Happy- Compared To What?

April 5, 2011 by admin

Happy- Compared To What?

By Dr. Ron Cruickshank, Golf Mind Coach & GGA Director, Canada

Many years ago I was doing some business coaching with a client that was, by all external factors, very successful. He owned a very large company that was doing well, and had a good relationship with his wife and three teenage kids and was in good health. He owned a beautiful home, drove expensive cars and was able to determine his own schedule to a great degree. Looked like a pretty nice life when looking at from outside.

The problem was: he was miserable. He felt his life wasn’t a success and in fact he was constantly despondent and depressed because he woke up every morning and felt himself a failure. How could this be.

History is full of people that achieved great success and still felt empty and unfulfilled. This is common in highly goal-oriented people that think their happiness is largely based on their ability to achieve. When they reach their goals they find an empty place, because reaching the goal was not what made them happy. Rather, it was the journey and the application of their competencies that they truly enjoyed. Not realizing this about themselves, these achievers feel depressed until they establish another challenging goal. Sometimes they never break out of this mental rut, because they get stuck in their own beliefs about what constitutes happiness and never challenge their own thinking.

However, this didn’t seem to be the issue with my client. He still had challenging goals and was engaged in solving complex business problems on a daily basis. We began to dig into his model of the world to understand the source of his unhappiness. For him, this was a serious examination as his pain was palpable and made more intense by the fact that he couldn’t understand why he felt so miserable because even by his own observations, his life was good. This exacerbated his sense of alienation and he heaped guilt on top of his generalized unhappy state. He was in the common vernacular, a mess.

The breakthrough insight as to the source of his unhappiness came in our second meeting. He pulled a checkbook out of his back pocket (yes, this was a few years ago when people still carried checkbooks around), and in all seriousness said. “I only have three and a half million dollars in my checkbook.” He was shaking his head at the time and seemed on the verge of tears.

In the back of my mind I must admit it occurred to me that perhaps I wasn’t charging this guy nearly enough. After putting that thought aside (perhaps slowly), I responded that this seemed a pretty big number and compared to most in the world this was outstanding.

He immediately came back with his retort through pursed lips. “Yes, it OK, but my brother has a lot more.”

Ah, we now had the beginning of understanding. It rapidly became apparent that his sense of unhappiness was rooted in a fundamental problem. He was constantly, and up to that point unconsciously, comparing his success and progress in business and life to his older brother. It was now revealed that his brother had a company that was even bigger and more successful than his.

We quickly ruled out plain old sibling jealousy. He actually didn’t resent his brother’s success; in fact, he greatly admired it. He had though, over the years, fallen into the trap of constantly comparing his own rate of success to his brothers and he continually felt he didn’t live up because his brother’s success had been meteoric while his own had been more steady and methodical. He was his own victim because his criterion for measuring himself was flawed; he was comparing himself to others.

The insight within this story is to understand that an important part of our happiness and motivation equation is to understand that it is most meaningful to compare our success and progress to ourselves, not to others. Any other comparison can only lead to false assumptions, unrealistic expectations or disappointment. It is a classic sign of under developed emotional maturity when our primary mode of comparison is primarily others rather than ourselves.

We all know the classic teenage retort when teenagers are told ‘no’ to a request made of their parents. “But Dad, all the other kids are allowed to “X”. To which we respond reliably. “Well, if all the other kids jumped off a building would you?”

The truth is they probably would. The reason is because at that stage of maturity their primary reference group is their peers, as they’ve moved beyond thinking of you (the parent) as infallible and the final arbiter of good reason. They now look further externally, to their peers, for comparison and validation. The unfortunate truth is, many people never get beyond this stage and are destined to utilize these criteria to determine their self-satisfaction and happiness for the rest of their lives.

There is a classic old joke that represents the emergence from this stuck perspective to a more mature one. As the story goes, a 24 year old is overheard to say. “Boy, my parents were dumb as stumps till I got to be about 21, and then I was amazed at how much they learned in just three years.”

