golf | the inner game
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Golf - The Inner Game: How learning to play the inner game put a top golfer back on course
Billy Crooks had been a professional for six years when I first met him. He came to me after experiencing severe pressure in his first Scottish Open and nearly pulling out of a qualifying round for the British Open - in which he finished third. This was a fine performance, but his mind had been full of negative thoughts. I asked two key questions:
What did he think about as he played a shot?
His first response was: 'Nothing.' It then emerged that he gave himself technical instructions like 'keep your left wrist cocked' and 'clear your left hip'. Frequent failure to carry out such instructions reinforced his negative view of himself.
Was he aware of his breathing pattern during his swing, particularly during the down swing?
After simulating a few swings, he decided that he probably drew breath on the back-swing and held it during the down-swing, which is what most golfers do.
I then asked him:
* To hear himself breathe out as he struck each shot;
* To hold a picture in his mind of precisely where he wanted the ball to land.
We can only do one of three things with our breathing at any one time - inhale, hold it, or exhale. Only breathing out is compatible with either maintaining or reducing muscular tension. Negative thinking tends to increase muscular tension; so, if he was tensing unnecessarily during his swing, breathing out would go some way towards reducing tension, especially in his jaw, chest and shoulders. This was also the easiest first step towards helping him feel in control. Conjuring up an image in his mind of exactly where he wanted the ball to go (rather than giving technical instructions) would also help to promote a state of relaxed concentration.
Mastering the inner game
I am not a golf coach, but a month later Billy wanted to discuss his back swing. He was closing off the face of the club by allowing his left wrist to become uncocked, resulting in too much of a hook, particularly off the tee. However, when he was actually playing he wasn't aware of what he was doing. Turning to the 'awareness exercises' described by Timothy Gallwey in The Inner Game of Golf (Jonathan Cape, 1981), I asked him to pose with his club face in the wide-open position at the top of the back swing; and then do the exact opposite, i.e. in the fully-closed position.
He then assumed various positions, receiving a score of one point for a fully-closed club face; five for fully-open; and two, three or four for positions between the two extremes. I asked him to hit a few balls and to focus on club head position, irrespective of what happened to the ball. He then tried to reproduce different scores at will. What felt slightly open to him was, in fact, the exact position of the clubface he wanted at the top of the back-swing.
During this session we also discussed the European Tour qualifying tournament in which 700 professional golfers were competing for fewer than 100 places. Billy had not qualified in six years of trying. How could we further enhance his prospects? He wanted to talk in terms of outcomes - as measured by scores and finishing positions. These are the most powerful 'reinforcers' available to golfers, but they hadn't helped Billy previously - which, as I pointed out, was precisely why he had come to me. I suggested that he focus on performance and let the outcomes take care of themselves. It was no great surprise that Billy did not qualify for the European tour, but he had come to realise that learning how to change his focus of attention during the swing would take more than one tournament. He resolved to practise what had been set in motion; he was now more 'positively reinforced'.
Feeling groovy - or grooving in errors
He had been hitting 1,000 practice balls a day to 'groove in his swing'. How did he know if this was actually happening when he was by himself? He said that this was what all professionals did in practice, but I was concerned that without someone to provide feedback, or a video camera and monitor to provide instant replay, he may be 'grooving in' a natural error.
I spoke about the relationship between the demands of the game (to hit as few shots as possible), and his practice policy (hitting huge numbers of balls). I asked him to limit his next practice session to 120 balls or fewer - and to make every shot count.
Another question: why did he hit numerous balls from the same spot. He couldn't do this in competitive golf. Why do so in practice? Thus, for putting practice, I asked him to place 20 balls in a six-foot radius around the cup, play them at random, and record the outcome; and then repeat the exercise from 12ft, and ultimately, from 18ft.
We also devised a system for recording in a notebook if a shot was either too far left or right, or too long or too short, and how well he was maintaining his visual focus. Such notes can easily be recorded between shots to give a comprehensive account of an entire round or a practice schedule.
I recommended that he should use at least three different clubs alternately on the driving range, choosing three different targets, one for each club, and again record the length and accuracy of each shot. This, of course, was in conjunction with breathing out throughout the down-swing and follow-through, all the while visualising where he wanted the ball to land.
Six months later Billy was a changed man. He had had a winter of hard practice, read extensively about sports psychology and experimented with his breathing. Breathing out through the whole swing (instead of just during the down-swing) made him feel much more in control. His new breathing routine consisted of taking up his stance, breathing in, and then out for a count of five before moving his club backward on the count of six. He probably spent 10 seconds or more breathing out from the start to finish. He liked to hear himself breathing and tried to maintain the same level of volume from back-swing to follow-through.
I was very pleased. Every athlete has to assume responsibility for changes they make to their sporting performance. This was a good example of a specific change. Too many elite athletes concentrate on gross change, which is usually not possible anyway, at the expense of smaller, specific changes, which can really pay dividends.
I also recommended that instead of putting to get within two feet of the hole from 20ft out, he should actually aim for the back of the cup. Many golfers aim to get the first putt from 20ft or more to within two feet of the target to be more or less sure of holing out next time. Aiming at the back of the cup, I argued, could avoid the negatively reinforcing consequences of the famous golfing maxim: 'never up, never in'. Holing out first time would also save a shot. Why try and do otherwise?
