Most of your system is already built around various methods to achieve a flow state. For example, the perpetual swing and Goldilocks are great at replacing the manipulative state with an athletic move. Looking forward to this series.
Merci Shawn,
C’est la suite naturelle et brillante de tout ton enseignement. Pour ma part ma pensée oscille en tout temps entre la zone ”cible” et la zone de pensée ”partie du corps” que je veux contrôler. En écoutant ta vidéo j’ai réalisé que je pourrais:
– pouvoir focuser sur la cible
-voir les résultats sans peur ou jugement
-puis faire confiance à mon cerveau (habiletés naturelles) pour faire l’ajustement lors du prochain coup.
C’est simple, en harmonie avec mes objectifs. Je me sens bien à penser de cette façon, c’est la preuve dans la poudding! Sérieusement.
Hi Shawn
As you know, this is something that, in theory, could benefit me greatly.
However, I think that the suggestion of telling oneself “to cut grass” is at odds with achieving a flow state. It is still task focused, just a different task from hitting the ball. In the psychological study (throwing darts) that you reference, there is no equivalent concept in the mind of the more successful group.
So, instead, I think we need drills that enable us to get the right ‘action’ for the swing (throwing the club is probably a good one, but it’s quite hard to implement safely and with sufficient repetition) such that we can embed that feeling in our unconscious mind. This, I suspect, requires massive amounts of repetition without the involvement of a golf ball (but some studies exploring how much is required would be very interesting). Equally, other drills that help us identify when we are co-ordinating our kinetic chain properly (and, importantly, when we’re not), would be helpful – ideally that we can use as rehearsal swings.
I think Jon R is making a similar point about some of your drills that contribute better to flow state.
But I do think it would be helpful for you to take a step back from some of the concepts that you use to help people (e.g. cutting grass) when the topic is flow-state, because in my view they are not compatible.
On the contrary Philip; the best way to cut grass with a “grass whip” is to engage the kinetic chain so that one can whip through with ease and velocity; like a samurai slashing effortlessly and majestically through a straw dummy with his samurai sword! It is simply a task that you personally do not resonate with and that is perfectly fine! We have so many others that could easily fit the bill. The throw you mention in your post is superb and you seem to not have connected the prediction of cutting the stem based on your throw to the target which I have seen so much of before.
So for you, throw into the flight plan “through the intersection that is the ball” but so many see the ball and react to it as if it was the target and this is the sabotage. So we replace it with a stem so that the mind CAN SEE IT’S WAY THROUGH TO THE FLIGHT PLAN and realize only afterwards that the stem was cut.
What does it feel like BEYOND THE BALL when you cut through the stem with the feel of a powerful and easy slash? Connect with all the sensations of the task-you will be in the moment-
Great stuff Shawn. I must admit in the fall sessions at RHGC when I’m hitting into a net, the flight plan, kinetic chain and flow seem easier to get to. With the GC Quad now the bees buzz around . Too much heel contact, ball fading too much, spin too high etc. I struggle to get back to the
golf “ box breathing”. On the course, well there is the lie, that bunker, the pond, the trees on the left, out of bounds blah blah blah. My solution is to try to get back to the basics of appropriate grip, stance, flight picture that matches the shot required and then releasing the acu over my intermediate point. As you know, control is a problem for me. Trying to keep it means losing it.
Comments? Thanks. To bad we are all indoors now.
Great comment Jeremy; You the right track! See the comment I responded to Philip too. Get into more immersive detail about the feel of the weight of the ACU collecting and snapping the ball over the intermediate point and into the flight plan. Remember how reluctant you were letting those arms levitate up the rib cage in the backswing (nananana)? Go ahead and use those legs to heave the ACU away and up change directions smooth as silk, and then Fall-gather down the arc as you squat down with it to prepare for the “deploy-whip” with some nice heft through that stem collecting and releasing wide and deep into that picture; where the end of the rope when the right hand snaps over the left hand and nicely tugs on the shoulder sockets and gets pulled up into the finish. Use the PMD moderately but with full range of motion to get this flow more assimilated and let the GC Quad do it’s thing once in a while to examine curvature to adjust clubface angle if needed.
Let that ball on a string ride it’s arc and “open the machine” (see that video on premium)
We are having so much fun opening golf swings that have been shut down by “be careful” and “watch out” and “stabilize this and keep that still”…The absolute joy in the smiles of our new students and those back for their second winter is amazing; so much relief in not worrying about “defective” body parts coming around to sabotage the swing. They are realizing that they can trace things back to the original focus they had just before they swung the club and forgive themselves for not having the right focus or no focus at all! 😀👍
Shawn, looks like a nice new series coming out! I have one question (blanket type) What is different between this type of focused train and the so called “block” training where we are trying to develop a repeatable flow state on the driving range?
