Playing Golf Without a (Swing) Thought

[Bonvivant]

For now it's just hammer the nail on driver/wood/long irons. No swing thoughts on short irons/pitch/chip/putt. Once the hammer the nail thing is ingrained in my memory (probably sometime next season), I hope to have no swing thoughts at all.

Off topic, but I follow the same approach in billiards and pocket billiards. A lot less moving parts, but I never think about any part of the stroke. I think about the shot I want to execute and do it. People that watch me play these games (golf included)don't understand how a can be so fast without losing accuracy, but it's just my tempo.

I am a far better pool player than golfer but I'm just getting back into golf and the hammer the nail thing has improved my game loads and I don't feel like there is much other help that will do that good of a job.

[Buckeyebowman]

On 8/15/2019 at 10:41 PM, Vinsk said:

Maybe you don’t entirely understand what that means? It doesn’t mean we are without feel. It means what we feel we are doing is often not what’s actually happening. Like @iacas said in a post...’ keep your [ trail ] arm straight.’ It’s a feel many can have but obviously our trail arm doesn’t remain straight. Some feels can be shared to produce the same goal.

HUH? I've been playing this frigging game for 50+ years! Don't even try to tell me that I don't know what "feel ain't real" means! Back in the day I shot par and sub par golf, so I know what "feels" are! 

And I understand the "concept" of keep your trail arm straight. I tried that for a while, and it did not work for me! I understand that it tries to increase the radius of my swing, But I made inconsistent contact with the ball, and really had no idea where it was going. 

I grew up, and was instructed, in the "keep your right elbow close to your side", "tuck a knotted towel under your right armpit, and don't let it fall out in your backswing" era! That is how I learned to play golf. 

The second to last time we played, I tried a practice swing on the tee like that, and it felt pretty good! I striped my drive right down the middle. The last time we played, I employed the same swing, and shot a 78! The first time I've broken 80 in a while! My swing felt so much more "connected" and together, 

I started hitting the ball dead in the center of the clubface, right on line, and for good distance. I guess what I'm saying here is that old dogs find it hard to learn new tricks! 

 

[Vinsk]

25 minutes ago, Buckeyebowman said:

HUH? I've been playing this frigging game for 50+ years! Don't even try to tell me that I don't know what "feel ain't real" means! Back in the day I shot par and sub par golf, so I know what "feels" are! 

And I understand the "concept" of keep your trail arm straight. I tried that for a while, and it did not work for me! I understand that it tries to increase the radius of my swing, But I made inconsistent contact with the ball, and really had no idea where it was going. 

I grew up, and was instructed, in the "keep your right elbow close to your side", "tuck a knotted towel under your right armpit, and don't let it fall out in your backswing" era! That is how I learned to play golf. 

The second to last time we played, I tried a practice swing on the tee like that, and it felt pretty good! I striped my drive right down the middle. The last time we played, I employed the same swing, and shot a 78! The first time I've broken 80 in a while! My swing felt so much more "connected" and together, 

I started hitting the ball dead in the center of the clubface, right on line, and for good distance. I guess what I'm saying here is that old dogs find it hard to learn new tricks! 

 

Your use of the phrase in reference to my post did not correlate with you understanding what it means. And I don’t care how long you’ve been playing. Your stating of ‘feel ain’t real’ didn’t make sense in reference to my post. 

[Buckeyebowman]

So be it! I don't really care!

[Double Mocha Man]

On 9/3/2019 at 12:03 PM, Bonvivant said:

I hope to have no swing thoughts at all.

 

I like that non-thought.  I tried it for awhile.  I had 6 or 7 thoughts on doing the setup.  But when it came time to swing I allowed my athleticism take over.  Zero thoughts during the swing.  Didn't work.  Went back to having one in-swing thought.  Mr. Bonvivant, let me know how it goes for you.  I've always said golf should be like shooting a 3-pointer.  You don't think about elbow placement, or angles, or hand placement on the ball, or follow through... you just do it by instinct and swish it.  But I'm beginning to think golf is not like that.

[Marty2019]

So, playing without a swing thought. 

Lately, I have had some decent results with hitting the ball as soon as possible after addressing it.   I see so many of my playing partners standing over their ball, thinking, thinking, thinking, and inevitably, they longer they stand over the ball, the worse they hit it.  

But in response to the original post, I suppose I do have those types of swing thoughts.  I do stand behind the ball to make sure of my alignment, pick out a spot on the grass about 5 or 10 feet in front of me to line up on, and I try to relax, and remind myself to accelerate past the ball, to fight my tendency to decelerate at the bottom of the down swing.  Those type of thoughts.  Just not during my swing.   

