Talking to Yourself on the Golf Course...Crazy?

YES! But not because you're talking to yourself, but because you're golfing!

There is a thin line between genius and lunacy and golfers walk that line whenever they play. How so? Glad you asked...

In what other activity do you see so many people take part... To relax... And end up screaming at the top of their lungs in frustration. They break clubs and they throw clubs, sometimes all of them. I've seen golfers throw new clubs in a lake and drive off. Shortly after, I watched crazed golfers in the lake fighting over those same clubs. If you were from another planet, you could liken it to the crazed actions of anyone possessing the evil ring in JRR Tolken's "Lord of The Rings."

What pushes golfers to such extremes? A simple word... Expectations.

Golfers usually expect to play better than they do, and when they don't sometimes they get crazy. I've seen golfers talk to themselves loudly and vigorously. I only wish I had a recorder in times like that. But PGA Tour golfers do it too... Maybe not to the degree of questionable sanity, but they do talk to themselves.

Here's what I believe is crazy when it comes to golfers. They'll have a bad day on the course, scream and yell at themselves all day, glare at anyone who asks about their game, and when they are done, they'll throw the sticks in the car, go home and do nothing to change their game. The next time out, the same routine starts over again... Now that's crazy.

It's the definition of crazy... Doing the same thing over and over expecting a different result.

The REAL reason for the frustration? Lack of control over their golf game. For many golfers, no matter how hard they try, something always happens during their golf game that ruins the game. In spite of every attempt to right the ship, they just can't fix the problem. I went through it for years and frankly I talked to myself and threw clubs too.

Golf isn't a game about getting the stupid little ball into the hole. It's a game about learning self control. If you can do it in golf, you can do it with the rest of your life.

Yeah, you might be thinking, "I'm not going to accept that poor of a golf game because I know I can do better, so don't tell me to get control over myself!"

And you are right. You need to learn how to gain control over your golf game. You have to learn how the body and mind work TOGETHER to make a golf swing and a golf shot (they are different). Then you need to learn how to do it for your own game.

I've spent half my life figuring it out. Not just for me, but for any golfer. You want to let go of the frustration? It has been accomplished by golfers around the world.

The rest of this blog and other blogs that I write have the answers. Take the time to get rid of irrational craziness so you can be crazy... When you want to!

For a start into learning how to fix your game for good, go to: http://www.ultimategolfsystem.com/blog

There are videos and articles that will show you where to start.

Using Balance to Improve Your Golf Swing

Isn't Life crazy? I thought I would be able to write this days ago, but this is the first chance I've had to write this next post. So thanks for your patience...

Ok, so did you try the exercise? If not, how do you ever expect to improve... Osmosis?

Let me explain the very simple principle we are going to use to make the swing damned near automatic. It's the principle of Dynamic Balance in the body. Basically, when you start moving, the body's first priority is to keep you in balance. It's a self-preservation instinct hard wired into your brain. It will happen whether you like it or not and it can work for you or against you...

You see, if you start your motion from an imbalanced position, the body will do its job and place you back in balance, which is fine unless you are also trying to swing a golf club and get it back to the golf ball. Why? Because the body will redirect whatever muscles it has to in order to get you in balance. Unfortunately, this process breaks down the golf swing because the body's muscles that you wanted to use to swing the club were pulled off of the job and reassigned to balance duty.
The result is usually ugliness...

Now if you start in balance, your body will fight to keep you in balance as you move, which means it is actually going to work a little harder to keep the golf club on the right plane. The result is what you see on TV, a smooth, powerful, accurate golf swing.

So the next question is, "How do you know when you are in balance?"

I knew you'd ask. Simply feel your feet and the muscles in your body. When in balance., the weight is even between the feet and centered between the balls and heels of your feet... In the arches.
Every muscle has an opposing muscle, and if they are both working equally, they are working in balance. That's it. Sounds easy, but it requires a higher level of awareness of your body. close your eyes and take time to feel different muscles and their opposing muscles and see if one is working harder than the other.

To find which muscles oppose, move around. If you lean forward, feel the muscles that support that position. Some will pull, others will push. Go the opposite direction and feel to see which muscles switch roles. The ones that do are opposing.

So, all of this basically tells you that if you can start your golf swing from a balanced stance, your muscles will work to help you improve your golf swing. Pretty cool, huh?

I've made the whole process even easier with a routine that took me over ten years to develop. The routine will place any golfer in a powerful, balanced golf stance so they can eliminate many of the needless mistakes that occur because of an imbalanced setup.

To see that routine,
click this link

Once you get this balance feel down, I'll show you how to use it to add power, accuracy, and even shape shots, based completely on feel.

