. De la Torre’s approach is especially useful for club golfers who’ve languished trying to replicate Tiger’s or Ben’s swing – rather than building their own swing. Manuel de la Torre’s blended methodology reveals the flawed thinking that bad shots arise from bad body positions.

If you move the club correctly – according to de la Torre – your body will automatically produce a good shot. It’s a done deal. However, if you move the club incorrectly, it’s impossible to move your body correctly – given the brevity of the swing interval – to produce a good shot. If the club moves incorrectly, you’re screwed. Next case!

Suppose you’re shooting an arrow at a target. It doesn’t matter what you do with your body. What matters is what you do with the bow and arrow. If you do the right thing with the bow, the arrow will hit the bull’s eye. So too in golf. If you do the right thing with the club, the ball will fly correctly to the target.

Admittedly, de la Torre is primarily club-focused. He stresses the think and feel of the proper swinging motion of the club. However, de la Torre incorporates and blend key body-focused elements. He complements his club-focused methodology by stressing the proper use of the HANDS and ARMS. Think holistically – not dualisticly. You’ll improve only when you change your mode of thinking.

Which instructional methodology is best?

The best instructional methodology must satisfy the “Principle of Occam’s Razor.” Scientists use this principle to select the best explanation or solution to a particular problem. Among a host of competing explanations and solutions, the best explanation or solution has the fewest variables. Simply put, the best explanation or solution is the simplest. Golfers should select the most simple – not the most simplistic – explanation or solution to their problem.

“Simple” means logical, comprehensive and brilliant. “Simplistic” means illogical, incomplete and moronic. If two methodologies both offer viable explanations and solutions to your golf ailments, implement the “two-step” – not the “ten-step” – methodology. Less is more. Simple is elegant. When they treat patients, savvy physicians employ the following rule of thumb: “When you hear hoof beats, think horses – not zebras.”

Golfers should think horses — not zebras. Among the many instructional methodologies I have studied, Manuel de la Torre’s is a horse – not a zebra. His methodology, presented in book and DVD format, is entitled UNDERSTANDING THE GOLF SWING. De la Torre’s methodology — logical, simple and effective – neatly synthesizes the key elements included most idiosyncratic approaches. Most idiosyncratic methodologies explain how and why a certain expert moves his or her club. However, an idiosyncratic methodology can’t explain how and why YOU should move the club. That’s the problem with most methodologies. They’re idiosyncratic!

Golfers – who have their own unique parameters – don’t fit someone else’s procrustean approach. Isn’t it about time you stopped wearing someone else’s golf shoes or using someone else’s golf swing? No wonder you can’t walk or swing comfortably. Hogan’s methodology, for example, worked well for him. However, there’s no guarantee it will work well for you. Everyone’s body responds differently to the swinging motion of the club.

Enter Manuel de la Torre. He based his methodology – a “united field theory” – on common denominators. His methodology explains how and why ALL golfers should move the club. When de la Torre examined the swings of the best golfers, he discovered key common denominators to teaching and learning the swing. All expert golfers – according to de la Torre — move the entire club at the same time, in the same direction and at the same pace toward the target in a centrifugal motion. That’s it.

De la Torre’s methodology – adopted from his father’s teachings – builds on Ernest Jones’s seminal theory of “swinging the club head.” However, de la Torre refutes one key element in Ernest Jones’ methodology. Jones advises golfers to swing the club head with their hands. De la Torre vehemently disagrees.

De la Torre properly advises golfers — in the backswing — to use their HANDS to swing the CLUB HEAD to shoulder level. However, de la Torre advises golfers – in the downswing — to use their ARMS to swing the ENTIRE CLUB through impact. After decades of observation and testing, De la Torre realized that golfers screw-up because they get too handsy. That’s what happens when golfers – in the downswing — swing the club head with their hands. According to de la Torre’s methodology, golfers must swing the entire club toward the target during the downswing with both arms – not with the hands. By the “arms,” he means the area between your shoulder sockets and your elbows. De la Torre’s methodology makes perfect sense.

The body should respond to the movement of the club head. The club head should NOT respond to the movement of the Essentially, the BODY – responding to the swinging motion of club – is the slave or follower. Conversely, the CLUB is the master or leader. Let the CLUB – not the BODY – run the show.

De la Torre’s methodology properly accounts for the centrifugal force that emanates from your center of mass. It’s like this. Since your radius point resides between your shoulders, de la Torre naturally wants you to focus on swinging your arms in the downswing. Swinging both ARMS in the downswing (1) creates the proper rotary motion, (2) keeps you centered and (3) prevents you from swaying, and (4) utilizes ground forces. By swinging the entire club with your arms, you develop centrifugal force. You rotate your center of mass situated between your shoulders and elbows. You stay centered. You don’t employ a conscious weight shift. You retain your center point just as you did in geometry class – when you pressed the sharp point of the compass into the paper as the pencil inscribed a perfect circle. De la Torre’s methodology is elegantly simple.

To teach his pupils the swinging motion, de la Torre’s stresses dynamic or holistic learning – not static or position-by-position learning. His methodology doesn’t stress creating specific anatomical angles and planes. In fact, he mostly ignores plane. His methodology stresses learning and teaching the swinging motion by employing sensations and intuitions – not analysis and thought.

Also, his methodology stresses positive cognitive feedback – not individual faults and fixes. De la Torre applies “The Principle of Occam’s Razor.” The swing – according to de la Torre — involves nothing more than moving the club in a centrifugal manner towards the target. The body merely responds to that basic movement. Swinging a club is just like swinging a weight on a rope. He astutely distinguishes between two distinct motions: swinging and leveraging. A sound golf methodology is like an AAA trip ticket. It’s a well-planned way to get you safely, comfortably and conveniently from Point A to Point B. If you want to arrive at your golf destination, follow de la Torre’s trip ticket.

Why do growth-minded golfers need to understand how the brain works?

The brain is an invaluable tool. Why own an all-purpose and magnificent tool — a divine gift — that you don’t properly understand or use? Isn’t life hard enough? Why make life any harder? I’m not saying you should take a grad-course in neurophysiology. I’m saying you should have a basic understanding of how the brain works. I’ll be mercifully brief.

The brain has two distinct sides. The analytical or left side processes logical thoughts and verbal messages. Golfers employ the left side to analyze golf videos and read instructional books. The left side enhances your LEARNING. Conversely, the intuitive or right side processes images and sensations. Golfers must employ the right side to practice and engrain selected performance skills. The right side enhances your PERFORMING. To enhance golf-learning and golf-performing, you must properly employ and balance both sides.

Golfers encounter problems when they don’t balance both sides. Golfers, who over-use their analytical or left side, will under-use their intuitive or right side. Then they’re lopsided. They’re mis-using their brain. It’s like trying to listen to two different musical works simultaneously. When golfers pay more attention to the loud, brassy and analytical music emanating from the brain’s left side, they pay little or no attention to the soft, subdued and intuitive music emanating from the brain’s right side.

Excessive left brain activity (i.e. thinking and analyzing) blocks right brain activity (i.e. intuiting and feeling). Right brain functioning is good for understanding key skills. Left brain functioning is good for performing those key skills. So don’t mix up these two distinct functions. In a recent experiment, researchers asked expert golfers – prior to playing their shots — to spend five minutes analyzing their putts. Accordingly, researchers found a dramatic reduction in their putting performance. In sum, golfers employing extended analysis (localized in the brain’s left side) blocked the requisite sensations (localized in the brain’s right side). Consequently, golfers couldn’t perform naturally, instinctively, intuitively and effectively. Researchers also discovered a slightly different result among novice golfers.

Beginners, according to researchers, perform better if they think about a few key details. However, once beginners gain experience, knowledge and confidence, they too perform more effectively when they become more intuitive – and less analytical. Golfers need the left hemisphere to enhance their analytical learning – to gather, assess, organize, and process information. However, they need the left side to perform a dynamic swinging motion. Analytical learning and intuitive performing are different functions. To enhance their performing, golfers must use their brain’s right side. The right side – not the left side — enables golfers to access the requisite sensations to develop a rhythmic and circular swinging motion. To enhance your performance, you literally and figuratively need to be in the “right mind.” Left-brain analysis is good for learning enhancement. But it’s not good for performance enhancement.

To enhance your performance, access your brain’s right side. Swing a weight on a rope. Grasp intuitively the sensation of the entire club moving in a circular, centrifugal and unified motion. Focus on creating and engraining in your brain’s right side the right sensations. Focus on swinging dynamically and holistically – not statically and positionally. Drop left brain processing — such as verbal check-off lists and reminders. Adopt right brain processing – such as visualizations and sensations. ANALYZING swing-mechanics is basically a left-brain function. PERFORMING the swing-motion is basically a right-brain function. If and when you learn that key distinction, you’ll grow.

Should golf be taught and learned from a “static” or “dynamic” perspective?

Ideally, golf should be taught and learned from both perspectives. A static perspective – involving analytical thinking – views the swing as a series of interconnected and segmented positions. It’s a position-by-position methodology. The static perspective – facilitated by high tech video cameras and computer diagnostics – is analysis-driven. Today, the static perspective prevails. Conversely, a dynamic perspective – involving systems thinking – views the swing as a unified, indivisible and dynamic motion. It’s a holistic methodology. The dynamic perspective – eschewing exhaustive mental processing – is sensations-driven. Years ago, the dynamic perspective prevailed.

This shift in perspective, in my humble view, began around 1925 when the USGA authorized the use of steel shafted clubs in competition. Steel shafts – less whippy than hickory — reduced torque. Thus steel shafts invited golfers to swing harder but still control the club head. This technological equipment change produced in golfers some dramatic and evolving changes in their thought patterns. Using more rigid steel shafts, golfers stopped swinging and began hitting. They stopped ascribing circular swing paths and began ascribing linear swing paths. They stopped using finesse and began using muscle. They stopped employing and trusting their sensations and began employing and trusting their thoughts. They stopped viewing the swing as a dynamic and unified motion and began viewing the swing as a connection of static and segmented positions. Simply stated, steel shafts radically changed golfers’ thought patterns.

Golfers – employing new thought patterns – thus adopted new modes of teaching and learning. It’s tantamount to the change in people’s thought patterns with the advent of pocket calculators and spell-check software. These innovations prompted people to evolve new modes of teaching and learning arithmetic and spelling. (And look what happened!) During the Bobby Jones Era of hickory shafts, golf was taught and learned dynamically. Yesterday’s golfers trusted their sensations to grasp the swing’s circular, centrifugal and dynamic movement. Golfers identified and replicated the feelings associated with swinging correctly, dynamically and holistically. Feelings — not thoughts — ruled.