If you recognize yourself that your unhappiness or dissatisfaction in a situation is because of the context of your comparisons, I’d offer a simple and elegant question that is designed to unpack the implications of useless comparisons. In my experience, it is one of the greatest questions to have in your arsenal of responses; and that is to simply ask. “Compared to what or who?”

Let me give you a couple of golf related examples we have all heard:

My short game is awful. Q – Compared to whom? Phil?
I am not a good golfer. Q – Compared to whom? Tiger?
It’s too much work to get better Q – You’ve got it, compared to what? Chess?

A positive of the golf handicap system is that you can quantitatively and easily compare your progress to yourself, which is the only real gauge of achievement. Your handicap, scores or even your stats like FIR, GIR and Putts can give you a great way to compare your self with yourself and not others. If the number isn’t improving or staying the same, then you know that action is called for.

In competition, you are compelled to compare your scores with others, as that is the nature of competitive games. However, at the end of the day it is still beneficial to compare your performance to your previous performances, not just to the low scorer of the day. If your happiness is based on that, then you are doomed to have a lot of disappointing days on the golf course.

Remember the magic question. Compared to who or what!

“Do Not Try, Just Do”

March 16, 2011 by admin

By Dr. Ron Cruickshank, Golf Mind Coach & GGA Director, Canada

Today was a good day. My son Blade, a collegiate lacrosse player at Guilford College in North Carolina, was requested this year to take up the goalie position. Now, if you know anything about lacrosse you know this is like setting yourself up at the business end of a shooting gallery, without much padding. His first month was a regular series of phone calls asking Mom for some home remedies for bruises and bumps all over his body.

Most of his buddies questioned his sanity for taking up the goalie position, as it is common knowledge that this position can result in being ‘gun shy’ and develop an early case of the jitters as you are trying to avoid getting whacked on the shins with a ball about the same density as a hockey puck. Not fun!

So, why was it a good day when my son’s schedule calls for him to show up as the target for 30 top athletes with sticks? The reason was a call we had today in which he shared he had a great day of practice, maybe his best ever at this level. That was a change from the last couple of months.

As we queried the reasons, he told us that he had pulled some advice from the past (meaning something his old Dad had told him) and decided to start humming whenever he was under intense assault from the opposing attack men. “It worked great,” he said. “Got a few strange looks from my teammates, but they liked the results.” He further added. “I was able to quit trying so hard and just let it happen without thinking about it.”

Read carefully here and understand the message. What he was doing by humming was interrupting his own internal dialogue (negative, fearful, uncertain) and letting his body do what it already was programmed to do. That is, watch a ball coming towards him at 90 MPH and catch it in a net connected to stick in his hands. His body knew how to do that because he has practiced it thousands of times and has it stored in his brain within thousands of neural circuits. Yet, something was getting in his way.

What most often gets in the way is a negative internal dialogue that gets manifested as some self-defeating behavior. It gets more complicated when you attach real pain to this dialogue (he actually got whacked a bunch of times). It then becomes what is known in behavioral science jargon as a “kinesthetic or visual anchor’. That is, just the visual imagery of the ball or even a feeling or thought can cause the body to be less than resourceful and reduce overall performance.

Let me give you an example. If you will imagine you are driving along a nice scenic highway on a lovely spring day. Your car is new and freshly washed, the windows are down and the trees seem extra green and vivid. The flowers are out, the air is crisp and you have a sense of well-being and things seem right with the world. All of a sudden a flashing blue light appears directly behind you and the Highway Patrol guy is motioning you to pull over. Whoops! Now tell me what happened to your emotional state as you imagined this scene? That is an anchor and the feeling you got is similar to what happens when you let your dialogue get negative under stress.

There is a memorable scene I love in the movie Star Wars. Luke Skywalker is trying to raise his crashed ship from the primordial ooze and is unable. In frustration, Yoda tells him. “Do not try Luke, just do!” What a great statement by a great teacher. Yoda was telling Luke to get his preconceptions, his fears, his wishes and his wants out of the way and just let his mind and body do what it knew how to do. In Yoda’s sentiments, trying doesn’t exist, you either do or you don’t.

