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?

Yes it's an old cliche but unless you make some fundamental changes to your approach, your golf will be pretty much the same as last year. Of course you can make some improvements but they won't be in the 'shifting to the next level' changes if you keep doing the same things.

So what does a fundamental change involve? It means doing something different, something new to achieve different results. This can be as simple as stopping for a fraction of a second before you putt, chip or swing. The problem is that habits take us down the same path every time - even if you don't want to. So if you have a technical weakness unless your preparation is fundamentally different you will follow the same series of events that will replicate your weakness. Part of the problem is that we're not fully aware of all our actions, even when undertaking something that requires our full attention. Try my ultimate golf fitness test to experience what I'm trying to say and see if you can appreciate how to improve your self-awareness during an action.

Also see The Most Vital Skill for A Golfer

Alison had been playing golf for just two years and had developed a good swing and approach shots but struggled when it came to putting. She admitted feeling anxious when she had to sink a putt; this was made worse if it meant finishing under par or winning the hole. I watched her putting in my teaching room and everything looked fine but as this was a no-pressure shot it didn’t tell me anything. So I suggested she could have the next lesson free if she could sink a long putt into a plastic cup - this also made me a little anxious! As soon as there was something riding on the shot I noticed she held her breath and visibly tensed her jaw and tightened her grip on the club – she also missed the putt.

Once you’ve read the green and lined up your shot you should no longer be concerned about the hole when you address the ball. You’ve done the maths and worked out which direction the ball should go, and how hard you should hit it. So when you come to play the shot you don’t need to worry about sinking the putt- you just need to stay relaxed and focus on the task in hand, i.e., to carry out the next part of the plan.

Alison was thinking about the position of the hole, the consequences of missing and getting tense in the process. Once she’d lined up and was in her stance over the ball I asked her to focus on the movement of her ribs for a moment whilst she looked at the ball. Then I got her to be aware of the touch of her lips and to check there was a space between her upper and lower teeth. She found these thoughts helped her to relax and detach herself from the putt – she needed to ‘be in the moment’.

By maintaining these thoughts she was able to stay poised and achieve the smooth pendulum action required for a good putt. She tried a few without aiming at the cup and then with the cup without bringing anything extra, mental or physical, into the shot. She was able to take this onto the green and with practice her putting improved dramatically.

The techniques I used with Alison, and more, are available in my book 'Golf Sense'.

Also see:
How Practising Getting Out Of Bed Will Improve Your Putting

Jack had played golf for over 20 years and was suffering from lower back pain – especially after 18 holes. I went with him to the driving range and saw he was putting far too much effort into his swing. He just couldn’t relax during his swing and would regularly pull the ball off the tee. We looked at his preparation and managed to free up his neck and shoulders, get him a good stance and move freely during his practice swing. However, as soon as the ball was brought into the equation he would tense up during his back swing and try to hit the ball hard. He just could not accept that he didn’t need to swing hard to hit the ball 300 yards.

Later, sitting in the bar, he told me he was demolishing an old brick building in his garden and enjoyed swing the sledgehammer to knock down the walls. I asked him to try an experiment and not try to hit the wall hard but let the weight of the hammerhead (around 7 pounds) to do the work.

He rang me later to say he’d tried the experiment and was amazed that with less effort he could dislodge more bricks – he’d figured out that anything he added to the swing of the hammer actually slowed it down. So away from the golf course he realised all he needed to do was to get the momentum going and then let the hammer/club do the work. After this experience he was able to swing more freely the next session at the driving range and saw the ball go slightly further with less effort!

Also see: A Simple Golf Swing Tip