Today’s golfers, however, rely on static and analytical learning and teaching methodologies. Using diagnostic computers and video cameras, golfers scrupulously study static positions, angles and planes. However, analysis – if improperly applied – can erode effective teaching and learning. Is this happening to you? Golfers should use NOT ONLY static and analytical teaching and learning BUT ALSO dynamic and systems teaching and learning.

Analytical thinking is effective for teaching and learning static elements, namely the set-up. However, systems thinking is ideal for teaching and learning dynamic elements, namely the swinging motion. Herein lies the problem. Golfers persist in meticulously breaking down the swinging motion. It’s entirely wrong. Analysis — which breaks down the dynamic and holistic swinging motion into static and separate parts – destroys the swing.

It’s like this. Suppose that you capture, mount, segment and label a Monarch butterfly for your school’s science fair. When you get finished analyzing the butterfly part by part, however, you no longer have a dynamic and functional butterfly. Rather you have an inert and static butterfly specimen. You have a science project. It’s the same thing with analyzing, segmenting and labeling your golf swing. You have a science project.

Many golf gurus – including John Jacobs – admit that golfers today play well and score low – mostly due to enhanced equipment and playing conditions. However, many experts claim that modern golfers do not have better swings. In PRACTICAL GOLF (1972), Jacobs writes, “I believe golfers today don’t swing as well as they did forty years ago… the main reason seems to me our growing predilection with what I call STATIC golf.” In his classic book, SWINGING INTO GOLF (1937), Ernest Jones advises golf teachers and learners to adopt a dynamic perspective.

Specifically, Jones advocated feeling-based learning by intuiting the proper swinging motion of the club head. The P.G.A. of America paid Ernest Jones its highest honor in 1950 by asking him to deliver the keynote address at its convention. Ernest Jones took only one hour to deliver his famous address. However, Jones took the next six hours to answer questions and entertain comments. Bobby Jones attended this convention. During the discussion period, Bobby Jones finally rose, faced the audience, and said, “Gentlemen, we all know that you can’t build-up a golf swing step-by-step. We play by feel.” Why then, Jones mused, do most golf teachers and learners insist on stressing thinking over feeling? Finally, Bobby Jones said, “ I think Ernest’s conception of the swing is quite right. We ought to be most concerned with finding a simple and effective approach to teaching the game. I think Ernest’s conception of swinging the club head and the way he teaches it is a very simple approach. I spent my career swinging a weight at the end of a string.”

Stagnant golfers – who employ static and analytical teaching and learning – should consider employing dynamic and systems-based teaching and learning. That’s what swinging a weight at the end of a rope is all about – dynamic and systems-based learning. Einstein wrote, “The specific problems we face cannot be solved using the same PATTERNS OF THOUGHT that were used to create them.”

Maybe Einstein was referring here to growth-stunted golfers. Few golfers will disagree with Einstein. Yet few golfers will ever understand the profound implications of what Einstein is saying. After years of prolonged stagnation, if you haven’t figured out by now that static and analytical learning and teaching (i.e. breaking down the swing position-by-position and part-by-part) prevents you from accessing the dynamic unity of the swinging motion, perhaps you never will. How you want to spend the rest of your golf life is up to you. I’m done talking.

What’s the best “training aid” for golfers?

The best training device is deep understanding. Given the surfeit of false, contradictory, incomplete, untested, complicated and fuzzy golf information available – golfers desperately need deep understanding. Deep understanding denotes knowing something thoroughly. However, deep understanding is never permanent and complete. Deep understanding is always temporary and partial. That’s what makes deep understanding so elusive and deceptive. Deep understanding changes constantly.

On-going doubt fuels deep understanding. On-going certainty deadens deep understanding. In fostering deep understanding, golf’s regulatory and governing bodies are sorely remiss. Several months ago – before I yanked it — I wrote a magazine article admonishing the USGA for neglecting the needs of millions of struggling golfers. In sum, I fault the USGA for spending its finite resources testing square groves on wedges, dimple designs on golf balls, turf imprints from golf spikes, and other esoteric matters. It’s tantamount to the National Institute of Health spending its scarce research funds testing toe nail clippers and hang nails for celebrities – instead of conducting research on cancer and coronary disease for the masses.

The USGA should — “For the good of the game” — scientifically test (1) swing theories, (2) learning methodologies, and (3) teaching approaches to enhance the failed competencies and inept practices of America’s 25 million golfers. Since the USGA won’t nurture deep understanding, do it yourself. To help you gain deep understanding, consider a key resource: Manuel de la Torre’s “Understanding the Golf Swing” (2001). It will solidly ground you.

Here I will summarize the author’s swing methodology which he predicated on the theories of Ernest Jones. De la Torre – a savvy golf instructor now in his seventies – asserts that the swinging motion must be circular and energy-efficient. Circular movements create centrifugal force. Straight movements destroy centrifugal force. An energy-efficient golf swing, in sum, has no straight lines.

Most importantly, the author makes a vital distinction between two motions: “swinging” and “leveraging.” A swinging motion, which is circular, produces maximum club head speed. A leveraging motion, which is linear, impairs club head speed. In a swinging motion, you move the entire club in the same direction, at the same time, and at the same pace. Swinging motions are designed to increase SPEED.

In a leveraging motion you move the parts of the club in opposite directions at the same time. For example, when you leverage the club, you move the butt in one direction and the club head in an opposite direction. Leveraging motions are designed to increase POWER. Leveraging is good for lifting heavy rocks. Leveraging is not good for hurling small rocks at high speed. Again, a swinging motion enhances club head speed and centrifugal force. Conversely, a leveraging motion destroys club head speed and centrifugal force. To gain speed and centrifugal force, you must swing the ENTIRE club in one direction – not parts of the club opposing directions. Your swing should work like a spinning bicycle wheel with everything revolving in one direction — not like a seesaw with opposing ends moving in different directions. In a circular golf swing, the entire club – not just the club head – moves in a circle. There is a subtle — but profound — distinction between swinging and leveraging. In fact, understanding deeply this profound distinction — namely whether the entire club or just the club head moves along the circular swing path — determines your entire golf status.

If you fail to understand this key distinction — you won’t improve. To experience a swinging sensation, the author advises you to attach a small weight to a string. You then wrap the string (holding the small weight) around the handle of a golf club. In the address position, the weight — suspended from the handle — will dangle straight down. Now swing the club AND the weight attached to the string. In a swinging motion, the club head AND weight ascribe a perfect circle. This is the sensation you want.

In a leveraging motion, only club head ascribes a circle. The weight — failing to ascribe a circle — will dangle motionlessly straight down. This is not the sensation you want. Deep understanding demands that you sense the difference between “swinging” and “leveraging.” It’s the difference between the following: (1) Making a circle with the entire club (i.e. the club head, shaft and handle) all going in one direction VS. (2) Making a circle with the club head going in one direction and the handle going in an opposite direction. In a swinging motion, you think about only the club. Actually, that’s all there’s time to think about. In a leveraging motion, you think about multiple things, including body and club positions, angles and movements.

So why think about FIVE things – when you can think about only ONE thing? It’s like when you sign a bank check. Do you focus only on moving the pen. Or do you focus on how your fingers, wrist, hand, forearm and elbow make the pen move. Hello! De la Torre offers a simple approach to swing mechanics. In the backswing, he advises you to use both HANDS – with the club head leading the way — to ascribe a circular path to position the club over your back shoulder. In the forward swing, he advises you to use both ARMS (i.e. the area between the shoulder and elbow) to ascribe a circle to bring the entire club into impact.

In both your backswing and forward swing, you focus on the club – not on your hands or arms that move the club. In the backswing, the club head leads. In the forward swing, the club head follows. When you adopt a swinging motion, your body will RESPOND. It won’t INITIATE. When your body RESPONDS, it surrenders itself to the swinging motion of the club. When your body RESPONDS to the centrifugal force of your swinging motion, everything happens naturally. Your left arm extends naturally. Your head remains down naturally. Your weight transfers naturally. Your body on the forward swing pivots naturally. Your club remains on plane naturally. Your footwork occurs naturally. Your wrists hinge naturally.

This is only a brief summary of de la Torre’s teachings. I invite you to deepen your understanding by examining and testing his methodology.

Will golfers grow by heightening their self-awareness?

No! Self-awareness – without deep-understanding – will not foster growth. Without deep-understanding, self-awareness is useless. Birds fly with two wings. Golfers also “fly” with two wings: self-awareness and deep-understanding. Self-awareness denotes a penetrating recognition of your doings. Deep-understanding denotes a penetrating recognition of the profound implications associated with your doings. For example, if you’re unaware that you’re snoring or sleep walking, you’ll keep doing it. You’ll also keep doing it if you don’t understand the profound consequences associated with it. The growth formula has two-parts. Self-Awareness + Deep-Understanding = Growth Self-awareness is extremely important. In 1972, Dr. Beulah Amsterdam — a UNC psychology professor – launched her “Mirror Self-Recognition Test.” To determine when infants develop self-awareness, she conducted a simple experiment. Dr. Amsterdam surreptitiously placed a tiny red dot on the noses of infants – between the ages 6 and 24 months. She then positioned these infants in front of a mirror. The mothers — pointing to their infants’ reflections in the mirror – said, “Who’s that?” After testing 88 infants, Dr. Amsterdam gathered some interesting data. Only infants ages 20 months and older pointed to the red dot on their noses.

Essentially, these infants displayed the self-awareness to identify their own reflected image. These infants recognized that the red dot belonged to them — not to the mirror. Dr. Amsterdam concluded that humans develop their capacity for self-recognition around age two. Nonetheless, many golfers lack the requisite self-recognition to “see” themselves on video-tape or in a mirror. Often they fail to observe, for example, that their swings are too fast or stance too upright. These golfers resemble the infants who don’t recognize the red dot on their nose.

Growth-minded golfers, however, are constantly looking for red dots on their nose. They look deeply and consult experts to look deeply. Expert golf instructors can readily identify red dots on the noses of their pupils. Inexpert instructors can’t. Don’t assume your instructor will see your red dot. Thus entertain doubt and look deeply for red dots. Seeing the red dot, however, isn’t enough. You must understand the profound implications associated with the red dot. Otherwise you won’t bother to remove it.

Deep-understanding – the second part of part of the growth-formula – denotes comparative and theoretical reasoning. You need to compare your “nose” (i.e. swing) with the “noses” (i.e. swings) of tour pros. By accessing deep-understanding, you’ll learn that tour pros don’t have red dots on their noses — or fast swings or bad postures. Deep-understanding involves sifting through tons of contradictory information on swing-mechanics and conducting countless experiments. There’s no other way.

