CONNECTING OUR EYES, BRAIN, AND ARMS CAN MAKE ALL THE DIFFERENCE
There Are Two Ways To Improve Your Golf Game — Only One is Right
Using your head to see can save you many strokes
Nick Faldo, the great golfer, said, “Visualization is the most powerful thing we have”.
Some Golfers feel that simple repeated practice is all they need to play better. The truth is that simple practice alone won’t cut it — adding visualization to practice is the better way
What exactly is visualization?
Visualization is an essential technique, used by Golfers and athletes to prepare for their sport. Basically, it is a form of mental rehearsal and is the ability to imagine or visualize, in your mind, the shot before actually taking the shot.
The key here is to imagine — to play out the shot in your mind, over and over again, adjusting your swing and your read of the green or the hole.
This practice has many benefits and many of the world’s best athletes use it to create optimal performance.
What are the positive effects of visualization?
Practicing visualization had been shown to have the following benefits:
- Creates a program for the brain and muscles as to what specific action is needed to make the best shot
- Pre-stimulates the muscle groups that will be needed to make the shot
- Relaxes the mind and body as a successful plan is created and verified prior to making the actual shot
- Likely improves concentration and awareness as distractions are handled during the visualization phase
- Increases sense of well-being and confidence
- Can repeatedly train the brain and muscles to perform the desired shot
Why does visualization work?
Visualization has been studied extensively by the scientific community and one of the most interesting reports in this field was written by Richard Suinn, a well-known sports psychologist.
In his study, Suinn had downhill skiers visualize the course and how they were going to ski the run. While visualizing their ski run downhill, Suinn attached an EMG device (an instrument that measures muscle activity) to the skiers and found that the same muscles that would be used if the skier was actually skiing down the slope were being stimulated simply by imagining or visualizing the ski run.
In other words, the subject wasn’t actually doing anything physical, but by simply visualizing the motion the muscles were activated in the same way as they would be with actual physical effort.
By visualizing the golf shot you create a clear picture of what needs to be done, you program your brain to trigger the muscles in the optimal sequence and you even warm up the muscles to the action sequence that will be needed to make the shot.
Simply put, by visualizing the shot you are telling your brain which brain pathways it needs to use.
How can I make use of visualization?
In order for visualization to work, the athlete should imagine the details of the future physical movement as well as how it feels to perform it.
You need to imagine/visualize your shot in the same way that golf shots are shown on TV, with the shape of the shot shown as an arc as the ball moves. You should place yourself in the shot, actually seeing yourself as you swing and hit the ball.
Try to consider all the variables, the slope of the green, the lie of the club on the ground, the effect of wind, the surrounding traps, etc — the more variables you include the more useful the visualization will be in preparing your shot.
Visualize your backswing, your swing, contact with the ball, the ball’s trajectory, how it hits the ground and how it rolls, and finally where it ends up. This can be done repeatedly, with each visualized shot being slightly different until the ideal process is appreciated.
In addition to Nick Faldo, many elite golfers have leveraged this technique to improve their game. Tiger Woods, Fred Couples, and Jack Nicklaus, to name a few have all used visualization as a tool in their golf bag.
It has been said that 90% of the game of golf occurs between shots — visualization can help you maximize this time to create a calm, concentrated, and well-rehearsed execution of your next golf shot.
Seeing (in your mind) is definitely believing (it can happen)!
Would you like to learn more about how your eyes can help you play better in your sport? Sign up for my 5-day FREE Email course by clicking here (safe link to my website).