Billy had a year of mixed fortunes. The high points were breaking the course record at a major championship course and qualifying for his first-ever European tour. The low points were several frustrating, inconsistent performances.
Learning not to perform
When I next met him, shortly after his wedding, he had missed four 'cuts' in tournaments. (The 'cut' is an aggregate score a player must achieve, usually over two or three rounds, to continue in a tournament.) Feeling emotionally and physically shattered, he had taken a week off and returned to the tour to make the next two cuts. He had thus made six out of 11 cuts and won more or less the amount of money he was expected to.
There was a new problem. Having his wife to consider had made him feel 'disorganised' on the tour. We devised a pre-competition strategy, which consisted of drawing up a list all of all daily deadlines and commitments - from going-to-bed to getting-up times; from social activities to meal times; and from tee-off times to practice times. In fact, anything which helped to prepare for the next round.
This was his 'primary strategy'. He also needed a 'secondary strategy' to cope with any unexpected departures or deviations from the timetable. My aim was to ensure he continued to feel in control and to prevent anxiety developing if he had time on his hands and did not know how to deal with it. A secondary strategy might involve going on the putting green if the practice ground was crowded. At all times I wanted him to have a specific planned thing to do. Meanwhile, how did he perceive his game? He had developed total awareness of his last 'swing thought' before hitting the ball. His breathing pattern had become an integral part of his swing; he could not see himself ever abandoning it. He no longer felt overawed in any competition as once he had done in the British Open; and he had decided to concentrate on 'relaxed concentration' or 'trying not to perform'.
He was pleased to have finished in the top 20 per cent in the Italian Open with a level par score over four rounds. A 'swing thought' of 'brushing the tops of the daisies' for three inches before impact had worked on the driving range, but not in competition. Concerned that he had no feel for either deliberately hooking or fading his tee shots, he had decided to concentrate his 'swing thoughts' on visualising what the ball was going to do after he had hit it. This gave him much more feel for the shape of the ball in flight and helped his concentration. Trying to hit the back of the cup while putting had also paid dividends.
He had learned to appreciate that he was, in one sense, just starting his career after six years as a professional. He had changed his perception of his age, no longer feeling he was a bit past it. At the age of 28, he now thought time was still on his side. Most importantly, Billy was beginning to appreciate that the conditioned inhibition he had developed over six years had become ingrained, preventing him from realising his full potential. Top-flight sportsmen are all more-or-less as skillful as one another. What is likely to separate them is their ability to focus their attention, at precisely the right moment, on the most relevant stimuli concerning performance. Of course, other factors - such as temperament, character fitness and motivation - are important. But these can be manipulated and changed through behaviour modification techniques.
Richard Cox
His first response was: 'Nothing.' It then emerged that he gave himself technical instructions like 'keep your left wrist cocked' and 'clear your left hip'. Frequent failure to carry out such instructions reinforced his negative view of himself.
Was he aware of his breathing pattern during his swing, particularly during the down swing?
After simulating a few swings, he decided that he probably drew breath on the back-swing and held it during the down-swing, which is what most golfers do.
I then asked him:
* To hear himself breathe out as he struck each shot;
* To hold a picture in his mind of precisely where he wanted the ball to land.
We can only do one of three things with our breathing at any one time - inhale, hold it, or exhale. Only breathing out is compatible with either maintaining or reducing muscular tension. Negative thinking tends to increase muscular tension; so, if he was tensing unnecessarily during his swing, breathing out would go some way towards reducing tension, especially in his jaw, chest and shoulders. This was also the easiest first step towards helping him feel in control. Conjuring up an image in his mind of exactly where he wanted the ball to go (rather than giving technical instructions) would also help to promote a state of relaxed concentration.
Mastering the inner game
I am not a golf coach, but a month later Billy wanted to discuss his back swing. He was closing off the face of the club by allowing his left wrist to become uncocked, resulting in too much of a hook, particularly off the tee. However, when he was actually playing he wasn't aware of what he was doing. Turning to the 'awareness exercises' described by Timothy Gallwey in The Inner Game of Golf (Jonathan Cape, 1981), I asked him to pose with his club face in the wide-open position at the top of the back swing; and then do the exact opposite, i.e. in the fully-closed position.
He then assumed various positions, receiving a score of one point for a fully-closed club face; five for fully-open; and two, three or four for positions between the two extremes. I asked him to hit a few balls and to focus on club head position, irrespective of what happened to the ball. He then tried to reproduce different scores at will. What felt slightly open to him was, in fact, the exact position of the clubface he wanted at the top of the back-swing.
During this session we also discussed the European Tour qualifying tournament in which 700 professional golfers were competing for fewer than 100 places. Billy had not qualified in six years of trying. How could we further enhance his prospects? He wanted to talk in terms of outcomes - as measured by scores and finishing positions. These are the most powerful 'reinforcers' available to golfers, but they hadn't helped Billy previously - which, as I pointed out, was precisely why he had come to me. I suggested that he focus on performance and let the outcomes take care of themselves. It was no great surprise that Billy did not qualify for the European tour, but he had come to realise that learning how to change his focus of attention during the swing would take more than one tournament. He resolved to practise what had been set in motion; he was now more 'positively reinforced'.