The shortcut to deep-understanding resides in accessing expert teachers. But that’s not always easy. Rely on yourself AND others. Allow me to relate an apt experience. Having religiously adopted many of Ben Hogan’s swing precepts, I would push my knees together at address to form a stable base. When I looked at my stance in the mirror, I saw what I expected to see – my knees pushed together just as Hogan demonstrated in THE MODERN FUNDAMENTALS. However, something was amiss. I started comparing the position of my knees at address to that of most tour pros. I eventually realized they were doing something quite different. Many tour pros bowed-out their knees at address. That’s when I spotted a small red dot on my nose.

Next I researched the biomechanical implications associated with different knee-positions at address. I learned IF, WHY and HOW to remove the red dot on my nose. Ultimately, I discovered that bowing-out my knees at address — despite what Hogan advised – allowed me to (1) shift my weight properly and (2) introduce more power from the large muscles in my thighs. Wow! Noticing the red dot and understanding why I needed to remove it, I grew considerably.

To gain a deeper understanding of the consequences associated with bowing-out your knees at address, observe the following brief video by one of UK’s Top Instructors — Lee Scarbrow. Lee Scarbrow Video: “How to Lengthen Your Drives”

http://www.todaysgolfer.co.uk/Golf/videotips/searchresults/Driving-and-Woods/Lengthen-Your-Drives/

Golfers grow when they merge self-awareness and deep-understanding. Aware – but uninformed – golfers are like chain smokers or reckless drivers. First, chain smokers and reckless drivers – like stunted golfers — must recognize what they are doing. Second, chain smokers and reckless drivers – like stunted golfers – must understand the profound consequences of what they’re doing. If 24-month old infants can recognize and remove the red dots on their noses, you certainly can!

Have any notable instructors, coaches or tour players acknowledged or adopted your mind’s-on approach?

Nick Bradley – who is Justin Rose’s personal coach and the author of “The Seven Laws of the Golf Swing” – most recently sent me a personal acknowledgement. Mr. Bradley’s email contained the following message: “Dear Mr. Ragonnet, My name is Nick Bradley and you kindly refer to my book in yours. I just wanted to drop you a short note to let you know that I enjoyed your book and having used meditation to coach Justin Rose to three victories including the 2007 Order of Merit. I can testify that it worked wonders for my coaching of this player. With kind regards, Nick Bradley.”

Why do golfers fail to process key information?

There are several key reasons. First, swing information is relative – not absolute. Accept the fact that there’s no ideal or perfect swing. Since swings vary, swing advice varies. Second, swing information – even that touted by noted and credible authorities — is often false, untested and unscientific. What sounds or seems correct often isn’t.

There’s no scientific ruling body or truth squad in golf to certify swing claims. Anything goes. Thus, sift carefully through the tons of information available. Third, golfers – because of failed thinking and learning — often ignore valid swing information. Allow me to touch briefly on this cognitive area. Golfers – like most humans – exhibit a mental phenomenon called “motivated reasoning.”

Sociologist Steven Hoffman who has researched “motivated reasoning,” states, “Rather than searching rationally for information that either confirms or disconfirms a particular belief, people actually seek out information that confirms what they already believe.” Today, you can find loony Internet sources to confirm almost any outlandish claim – including outlandish swing claims. Hoffman states, “For the most part people completely ignore contrary information… and develop elaborate rationalizations based on faulty information.”

Hoffman’s research helps explain the tendency among stagnant golfers to reject accurate and new swing information AND embrace inaccurate and existing swing information. If golfers seek only the information that justifies and rationalizes their wrong-headed beliefs, no wonder they don’t improve. Suppose that you have always had a pronounced sway in your backswing. Instead of questioning your sway, you have sought to confirm it.

This cognitive tendency is called “inferred justification.” The term denotes a backward chain of reasoning in which you start with a strong belief (i.e. your belief in swaying) and work backward to support it. Holding fast to your sway belief – or any false belief — helps you simplify and clarify a complex problem.

To explain why humans – including inept golfers – openly embrace false beliefs, psychologists refer to their “Theory of Cognitive Dissonance.” This theory holds that people relieve cognitive tension — mental strain and unsettling confusion — flowing from thorny and complex issues (i.e. the golf swing) by accepting contradictory and false information.

Researchers have identified three key ways of resisting and blocking accurate information. These ways include “counter-arguing” (i.e. directly rebutting information that opposes, for example, a sway in your backswing), “attitude bolstering” (i.e. bringing facts that support, for example, your belief about swaying without ever directly assessing opposing information), and “selective exposure” (i.e. seeking only information, for example, that advocates a sway in your backswing). Here’s the bottom line. To gather, assess and implement accurate swing advice, remain open-mined, objective, inquisitive, skeptical – and most importantly — awake. Without a growth-mindset, you’ll keep getting hosed.

Will spending more time on the practice range help golfers improve?

Not necessarily. Many dedicated golfers — who practice relentlessly – rarely improve. Practice does not make perfect. Perfect practice makes perfect. HOW you practice is more important than HOW MUCH you practice. How much you practice is certainly important. According to researchers at the University of Zurich, you need over 10,000 practice hours to become an elite or professional golfer. You need 5,000 to 10,000 practice hours to gain a reasonable handicap of 10–15. What’s more important is how you practice.

What’s the point of spending 10,000 hours on the range replicating your lousy swing? What’s the point of spending 10,000 hours hitting practice balls if you don’t understand the swing plane, swing arc or swing radius? What’s the point of spending time at the practice range if you don’t understand – which is the case among most golfers — the crucial distinction between swinging and hitting?

If you make no such distinction, you’re better off not practicing at all. I can’t stress this enough. Practice must be learning-based. Learning consists of integrating discovery and mastery. Discovery denotes slowly building a corpus of accurate, reliable and practical knowledge (especially the fundamentals). The keys to discovery are hard work and imagination.

Mastery denotes assiduously testing and implementing that corpus of knowledge into a low-maintenance, repeatable and effective swing. The keys to mastery are hard work and imagination. Mastery without discovery OR discovery without mastery produces failed learning. Failed learners tend to stress mastery and ignore discovery.

Stressing mastery and ignoring discovery is like going on a long road trip without consulting a map. It’s like taking your NYS Intermediate Algebra Regents without reading the text or doing your homework. It’s like dieting without consulting a calorie chart. To foster discovery and mastery, you don’t need a practice range.

Recently, cognitive scientists have conducted some fascinating studies related to the way people have improved their complex motor-movement skills. Listen to this. Neuroscientist Dr. Alvaro Pascual Leone, at Harvard Medical School, conducted an experiment in which he asked volunteers to learn and practice a five-finger, short, piano exercise. He asked participants to keep the metronome at 60 beats per minute and to play as fluidly as possible. The volunteers practiced two hours a day for five days. At the end of each day’s practice session, Dr. Leone electronically tested and monitored their brain functioning.

He used the TMS — the transcranial, magnetic stimulation test — to monitor their neural functions. Dr. Leone mapped his participants’ motor-cortex – the brain area controlling their finger movements during the piano exercise. Having monitored the volunteers for a week, Dr. Leone discovered something incredible. The motor-cortex in the volunteers’ brains became enlarged. Their brains grew! Their motor-cortex – like weeds in a garden – spread out and took over surrounding areas in their brains. Simply stated, your brain gains more neural real estate the more you exercise and stimulate it. For golfers, however, there’s more.

Dr. Leone extended his experiment by asking a second test-group of volunteers merely to think about learning and practicing this same short piano piece. He asked volunteers in the second test-group to keep their hands still. He wanted them simply to imagine themselves moving their fingers as they played the piano piece in their heads. Then he tested their brains. Dr. Leone learned that the motor-cortex of both test-groups – those who physically practiced and those who only imagined themselves practicing – was equally enlarged. In a nutshell, you can enlarge your motor-cortex by doing AND by proxy. Yikes!

This study has remarkable implications for golfers. It suggests that you can enlarge your motor-cortex – the area controlling neural-muscular development – NOT ONLY by physically swinging a club BUT ALSO by imaging yourself swinging a club. That’s quite something. Dr. Leone wrote, “Mental practice [i.e. imagining yourself performing a complex motor-skill such as swinging a club] resulted in a similar reorganization of the brain.”

In brief, mental-practicing or visualization-training will dramatically change your brain’s structure and functioning. To improve your swing – when it’s rainy or when you’re tired and broke – hit a few large buckets at the “range” inside your head! You can’t beat the price. Your motor-cortex doesn’t give a fig. It grows whether you’re practicing on a real or imaginary driving range. An adult brain—once considered fixed, immutable and hard-wired – grows once it’s properly exercised and stimulated.

This brain property is called “neuroplasticity.” Your brain – in response to selected experiences – has the capacity to change its structure and function. We’re not talking about tweaking your brain. We’re talking about changing your brain. Definitely beat balls on the range. However, go there with a growth mindset. Don’t get caught up on being consistent. Get caught up on finding novel, improvisational and effective strategies for fixing problems.

Every bad shot is both a red flag and a growth opportunity. At the range, pay attention to exactly what’s happening. Since the swing is a complex motion lasting only 1.4 seconds, at the range use slow motion drills (ideally with weighted clubs). However, do your homework before you go to the range. However, also spend time hitting balls on your imaginary range. In your imagination, swing your club repeatedly during quiet moments or when you’re watching videos, viewing photos or reading golf literature. For learning and improvement purposes, imaginary swings are just as important as actual swings. To enhance your game, enhance your learning. To enhance your learning, enhance your imagination. To enhance your imagination, open up a driving range inside your head. I’m done talking. I need to use the “range.”

How can golfers start to grow?

To enhance your golf growth, enhance your thinking. If your thinking doesn’t improve, your game won’t improve. When your thinking improves sufficiently, you’ll experience a “paradigm-shift.” That’s when ordinary golf becomes extraordinary golf. In 1962 Thomas Kuhn — a philosopher and historian of science — introduced the term “paradigm shift” in his influential book entitled, “The Structure of Scientific Revolutions.” A paradigm shift – in golf, science, economics or any realm — denotes making a major change in your basic assumptions. It denotes having a whole new worldview. It denotes revolutionizing your thinking. It denotes adopting new conceptual models and solutions. Paradigm shifts are not only NEW worldviews but also BETTER worldviews. They provide better explanations for significant anomalies.

For example, Einstein’s relativistic worldview—which logically explained how the physical universe worked — replaced Newton’s classical worldview – which didn’t logically explain how the physical universe worked. A paradigm shift creates a revolution in thought. After a paradigm shift, you never again think the same way about a certain thing. If you’re not improving, discard your exiting worldview. Einstein modernized physics by discarding Newton’s classical worldview. Do the same thing! I’m not saying you should reinvent or revolutionize the golf swing. I’m saying you should adopt a new worldview. If things aren’t working, you need a paradigm shift – a new and workable conceptual swing-model.

