Golf_ The Mind Game - Marlin M. Mackenzie [38]
Billy Musto, however, used a chunked, visual metaphor in which two were logically put together. This made it easier for him to concentrate. However, he could have succeeded without using any metaphors at all. He could have used only images of mechanical corrections. Whether you make metaphors or not depends upon the ease with which you generate them and the degree to which they facilitate or hinder your progress toward getting it or getting it back. Therefore, you can be flexible in the way you approach the use of metaphorical images.
THE GET-IT PROCESS
This is based on the element of mimicry and the fundamental process of constantly making mental comparisons between what you’re actually doing and what you want ideally to do.
On the practice range identify a time when you observed a fine golfer, on TV or in person, execute a shot you want to learn.
On an imaginary screen flash a movie of that golfer making that intriguing shot.
Put yourself into that movie, wearing the clothing you have on now, and feel the movements involved in executing that shot.
Change that meta movie into a regular movie (you inside you) and feel the movements of making the shot.
Immediately swing and stroke a ball without further preparation. Repeat that shot several times. If you “get it,” repeat it several times a day for several weeks, until it becomes automatic.
If you don’t get it, and most don’t the first time, make a meta movie of your last attempt and compare it to the original criterion movie in step 2. Identify by feel the muscle and joint actions needed to make the correction.
Execute the shot several more times while paying attention only to the one desired correction from step 6. If the shots are satisfactory, you’re finished. Practice for the next few weeks until it becomes automatic.
Many students still don’t get it even after a second try. In that case go back and make another meta movie of your last shot and compare it again to the step-2 original. Ask yourself what one correction should be made. Identify the feelings necessary to make the additional correction.
In your mind visualize the shot by “chunking” the two corrections (steps 6 and 8). The idea of chunking is to facilitate concentration on only one correction.
Execute the shot several times more, paying attention only to the chunked correction. If that works, you really are finished.
Metaphors can be created to anchor the result of the Get-It Process. Here’s how to create a metaphorical anchor.
When you identify a correction (step 6, above), create a metaphorical representation of it. (Billy Musto used a traffic light.)
Execute the shot several times while paying attention only to the metaphor. If the shot is satisfactory, the metaphor becomes the anchor.
If the first correction is made, but the shot is still unsatisfactory, visually compare it to the criterion and identify another correction. Make a metaphorical representation of this second correction. (Musto chose a racing car.)
Visualize making the shot by “chunking” the two corrections into one metaphor. If the shot is satisfactory, the chunked metaphor becomes the anchor.
There is also a Get-It-Back Process. The only difference is the person in the first movie. Instead of that golfer being Nicklaus, or Nancy Lopez, it’s you. It’s you executing the shot you want to get back, like Billy Musto.
Let’s say you want to get a smooth tempo back after a long layoff. Go back to a specific time when your swing was satisfactory. Relive it with the image of yourself making that flowing pass at the ball. Continue with the Get-It Process starting at step 3.
Holographic Viewing
Holographic Viewing is a systematic process of imagery that registers a proper