Very different!! If you were to ask the average golfer what they are focused on during this blocked practice, they could not even tell you. They hit a shot, brain says yes-no-close- and they rake another ball without a flight plan, a set up half baked because of the lack of planning, no feel to deliver into the flight plan. It is only AFTER they hit the shot that they decide if they want that shot or not and then the next shot is chosen by default. You can get something accomplished or it can go south in a hurry if you start chasing your tail with WHY things are going wrong and what body parts you will use to fix it.
Hey Shawn have you had a chance to look at/try out the Tour Striker Planemate that seems like it will be the new big thing in 2020? I’m hoping this would be the type of training aid that fits in well with our task focussed training and playing!
Just looked at it; sorry to say, I am not much of a fan. Look at the underlying reasons for it’s existence:
1-club and body going back together-why are golfers already in a state of manipulation at address? What are they getting ready to do? Most are trying to place something somewhere; which leaves the body in a standstill. We want to get ready to use the weight of the ACU (ARM-CLUB UNIT) to deliver a task in a specific direction that we are allowing the action to flow on…very different.
2-shallow out the club on the downswing? Yikes! Why?? Because when you go after the ball, you are over the top? Hmmm, let’s cut some grass in the direction of the target instead! 😝
Thanks for the reply! I got excited seeing so many people raving about it, but in the back of my mind I kind of knew it went against your teaching and what you’re trying to accomplish. Was hoping this thing would get me in the “perfect positions” naturally without thinking about them while still keeping a task focussed approach.😂
Suppose you are hitting a five iron off a good lie to a target that is right on the distance you normally hit five iron. On a scale of one to ten where ten is the tightest and one the loosest, what would your grip pressure be at impact? Same question for the driver with good conditions and a target just past your normal length for driver: what is your grip pressure at impact? I’m trying to understand whether there is a different grip pressure between clubs when hitting a full swing.
Hey Eddie!
You bet! The more G-force you produce, the more pressure through the hands will be necessary to get through the shot! The lie of the shot and the intensity of the shot play a role and your Central Nervous System will take care of the pressure and match it to the task and intent.
If you are trying to hit the ball Hard vs whipping through the dandelion stem with ease and velocity it will change the dynamics big time. Shawn
I have a quick question about the hammer throw and the driver. I noticed when the lady Olympian releases the hammer, she seems to be pulling back against the pull of the weight of the hammer. Kind of like when you spin around with a pale of water and use centrifugal force to keep the water in the bucket, you are not straining to pull against the bucket you are just matching the force tugging at your shoulder sockets. Is that the right kind of tugging feel you have when hitting a driver and is your response to that feel a pull back matching the pull from the weight of the club to keep the club head on the track you mentioned with the 3 tees?
Nice! Yes, that is the dynamic idea! You will feel this build through impact and out into the direction you want the ball to start is where peak “counter measures” occur! Lovely explanation!
Shawn
My favorite part about leaving the pin in is that I can “hear” my putt hitting the pin when setting my alignment after using goldilocks. Give it a try and tune your ears in to help with that alignment and pace!
Shawn, this is a great video – and one I would love to share. Is there any place that you can post it so that I can forward to non-subscribers ? (I think it may lead to more new subs…)
Hmmm. Good idea! Let me post it to youtube in an unlisted video first and then later on, we can post it publicly; I will post the link in the next reply to this comment.
Shawn
Awesome. The one area which stands out for me at the moment which needs attention is my driving. I just can’t hit a draw. I can work hard and hit a straight-ish shot (tiny fade) when I line up square and can hit a bigger fade when I open up my stance. I feel that I’m fighting and manipulating whenever I try the draw. I tend to push it whenever I release to the right of my intermediate point with the driver. I think this nugget is something that will help with that. I’ll definitely give it a good go and let you know!
Come to think of it now, a fade comes more naturally with the longer irons for me. So I’ll definitely to try it with the long (3,4) irons too.
What is your vision for short putts? I am a 3.9 index , but, I feel That I miss too many of these. I am probably in a manipulative state trying to make sure
YES!! Please see “putting focus shawn clement” on youtube first; Then watch my 9 holes in Texas And Stability putter shaft review videos I just put out on youtube…once you are in place and you feel ready to go, which means, if you allow momentum to roll the ball. It wants to go into the hole, then it is OUT OF YOUR CONTROL, you have done the work of reading, lining up, acid test. See how you want it to roll in in your mind, then let the momentum roll it in.
In this video you say to feel the weight of the sword slashing through. In others you talk about feeling the weight of the arm club unit.
What should my focus be?
Feel the weight of the club head and swing that through the ball towards the target / intermediate point.
Feel the weight of the entire club and swing it in the direction of the target / intermediate aim point.
Feel the weight of the arm and club hanging from the shoulders and swing that.
I seem to be able at times to feel the 1st or 2nd option but not the 3rd.
Good questions!
See “lead hand release”, “trail hand release”, “release fine tuning” and then see the throwing series as the different lengths of clubs will change the way that you use the heft of the arms and club!
Shawn
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