I had a paradigm shift, which revolutionized my game, when I examined my wrist action. My worldview changed when I stopped “flipping” my wrists and I started “hinging” my wrists. My old worldview of wrist action involved making a SIDEWAYS motion – by using the back of my right wrist — as if I were hitting a forehand shot with a squash racket or ping-pong paddle. I wrongly thought that I had to square-up the clubface at impact by manipulating my hands and flipping my wrists sideways.

Then, like Einstein, I had a paradigm shift. I changed my worldview about how the wrists should work. My new worldview – which solved a major power leak – involved using my wrists UP and DOWN in a lever-like motion. I started to hinge my wrists and leveraging my thumbs by forming an “L” between my right forearm and the clubshaft. It’s as if I’m hammering a tent peg into the ground or smacking an axe into a tree trunk. I now swing my hands and arms, which remain in front of my torso, up and down — no longer sideways or around my torso. My new worldview consists of squaring-up the clubface a split-second before impact — not by manipulating my hands — but by rotating my torso.

My old Newtonian view – creating a serious power problem – involved flipping my right wrist and manipulating my hands EARLY in the downswing to square-up the clubface. My new Einsteinian view – solving my power problem – involves unhinging my wrists lever-fashion and keeping my right palm facing the sky LATE in the downswing, and then quickly rotating my torso to square-up the clubface. I made a paradigm shift — resulting a revolutionary change in my game — when I changed my worldview about the wrist hinge. I invite you to do the same.

To effect your own paradigm shift, start by observing this profoundly important Golf Channel video by Mike Bender — Zach Johnson’s personal swing coach. Observe four key things: namely how Mike Bender (1) rotates his forearms, (2) loosely swings his arms in unison with his torso, (3) hinges his wrists UP and DOWN, and (4) rapidly clears his right hip at the last second not only to square-up his hands and clubface but also to generate maximum power.

Mike Bender:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BEm080v6ckY

Creative thinkers – including scientists and golfers – solve problems by discarding old worldviews, adopting new conceptual models and experiencing paradigm shifts. When it comes to growth, it’s YOU versus YOU.

What role does DOUBT play in learning the golf swing?

Doubt is a question mark. Certainty is an exclamation point. You want to punctuate your learning with question marks – not exclamation points. Doubt – a valuable mindset – forms the foundation for continuous learning and growth. Do you believe that ONE golf book, theory, video, article or treatise can tell the whole truth about the swing? Do you believe that swing theory can advance no further? Do you believe that you’ll hold today’s swing precepts ten years from now? I hope not.

If so, you’ve traded doubt for certainty, swapped challenge for reassurance, exchanged the journey for the destination. When adroit golfers – or adroit scientists — don’t know the answers to certain problems, they’re IGNORANT. When they have a hunch about the answers to certain problems, they’re UNCERTAIN. When they are pretty damn sure about their answers to certain problems, they’re DOUBTFUL. Adroit learners never arrive at CERTAINTY.

For centuries, golf experts have issued statements — some untrue, some partially true, but none absolutely true – about the workings of the golf swing. These statements all contain varying degrees of truth. No statement – in the domains of golf or science – is an expression of absolute and abiding certainty. Accordingly, great thinkers advance their knowledge through doubt. Doubt – the great liberator – lets you not only process information but also think for yourself. If you confess certainty, you’ll reach a dead end, a blind alley, a roadblock. However, if you eschew certainty, you’ll reach new doors, fresh paths, and different approaches. Doubt means leaving the door of the unknown slightly ajar. It means allowing for changes, keeping an open mind, and staying agile.

However, once you admit — “Eureka, I’m saved. I finally found the truth about the swing” — you’re deluding yourself. Golf doesn’t have an omega-point. Reaching the omega-point means that you’re willing to trust the thinking and authority of others. Is that what you want? Most golfers never improve.

Therein lies the best reason to embrace doubt. If swing truths – inherently arcane, complex and contradictory — were simple, absolute and accessible, most golfers would grow. Simply stated, most growth-impoverished golfers are hopelessly mired in certainty. Doubt invites you to sift through the expansive heap of swing truths, half-truths and non-truths. Investigate, welcome and discuss your golf doubts – especially those related to the swing plane, pivot, weight shift, swing arc, forearm rotation, wrist and hand action, etc. Read eclectically. Investigate broadly. Doubt intelligently. Doubt — having no final destination — challenges and tests golf’s unfolding truths. Doubt is the attendant of truth.

Should golfers periodically examine HOW they’re learning?

Absolutely! The older people get, the less they examine HOW they learn. Most people continually change WHAT they learn. Few people, however, ever change HOW they learn. Therein lies the problem. Several years ago, I took swing dance lessons. In a class of twenty adult students, I improved the least. I couldn’t learn the dance steps. Everyone, except me, learned how to swing dance! Later it hit me.

I was using the wrong learning mode. I used STATIC – instead of DYNAMIC – learning. The other students learned swing dancing because they observed and imitated unified, feeling-centered, intuitive DYNAMIC movements. Conversely, I didn’t learn swing dancing as I analyzed and synthesized fragmented, thought-centered, contrived STATIC positions. I applied static learning to a dynamic process. I tried to learn swing dancing cerebrally — as if I were learning the correct surgical procedure for removing my neighbor’s pancreas.

No wonder I never learned to swing dance. I transformed something dynamic into something static. When you net a dynamic butterfly, pin it in a cigar box and study it, you no longer have a dynamic butterfly. You have a static specimen of a butterfly. That’s what I was doing with my golf swing. When I adopted dynamic learning, I made a major breakthrough in my game. Accordingly, I stopped studying the fixed-positions, frozen-movements, and static postures of expert golfers being analyzed in books, magazines and websites. Rather I started intuiting and copying the dynamic and fluid swings of expert players. I was an unwary victim of STATIC learning (i.e. moving from position-to-position) that employs computer diagnostics, high-speed photographic images and obsessive self-analysis. I’m not telling g you to ignore STATIC learning. (Obviously, you learn the grip and set-up STATICALLY.)

I’m telling you to learn dynamically the swing’s fluid and rhythmic movement. Revert to static learning to fine-tune and tweak your existing dynamic movement. Would you rely on a STATIC approach to learn how to throw a ball, ride a bike, hammer a nail or swing a bullwhip? If not, why would you rely on a STATIC approach to learn how to swing a golf club? Experts claim that modern golfers – unlike golfers from decades ago – have inferior swings. Decades ago expert golfers dynamically learned the golf swing as caddies who observed and imitated the rhythmic and fluid swings of expert players.

For example, Byron Nelson and Ben Hogan as childhood friends DYNAMICALLY learned their swings when they worked together as caddies in Fort Worth. Today, how many golfers – working as caddies — dynamically learn how to swing? Celebrated PGA Instructor, John Jacobs, in PRACTICAL GOLF, writes, “The easiest way to learn golf is by instinct and by copying. When I teach groups of young people and especially children, I do very little talking, but I never stop swinging.” “And they learn—how quickly they learn!” adds Jacobs. “Unfortunately, we lose this imitative ability as we grow older, and it becomes necessary to learn golf by reason – to master the game cerebrally.” To learn the golf swing, you must be imitative! Here’s the good news.

The vestiges of the swing are already hard-wired into your brain’s imitative center equipped with so-called “mirror-neurons.” Mirror neurons, which embed sensory input (i.e. visual images of fluid golf swings) in your brain, allow you to replicate the identical actions and feelings associated with that sensory input. Mirror neurons – forever on the job – can imitate whatever actions you’re motivated to replicate. Mirror neurons, recently discovered in macaque monkeys, were anticipated long ago by William James who wrote, “Every mental representation of a movement awakens to some degree the actual movement which is its object.”

Here’s my point. The adult students in my swing dance class trusted and used their mirror neurons to imitate and learn the instructor’s dynamic dance steps. Conversely, I ignored my mirror neurons. Instead I trusted and used my brain’s analytical faculties to reduce the instructor’s dynamic movements to static positions. If mirror neurons can enable German babies, for example, in the presence of German speakers to learn how to imitate German (not French or Swedish) vowels and consonants, then mirror neurons can surely enable you to imitate Ben Hogan’s golf swing.

Researchers posit that mirror neurons fire BOTH when you perform a particular act AND when you see another person perform a particular act. Essentially, your brain and Hogan’s brain – as if they were one – are wired identically. Watching a Ben Hogan video, you switch roles, merge swings, and become one. Your mirror neurons provide you with a built-in “monkey see-monkey-do” learning mechanism. Mirror neurons facilitate dynamic learning. Is it any surprise that Tiger Woods, as an infant, sat in his high chair and watched his father practice his golf swing? If you want to play the cello, would you study high-speed, stop-action and static-photos of Yo-yo Ma?

To learn complex dynamic movements — whether its playing the cello or playing golf — you must watch, intuit and imitate dynamic movements. Trust your mirror neurons to learn the dynamic elements at work in the golf swing, including squaring-up the club face at impact, coordinating the raising of your arms and the turning of your torso, ascribing the correct shape of the swing, pivoting around a central axis, achieving the proper foot work, rapidly swishing the clubhead — and all the other good stuff! Combine STATIC and DYNAMIC learning.

Why must golfers become “deep learners”?

Most golfers – who are surface learners – should become deep learners. Deep learners – like divers — target understanding. Surface learners – like swimmers — target knowing. Elusive and subtle swing concepts are like sunken treasures. They lie far below the surface. To recover them, therefore, you must dive deeply. However if you’re not willing to dive deeply, then stop crying. You’ve got a learning problem – not a swing problem.

Ference Marton, a Swedish educational psychologist, introduced the distinction between deep learners and surface learners in the 1980’s. In his experiments, he told his test subjects — college students — to prepare for a quiz based on selected readings. Subsequently, Marton found that learners could be divided into two groups: (1) surface learners who memorize facts for the quiz and target knowledge and (2) deep learners who connect ideas and target understanding. Golfers, who are surface learners, try to improve their SCORE immediately by memorizing facts, acquiring swing tips, and implementing quick fixes.

Golfers, who are deep learners, try to improve their SWING gradually by sifting through information, comparing and testing competing approaches, and understanding and linking theoretical concepts. You want to become a deep learner. Deep learners “own” their swing. Surface learners “borrow” someone else’s swing. Owning your swing means fitting it into a logical framework based on your understanding. Borrowing your swing means fitting it into a logical framework based on someone else’s understanding.

