Concentration and solid contact - Does anyone else "micro-nap" in the swing?

[F22Hack]

Hi all,

I am pretty new to the site, and forums in general, so forgive me if this is too wordy, or has been discussed previously...

Like many, I have always struggled with making consistent solid contact...usually hit everything a bit out on the toe, as a general rule.  I just had my third spine surgery, so can't swing a club again just yet, but happened to be on the chipping green and noticed something interesting...not for the first time, but enough that I decided to experiment a bit.

I hope that I am not the only one that notices a "micro-nap" (loss of concentration, brain fart, whatever) between the time I start the downswing and impact.  I usually have a few (too many) swing thoughts going on, and then after I chili-dip a chip, or thin an iron, I notice that "I have no idea what I was thinking about at the ever-important point of impact."  I find that I am not sure if I was actually looking right at the back of the ball, concentrating on hitting down on the ball, in the center of the club-face, etc. exactly at impact.  Basically, my concentration lapses for an instant, right when it matters most...and I am not sure why.

So today on the chipping green (all very short chips because of my back), I practiced with a 60* wedge, which is arguably one of the more difficult clubs to use for chipping (i.e. can lend itself to lots of chili-dips and skulls).  In order to MAKE myself concentrate on the ball from downswing through impact, I simply took the club back as I would do for the particular shot (including lofted shots, lower trajectory to run, etc.), stopped, and held the position for a minimum of "two potatoes."  From there, I made sure that I was looking directly at the back of the ball, and then let my hands drop, accelerated, and finished as normal.

I am sure that this "drill" can be used for a number of reasons, including checking your positioning, working on accelerating through the ball, etc., but I focused on the mental, or "concentration" aspect of the chip, and was quite surprised to see how well I could actually chip from a complete stop - making solid contact, in the center of the club-face, with MUCH better consistency, and a "feel" for what exactly the club-face was doing all the way through impact.  As an "advanced" version of the drill, I would hold my position, and actually look up at the target for two potatoes, then back at the ball before I started the downswing...just to solidify the shot in my mind right before the swinging motion.

I was chipping with 20 balls, and in the 45 minutes prior, I had only holed two shots.  During the drill (six iterations with 20 balls), I holed at least one shot per twenty, and on one lucky round, I holed three out of twenty.  Granted these were all chips inside of 15-20 yards, but there was definite improvement in the stats.  Once I started chipping with no pause (doing this every-other ball), I found that my awareness of the club-face, and my ability to concentrate throughout the shot was much better.  I was able to feel myself "place" the club in a good position at the top, and then had more control on the downswing.

So why am I even writing about all of this?!?  I am just curious to know if others have noticed a similar issue with micro-napping, and if so, what they have done to work specifically on concentration.  Also, I would be curious for someone else to try what I practiced, and see if they are able to see any similar results.  Ultimately, I want to try this with a full swing to see if I can start wearing down the grooves in the center of my clubs, as opposed to "just toe-ward" as usual...but that will be months from now.

Thanks to everyone for a great site and I look forward to hearing any feedback :)

[iacas]

It's an interesting topic, but I will say this and see how others react.

I think what you've found is a good practice routine. Your pausing made you more aware of the weight of the clubhead, its position in 3D space (as well as your body's), and allowed you to better sequence your downstroke.

You'll rarely find a good player playing well who has a thought for the downswing. The best golf is often played with a "micro-nap" from the start of the backswing all the way to the finish - the entire swing.

Or you may have discovered your own simple swing thought for little chips and pitches. I think good players will get a feel for the grass, visualize the shot shape/height/landing/roll-out/etc., and then could close their eyes and still hit that shot because they're attuned to what they're doing.

It helped you because you generally aren't as aware of the clubhead, your body, your tempo/rhythm/sequencing, etc.

[saevel25]

Look at Annika Sorenstam, her head is looking out infront, tracing the trajectory of the ball before she impacts the ball. Very few people can actually see impact with the ball.

Your hold technique is good, i've done a similar thing. Were i get the club were i want in the backswing, then focus on other parts of the swing, like bumping my left hip towards the target. As for the mind napping, i think its the fact that the downswing is only 0.2 to 0.5 seconds long. That is basically close to or just slower than an average reaction time. Meaning, once you start down, your done before your body can realize whats its doing.

Though my new favorite drill is make a golf swing like a pendulum, were i start the clubhead forward than back, really get a feel for the weight of the clubhead, slowing increasing the arc. I find this a better way for me to hone in my take away. I tend to rotation my shoulders shallow, drawing me off the ball in the backswing, and i get my hands very deep, but i also rotate the wrists open as well. This momentum drill really helps quiet the swing down and feel the club, and it gets me set on a steeper shoulder turn.

As for chipping, i like to just visualize Erik's video he did on pitching. I find i chip better when i use more of a feel/tempo swing than really focus on mechanics.

My first round of golf, i got up and down over 50% of the time, and that is a stark improvement over my 30/30/30 duff/skull/good chip ratio i had last year :p

[boogielicious]

F22,

I think your practice routine falls directly into what is described in this thread.

http://thesandtrap.com/t/54840/simple-specific-slow-short-and-success-the-five-s-s-of-great-practice

It works because you are slowing down the motion and allowing the sequence to happen correctly. I have done this as well.

[David in FL]

I would really like to get to the point where my entire swing was a "micro nap".  Sometimes the brain is vastly overrated as any kind of benefit in striking the ball......

[boogielicious]

Agreed David.  I need to quiet my mind more when I play.

[bjwestner]

I'm glad I found this thread.  I believe that I need to increase my concentration when hitting the ball.  I find myself not focused on the back of the ball when I am swinging and this hurts.  Instead I am looking down but not focused at all and kind of in a "fog" when I hit the ball.  I find that when I force myself to lock into the back of the ball that I make better contact with the ball.  For some reason though I struggle a lot with this.  I always say going into a round that I am going to focus really hard on the back of the ball but after the round is underway I forget about this.  Maybe it's because I am talking with my playing partners or maybe because I play too fast (I think I play way too fast but I cannot help it).

I also noticed that my practice swings are useless basically.  Your practice swing is supposed to be what you want to execute on the actual shot but I have found myself not thinking about this and just making an "empty" practice swing instead.  Maybe I have ADD or something but I have a very hard time making my practice swings count and focusing on the back of the ball.