Feeling groovy - or grooving in errors
He had been hitting 1,000 practice balls a day to 'groove in his swing'. How did he know if this was actually happening when he was by himself? He said that this was what all professionals did in practice, but I was concerned that without someone to provide feedback, or a video camera and monitor to provide instant replay, he may be 'grooving in' a natural error.
I spoke about the relationship between the demands of the game (to hit as few shots as possible), and his practice policy (hitting huge numbers of balls). I asked him to limit his next practice session to 120 balls or fewer - and to make every shot count.
Another question: why did he hit numerous balls from the same spot. He couldn't do this in competitive golf. Why do so in practice? Thus, for putting practice, I asked him to place 20 balls in a six-foot radius around the cup, play them at random, and record the outcome; and then repeat the exercise from 12ft, and ultimately, from 18ft.
I recommended that he should use at least three different clubs alternately on the driving range, choosing three different targets, one for each club, and again record the length and accuracy of each shot. This, of course, was in conjunction with breathing out throughout the down-swing and follow-through, all the while visualising where he wanted the ball to land.
Six months later Billy was a changed man. He had had a winter of hard practice, read extensively about sports psychology and experimented with his breathing. Breathing out through the whole swing (instead of just during the down-swing) made him feel much more in control. His new breathing routine consisted of taking up his stance, breathing in, and then out for a count of five before moving his club backward on the count of six. He probably spent 10 seconds or more breathing out from the start to finish. He liked to hear himself breathing and tried to maintain the same level of volume from back-swing to follow-through.
I was very pleased. Every athlete has to assume responsibility for changes they make to their sporting performance. This was a good example of a specific change. Too many elite athletes concentrate on gross change, which is usually not possible anyway, at the expense of smaller, specific changes, which can really pay dividends.
I also recommended that instead of putting to get within two feet of the hole from 20ft out, he should actually aim for the back of the cup. Many golfers aim to get the first putt from 20ft or more to within two feet of the target to be more or less sure of holing out next time. Aiming at the back of the cup, I argued, could avoid the negatively reinforcing consequences of the famous golfing maxim: 'never up, never in'. Holing out first time would also save a shot. Why try and do otherwise?
Billy had a year of mixed fortunes. The high points were breaking the course record at a major championship course and qualifying for his first-ever European tour. The low points were several frustrating, inconsistent performances.
Learning not to perform
When I next met him, shortly after his wedding, he had missed four 'cuts' in tournaments. (The 'cut' is an aggregate score a player must achieve, usually over two or three rounds, to continue in a tournament.) Feeling emotionally and physically shattered, he had taken a week off and returned to the tour to make the next two cuts. He had thus made six out of 11 cuts and won more or less the amount of money he was expected to.
There was a new problem. Having his wife to consider had made him feel 'disorganised' on the tour. We devised a pre-competition strategy, which consisted of drawing up a list all of all daily deadlines and commitments - from going-to-bed to getting-up times; from social activities to meal times; and from tee-off times to practice times. In fact, anything which helped to prepare for the next round.
This was his 'primary strategy'. He also needed a 'secondary strategy' to cope with any unexpected departures or deviations from the timetable. My aim was to ensure he continued to feel in control and to prevent anxiety developing if he had time on his hands and did not know how to deal with it. A secondary strategy might involve going on the putting green if the practice ground was crowded. At all times I wanted him to have a specific planned thing to do. Meanwhile, how did he perceive his game? He had developed total awareness of his last 'swing thought' before hitting the ball. His breathing pattern had become an integral part of his swing; he could not see himself ever abandoning it. He no longer felt overawed in any competition as once he had done in the British Open; and he had decided to concentrate on 'relaxed concentration' or 'trying not to perform'.
He was pleased to have finished in the top 20 per cent in the Italian Open with a level par score over four rounds. A 'swing thought' of 'brushing the tops of the daisies' for three inches before impact had worked on the driving range, but not in competition. Concerned that he had no feel for either deliberately hooking or fading his tee shots, he had decided to concentrate his 'swing thoughts' on visualising what the ball was going to do after he had hit it. This gave him much more feel for the shape of the ball in flight and helped his concentration. Trying to hit the back of the cup while putting had also paid dividends.
He had learned to appreciate that he was, in one sense, just starting his career after six years as a professional. He had changed his perception of his age, no longer feeling he was a bit past it. At the age of 28, he now thought time was still on his side. Most importantly, Billy was beginning to appreciate that the conditioned inhibition he had developed over six years had become ingrained, preventing him from realising his full potential. Top-flight sportsmen are all more-or-less as skillful as one another. What is likely to separate them is their ability to focus their attention, at precisely the right moment, on the most relevant stimuli concerning performance. Of course, other factors - such as temperament, character fitness and motivation - are important. But these can be manipulated and changed through behaviour modification techniques.
Richard Cox
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