Golf_ The Mind Game - Marlin M. Mackenzie [43]
Determining the Right Swing Effort
Up to this point I’ve focused primarily on the visualization processes involved in establishing the distance, trajectory, roll line, and target line. Visualization is only half of the process that results in a fine touch around the greens. The other half is developing the feelings that correlate with the visual information that will result in the right amount of swing effort. Skilled golfers use a variety of ways to produce these swing feelings, the feelings that I refer to as swing effort. The following are ways that some professional golfers do this. You, too, can follow their lead when you practice.
Imaginary Ball Toss
Some fine chippers and putters pretend they’re tossing or rolling a ball underhand toward the pin or hole with what they presume to be the right amount of effort. During the toss they see an imaginary ball fly through the air and roll toward the hole. If the imaginary ball doesn’t reach the hole or goes too far, they repeat the tossing motion until there is a match between the effort of the arm swing and the imagined trajectory and roll that gets the ball to the hole.
In the next step the same amount of effort is reproduced while making a practice swing with the appropriate club. Like Bill Adams, you, too, can let an image of the ball’s trajectory and roll be generated in your mind as you make practice swings. When the two images match—the tossing image and the swing image—step up to the ball and stroke it with the same amount of swing effort.
Getting the Feel of the Greens
Pre-round chipping and putting practice on the practice green will help to determine the conditions of the greens on the course to some extent. This will give you a sense of how hard you must strike the ball to get it to roll a certain distance. Feeling the sponginess of each green as you walk near the intended roll line of your ball will also give you an idea of the speed of an impending putt.
Peter Kostis recommends that you get a feel for the speed of a green by observing the swing effort of your playing partners as they swing and roll the ball to the cup. Steps of the Get-It Process are useful here.
Putting Energy
There’s controversy among professional golfers about whether to putt the ball firmly or let it die at the hole. I don’t think it matters on long level putts. However, there are some very short downhill breaking putts that are best struck firmly so the ball strikes the liner at the back the cup. If struck softly the break becomes more of a major factor, requiring much more finesse and V-K information processing than necessary; the slower the ball rolls, the more its direction is influenced by the contour, bumps, and cleat marks. On the other hand, long downhill breaking putts are probably best accomplished by a soft and slow-rolling putt; it’s less likely to result in two more putts from far, far away.
To make the amount of energy applied to the blade of your putter consistent, the placement of your hands on the club should be the same at all times. When you increase the distance between your hands and the blade, assuming all other aspects of your swing remain constant, the faster the clubhead will swing because the length of the lever arm is increased, and the further the ball will roll. If you maintain the same hand position on the club for all putts, there will be less need to modify muscle tension in your arms, wrists, and shoulders, because the length of the lever arm will remain constant. As a result