Golf_ The Mind Game - Marlin M. Mackenzie [68]
Make an internal image of a fire engine and hear its siren in your mind. Make a picture in your mind of a pleasant scene and pay attention to where in your body you have a pleasant feeling. Observe someone lifting something heavy and feel the strain of the muscular effort involved in your own muscles. Create an internal image of a golfer hitting a tee shot and hear in your mind the click of the club face on the ball. Remember the trajectory of a fine tee shot and feel the swing that produced it. Watch the roll of a superb putt and feel the swing effort that got the ball into the hole.
Watch the reflection of your setup and swing in a mirror or glass patio door, paying particular attention to various elements of the address and swing—the position of the club face, for instance, or the position of your hands and the club at the top of the backswing. When you see that the position in question is correct, pay attention to the muscle feelings associated with it. Close your eyes and reproduce those swing feelings several times. Open your eyes and check the swing in the mirror or glass door. Repeat this exercise until you’re sure you have the muscle feelings of the proper swing without having to rely on the reflections.
Visual Imagery
Internal visual imagery is central to playing golf well. It prepares you mentally for each shot and helps you analyze and correct your golf swing. The exercises below are designed to increase your internal visual skills.
Making Meta Pictures
A meta picture is an internal image in which you see yourself as if you are looking through someone else’s eyes, like watching yourself swing a club on videotape. This is an important imagery skill because it helps you evaluate your own golf swing.
Seated comfortably in a chair, wiggle your toes and feel your feet on the floor. Now make a picture of only your feet. Next, move your lower leg and make a picture of it from the knee down; connect that picture to the one of your feet. Next, contract your thigh muscles, move your leg, and make a picture of your thigh; connect that picture to the previous picture of your lower legs and feet. Continue until you have connected all of you together. Don’t forget your head. By this time you should have a complete meta picture of yourself.
Practice making meta pictures of yourself while swinging a golf club. Become very sensitive to what each part of your body is doing throughout the swing—head, shoulders, arms, hands, torso, hips, legs, feet.
Watch a portion of a videotaped recording of a pro’s golf swing. Stop the tape, close your eyes, and visually reproduce the swing in your mind. Replay the videotape to determine the accuracy of your internal movie. Adjust your internal images until they match the swing on the video screen.
Making Superimposed Pictures and Multiple Images
Superimpose a tiny image of a flagstick onto a golf ball as you address it; in your mind make that picture bigger, as if you are using a zoom lens. Notice if you can see the ball for a longer period of time when you swing and hit it. What effect did this have on the quality of that shot?
Project onto the surface of an actual green an imaginary moving picture of a golf ball rolling into the cup.
On an imaginary screen located within your head, project four slide pictures of your swing; the slides consist of the take-away, the top of the back swing, the position of the club at impact, and the follow-through position. Use these mental slides as a guide for practicing your swing. Before setting up to a ball, generate the slide pictures in your mind and feel the swing. Then address the ball, let your mind go blank, turn, and swing. Does your swing improve?
Make a movie of your swing in your mind’s eye, and vary its brightness, sharpness, size, color, and focus. Notice what effect these variations have on your swing.
Auditory Awareness
I’m sure you realize that there are times on the golf course when you talk to yourself or hear the voices of others in your mind telling you what to do or what not to