The lesson here, for each of us, is that performance is often inhibited because we care too much. We want to do well so intensely that the desire itself becomes a type of over care or stress and the toll it takes – is our performance.

If you are seeking to maximize your performance when playing golf, or any other aspect of your life, where you get into a state of over care, it makes great sense to reduce the significance of the event in any way you can. My son is doing it by humming because you can’t think and hum at the same time (try it, it is true).

You can practice reducing significance by trying the following:

Being truly in the here and now. Focus on what is happening this second.
Think of the game you are in as just a fun round without any real consequence to you. You dissociateyourself from the emotional meaning.
Focus on a physiological aspect, like your breathing. This moves your thoughts of performance into the background.
Direct interruption of your internal dialogue – hum your favorite tune. This can be done sub-vocalized to keep the noise down, or perhaps you might be playing with the members of a rock band and they would enjoy it.
Develop and rely on a routinethat allows you to minimize your thoughts beyond what you are actually doing. This is why so many Pro’s use a strict pre-shot routine for every shot, especially putting, because this is when they are most susceptible to minor muscle movement related to stress. When they get under pressure they have a familiar routine to fall back on that lets them compartmentalize their internal dialogue to the rehearsed procedure.

You hear this reflected often in post-round interviews when a pro will tell the interviewer. “I was trying to not get ahead (a head) of myself.” What he is telling us all highlights his desire not to let distracting, and unrelated to the task at hand, internal dialogue begins to affect his performance. If you are thinking about getting the trophy in an hour, or your gracious acceptance speech, it is hard to be lining up and executing the perfect putt.

In general, if you reduce the emotional significance of an event, you will reduce negative emotional impact on your state of being and that translates into improved performance. Your body is a closed and connected loop and every part is interacting with the other.

So, as to my humming lacrosse playing goalie son, I will report that his team is off to its best start in 20 years, with 5 wins and 1 loss so far this season. Now that’s a tune we can all enjoy.

About the Author: Dr. Ron Cruickshank recently opened the GGA – Moe Norman Golf School as part of the GGA expansion program into Canada. He is headquartered at the Royal Ashburn Golf Club in Whitby Ontario. This year’s offerings include a variety of Specialty Clinics in addition to the regular GGA Schools. If you are serious about getting better this year call Ron at 647-892-4653.

Old Dogs and New Tricks: Mastering Mental Flexibility as We Age

February 27, 2011 by admin

By Dr. Ron Cruickshank, Golf Mind Coach & GGA Director, Canada

A few years back I had the privilege of studying with a group of Aikido martial art masters in Tokyo at a legendary Dojo (training center) in the heart of the city. All of these men were over 60 and several over 70 years of age. What became immediately apparent, and of long lasting imprint on my mind, was how fresh and dynamic they all were. Not of just of body, but of mind, energy and spirit.

This made an enormous impression on me that has lasted for many years. Each master constantly had a calm smile on his face. When on the tatami mats (and off), they exuded a sense of confidence and wellbeing. To a man, they were funny and constantly finding things to laugh about. However, mostly I noticed they seemed incredibly flexible in their approach to things around them. It was a palpable and observable phenomenon. Later I came to think of this energetic as ‘no resistance’. They didn’t seem in resistance to “things” around them. I’ve come to believe this is a major component to maintaining our vitality as we age and in our ability to take on and master new things.

My impression of these men began with their physical carriage and manifested in their approach to things around them. These guys weren’t all crouched over; bent of spine and looking like aged steaks. They walked upright, held their shoulders back, glided when they walked. They had a sense of dynamic tension in their bodies and one had the sense they were highly attuned to things around them. In other words, these guys didn’t match societal norms for being “older”.