The Secret of the Ultimate Golf Swing

In the last post I started you thinking about how the mind controls the body and how to use that to control the movement of your golf swing. You may be thinking that control means being machine-like, but actually, the opposite is true. With the proper use of the mind, your golf swing can be more free than ever and be very powerful AND accurate.

How, you ask?

Instead of trying to control each muscle group by thinking about it, let the brain do it the way it has for you from birth; automatically. I talked about the balance feedback sensors in the body. These sensors are finely calibrated and not subject to the factors that cause normal muscle sensors to send false information to the brain.

You will use muscle sensors in developing your personal perfect golf swing, but only as indicators that they are doing their job. If you try to use their feedback to correct problems by gauging how well the muscles are working, false indicators will lead you down a trail that constantly circles back to the same issues. Translated, you'll chase your tail and keep re-fixing the same issues.

That's because as the muscles are being used, they are constantly changing state. They start out cold and stiff, then as they warm up, they loosen up, but if they get tired they may stiffen up again. As the muscles change state they send different signals to the brain for the same movement.

So if you are using muscle feel to gauge different parts of your swing, as the muscle states change, so will your swing. For example, How far do you bend over when you set up? If your back is stiff, do you bend the same amount? Can you know if you are correct by feeling the muscles in your body if they feel so differently? The answer is no. But until now, golfers have been given no other way to manage their golf swing on the golf course.

But the one thing you can always tell is whether any muscle group is working. As long as you don't need to go further, that information can be used reliably to maintain a consistent golf swing while removing the frustration that goes with it.

The main sensors you will use to maintain a reliable golf swing are the balance sensors. They respond to the Earth's gravity through a special network of receptors. All you have to do to start using this network is to ask the brain to show you what is happening with the network.

There are only a few steps for using this process to free up and power up your golf swing. Today we are going to discuss step 1.:

Step 1: Increase your awareness of balance and feel in the body.

We started this in the last post. Now we'll take up a notch...

Close your eyes and walk, being careful not to run into anything. Really, so ahead and do it!

Now let's work on increasing awareness. As you walk, try to pinpoint the locations in the bottom of your feet that you land on and as you roll across each foot, try to feel exactly where the most weight is at any one time. Do you land in the middle of your heel or one side? Do you push off of the ball of the foot or is more pressure toward the little toe?

Also notice in your mind that with your eyes closed, you are trying to keep a picture of where you are going in your mind. As the picture fades, you have to open your eyes to refresh it.

You are visualizing 2 ways with this little experiment. First, in trying to keep a picture of where you are going you are simply using pictures.

Second, when you are trying to pinpoint the movement of weight across each foot, you are visualizing based on balance feedback.

These are both tools that can supercharge your golf game. Practice these exercises and the next time, I'll show you how to use them in your golf game.

If you don't want to wait to learn more,click here

How does the mind control the golf swing?

And can you Improve the process?

They say that the golf swing is 90% mental and 10% physical, and you might want to argue with those numbers, but what golfers miss about that statement is that the physical part is controlled by the mind too!

So the golf swing is 100% mental... That should crack the door open to a whole new perspective on what you may be doing to improve...

That is the door to the way I teach golfers to swing the club so that they are playing in the eighties in their first season. If this sounds too good to be true, you're welcome to keep struggling with it, but if you're just a little curious, read on.

First, I'd like you to think about how the mind and body communicate, because this is step one to getting a handle on what's really happening when you strike a golf ball.

Have you ever tripped and suddenly found yourself flailing around trying to catch your balance?

How long did it take to start reacting? Did you think about it?

How did that happen? The answer to this question is where mind/body control happens.

Here's what happens: Your body has an auto-response mechanism built in that is designed to keep you in balance at all costs. There are balance nerve receptors in the body that communicate with the brain 24 hours per day, 7 days per week. When they sense imbalance, they tell the brain and the brain immediately starts trying to correct... without a single thought.

This process happens in the subconscious brain, the same place movement control happens.

Stay with me because I think you'll see where I'm going on this...

Have you ever talked to someone who has experienced the Zone? They always tell you that things just happened without thinking about them...

By now the wheels should start grinding because there is a link between being in the Zone and this auto-response mechanism in the brain.

OK, now a little exercise... Without looking at it, wiggle the big toe of your right foot up and down. Next, press down with just that toe. As you press down try to see in your mind the shape of the part of the toe that is actually contacting the floor (or the bottom of your shoe).

Can you see it in your mind? Congratulations! Two things just happened. First you have used visualization to move a part of your body. And second, you have just experienced the link between the mind and body for movement control.