Owning your swing means making sense of it. It means making your swing natural, easy and complete. It means ridding yourself of the confusion once associated with your swing. Owning your swing means being confident in what you’re doing. It means reveling in figuring things out. It means seeing things clearly for the first time. It means understanding how to swing and why. Owning your swing means grasping the big picture. It means subtracting extraneous elements and simplifying everything. It means looking deeply and asking penetrating questions. It means being liberated. You want to become a deep learner!

Why do golfers keep making bad decisions?

It’s human nature. Golfers – like business managers, teachers, postal workers and carpenters – are human. Emotional and irrational humans make bad decisions. That’s why divorce lawyers are so wealthy. Acting emotionally and irrationally will induce you, for example, to swing your driver as hard as you can on a long par five even though that decision inevitably leads to snap hooks. If it’s any consolation, cavemen acted just as emotionally and irrationally. Neuroscientists claim that the human brain has not evolved very much. The brain’s hard-wired mechanism – leading to piss-poor decisions – has remained unchanged for eons. To improve your game, consider the risk factor in your decision-making.

Consider the mental process AND the red flags associated with your decision-making. These red flags – once properly considered — are fluttering pennants of wisdom. Management gurus – like Henry Mintzberg, James March and Karl Weick – assert that most business people make irrational and emotional decisions - not rational and objective decisions. Generally, decision-makers lack the patience to objectively, logically and calmly identify, list and weigh a bunch of alternatives.

Professor Finkelstein – at Dartmouth’s Tuck School of Business and author of THINK AGAIN (2009) — describes our decision-making in these terms, “What we do is make one plan at a time… usually without discussion, even without conscious awareness that we’re making a decision. We just take the first reasonable option and do it until it clearly isn’t working.”

Sound familiar? Having examined a host of bad business decisions, Finkelstein discovered four red flags designed to re-think your decisions. Admittedly, Finkelstein targets a business audience. However, Finkelstein’s insights are also relevant to golfers. Here’s Finkelstein’s message: THINK AND RETHINK YOUR DECISIONS.

Rethinking means looking for the following red flags:

Red Flag #1: Inappropriate Attachments.

If you’re overly attached to certain people, theories, things, etc. – those attachments will lead you astray. For example, if you’re emotionally and intellectually attached to Leadbetter’s, Hardy’s, Haney’s or Ballard’s ideas and methods, you’ll make bad decisions! TO MAKE BETTER DECISIONS , EXAMINE YOUR BIASES Finkelstein said, “My [best] advice would be to assume that, as a decision maker, you are inherently biased. Our brains have filed away all kinds of experiences and emotions. Most of that brain activity is at a subconscious level, and it leads us to think in a particular way, creating bias.”

Red Flag #2: Inappropriate Self-Interest.

If you’re behaving in a self-interested manner – basing your decisions on what’s best for you rather than what’s best overall — you’ll go afoul. Finkelstein is talking about selfish business people, like CEO John Thane, who tried to get a big bonus when Merrill Lynch was approaching insolvency. Inappropriate self-interest for golfers, however, isn’t an integrity issue – it’s more an expediency issue. Self-interested golfers often avoid spending time researching alternatives and weighing options. TO MAKE BETTER DECISIONS, UNCENTER YOURSELF. Finkelstein advises you to identify a range of solutions, to weigh the pros and cons of selected options and to collect accurate data. Slow your ass down and do your homework.

Red Flag #3: Misleading Prejudgments.

Recognizing and ridding prejudgments will enhance your decision-making. Finkelstein uses the example of the Army General who made a reckless decision based on his prejudgment that Hurricane Katrina was like every other regional hurricane. When he monitored the storm situation, he considered only the data consistent with his prejudgment and ignored the rest of the data. No wonder the Federal Government’s response was dreadfully inadequate! Examine your golf-related prejudgments.

In my case, I harbored a misleading prejudgment that stunted my growth. I wrongly assumed that the swing plane was the most important aspect of the swing. Based on the advice of experts, I fixated on the swing plane. From my reading and studying, however, I learned otherwise. Read what Mike Maves (THE SECRET IS IN THE DIRT) has to say about it! TO MAKE BETTER DECISIONS, REMOVE YOUR PREJUDGMENTS.

Red Flag #4: Misleading Experiences.

Don’t rely solely on your experience. It’s your best AND worst teacher. Finkelstein cites the example of Richard Fuld, the CEO at Lehman Brothers. Ten years ago, Fuld acted with care and speed to keep Lehman Brothers afloat. Relying on his past success, Fuld confidently decided to do the same thing during the recent financial crisis. He decided, therefore, not to sell Lehman Brothers. His previous success mislead him. He should have sold Lehman Brothers when he had the chance. He screwed-up!

Don’t use an occasional good shot as your yardstick for success. If you hit only two or three good shots for every ten, there’s your yardstick for failure. Experience can be your best AND worst teacher for gauging success AND failure. TO MAKE BETTER DECISIONS, TRANSCEND YOUR EXPERIENCE. Your decisions are the ground on which you stand. Every golf encounter is an encounter with yourself.

Do golfers with quick-fix mentalities improve long-term?

No! A quick-fix mentality is the enticing and self-destructive tendency to gain fast results regardless of long-term, system-wide consequences. Simply put, golfers with quick-fix mentalities are “systems-blind.” If you have a quick-fix mentality, then today’s problem – whether it’s your banana slice or snap hook – flowed from yesterday’s quick-fix – whether it’s your newly implemented baseball grip or Moe Norman stance. Here’s the oddity.

Golfers keep implementing quick-fixes – like a new $500 driver or an early wrist cock – even though these things never work long-term. Quick-fixes neither address your underlying and systemic swing problems nor furnish long-term growth! Systemic-fixes work – quick-fixes don’t! Quick-fixes are to frustrated golfers what instant fat-burner pills are to obese Weight Watcher clients. To remove your golf flab or hip flab, invest some sweat equity. Ponder this fantastic scenario.

Suppose Bill Gates and Steve Jobs – two multi-billionaire, computer CEO’s – launched a massive project to analyze and divulge the underlying secrets of the golf swing. This project would be golf’s equivalent of NASA’s lunar mission. It would be golf’s Genome Project. It would do for battered golfers what the Marshall Plan did for battered Western Europeans after WWII. Gates and Jobs would hire MIT’s biggest nerds and computer geeks to input all available golf information into a supercomputer. I’m talking about inputting every word and image of every golf book, article, lecture and video ever published – even my little book! This geek-squad would input everything. Stuff from tour pros and certified instructors, professionals and amateurs, crackpots and geniuses, mystics and physicists, hucksters and Zen Masters, scientists and alchemists, haberdashers and hackers.

After weighing, correlating and evaluating millions of facts, assertions, claims, theories and methodologies, the supercomputer would then issue a 50-page, clear, accurate, analytical and definitive report telling golfers WHAT and HOW to systematically improve their swings and lower their handicaps. This report would provide golfers with the last word, plain truth, straight skinny, inside dope, definitive word, true path, proven approach, consensual method, scientific means – all in one authoritative report — on WHAT and HOW to improve their skill sets. No more fuzzy theories, equivocations and contradictions.

Gates and Jobs – employing the IRS’s printing and circulation services – would not only mail these reports to private residences but also distribute them to libraries, post offices, taverns, OTB’s, sporting good stores, massage parlors, liquor stores, car washes, muffler shops and hair-transplant clinics! Now comes the sad part. Golfers with quick-fix mentalities wouldn’t read or study this 50-page report. They might line their birdcage with its pages. But they wouldn’t read and study it.

Simply stated, the best information is lost on golfers with quick-fix mentalities. A quick-fix mentality stops you from reading and studying lengthy explanations. A quick-fix mentality, implying a short attention span, demands upfront answers and instant success. Golfers with quick-fix mentalities crave new 400 cc drivers, pocket swing-tips, and gimmicks – not 50-page reports! Your greatest limitation is your quick-fix mentality. It prevents you from sifting through information, thinking scientifically, looking deeply, asking penetrating questions and absorbing information. It discourages you from reading and studying. It rejects detailed information expressed in full sentences and detailed paragraphs. It embraces superficial information expressed in short phrases and bullet points. Now, take a deep breath. I have something shamefully hypocritical to say. I want to recommend some quick-fixes designed to rid your quick-fix mentality.

Consider the following suggestions. Be patient and slow your ass down. Access your higher consciousness. Schedule some solitude. (Sit quietly for thirty minutes stints – no reading or swinging a club – just sit to get focused and purposeful). Go for a quiet walk. Take a long-term strategy. (Avoid short-term solutions and snap decisions.)

Conduct full – not half ass — test trials on swing changes. Fix one thing at a time (i.e. – pivoting, pronating your left arm, or cupping your left wrist). Decode key terms. Ground yourself in core principles. Drop your preconceptions and assumptions. Think scientifically and holistically. Do your homework. Invest sweat equity. Work hard – or stay stuck! Jack Benny told a story about going to his doctor for a physical exam. After reviewing the x-rays, the doctor said that Benny needed an operation costing about $400. Benny asked, “I don’t have $400, but for $25 would you be willing to touch-up the x-rays?” It’s the same thing with golfers. You can keep touching up your golf x-rays. But you’ll never get healthy. Implement systemic-fixes – not quick-fixes.

How can golfers rid their bad habits?

Before you rid your bad habits, you need to (1) recognize them, (2) resolve to replace them, and (3) know what to put in their place. Then you can rid them! However, all learning is a dual process of learning AND unlearning. Your bad habits – whether they’re golf, dietary, health or spending habits — are deeply rooted in your brain. Therefore, they’re difficult to break.

Bad habits, according to researchers, pose a double whammy. First, your bad habits impede your improvement. Second, your bad habits interfere with you brain’s ability to adopt new habits. Bad habits don’t fade away. They hibernate in your brain. When you try to change your habitual way of doing things, cognitive scientists claim, your brain will sabotage you! It’s an odd situation. When your brain detects a new behavior, it instantaneously creates an “interference pattern” that blocks the new behavior. In sum, your brain is hard-wired to keep old habits and behaviors and to block new habits and behaviors. No wonder you’re in a rut! If you go to the range to rid your self-destructive “over-the-top” move, for example, don’t expect much. You’ll keep coming “over-the-top.”

Now let’s examine what cognitive scientists say about this. Researchers have widely asserted that you need approximately 2000 performance-repetitions to uproot and replace a habit. No wonder certain tour pros — who make swing changes due to injuries or mechanical flaws – usually experience protracted slumps. To rid your bad habits, expect a lengthy adjustment period. Don’t expect quick and permanent swing changes. Things don’t happen that way.

How often have you devised a brilliant swing change – say in your stance, posture or swing plane — then completely forgot about it only five minutes later? Here’s why: Even the most valuable swing change, unless it’s endlessly repeated and embedded in your brain, won’t stick. Old swing habits are sticky. New swing habits are slippery.

