Developing Good Habits
When we first started to play the game, we had no habits; good or bad. We just instinctively swung trying to make some kind of decent contact with the ball. As Ben Hogan once said, “There is nothing natural about the golf swing.” In other words, in the beginning all of our instinctive moves are wrong!
So, we:
- Watched other players
- Read a few magazines or books
- Started to watch some golf on TV or on YouTube
- Maybe even took some lessons
We hoped that with the proper information (images and concepts) we could learn to hit the ball better or more consistently.
We soon found out that information alone would not do the trick. In order to get good at golf, we would have to practice to habituate the “correct” swing mechanics. We continued to acquire correct information and then we tried to apply what we knew to what we should do.
Herein lies a problem: our interpretation of what we think we should do, based on what we think we know, is hardly ever what we are actually doing. In other words:
- We know what we know
- But we don’t do what we know
- And to top it off, we don’t really know what we do
Sounds confusing, huh? But there’s more: Our kinesthetic awareness is not sufficiently sensitive to give us timely, accurate feedback during our swings. (Kinesthetic awareness is the body’s ability to sense where its parts are at any given moment.)
This is especially true if we are operating under what is known as the “hit impulse”. The “hit impulse” is that feeling that comes over us when we try to “hit” the ball hard by swinging all out. Things happen too fast for us to be aware of what’s going on, as it is going on, during our typical golf swing.
It is impossible to improve your golf swing if you don’t know what you’re doing.
Now the good news: most of our “bad” swings are the result of just one or two bad habits.
The bad news: changing habits is not an easy undertaking. In fact, many golfers have accepted the fact that they will not dramatically improve anymore because they can’t seem to break their bad habits.
So the $64,000 question is: how do we break our “bad” habits? The answer: start new ones!
Now the second $64,000 question: how long does this process take? The answer: until your new “good” habit is stronger and, therefore, more instinctive than your old “bad” habit.
If you practice diligently, and that means with total mental focus while doing drills that ingrain the new swing move, about 2,000 repetitions should do the trick.
You can accelerate this process by:
- Visualization
- Working with a coach
- Not worrying about your score if you play during this “ingraining” period
I feel it is better not even to play (or at least don’t keep score) as playing can undermine the “trusting the new move” process.
Mahalo for reading and please comment below if you enjoy this content.