While admitting the stereotypes might be changing, I find most people still have a diminished personal representation of what it means to be ‘older’ or to age. Try a fun experiment to discover the societal archetype of an older person. Ask anyone to stand up and demonstrate what it looks like to be ‘old’ by walking 5 feet across the room. In most cases your respondent will adopt a stooped body position, their shoulders bent forward and be a bit off balance in their carriage and stance and move with a halting gait across the 5 feet. THAT demonstration is their internal representation of what it means to be old and I believe is the pattern they will adopt as time passes.

What would happen if we had a different and more empowering representation of what it means to age? This is worth exploring because it is my position that all these mental and physical representations require energy to maintain in both your mind and your body. Ultimately, your body will manifest into reality your imagery of being old and aging. Remember, every thought requires energy and all this energy must be accounted for and maintained.

My mentor, and model of positive aging was Dr. Jim Farr. A brilliant psychologist and lifetime martial artist, he was vibrant and active to the end of his life at age 84. He was still teaching at the University on a part-time basis, still going to the Y a few times a week and maintained an inquisitive and probing mind till the end. On the day he died, he spent the morning weed eating the ditch on the long driveway into his farm, and then worked in his garden. He came in and had lunch, took a walk and then came in for a late afternoon libation. At some point he told his wife he didn’t feel great and he went into his bedroom and left the planet. I can only aspire to go out the same way.

So what characteristics did both the martial arts masters and my friend Jim have that made them so perceptibly different in the way they aged? The following observations are taken from my journal writings on this subject, many going back over 25 years. In fact, the first entry on this subject was in 1977.

Negative aging is associated with energy being spent in maintaining a particular view of the world and how it ‘should be’, as opposed to how it is. People that want it “different” spend enormous energy trying to rearrange things to fit their world-view. This seldom works and is a big energy drain. It also produces anger and frustration when expectations aren’t met. The chemicals within your body that are released from anger are correlated with aging and stress related diseases.
Individuals that age well don’t seem to express or hold a lot of judgments about things. They aren’t spending a lot of their life energy seeking to organize things ‘the way they should be’.
Anytime you hear yourself or others utter the words “should”, “shouldn’t”, “must”, “have to”, “got to” or “ought to”, you should become aware you are expressing a judgment that is energy draining. Ask yourself. What would happen if I didn’t… (fill in your judgment statement)?
These judgments require enormous energy to carry around and manifest in your life. Positive older people recognize that if you can’t change something, the best avenue is to accept it and move on.
Vibrant older people want toWear out, not rust out. They keep their body moving. The single greatest reason old people get frail and fall, thus starting the inevitable decline, is because the muscles in their legs and body core are underutilized and they can’t maintain their balance under movement and duress.

Research published within the last three years show that falls and loss of balance in older people are correlated with three issues.

o The inner ear balance mechanism degrades with time.

o Due to inactivity, the body core muscles are not strong enough to hold a person upright when leaning in a particular direction or balance is lost and they don’t have the strength to recover

o The small muscles of the feet and ankles are so depleted as a result of people’s sedentary life style, that their balance is compromised.

With some basic exercise you can absolutely control two out of three of these variables. Exercise like yoga and Pilates are particularly helpful.

More good news! Regardless of your age, a significant body of research has shown you can grow and develop muscle at any age. Strength or resistance training has shown to develop lean muscle in people of all ages. In one study, a group of elderly people that were restricted to wheelchairs were all able to walk within three months just by doing weight training and balance exercises. It is never too late. Your body will respond and you can get stronger or more flexible or have better balance regardless of your age.

Hardening of the Categories

Most people think about hardening of the arteries when thinking about aging. From a mental perspective I suggest that the rigidity of both body and mind that is associated with aging is more a result of hardening of the categories.

By the time you have reached 50 years of age, you have made millions of choices in your life. Imagine that each time you have had a negative experience you decided to not do that behavior or make that choice again. From one perspective that is the voice of experience (don’t stick your hand in a blender – good choice). From another perspective, you are vastly limiting your options or choices for any given situation.

If your automatic reaction is to not consider an option because of a previous experience, then by the time you are 70 years of age you have a greatly diminished selection of options. Fewer options mean less chance of system survival. I wrote about his phenomena, called the Law of Requisite Variety, a few blogs ago. Essentially, the system with the most options wins and the converse is also true.