Dr. Ann Graybiel – an award-winning, cognitive scientist at M.I.T. – claims that habits are essentially “addictions.” For the past 35 years, she has investigated the brain’s proclivity for habitual and addictive behavior. She discovered that habits AND Parkinson’s disease originate in the same area of the brain! Parkinson’s victims — like actor Michael J. Fox — compulsively and involuntarily repeat the same senseless motions and gestures again and again. They can’t stop repeating the same thing.

Dr. Graybiel’s findings are pertinent to golfers. Graybiel states, “To me, addictions are habits that have become overwhelmingly compelling, so they dominate us instead of freeing us to do other things.” Your habitual “over-the-top” move and Parkinson’s originate in the same area of the brain. That means that your patterned “over-the-top” move is symptomatic of a serious, inhibitory-motor disease like Parkinson’s. Yikes!

When Graybiel studied changes in basal ganglia cells – the brain area associated with addictions – she found that habits are learned and unlearned SLOWLY. This is highly significant. You took a long time to program your “over-the-top” habit. And you’ll take a long time to deprogram it. To improve your swing, you must (1) program the new stuff and (2) deprogram the old stuff. Graybiel makes another interesting point. She contends that specific habits exist in “chunks.” In short, habits get inextricably “chunked” or linked with other behaviors and routines.

When you drink a beer, for example, you habitually crave pretzels. Or when you drink a cup of coffee, you habitually crave a cigarette. It’s the same in golf. Your habitual “over-the-top” move is inextricably “chunked” or linked with your whole routine. Consider your whole routine. You remove your driver from your bag. You rapidly walk up to the tee box. You tee-up your ball. You assume your stance and posture. You practice the same routine. Then it happens — you swing “over-the-top.” All your habits coalesce. In short, you’re a helpless victim of “chunked behavior.” Your dreaded “over-the-top” move is bundled tightly inside your brain with everything else you’re doing at the time.

Bad habits are hard to isolate. Being a helpless creature of habit is like flying on autopilot. Poor golfers – oblivious to what’s happening and regardless of the situation – operate mostly on autopilot. Conversely, good golfers – aware of what’s happening and depending on the situation – knowingly switch between manual-control AND autopilot. Researchers claim that only 5 percent of your behaviors are performed consciously. The other 95 percent of your behaviors are performed in autopilot mode.

In sum, your learned golf skills and behaviors have become automatic habits. In autopilot mode, your subconscious mind — not your conscious mind– runs the show. You rely on manual-control mode — or conscious awareness — when you’re learning the proper way to fly a plane or swing a club. However, once you’ve learned and practiced (i.e. developed the proper neurally pathways) to fly or swing properly — then you can rely on autopilot mode or subconscious awareness.

With your bad swing habits on autopilot mode, you’ll keep crash-landing. Bad habits, according to neuro-psychologists, are addictive for two key reasons: namely (1) from repetitive “chunking” and (2) from the release of dopamine in selected neurons of your brain. Habitual or addictive behaviors repeatedly follow OLD neural pathways.

To rid your “over-the-top” move, therefore, you must create NEW neural pathways. Today, cognitive scientists are investigating the viability of creating NEW neural pathways by slowing down the learning process. Ben Hogan employed this approach for years. Ben Hogan’s use of weighted clubs and slow motion drills helped him master the golf swing. Hogan’s approach coincides with what leading cognitive scientists now say about the benefits of slowing learning to create new neural pathways.

I suspect Hogan – who had a genius-level I.Q. — was on to something. However, the evidence is still inconclusive. Allow me to add this brief postscript. Recently, I asked Dr. Krishna Shenoy — a cognitive scientist at Stanford — about the cognitive merits of slow learning, as Hogan advised, by swinging weighted clubs in slow motion. Dr. Shenoy, whose research found that the brain plans anew each motor activity, wrote:

“Dear James, Thanks for your interest, and you ask a very interesting question. I’m afraid we don’t really know if training as you describe might be able to further reduce the ‘planning variability’ that we measured. But that’s fully possible I would guess. Our central result was that even with very highly practiced movements there still is a residual planning variability, which make us suspect that you may never be able to escape it entirely. Best regards, Krishna.”

When it comes to ridding your bad habits, go easy on yourself. Habit-stricken golfers and Parkinson’s victims are battling the same symptoms.

In golf, does practice make perfect?

Golfers believing — as I once did — that practice makes perfect are in for a shock! I once read Dr. Anders Ericsson’s seminal article, “Expert Performance and Deliberate Practice.” Ericsson, a renowned cognitive scientist, studied the growth patterns of golfers, musicians, chess players and others. Ericsson found that novices require 10 years and/or 10,000 hours of “deliberate practice” to become experts.

However, the latest research findings claim otherwise. Let’s examine two studies suggesting that practice DOES NOT make perfect. Golfers, listen up! In the first study, Emily Cross and her research colleagues in Dartmouth’s Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences posed – in so many words — the following question: “Must you physically perform a new task to learn it – or can you learn it merely by watching others perform it?” The “new task” these researchers studied was a series of dance steps. Basically, the experiment was modeled on a popular video game called “Dance, Dance Revolution.”

In this video game, you score points depending on how closely you duplicate the dance steps shown on a computer or television screen. Researchers placed test subject into three groups. Group One both viewed and physically practiced the new dance steps. Group Two only viewed the new dance steps. And Group Three — the control group – neither viewed nor physically practiced the new dance steps.

Using an MRI, the researchers scanned the brains of their test subjects as they were watching the new dance steps. The MRI allowed the researchers to study the brain activity of test subjects engaged in learning a new performance task. The researchers found that Groups One and Two – who watched and/or practiced the dance steps – experienced identical activity in brain areas responsible for selected motor skills and memory functions. The researchers found that viewing a new task – not even practicing it — triggers the requisite brain activity to foster effective learning.

This study shows that motor skill movements originate in the brain. This obvious finding, however, has hidden and important meaning for golfers. This study reveals that your brain issues the requisite instructions and controls to learn how to perform new tasks. So when you duck hook your driver or shank your wedge, don’t blame your strong right hand or your spinning hips. Blame your brain! Don’t focus exclusively on biomechanics. Focus on neural processing.

Perhaps that’s what Ben Hogan was doing when he practiced using SLOW MOTION DRILLS and WEIGHTED CLUBS. This study also suggests something quite remarkable: Namely, that you can learn a new task merely by WATCHING an expert perform it! If these findings are valid, then practicing takes on a whole new dimension.

Viewing golf videos and hitting range balls are equally important. In the second study, Krishna Shenoy and Mark Churchland, in Stanford’s Department of Electrical Engineering posed – in so many words — the following question: “What explains the performance inconsistencies among athletes — including the most accomplished athletes?” Examining the performance variables or inconsistencies among athletes, Shenoy and Churchland targeted the “mental preparation” stage. They studied what happens in the brains of athletes just prior to their performing a physical task.

These researchers wanted to know how the brain plans and coordinates specific body movements. This is the first study (1) to record the neural planning activity of athletes and (2) to link their neural planning activity to the performance of specific tasks. The researchers designed a test that required monkeys to reach for a green dot and a red dot. The monkeys were trained to reach SLOWLY for the green dot and QUICKLY for the red dot. Employing an MRI to scan the monkeys’ brain functioning, the researchers made a remarkable discovery.

The researchers learned that the nervous system of man and primates is flexible. In brief, the human brain wasn’t designed to perform tasks consistently and repeatedly. Simply put, each time your brain plans a particular body movement – it makes a new plan each time. Your brain isn’t wired to invoke the same plan again and again! “The main reason you can’t move the same way each and every time, such as swinging a golf club,” Krishna Shenoy claimed, “is because your brain can’t plan the swing the same way each time.”

Human brains aren’t wired for consistency. Our brains don’t operate repetitively like computers and machines. Incapable of consistent planning, our brains improvise by default. Even if you had a perfect swing, your brain isn’t configured to repeat it. Your improvisational brain is hard-wired to plan each swing differently. Yes, practice and training can reduce your mind’s variation patterns. But no, practice and training can’t prevent your mind from variably planning specific body movements.

It’s analogous to your preparing for a math test. If you study and prepare for the math test, you’ll out-perform those who don’t. So too in golf, if you practice and train, you’ll out-perform those who don’t. Researchers find that – regardless of how many times you perform a specific task – your brain plans it anew each time.

These two studies have sweeping implications for growth-oriented golfers. The first study compels you to redefine your notion of “practice.” Practice, once properly considered, is both active and passive. Practicing means both hitting practice balls and watching videos. The second study compels you to lighten up. Given your brain’s tendency to plan each swing anew, you can expect neither consistency nor perfection. Practice makes you less imperfect!

Do you think that most golfers are in an “information vacuum”?

Not exactly! Most golfers are in a “truth vacuum.” Regarding swing mechanics, most golfers can’t separate fact from fiction, truth from fallacy. Therein lies the problem. Mark Twain wrote, “The trouble with the world is not that people know too little. It’s that they know so many things that just aren’t so.” The greatest failing among golfers is their inability or refusal to discover the truth. Without the truth, you can’t grow. Truth – like sunshine and fresh air – promotes growth. You can exist without truth. Similarly, you can exist without sunshine and fresh air. But you can’t grow.

To separate fact from fiction – to uncover the truth — you need to improve your learning. In sum, you need to start doing your homework. Ben Hogan, who did all of his homework, once said, “The answers are in the dirt.” Most people, however, don’t understand what Hogan actually meant. Not only was Hogan referring to hitting tons of practice balls in the Texas dirt. But also Hogan was referring to discovering the truth by sifting through the informational “dirt” – namely the misconceptions, fallacies and myths associated with the swing. To comprehend the gist of Hogan’s comment, you need to understand the literal and figurative meaning of the word “dirt.” Learning involves two stages: discovery and mastery.

To discover the truth of the golf swing (i.e. Stage One), Hogan spent considerable time and energy reading, observing, questioning, probing, investigating, challenging, doubting, analyzing, theorizing and pondering. Simply put, Hogan sifted through tons of informational (i.e. figurative) “dirt.” And that’s exactly what you have to do. There’s no way around it. To master the truth of the golf swing (i.e. Stage Two), Hogan sent considerable time and energy hitting thousands of practice balls in the (i.e. literal) “dirt.” Possessing a genius-level IQ, Hogan – who properly separated discovery and mastery – was an adroit learner. Again, that’s what you must strive to be — an adroit learner.

When you effectively merge discovery and mastery, you’ll become an expert learner. If you stress mastery and ignore discovery –- regardless of how many practice balls you hit – you won’t grow. You must link discovery and mastery. Digging through golf’s informational dirt is like conducting a commercial mining operation. In both cases, you must sift laboriously through tons of worthless dirt to find a few precious diamonds or gold nuggets. It’s exhausting and thankless work. Thus, it’s not surprising that so few golfers or gold miners ever strike it rich.

