Golf Psychology Tips - The “Learn Box”
Monday, 10 January 2011 21:13 |
Pia Nilsson and Lynn Marriott gave us the “Think Box” and “Play Box” to help us separate the analytical part of choosing the shot versus the physical creative part of playing the shot. I love working with and developing these two concepts and wrote about how to use them in “The Art of Readiness” blog. These two phases, BEFORE the shot, then DURING the shot, do not tell the whole story though. What happens AFTER you play shots and IN BETWEEN shots?
I’ve found through personal and coaching experience that our ability to learn from everything we do, especially difficulties, directly relates to our potential for success. This is not just true in golf but in life too. If we purely judge how we do on what we get, we learn absolutely nothing and become stagnant. Again – in golf and life!
What do I mean by this?
Well I was coaching a local young PGA Pro recently who was putting all his eggs into the “score” basket. Having high expectations of himself, he was very much a “form” player - if he played a “good” shot he would feel good, if he played a “bad” shot he would feel bad and get frustrated. I know he’s not alone in this! The problem with this basic animal reaction is that it makes us the victim of our success or failure whilst teaching us absolutely nothing! Players who continue to do this long enough develop a real love/hate relationship with the game. I think this is a real shame for them and for the others who then become influenced by them.Every shot you play has something to teach you. This is even more important if all your “practice” time is spent playing. I say every shot, because your “bad” shots teach you what you could do differently to make them better next time, whilst the “good” shots teach you how to play your very best! This is where the “Learn Box” comes in. The Learn Box starts as soon as the ball leaves the clubface and finishes by the time you have walked 10 yards away from where you played your shot. Learning happens best when the action you carried out is still in your short term memory. Typically the first 8 seconds after your shot are the most important for learning. So to learn from every shot:
- Learn with your body - hold your finish to allow your body the most chance to feel and learn from what has happened
- Learn with your mind - ask the Learn Box Question - “How could I play that even better next time?” You get what you focus on. This question leaves you focusing on what you DO want to do rather than what you DON’T want to do. If you focus on what you did badly, you’ll feel bad, focus on it and repeat it. So instead, imagine doing it even better and how good that FEELS to do it that way. For “bad” shots this leaves you feeling good, focusing on what you want. For “good” shots it causes you to review your shot and how good it felt, further installing success and feeding your confidence.
The more you allow space for learning, the more you will realise that “bad” shots and “good” shots get just the same treatment and always end in good feelings before you move on. 10 yards is a good line to draw after the shot, to make sure you can move on from past shots quickly in order to enjoy your walk to the ball and be totally present when it’s time to play the next one. Shots become just shots, good and bad become irrelevant as you’re free to learn.
Once the young pro applied this, his mood became much more consistent and so did his scores. Try the Learn Box out yourself, get off the emotional rollercoaster and get your handicap down.
I hope you find these mental golf tips on the Learn Box useful. Please write in with questions to develop your own golf psychology – I’m more than happy to give you ideas. Also, I’m giving away audio mental golf tips through a series of six free tipcasts to help you through the toughest parts of the game. Sign up for my newsletter now if you would like to receive these.
Mental Golf Coach
Comments
that for the practice ground. BUT every player knows what their good swing or stroke feels like and what contributes to that. For example how well you : were congruent before hand, followed your routine, were ready and committed, maintained a clear target, used the Playing State, trusted your swing etc. The more you become aware of what you need to do to play a good shot, the more useful the Learn Box will be. Hope this helps! Adam
Adam
Since reading all your Psychology tips my game has improved immensely its just that sometimes the head doesn't seem to care what I think and I fall back into the "rut" I used to be in.
It was the first time in a long period that I have gone back to my old ways so I'll just put that down to having a bad day!
Keep the great tips coming, if a lot more golfers in the higher handicap range (lets say above 10) read your tips there would be a heap more relaxed & confident players around.
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