By the way, did the toe move in a different direction other than what you imagined? Of course not... It can't because that picture in your mind was the very control for your movement.

Now you might be saying, can I use this system to make better shots on the golf course? The answer is YES, and the results show up immediately after starting the process.

So now you want to know how... Don't you?
click this link

One Plane Single Plane Golf Swing Secrets

One Plane Golf Swing... Single Plane Golf Swing, Two Plane Golf Swing? What's right for you?

There is a very easy way to find the right swing plane for your personal golf swing that will be natural for you and your body will make automatically, so you don't have to fight yourself on the golf course.

Personally, I believe that a one plane swing is the best way to go. And my students usually develop a one plane golf swing, but the way they find their swing plane is the real answer to this dilemma that will take away the guess work and frustration of figuring out which one is right for you. And you can prevent trying to learn the wrong method.

Actually, you can find the right swing plane without ever thinking about swing plane.

Blasphemy, you say? Let me explain...

Before the advent of the whole one plane - two plane argument, what did golfers do? Did they play poorly because they didn't know which plane to use? No. Did professional golfers play poorly without this instruction? No.

Think about it. Professional golfers play well with either style. It wasn't until somebody noticed the differences and wrote about them that amateur golfers around the world started worrying about their swing plane. The result is millions in sales of products and instruction designed to help you solve this problem... A problem that didn't exist before someone decided that it should be considered.

Unfortunately for many unsuspecting golfers desperate for a better golf swing, the real problem that started the whole debate was a bank account that needed replenishment.

Granted, now that the whole issue is on the table, we have to deal with it. So here is how to find the perfect swing plane for your body type without all of the confusion of spending months trying the wrong method only to ruin your golf swing and have to start over.

And the best part is that you can simplify the swing process so you don't have to think about your swing plane ever again. This part is important because while your mind is thinking about swing plane, other parts of your swing are not getting complete attention. This is the reason why new instruction often causes another parts of your golf swing to go bad. What I will explain to you will allow you to keep the whole golf swing working without thinking about it.

Sorry, kinda got off on a tangent there...

My students usually end up with a one-plane swing, even though I never mention swing plane during my instruction. How do I do it? Glad you asked.

There is a physical principle that you cannot avoid on Earth... Gravity. And because of gravity humans have to maintain balance so they don't fall and hurt themselves. Because of gravity, humans have an auto-balance mechanism that keeps them in balance while they are in motion. This mechanism works 7 days a week, 24 hours per day.

Here's the best part...

You can use this mechanism that is already working within your very own body to quickly develop an efficient one plane golf swing that your body won't fight. As a matter of fact, once you start using this system, your body will actually fight to make the one plane swing for you, thus simplifying greatly what you do on the golf course.

The law I speak of is the law of dynamic balance. Basically, the body's first priority is balance, so if you start your movement from an out-of-balance position, your body will re-balance you as soon as you start moving. Sounds good until you find out what it does to get you into balance... The body redirects the muscles in the body from their assigned task to regain balance... Which means that the process will throw the club off of plane because the muscles that were guiding the swing are now rebalancing the body...

But there is another more wonderful side to this law...

And that side states that when you start moving from a balanced position, the body will fight to maintain balance, including whatever you are holding, such as a golf club.

You see, a one-plane swing is a balanced swing and the result of starting and moving in balance during the golf swing. The one-plane swing is more consistent because the body is on your side, fighting to keep the club on plane without hurting your golf swing.

The two-plane swing is less consistent because as soon as the swing leaves it's plane, the body is fighting to get it back on plane, but that's not all...

Newton's laws apply here as well, especially the one about bodies in motion... They tend to stay in motion, which means that as the body tries to get the club back on plane, the movement of the club will go too far and the body will have to change directions to get the club on plane. Wow, what a mess!

Maybe you've experienced this internal fight for body balance during your golf swing? If so, you know how frustrating this problem is to correct, especially if you didn't realize that it's just laws of physics at work.

So the first step to getting an automatic, one-plane golf swing is to start in balance.

See an analysis of how balance affects Sergio Garcia's swing plane by clicking this link.

The result of a balanced golf swing? An easier golf game with longer straighter shots... All with less effort on the course and less practice on the driving range.

I have a routine that took over 10 years to fully develop that will get any size golfer into the perfect, balanced setup for any golf club they have in their hands. This routine takes care of a majority of swing flaws that golfers have or develop without apparent cause and it is the first step to a consistent, accurate, powerful golf swing.

You can read it here...
Click here to read about the setup routine.

Or you can see it on video here...
Click here to see the videos.

I recommend that you do both so you completely understand this crucial step of the swing.