To discover the truth about the swing – to separate fact from fiction — you must methodically and patiently sift through tons of unclear, incomplete, vague, imprecise, unscientific, erroneous, fuzzy, crack-pot, unsubstantiated, wrong-headed, misleading and worthless dirt contained in books, articles, videos, television programs, lessons, websites, etc. When you sift through the dirt, expect to encounter fool’s gold, dead ends, erroneous claims, wild goose chases, foolish stampedes and false prophets. It’s not going to be easy. Nonetheless, that’s what it takes. So grab your pick and shovel and start digging. However, exactly where should you dig?

Golf professionals – like David Leadbetter, Jimmy Ballard, Jim Hardy and Hank Haney — are not the only ones who’ve staked a claim on the golf swing. Many anonymous amateurs have also produced some valuable gems and nuggets. In this respect, amateur golfers resemble amateur astronomers. Amateur astronomers are responsible for discovering approximately half of the comets, meteors and asteroids officially recorded each year. To discover a comet, you don’t need to hold an advanced degree or be an MIT faculty member.

Equally, to make a meteoric discovery in golf, you don’t need to hold a PGA card or be a regular guest on The Golf Channel. In golf’s solar system, many brilliant and insightful amateur golfers have made some amazing discoveries. So dig in the backyards of both professionals and amateurs. But dig intelligently.

If you’re carrying a lot of golf scars, start digging. Your discoveries await. Don’t wait until your final heartbeat to unearth your greatest discovery. Belated truths are worthless truths. Jonathan Swift wrote, “Falsehood flies, and the truth comes limping after; so that when men come to be undeceived, it is too late; the jest is over, and the tale has had its effect.”

Most importantly, don’t expect your local pro, favorite golf author or best friend to GIVE you the truths. Truths are original gifts you must give to yourself. Truths are hard-learned and freshly-acquired again and again one person at a time. Imagine if one person, who discovered the horrible truth about war, could actually GIVE that truth to everyone for perpetuity. Then there’d be no more war! Hurrah!

Then individuals wouldn’t have to go through the pain of discovering the truth about war for themselves. You’d just have to GIVE people the truth about war. Sadly, you’re obliged to discover the truth by yourself. However, others can GUIDE your discovery. If you remain open and receptive, others can help you learn. Others can create the requisite context, framework, occasion, perspective, direction or background to guide your search for the truth. Others can point you in the right direction.

Recently, I’ve found some precious gold nuggets sifting through the videos on the attached website whose insightful host — Mike Maves (aka Sevam1) — shares his keen observations and profound revelations about Hogan’s swing. Apparently, Sevam1 was a protégée of Moe Norman. Start digging here. I think you’ll be amazed at what you find. Sevam1 has written an e-book which I plan to purchase. http://www.secretinthedirt.com/home.html

What does Abraham Maslow (and other behavioral psychologists) have to say to golfers?

Today, Maslow has nothing to say to golfers. He died in 1970. But his ideas about “actualization,” “hierarchy of needs” and “peak experience” speak volumes. Maslow’s concepts will help you put golf into perspective. Basically, Maslow claimed that all human beings strive to fulfill themselves. According to Maslow, you begin life as a potentiality (e.g. an acorn) and work toward becoming an actuality (e.g. an oak tree). Maslow also postulated a hierarchy of needs: physical-needs, belonging-needs, esteem-needs and self-actualization-needs. Golfers have specific hierarchical needs: some cool drinking water, some congenial golfing companions, some decent rounds and some moments of transcendent joy and fulfillment.

The simple truth is that most golfers never become actualities. They remain potentialities. Before I formulated my three noble truths, I was a hapless and miserable potentiality. The golf seeds I planted didn’t grow. Despite my frenzied efforts to improve and grow, I languished and stagnated. Then I stopped pressing, obsessing and laboring. I turned inward. I did less playing, competing and practicing - and more learning, thinking, reflecting and relaxing. That’s when I woke up. That’s when my golf seeds started to grow. When you wake-up and pay attention to what’s going on, you’ll start to grow. Unaware of what’s happening, you’ll never identify or solve your problems. You can fix only what you’re aware of. Remaining unaware is like being in a coma. If you’re in a coma, for example, you’ll never know that your lawn needs mowing. If your lawn goes unattended, everything keeps growing wild.

It’s the same with your golf game. If you’re unaware of the recurring mistakes taking root in your swing and game, those recurring and persistent mistakes will proliferate like weeds. Maslow’s theories speak to every golfer’s yearning to grow, improve and attain fulfillment. Unfortunately, that’s not what’s happening today. Statistics and research from the USGA and the National Golf Foundation, according to articles in USA Today and The New York Times, indicate that golfers (despite technical advances in golf equipment) have not improved their skill sets or competencies in several decades. Simply put, golfers remain stagnant and asleep.

One final point. Maslow’s ideas inspire golfers to access the sublime. Maslow’s term “peak experience” denotes a feeling of immense pleasure, mystical unity or transcendent joy. “Peak experiences” remind us to open the doors of our hearts and souls and to appreciate the blessings, graces, mysteries and enchantments right under our nose.

You tell your readers to become more growth-minded, to become creatures of new habits. Why?

According to brain researchers, consciously developing new habits creates new neural pathways and brain cells that can jump-start your thinking and learning. Simply put, you need to try new things. Don’t keep practicing your old habits – create new habits. This means stepping out of your comfort zone.

Cognitive psychologists, including M. J. Ryan and Dawna Markova, identify three thinking zones: comfort, stretch and stress. Comfort is the placid realm of your existing habits. Stretch is the transitional realm when real true change happens and when things feel somewhat awkward and unfamiliar. And stress is the annoying and unfamiliar realm that challenges and overwhelms you. You want to exit the comfort zone, enter the stretch zone and avoid the stress zone. The stretch zone — the realm of continual improvement, innovative thinking, new habits and incremental growth – is the zone for you! The stretch zone corresponds to what the Japanese call “kaizen” – a technique which employs small incremental steps leading to major changes. In sum, start to take small innovative steps to explore new ways and develop new habits. Don’t be a golf-decider.

Become a golf-explorer. To decide — containing the Latin root “cide” meaning to kill – denotes killing off all possibilities except one. To explore – containing the Latin root “plore” meaning to cry out – denotes clamoring for numerous and fresh possibilities.

Can you give a specific example of being a golf-explorer, of developing new swing habits, and of stepping into the stretch zone?

Sure. Let’s examine the way you shift your weight and pivot in your golf swing. If you’re a golf-decider, you’ll continue to shift your weight laterally. That’s the way you’ve always done it. However, if you’re a golf-explorer, you’ll entertain doubt, wonder, curiosity and fascination that will invariably lead you to fresh possibilities.If you exit the comfort zone and enter the stretch zone, you’ll realize that your lateral weight shift is an outworn and detrimental habit that you need to revisit.

View the attached video, PGA Top Instructor, Brad Redding who insists that there is no weight shift in the golf swing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yWKRaSeLPuI

Next view a related video by Brad Redding who offers you a new way to pivot. These two videos will unite the weight shift and pivot. Here Redding advises you to enter the stretch zone by replacing your old habit of turning your shoulders with the new habit of turning your chest and back. This video provides a perfect example of “kaizen” – the Japanese technique of making minor changes in order to produce major breakthroughs.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r1JyLNhY4uA&feature=related

Why is humor such an important theme when it comes to golf?

Humor is all important in golf. Humor is like a match to the spirit. Laughter — the sudden, spontaneous and precious combustion that humor generates — vocalizes life’s sweetest song. Laughter, especially at yourself, demonstrates exactly who you are. Your ability to laugh demonstrates that you can’t explain or control what’s going on…demonstrates that you doubt your importance and that you accept life as it is…demonstrates that you’re mortal and your achievements are momentary…demonstrates that you don’t overvalue your intellect or that you’re not too high up in your mind…demonstrates that you’re open and available to new ways of knowing and seeing…demonstrates that you understand the many sides and mysteries of life.Most importantly, laughter attests to why you play in the first place - namely to enjoy yourself. If you’re miserable, you’re missing out on what life is all about.

The game’s bottom line isn’t your capacity to confess that golf is fun. The game’s bottom line is your capacity to exhibit with your heart and soul that golf is fun. Your level of joy is the only golf score you’re obliged to record. So start laughing at things, including humorless golfers. Frankly, golfers who lack the grace to laugh at themselves make me hysterical. If I could magically rid the world of humorless golfers, I wouldn’t! Why? They give me too many laughs.

You wrote, “Golf is one of life’s ultimate improvisations.” What did you mean by that?

Swinging a golf club is like breaking open a piñata. When stick and piñata collide, you’re in for a surprise. When club head and ball collide, you’re also in for a surprise. Golf is one of life’s great improvisations because the game is so unpredictable and unscripted. Stephen Colbert began his comedy career as an improvisational actor. Colbert said, “When you go to improvise a scene with no script, maybe with someone you’ve never met before, you have no idea what’s going to happen. To build a scene, you have to accept it. To build anything on stage, you have to accept it.” Improvisational acting, Colbert claimed, taught him “to say yes” to whatever crazy situation arose.

Golfers must also learn “to say yes” to whatever crazy situation arises. Playing the ball as it lies requires you to improvise. To deal with unscripted and problematic situations, you must develop your improvisational skills. So prepare yourself for all eventualities, expect bad breaks, do your golf homework, learn the game, trust your swing, make sound decisions, think creatively, and manage your emotions. Improvisation is the art of rolling with the flow and dealing with the unexpected. Your game is improvisational theater and you’re playing the leading role.

Unlike riding a bike, for example, why is learning how to swing a club so hard to teach and learn?

This is an important question. In the book, I address this question in depth. However, permit me to give a relatively short answer. I have spent two decades thinking, studying, and researching this question. Thus, I better restrain myself.Learning how to play golf — specifically the swing — is a difficult task. It requires keen awareness and adroit problem solving skills. Ron Heifetz, a psychiatrist, said there are THREE types of problems.

In Type One Problems, the problem is clear and the solution is clear. In Type Two Problems, the problem is clear and the solution is unclear. In Type Three problems, the problem is unclear and the solution is unclear. You guessed it! Golf is a Type Three Problem! In sum, you know something is wrong, but you don’t know what. Plus, you and no one else can agree on the solution! There’s more to the golf swing than meets the eye. Like a baseball player swinging a bat or a tennis player swinging a racket, the golfer swings a club to propel an object straight and far.

