During a talk last night at Bedford Golf Club I was asked by one player that if 'practice makes perfect' why wasn't he a better player than he was five years ago. This is a great question because it emphasises how habit can rob a player of learning to play better golf. I sometimes refer to habit as the 'great unknown' because, paradoxically, the more you perform a particular task the less you're aware of what you're doing.

Yes it sounds a contradiction but a good example is your preparation for a swing. You'll all sorts of actions you include as part of your habitual set-up but because they are automatic habits you'll invariably be unaware that you're doing them. For instance, many golfers tighten their jaw as they concentrate on the shot ahead. Sounds fairly tame but did you know the act of tightening your jaw will impact on your neck and shoulder muscles, that in turn, will interfere with your coordination. So at a time when you need to get all your muscles working as one to execute the swing, you'll be putting on the brake.

Unfortunately, your habits feel absolutely the right thing to do because you're used to the feel of these actions and therefore you won't start your swing until all the usual feelings are in place. So every time you play or practise you could be consolidating poor habits that are preventing you from becoming a better player. As the wise sports coach said, "practise makes permanent, not necessarily perfect!"

Have a go at the experiment in my ultimate golf fitness test to get an idea of what's involved. Also see Overcoming Problems With Your Golf Technique

I'm giving a talk tomorrow night at Bedford Golf Club on the benefits of golfers learning The Alexander Technique. I like to get people in the audience to try some very simple experiments with movement that help to get across what I'm talking about. I find this is the best way for golfers to experience something that is not that easy to get across in speech - and this is how we can be completely oblivious to things that we are doing whilst performing a task we've done thousands of times before. I find as soon as golfers learn how to focus on their movement in a way that seems simple (and many wonder why they've never done it like this before) - it can make a huge difference to their game.

If you want to try one of these simple experiments with movement - see my ultimate golf fitness test.

I'm sure you've heard the term that golf is a mental game and is 90% mental and 10% physical, or variations on that. However, I think to talk of the 'mental' game is misleading in my view. Obviously you can't play golf by just thinking about it - there's some pretty physical stuff too!

I coach golfers to improve their awareness on the course. This involves being aware of what you're thinking AND how you're moving. You can't have 'mental' without 'physical' - this is like saying you can have a mind without a body or vice-versa. Yes, the term 'mental golf' refers to being confident etc as this leads to better play. But I find a player who is 'aware' on the course becomes a more confident golf by gaining greater control over their actions. The more you know how to make the ball do what you want it to - the more confident you will get! The more confident you are - the better golf you will play!

So I say, combine your mind and body to play your best golf through improving your awareness - if you're not sure what this means try my ultimate golf fitness test.

Oh dear, it's been a while since I've posted anything here but something came up in a session with a golfer today that I thought would be worth putting here. We were looking at his swing preparation when he said he'd been practicing hard to get his stance and everything right before he started the swing. Unfortunately, everything he did in the set up wasn't actually helping his swing, and the more he practiced this, the better he got at preventing a free-flowing action.

Basically, he concentrated so hard on getting everything right that he tightened up - he clenched his jaw, fixed his eyes on the ball and stiffened his neck. All these actions prevent free movement but because he'd done it like this for several months it felt right. So when he tried to do the right thing it led him down the same path every time.

So how did I get him to free up a little?

I got him to everything so it would feel wrong! Sounds nuts but it helped him to stop doing his habitual set up that was jamming up his muscles. The result? He swung more freely, gained a few extra yards - but get this, it felt so much easier :0) Less is more!

Also see Are You Trying To Fail At Golf?