Visualisation & I

I wrote my last post rather more quickly than usual, as I was under pressure of time. I'd meant to write and post the night before, but had got caught up in the computer black hole, so I had a very narrow window before Master Geek awoke from his nap. I'm quite happy on the whole, but what struck me was how convoluted my new shot routine might seem. Nothing could be further from the truth; it has in fact been significantly streamlined.

The principal difficulty has arisen because I've read almost all of my mental game advice. Most of my tuition (all of it until I encountered the Instinctive Golf team) was technical advice; Instinctive Golf have added so much more but because these have been small group lessons, there hasn't been that much specifically on the mental game.

So I've been reading about the importance of the shot routine; how it should precede every shot to provide refuge in high pressure situations; and it's components. Almost everyone has been very big on the importance of visualisation and "seeing" the shot before playing. This has led to me earnestly giving every fairway and green my "1000 yard stare" as I try to burn an image of the desired shot onto the landscape before making my practice swing and setting up to the ball. I've written before about the issues I've had trying too hard to get the clubface square, playing with a "downward focus" rather than gripping the club properly, looking at where I want the ball to go & pointing the club there, trusting it's aimed correctly (what I term an "outward focus"). This is what works for me, so it's included in my new regime. Like many high handicap amateurs I get "stuck" over the ball to my detriment, so I've been working on better "flow" through the routine- very much a work-in-progress, but I'm really excited about my new streamlined routine.

What I've totally failed to grasp is how wrong I've got visualisation. Trying to burn a hole in the very fabric of reality by dint of my hyper-intense glare is not only impossible, it's unnecessary, unhelpful and significantly contributing to feeling "stuck" over the ball. For uncomplicated, clear shots all I need is an idea of the shot I want to play and the feeling that gives rise to that shot; this seems to occur for me just on the cusp between conscious and unconscious thought. All I then need to do is make sure I have a good picture of where I want the ball to go, a sense of direction to guide alignment and then setup up with an outward focus, relax, swing eyes from target to ball, brief pause (I think of it as half a heartbeat) then start to swing the club before conscious thought can intrude. The addition of the deep breath with eyes closed, opening at the end of exhalation is an NLP technique from the "Golfer Within" program. I think it helps, and it certainly doesn't hurt, so it stays in.

It's not an overstatement to say that I feel liberated by this realisation. I'm going to be spending quite a bit of time this winter working on my routine, making it second nature so that when spring arrives I've ready to take it into competition. Over-thinking is something I'm always going to have to watch out for, but armed with awareness I'm more than a match for it. I might have some way to go before I can reach Brian (@njGuinness)'s state of #CavemanGolf, but I'm looking forward to travelling along that path.

What are your thoughts and experiences with visualisation? Are they similar or very different to mine? Think I've got it wrong? Let me know - either below or tweet me up @The_Golf_Geek on that there Twitter-ma-jig