Golf can be really difficult. And it seems, the harder you try, the worse things can become. And this gets frustrating and it can feel like there’s no way out of the golfing doldrums.
Struggle long enough and your golf can become an unhealthy obsession that can drive you crazy.
One step forward. Two back. Yuck. Makes you want to take up tennis.
The way forward is what I call Natural or Automatic Learning. This builds confidence which in turn leads to the things we want (i.e better scores, lower handicap, better performances under pressure etc)
When we learn to TRUST our system to hit the ball (or putt, chip, lob, blast, smash) we get a jolt of confidence. We are saying,
“Hey, I can do this and I don’t need to worry about 735 things each time I play”.
It’s just like how we do other things in day to day life. There’s less mental clutter, more flow, power & rhythm. It’s also where consistency likes to live.
The way most golfers a taught can be called a “technical” approach. It seems like the right thing to do but it doesn’t work from everyone.
The problem with the technical approach is it’s a bit like adding fuel to the fire. The very thing you’re focusing on is actually causing you all the grief. The worse you play, the more things (swing tips etc) you feed your system.
It can be a terrible little merry-go-round and is why many golfers find the game too hard.
Around 10 years ago I wrote a manifesto that dives deeper into all this natural learning stuff and explores a better option. The content is as relevant as ever and you can read at zero cost over here.