What do these thoughts about aging have to do with playing better golf or achieving a higher level of performance in your game? Quite simple. Many people won’t even consider making a change in their game or adopting a new approach because they have a belief that they are too old to change, or that making a change is too hard at this stage of the game. This is not supported by the facts. You can make a change at any stage and it is never too late to learn and get better. All it takes is your decision.

One year I was with Todd, Moe and Larry Olsen in Titusville, Florida on the driving range. Moe was in his 60’s at the time. As usual he was hitting balls with unerring accuracy. On this day there was a stiff breeze into our faces and Moe was working on trajectory into the wind (he hit the pin four times from 180 yards in the first 15 minutes by the way). However, what I most remember was Moe telling us how excited he was about a swing change he had made recently and he kept telling us with much animation that he had ‘finally learned how to putt”. The lesson was clear, if Moe was learning in his 60’s, then what a great example to follow.

For me, what the martial arts masters, my professional mentor and Moe all demonstrated was a joy of learning and full engagement in life. They all knew or discovered that age is just a number and that you can be ‘aged’ at 20 and ‘young’ at 80. Let’s all reverse the aging process this year and challenge the self-imposed archetypes of what it means to grow older. What do you have to lose?

About the Author: Dr. Ron Cruickshank recently opened the GGA – Moe Norman Golf School as part of our expansion program into Canada. We are headquartered at the Royal Ashburn Golf Club in Whitby Ontario, a top 50 Canadian course. He is currently seeking to age well while simultaneously accepting applications for a limited number of students this year. If you are serious about getting better and owning your golf swing you can reach him at 647-892-4653.

You Don’t Have To

February 25, 2011 by admin

Its that time of year. I’m in the middle of golf school season and having fun doing what I love to do most – teaching and interacting with students. I love to see progress – and what is, even more, fun is seeing students having fun making progress. Its invigorating. And I know, that there is nothing more fun for you than when you start to see progress and results from your efforts.

A few days ago I had a “potential” student (PS) call looking for a one-hour lesson so that he could “try” Moe’s swing. (If you know me, you know where this conversation is headed). The conversation went something like this:

PS: “I want to see if you can help me and I heard Moe’s swing was easier”.

Me: “Sure, tell me about your game”.

PS: “Well, I don’t really know if I need it, I’m a good player and just want to see if I am doing it correctly”.

Me: “Ok, why don’t you come in after the school ends tomorrow and I will put you on video to check your swing”.

PS: “Well, I video never helps me so I don’t want video, I just want a lesson”.

Me: “How will you know if you are doing what I tell you to do?”

PS: “You will tell me, and I will believe you”.

Me: “What if you hit a bad shot and I say your swing is really good. Will you still believe me?”

PS: “How can a good swing hit a bad shot”.

Me: “If you looked at the video, you would see why.”

So, here is the point and why I am mentioning this conversation. The way I look at it is that no matter what your skill level, you are attempting to improve. Would you agree? If so, then your ball striking improvement will come in one of two ways. You will practice through trial and error to get better or you can work toward the model to get better. These are the two roads to improvement. Both take work. Both take effort. Both will be successful. The difference between the two is TIME. How much time do you have? If you are like me, I want to fix it quick, get to the solution and then get to work on the solution. If I know exactly WHAT to do, then I don’t mind doing it.

The problem, however, is when you are working hard and you DON’T know what to do. Guessing is a killer. It is unproductive and a waste of time. Much of what we do here at GGA is to help people stop wasting time. It’s really not rocket science. It goes something like this:

Video yourself hitting a golf ball. Look at your video. Look at Moe. Find out exactly what looks different. Change it to match Moe. Do it again until you look just like Moe.

Now, you don’t have to do this. You can keep guessing. But if you want to know the secret to improvement, it is making the above process the primary goal – which is matching the model. Rather than hitting the golf ball. You must enjoy the process and watch how quickly the results will come.