 

 

 

Edited September 16, 2019 by Marty2019

[Darkfrog]

I've only played 4 competitive rounds (two, 2-round tournaments). I was incredibly nervous being a newb to golf competition, and I had so many swing thoughts pin-balling around in my head that I was almost physically paralyzed over the ball. I played some of the worst-golf of my life, carding >10 on several holes.

During a normal round, I try to have a completely non-technical/mechanical swing thought.

[WillieT]

I sometimes think I have "too many" swing thoughts when on the course.  Lately I've adopted simpler is better so it goes something like this - on drives, "the airplane (golf club) is taking off", on irons "the airplane is coming in for a landing"  and fairways/hybrids "the airplane is coming in for a touch and go".  This is an adaptation of what I heard online instructor Danny Maude described iron/driver play the other day about how to visualize the driver swing as well as the irons.  In working through the fairways and hybrids I realized they don't take the divot like the irons but are not upswingers like the driver, hence they in terms of airplanes are doing touch and go's - i.e. contacting the ground with a slight divot.  So for me, it has simplified the swing thought process and reminds me of what should be happening at the business end....

[Buckeyebowman]

i like your idea. Every time my buddy's game goes South, I can see him start to freeze up over the ball, and I know it's because he's thinking too much! And all it does it get him in more trouble!

[lastings]

I always play with something in mind, but try not to overdo it.   

right now its...  

Every shot - pay attention to grip

woods/long iron - hands high and patient in transition

short irons - nothing

pitches/chips - straight back on the take away (don't get inside).  

 

but, in time, those things will be ingrained and I replace those with different thoughts.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Joe Jetson]

I've always had a problem with coming over the top and cutting across the ball. I would make a beautiful inside/out swing on my practice swing, but then get up to ball and come over the top. Finally, I just said to myself:

Tee it up high

Go out and get it

...and I started hitting much more solid, straight shots. But it didn't seem complete. Then, I remembered the advice Navin Johnson (Steve Martin in 'The Jerk') got from his father when he left home. So now, my full swing thought is:

Tee it up high

Go out and get it

See a doctor and get rid of it.

[Bonvivant]

On 9/8/2019 at 9:49 PM, Double Mocha Man said:

I like that non-thought.  I tried it for awhile.  I had 6 or 7 thoughts on doing the setup.  But when it came time to swing I allowed my athleticism take over.  Zero thoughts during the swing.  Didn't work.  Went back to having one in-swing thought.  Mr. Bonvivant, let me know how it goes for you.  I've always said golf should be like shooting a 3-pointer.  You don't think about elbow placement, or angles, or hand placement on the ball, or follow through... you just do it by instinct and swish it.  But I'm beginning to think golf is not like that.

Well the beginning of this year is showing promising improvement. Last year I was usually in the low-mid 90s for what I would call a "good solid round". This year I've broken into the 80s a couple of times and today I shot a 93 (49-44) when I didn't really have my groove on the front 9 (a couple of hosel adjacent shots, lost balls, etc.). I only have been thinking about keeping my head steady or "eye on the ball", but for me that is pretty natural and not really in my mind when swinging.

I've yet to take a lesson too, and the more I play, the less I want to take one. I hear people talking about this weird swing minutiae and what it is doing to their game, and I can't help but laugh. I am afraid that if I do find a coach/take a lesson, they will try to instill that in me, and I don't think that is a place that I want to go. It may lower my score even more, but at the cost of losing some enjoyment of the simplicity of the game. Hit ball with stick, make it go in hole.

It reminds me of one of the scenes from The Last Samurai, where one of the samurai is teaching Algren about "no mind". "Mind the sword (club in our case), mind the people watch, mind the enemy--too many mind.....no mind"

[RetiredOldMan]

I usually do this one thing for every shot.

When I have lined up and addressed the ball, I take a deep breath, breathe it out and then relax before I swing. 

I find it helps me tremendously hit a good shot. I try and do this every time. 

Retired Old Man

[iacas]

The full text:

Despite what some think, most tour pros do think about their swings while hitting the ball. I think one swing thought can def be beneficial but more than one you are prob not doing either well as humans are terrible multi-taskers. You can go with zero thoughts but I personally have never done well with JUST visualization. Also, you have enough mental capacity to have multiple thoughts on the range but can’t afford that much brain power on the course especially if you have any consequences for the shot.

[DavidBedwetter]

Lots of interesting perspectives on swing thoughts here.   My personal theory is that swing thoughts should be limited to the backswing only, while the conscious mind still has the majority of control over our motion.  I believe that the through swing needs to be a purely athletic, subconscious and reactive process.   Once the club starts forward is where we need to get out of our own way and let the body do what it needs to do.  Swing thoughts would only be a hindrance to this. For most of us anyway.