FLOW STATE SERIES INTRO-PUTTING
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Shawn Clement, one of the top 20 youtube teachers and the only one recognized for teaching without body part or positions, drives the ball over 300 yards both right-handed and left-handed and breaks par from either side, and is also the only one who ever qualified and played world-ranked events with 1/2 left and 1/2 right-handed clubs in the same bag! He is the ultimate expert on golf instruction!
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Do you feel the weight of the putter better with one hand more dominate on the grip. I noticed with one handed putting strokes the weight of the putter head is more apparent. I am puting that left hand over the dominant right hand very lightly. It seems like I can feel the weight better especially in the takeaway. Feels like the left is just along for ride. Is this garbage or does it have merit? dunno 🙂
Well, if it feels like one solid block from both shoulder sockets down and you are able to let the arms and putter roll the ball into the picture without interference, then why not?
Shawn.
Hey Shawn – I have started down your putting road by changing my grip – I have done left-hand low for a long time and I interlock my grip as I do with the full swing. What I did was to do a double interlock and that has restricted my ability to manipulate the putter during the stroke – forcing me to give the putter over to gravity.
The ramifications of that are learning distance control – not all that hard surprisingly, but it is also pointing out to me that I did a lot of face manipulation during the stroke when I felt like things were not quite right. Now I just have to trust it. The thing that got me tonight (in round 1) was the fine speed control. I had a few putts that ran out of gas and just missed and I left one short.
I am sure you are going to say to give it time, but are there any specific things I should be doing to make sure I stay on track and get this new technique down? I have quite a few putters and it seems that a larger grip is better suited to this technique ( I have an Edel E1 putter with a Pure grip that is a constant cross-section – it seems to relax my hands). I tend to change putters a lot – I assume this is a big no? Just stick with one, or can I change from time to time when I feel like benching a putter. Sorry for the bombardment of questions. I am intrigued by the results from trying this.
Wow – answering my own question 🙂 I was watching the Putting – Stroke & Distance Control video again and there was something in there that really helped with my accuracy. It was gripping the club more tightly so my “Y” can move from the shoulders – that feels WAY more stable than the weaker grip I used tonight. It is amazing to putt and have no hand manipulations going on 🙂
For me the grip size is big – I can not seem to get a good grip on the club with a thinner grip. It can be a pistol or tapered but has to be a larger cross section. – thanks again Shawn, you have helped my game immensely.
Look at you fo man! Awesome!
Shawn – I have been trying to settle in my putting rhythm (and brain) to timing to stroke with my breathing… inhale (take the putter back)…. let it go with the momentum… exhale. Does this make sense?
NO!! One human breath is 5 seconds; one putting stroke is less than 2. Does not jive and is something your self preserving machine does at 40 Million bits of info per second. If you focus on that, you simply distract and sabotage the machine. You can’t be focused on your breathing and timing that to the stroke and focus on reacting to the way you want the ball to roll into the hole at the same time.
It’s great, one suspects, to forget about the bad shot that just happened. But if we completely erase the memory, are we disrupting the feedback loop?
Good question. No, the conscious mind forgets and ignores; the subconscious self preserving machine uses the info to learn. It has NO judgement so it simply continues to find the path of least resistance at 40 million bits per second and we have 0.0 chance to follow along with the conscious mind.
Shawn
Shawn, what is your opinion of using a line on the ball, to aim your putts. Ron
That works if:
-You confirm from behind that it fits the line and speed you want
-you trust it and ignore what it looks like when over the ball
-you are now letting momentum flow on that line when executing AND NOT trying to make the putter follow the line.
Hey Shawn. Really good teaching. I practice 20 minute meditation sessions for awareness twice a day and its amazing. I knew that this practice changes our attitudes in daily living. But I never considered adapting this to golf. Thank you for your suggestions. You are correct when you say open-mindedness is the key to success. The best to you!
Nice Michael! Was just reading about a new study just breaking about this 20 minute seated meditation improving brain waves and focus. I knew the Benefits would come nicely in a golf practice session so you can get to apply it right away in your game and at the same time improve the skill set for both technique and focus! Win-win-win!! 😀👍
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.
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
Here we go:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ji6jQzKJTIo&feature=youtu.be
This link is unlisted; but anyone you send the link to can watch it!
Shawn
Perfect, thanks!
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!
Very nice! The impact sound with the flag determines the pace used with your momentum…NICE!!
Game changer. Great first video and comments already- keep it coming!
Thanks Rob!!
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.😂
They make things sound so nice while praying on our fears don’t they? 😉
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.
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! 😀👍
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-
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.
Ah que tu as tout compris; je suis tellement fier!
On continue de plonger! 😀👍
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.
Exactly right! When I realized this, I knew we were on to something really special! It’s time for a deeper dive! 😀👍