SLOMO Putting Can Make You a Fast Eddy!

February 1, 2011 by admin

Dynamic new technique for becoming a great putter

By Dr. Ron Cruickshank, Golf Mind Coach & GGA Director, Canada

When thinking about using slow motion training techniques what comes to mind for most folks is the big movement, the full power swing. However, we’ve been working on developing a slowmo process for putting this winter, and the results are promising. Just like the big muscles, the fine motor skills used in putting are in need of stored repetitive skill circuits, building myelin superhighways in the brain through repetition of high quality movement. We KNOW this is the path to excellence. At this stage of our understanding, I believe the slow motion practice to be the most effective method of building skills circuits known.

If you need any motivation to spend more time getting better at putting, let the following statistic tell the story. On the PGA Tour for the years 2008 and 2009, 40% of all strokes were putts, and these are the best players in the world. Over time, your ability to putt effectively will determine your score more than any other part of your game.

The two most important variables in putting are your distance control (governed by speed) and direction control. They are often referred to as the “Two D’s” of putting. The best putters always favor superior distance control, because they know that even the pros miss over 50% of putts from 6 feet. If you’re a mid to high handicap, your percentage of misses from 6 feet is probably higher.

If you aren’t close to the hole after your first putt, your two-putt percentage will suffer dramatically. This is very important, but not the subject of this blog. In our slow motion training, we are going to focus on the second most important element in great putting – DIRECTION control – that is primarily controlled by alignment and path. These are variables you can control as well as the experts.

One reason slow mo training aids your putting dramatically is that putting well requires the highest degree of precision within your repertoire of shots. The slow motion putter training allows you to get highly accurate feedback relevant to the critical DIRECTIONAL components of face angle at address, the moment of impact and path.

Research has shown that a 3-degree error at impact with your driver will STILL hit a fairway of 36-yard width with a drive of up to 340 yards in length. The same 3-degree face angle error at impact with your putter will not make a putt of longer than 2.58 feet from the hole. So remember, when on the green precision rules.

In putting there are Four Determinants that will control your outcome (putts drained). Those four determinants are:

Face angle at address
The path of the club during the mini-swing
The speed of your swing through the impact zone
The face angle at impact

Working with students this winter we have determined they get noticeably better at all four determinants when using the slow motion training techniques outlined below. I am not sure why this training helps in speed control or rhythm, but it does. My opinion at this point is that when your confidence is high that you are doing the other three determinants correctly, it allows you to focus more attention on the speed and rhythm. Ideally, I believe, once you have aligned the putter correctly, all your attention should be focused on speed/distance/rhythm. However, this can be highly individualistic, as you might like to focus on path or a spot in front of the putter.

Technique for Practicing Slow Motion Putting

Training Tools Suggested:

A ball marked with a T-line
An Eye-Line putting alignment aid
Your putter
A coin – preferably a dime or a penny

I like using the Eye-Line aid because it has a built in mirror that insures you have your eyes directly over the target line as you practice and it has visual perpendicular lines to insure your face alignment is correct at address and impact. If you don’t have one and are practicing indoors, you can lay down a 1 foot bright piece of yarn on the carpet with a 6 inch piece intersecting it at the impact point. This will give you the alignment for your face angle.

Being obsessive about this, one of my favorite places to do a couple of quick slowMO drills is in the kitchen, using the large floor tiles as a T, sans a ball. When in the kitchen I just grab my putter and do some drills when the coffee is percolating or waiting for the kettle to steam. My wife calls me the best linoleum putter she has ever seen. Hmmm!