If you want to take your golf swing as far as it will go, check out:
http://www.golfswingcontrol.com

Tiger's season ending performance shows that he has perfected Hogan's secret.

Tiger Woods is often asked about his incredible focus on the golf course. His answer? Strong fundamentals.

You may wonder how the greatest golfer in the world today can credit laser focus to the fundamentals of the golf swing. I'm going to let the cat out of the bag.

Remember Ben Hogan? He too had incredible focus. He too had a firm grip on the fundamentals of the golf swing. Did they ever really discover his secret? Is it possible that Tiger possesses the same secret?

The answer is YES!

Tiger credits his swing fundamentals for his ability to focus, as did Hogan, yet there are golfers world-wide that have an equal understanding of the golf swing, but they don't seem to have the ability to play under par on their worse days.

What's the difference?

Tiger Woods and Ben Hogan left out one word from their explanations of how the fundamentals of the swing can help them focus on the course.

That word is awareness. Simply stated, the golf swing is under constant change because the condition of a golfer's muscles is constantly changing. The muscles start out cold, then the warm up, loosen up, get tired, and become stiff. As the muscles change, so does the body's movement, and therefore the golf swing.

What Hogan could do, and what Tiger does better than any other golfer on earth is adapt to those changes by monitoring their bodies and making the needed adjustments to continue hitting great shots. Both golfers understood that maintaining the proper awareness of their golf swing would keep them playing their best golf, and the process is almost automatic because they both connected with a feedback system in the body that doesn't lie. The feedback system I'm describing is not muscle memory.

This biofeedback system exists in everyone's body already and is much more accurate than Muscle memory. The only difference between Tiger, Hogan, and the rest of the world is that Tiger and Hogan have learned how to adapt this system to improve their golf.

Using this biofeedback system to improve movement awareness, every shot adds to your improvement. So every tournament Tiger plays, he is constantly improving. For Tiger, the only difference between winning or not winning is how the ball rolls on the greens. Hogan was the same way.

Can you use this feedback system? Yes. In fact, you already are, but to a lesser degree. Once you learn how to use it for your golf game, the improvement comes very quickly. In fact, over 6500 golfers around the world have already learned how to use this system to play their best golf, with the knowledge that they are constantly improving as well.

To learn more about Tracy Reed, Golf Swing Control, and the secret Tiger has perfected that will keep him #1 in the world, go to www.golfswingcontrol.com or call Tracy at 904-803-6116.

Is your golf swing affected by your goal?

I played golf this weekend for the first time in years. Why does an instructor not play? It's my back, the same reason I don't compete. I destroyed it in an accident 20 years ago and I've spent the last 4 years in dedicated rehab to be able to play golf once again. So I played on Saturday and Sunday.

On Saturday, I played on a spectacular course with no real expectations other than the goal to hit a few good shots and maybe get my focus to the point of scoring well or saving a few holes. My swing was smooth and I hit a lot of great shots. On the other hand, the score wasn't good because I was trying to knock off 4 years of rust.

On Sunday I played early. It was cold and we had no warm up. I struggled to find that smooth swing all day. Why? Partly because of the weather, but also because I expected to play better and score better. My swing was a little faster, but still correct except for one minor detail. I couldn't figure out that detail on the course, so I had moments of brilliance mixed in with moments of shear frustration.

A few hours after the round was over, I was running my golf swing through my head and realized that where my frustration came from was the inability to pinpoint the problem. I also realized that my analysis method was slightly flawed. You see, I was trying to figure out what was going wrong, but instead, I should have been looking for what was missing. Let me explain with an example:

During the golf swing, there are certain subconscious checkpoints our mind goes through to know everything is working. For example, when it comes to weight shift, we know that the weight should build up on the right foot (right handers) and then shift left. We can feel for it to know it is happening. But what about where the weight should NOT be? That's as important as where it should be to prevent a reverse pivot or a slide. Still, few golfers are aware of where the weight isn't.

Just like the weight and where it isn't, I should have been looking at what was NOT happening during my golf swing as much as I was focused on what was happening.

I played again on Wednesday using this new awareness and played much better. When something went wrong, if I couldn't feel what was wrong, I looked for what was missing. I hit some great shots, but more important, my misses were good so I never had any of those disaster holes. There was only one shot that I just could not recover from without costing an extra stroke and I finished the day having lost no balls.

The moral of the story is simple. My goals and expectations took away from proper focus that would help me play well. Things go bad, but not always due to something that was wrong, but many times due to something that wasn't there. Get in the habit of becoming aware of the good, the bad... and the missing when it comes to your golf game and golf swing.