Simply put, the golf swing represents the slow and steady application of power in order to hit a ball a precise distance and direction (usually long and straight).The difference between learning to ride a bike and to swing a golf club is in the learning strategy itself. You correctly learn to ride a bike by mastering “the-feel-of-it.”

You incorrectly learn to swing a club by trying to master “the-think-of-it.” There’s the rub! To learn how to ride a bike, you don’t fill your head with dozens of “bike-thoughts.” You don’t think about your grip, spine angle, weight shift, leg drive, knee angle, etc. Essentially, you jump on your bike to grasp “the-feel-of-it.” When you finally grasp “the-feel-of-it,” bike riding seems so easy, natural and automatic. To learn the golf swing, you take “the-think-of-it” strategy. Consequently, you cripple your brain with swing-thoughts.This mechanistic and intellectual approach represents golf’s greatest myth, illusion, fallacy or mistake.

“The-think-of-it” learning strategy can’t possibly work. Here’s why. The golf swing is a highly complex, bio-mechanical, four-dimensional motion - based on the laws and principles of geometry and physics — lasting 1.4 seconds. The swing occurs in the blink of an eye. The club head and ball collide for less than 1/1000 th of a second.It’s hard enough to visualize what’s happening in your swing - much less intellectually control, manage or manipulate what’s happening in your muscles, joints, body parts and club to produce the desired effect. It’s too much to think about.

Your brain, wired to process only so many bits of information per second, can’t handle the load. When you overload your brain with swing thoughts, it blows a fuse, short-circuits and crashes. To learn the golf swing, you must grasp “the-think-of-it” - then grasp “the-feel-of-it.” Over several decades, I’ve studied how people learn.

My platform is the art of learning. Depending on the particular skill involved, I’ve learned what strategy works, what doesn’t, and why. When I teach students to write or golf effectively, I teach them what to learn and how to learn. Too often golf instructors stress the what and ignore the how of learning. Stressing what and ignoring how is like teaching students the art of reading — without teaching them the art of reading comprehension. To learn anything, students must know how to learn.

Learning = Discovery + Mastery. The Discovery Phase involves “the-think-of-it” - namely, preparing yourself and doing your homework. Discovery means learning about the geometry, physics and biomechanics of the swing; about competing swing theories and techniques; about the commonalities among the best ball strikers; about different styles and approaches; about specific golfers and instructors; about different learning theories; about different aspects of the game, etc.

Simply stated, the Discovery Phase boils down to patiently and systematically looking deeply, asking questions and learning effectively. To discover golf’s big picture means finding and engraining an accurate MENTAL-MAP of the swing. If golfers have an accurate mental-map, they won’t wander around aimlessly. The Mastery Phase of learning the swing primarily employs “the-feel-of-it” strategy. Mastery means programming your subconscious repetitively through images and feelings. Swing in slow motion, piece-by-piece, half speed, blind-folded, in a swimming pool, full speed, and eventually with the ball.Use feelings - not thoughts - to orchestrate smoothly the numerous and complex body movements associated with the golf swing. It’s the same for all athletes.

Can you imagine trying to hit a baseball traveling at 90 mph with your brain crippled with swing thoughts concerning the proper operation of your wrists, arms, legs, shoulders and bat? Most golfers never learn the golf swing because they lack the patience, openness, capacity and willingness to reflect on their thought processes and methods.

Emerson said, “Thinking is the hardest work in the world. That’s why so few of us do it.” Learning involves dropping preconceived notions, entertaining new ideas, slowing down, reducing stress and taking bold steps. Psychologists refer to the reflective thinking process as “metacognition.” Metacognition researchers, notably Simon and Chase, claim that expertise (in activities like chess and sport) demands a prolonged immersion period of intense study and participation lasting approximately ten years. That’s not exactly what golfers want to hear. But that’s what it takes. Ben Hogan would surely agree!

To ride a bike acceptably, you need only a brief immersion period. To ride a bike expertly and competitively, however, you need an extensive immersion period. It’s the same with golf. To play at an acceptable level demands only a brief immersion period (i.e. several weeks or months). To play at an expert level, however, demands an extended immersion period (i.e. ten years and/or 20,000 hours).

The quickest way to improve your game is to wake up - to hone your powers of situational awareness that fuel effective learning. Situational awareness — the key to effective problem-solving — means accurately perceiving what’s happening in the moment, correctly interpreting these perceptions and properly projecting the appropriate future actions. Unable to perceive, comprehend and project, novice or stagnant golfers get overloaded with information, misunderstand the information and formulate incorrect responses.

If you have a limited attention span, an impatient disposition and a poor working memory, you’ll stagnate. It’s that simple. The golf swing, a trap for the unwary, contains many counter-intuitive and hidden aspects. Unless you’re keenly observant and inquisitive, your perceptions will fool you. Thus, view everything with new eyes, look deeply, and ask questions. When I took Ben Hogan’s advice “to look in the opposite direction,” I made significant breakthroughs in my swing. Take everything - including advice from the best instructors — with a grain of salt. Just remember one thing: Play Awake! Can you remember that?

What do you mean by “the illusion of awareness”?

This is a great question. “The illusion of awareness” – which relates to all people, not just golfers — lies at the core of Buddhism and at the core of my book. This term denotes the mistaken and popular belief among golfers that they’re actually playing awake – that they’re actually paying attention to what’s going on. In fact, it’s just the opposite. The simple truth is that most golfers are asleep. They just don’t know that they’re asleep. The level of awareness or attentiveness among golfers is so miniscule and insignificant that it hardly matters. People whose vision is so miniscule and inconsequential are labeled “legally blind.” Golfers whose awareness is so miniscule and inconsequential should be labeled “legally asleep.”

Golfers who are “legally asleep” never make a conscious effort to wake up and pay attention. Since they think they’re already awake, they just keep sleeping. That’s the greatest danger associated with “the illusion of awareness.” Their false and empty sense of being awake and paying attention stunts their growth. Growth doesn’t happen all by itself. Nothing happens all by itself. What incubates growth is awareness. It’s that simple.

Admittedly, growth comes in many forms. There’s emotional, intellectual, psychological, social, spiritual, financial and many other forms of growth. But let’s talk only about golf growth — how to increase measurably your performance, competencies and skill sets. The shocking truth is that golfers don’t grow very much over time. When golfers first start playing, their competencies improve only marginally. After this initial and modest improvement phase, their competencies stagnate for most of their golfing lives.Basically, golf is a “non-incremental system.”

Conversely, gardening or wood-carving are basically “incremental systems.” And there’s a big difference between the two systems. The long-term skills of a gardener or wood-carver tend to increase gradually over time. The long-term skills of a golfer, however, tend to stagnate over time.

The National Golf Foundation and the USGA — according to an expose in THE NEW YORK TIMES — the average golfer’s 18-hole score (despite recent technological advancements in equipment and training methods ) hasn’t changed in almost twenty years. Dr. Bob Rotella – sports psychologist and author of GOLF IS NOT A GAME OF PERFECT — writes, “Fifteen years ago, the average American male golfer’s handicap was 16.2. The average female golfer’s handicap was 29. Today, the average American male golfer’s handicap is 16.2, and the average female golfer’s is 29. American golfers have not gotten any better.” Casey Eberting – savvy owner of one of the nation’s leading golf schools – states on his website, “Probably one out of every thousand golfers has the ability to make significant improvement in their golf game once they’ve reached a certain level.”

My anecdotal experience supports these assertions. Recently, my mathematician friend made a startling and revealing discovery. Having reviewed the handicap records of approximately eighty three golfers who’ve played together in the same league for over thirty-three years, my friend reported that not one golfer lowered his handicap in over three decades. Not one! My friend’s statement floored me.

It were as if an inquisitive physician at a famous medical complex or rehabilitation hospital — like the Mayo Clinic – told me that in three decades not a single patient at his or her institution, despite its lofty public image and rich resources, has been cured or rehabilitated. Were golfers — I started to wonder – like Mayo Clinic patients who’re admitted and treated, but rarely cured and released? Is stunted-growth a terminal disease among golfers? Let’s put this sad picture into focus. Imagine a high school junior who receives a so-so score of 1000 on his P.S.A.T. – a national exam used in concert with the S.A.T. that measures a student’s math and verbal skills. Next the student takes the S.A.T. as a high school senior and receives a score of 1100. Comparing these two scores, you observe that the student’s math and verbal reasoning skills have improved only marginally since the last exam a year ago. Next, the student enrolls in college. Upon graduation from college, he decides to take the S.A.T. again. Sadly, he receives the same exact score — 1100. How can this be?

Despite a major investment of time, effort and money, the student’s math and verbal reasoning skills have not improved in five years. Wait — were not done! This student, determined to improve his math and verbal reasoning competencies at all costs, remains in college for another thirty years!Again he takes the S.A.T. Guess what? He receives the same score — 1100. Essentially, this student’s math and verbal reasoning skills have not improved in over thirty-five years. This is not a pretty picture.

But this is essentially the case with most golfers. The student’s stagnant S.A.T. score resembles most golfers’ stagnant handicaps. Like the student trying to improve his math and verbal reasoning skills, golfers — trying to enhance their playing skills — undergo a similar growth pattern. Golfers enjoy a short buzz of initial improvement. Then they stagnate for the rest of their golfing lives despite their investment of time, effort and money.

The growing body of evidence strongly suggests, whether the golf industry admits it or not, (1) that something seriously wrong is going on here and (2) that the way golf is commonly taught and learned needs to change! When I began my research, I focused on my stagnation problem. As I continued my research, I expanded my focus to include the golfing public’s stagnation problem.

Looking deeply and asking questions, I’ve concluded that golfers tend to stagnate mostly because they suffer from an epidemic form of sleeping sickness or attention deficit disorder, namely – “the illusion of awareness.” What happens in the golf swing is what happens in most card and magic tricks: YOU SEE WHAT YOU EXPECT TO SEE. And what you expect to see is what makes sense. And what makes sense is whatever fits your existing mental model.

Unfortunately, your wrong-headed mental model includes a host of flawed concepts, including wrists that flip at impact, club heads that trace the target line, club heads that point skyward at takeaway, left forearms that remain stiff and straight, a right elbow that over-flexes and over-extends, and many other misconceptions.

Swing misconceptions, like weeds in your garden, will continue to spread. But before you can weed your garden, you need to be totally awake. Otherwise how can you distinguish the weeds from the flowers? Before you can actualize growth – whether it’s golf growth, garden growth, financial growth, intellectual growth, etc. – you must first wake up. Only when you’re fully awake will your precious investment of time, effort and money pay dividends. When you’re asleep, unaware, inattentive or comatose, you can’t learn. When you snooze, you lose. That’s my story. And I’m sticking with it! [All Website Materials Protected by Copyright 2010.