The Slow Motion Putting Drill

Place the ball down and put the coin about 2 inches (5 centimeters) in front of the ball directly on your target line
Set up with putter face alignment exactly perpendicular to target line.
Align the putter sweet spot with the T marked on your ball.
Hover the club in your hands, just above the line. Do not ground it. This helps keep your grip pressure light, reduces tension in your hands and forearms and reduces the tendency for start-up friction to fractionally move the face off line.
Look at the spot on the ball that you intend to strikewith the centerline of your putter (the sweet spot).
Take the putter back very slowly. I would start with 7-10 seconds to take it back 10 inches (25 centimeters).
Pause at the completion of the backswing and hold for 5 seconds. Track the putter with your peripheral vision. Do not watch the putter going back; maintain your focus on the ballimpact spot.
Return the putter face to the ball impact point in EXACTLY half the timeit took you to go back. If your backswing is 10 seconds, return to the ball in 5 seconds. Maintain this ratio of 2 to 1 always, as this is the ratio we see in the best putters whether they swing fast or slow. (By the way, I believe this might be the source of great rhythm in putting)
Hold for another 5 seconds at impact spot. Insure your face alignment is exactly the same as at set up.
Complete the putter movement by pushing the ball directly over the coin. Hold for 5 seconds more.
Repeat this drill AS OFTEN AS YOU CAN. Build skill circuits through repetition.

Remember, simplicity is crunched complexity. Pay close attention to the physical feedback you are getting from this drill. A little practice will noticeably improve your face alignment, your impact alignment, your eye line stability and your balance. Some specifics to observe and practice:

Be aware of your balance at set up and how it changes during the putt. Where is your weight and how is it distributed. Do your stance allow for optimum stability?
Feel and specifically identifythe muscles you use to initiate putter movement. Are you using small muscles in your hands and forearms or large muscles like your lats in your back and shoulders? Which muscles allow you to be more consistent and smooth? Once you identify the muscle(s), trigger every putt with the same stimulus to the same muscle(s).
Observe how your eyes track the putter head. Are you following the putter head back with your eyes and moving your head slightly? Your head (and body) will go where you eye look – always.
Watch for your eyes to move off the target line (inside or outside). What is your tendency?
Practice how to eliminate the excess movement. We find that the most common cause of excess movement is balance being off due to grounding the club at address, stance not stable or following the club back with your eyes. These will typically cause movement best eliminated.

Try this slow motion technique if you want to noticeably improve your PUTTING. Students tell me it has particularly improved their stats from inside 10 feet. Stay tuned and let me know how these techniques work for you.

About the Author: Dr. Ron Cruickshank lives outside Toronto in a 110-year old farmhouse with linoleum kitchen floors that are perfect for practicing slowmo putting. He recently opened the Moe Norman Golf School as part of our expansion program into Canada. Headquartered at The Royal Ashburn Golf Club in Whitby, a top 50 Canadian course, Ron is ready to help fellow Canadians looking for a winter tune-up. He can be reached at 647-892-4653.

SLOMO Practice!

January 24, 2011 by admin

By Dr. Ron Cruickshank, Golf Mind Coach & GGA Director, Canada

The word is out. Muscle memory doesn’t exist. It is a myth. The memory of your golf swing is actually stored as an electrical-chemical code in your brain within neurons. Your brain about 15 billion of these neurons, so no need to worry about getting overloaded with information or distinctions. The data on a neuron is connected to other neurons via connectors called dendrites. As you build skill, over thousands of repetitions, you build up a cluster of connected neurons. The communication pathway between dendrites is either strong or weak, depending on how much of a chemical – known as myelin – has been built up through repetition. The more myelin you have built up, the more reliable and faster the signals will be to your muscles. Experts have super highways between their neurons insuring a repeatable and accurate re-creation of the physical movement, again and again. As Moe Norman said. “I don’t know how to do it wrong.” This is a literal and true statement.

However, the same holds true for the hacker. If they have practiced the wrong movements for thousands of repetitions over many years, they have perfectly accomplished the skill of performing their ineffective swing over and over. When they try to make a change, they often find it difficult because it ‘doesn’t feel right’. As teachers, we know they are relating to an ineffectual model they have stored in their brain. In fact, when my student tells me it doesn’t ‘feel right’ my response is to tell them to celebrate because that means they are doing something different.

Building Myelin Skill Circuits Through SlowMo Practice

Among the most effective methods of building myelin paths is slow motion practice. The slow motion movement allows you to make accurate and correct movements and make minor adjustments and modifications that aren’t possible in a real-time regular tempo swing.

By now, most of you GGA members out there have heard the benefits of slow motion practice. Dan Coyle, in his book The Talent Code, wrote how most of the training centers he studied (in what he called “talent hotbeds”) around the world utilize this technique. Under the supervision of a trained observer (their coach) students practice their skill in slow motion, seeking to do so with perfect technique. This is true from a tennis hotbed in Russia to the Meadow Mount Music Center in New York that routinely turns out world-class musicians.

This is not a new practice to golf. A little research on U-Tube will reveal a 60-year old film of Ben Hogan in the seaside backyard of a friend demonstrating his full driver swing in an exquisitely choreographed slow motion ballet. He had obviously done this dance thousands of times, as each movement from approaching address to the completed forward swing was done elegantly with precision and balance. World-class experts have gravitated towards this technique because it works. I believe we can all learn from their affinity to this kind of practice.

Specific Technique for Slow Motion Practice

HOW TO PRACTICE FULL SWING SLOMO

When you begin to use this method, I suggest you start with your PVC pipe for practicing from Position O to Position 4 at impact. The PVC helps to insure you are precise in your moves and, in particular, the sense of a ‘one-piece’ move from Position O to l. Beyond position 4 you obviously will need to use a regular club or any training club you like. We have had good results from students using both the GGA Training Club and a weighted club.
It is useful to use the GGA Alignment Trainer. It ensures you are correctly lined up, have the correct stance width and proper distance from the ball with each club. Remember, the objective is to practice as perfectly as possible over many repetitions. At the minimum, use a club to make sure you are properly aligned.

PRACTICE TIP: Never trust your eyes when training; ensure exactness by taking as many variables out of the practice equation as are within your control.

Use the GGA positions because they break down the entire swing in manageable chunks and will help you focus on particular parts of the swing you wish to target and improve.
If possible, have a mirror face-on or DTL so you can check your positions.
Using the GGA positions as a reference, start from Position O and take a full TEN SECONDS to reach Position l. Concentrate on continuous smooth movementand notice any areas that seem bumpy or unsmooth. This is feedback and will continuously give you clues as to what needs to be done.
Continue through all the GGA Positions, taking a full TEN seconds between each position. At your finish (Position 6), maintain and hold your balance for an additional 5 seconds).
Once you have mastered the basic slow motion movement, I suggest beginning (in slow motion) from approximately three feet behind the ball as you would in an actual round. Notice where your eyes track, how you approach the ball, how you get your body ready to make the swing. Soon, this will become your routine and serve you well when it matters.

During your slow motion movement, pay attention to the feedback you are getting. Notice which muscles trigger your swing; observe what happens to your balance and your weight distribution during the swing. Where is the tension in your body and is it useful? If you practice this method diligently, I guarantee you will find useful new distinctions on a regular basis while simultaneously building those skill circuits.

An added benefit that everyone likes about slow motion practice is that you can do it anywhere and with no worry about hitting the living room coffee table. I regularly practice in my TV room amidst couch, a couple of easy chairs and the tube.

A caveat. This practice regimen requires focus and discipline. When done properly it takes over a minute to complete ONE slow motion swing. If you initially have difficulty, as is often reported, try 5 seconds between positions. As you get more skilled make the slow motion swing one continuous movement from start to finish and feel your confidence and consistency build.

I’ll close this blog with a new development in slow motion golf training. Most people think it is just for practicing your full power swing. Next blog, I will tell you about some new slow motion techniques I’ve been testing over the winter to noticeably improve your PUTTING. Stay tuned and let me know how these techniques work for you.

About the Author: Dr. Ron Cruickshank lives outside Toronto where he recently opened the Moe Norman Golf School as part of our expansion program into Canada. Headquartered at The Royal Ashburn Golf Club, a top 50 Canadian course, Ron is already dreaming about spring. He can be reached at 647-892-4653.

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