[O.B.Left]

Good enough to hold trophies in my hands

Ones with cheques attached?

If so then Id seek out the best possible instructor you can find and buy some ear plugs for all others offering friendly advice. Maybe you can trust a pal who you play with a lot for some friendly little tips on what looks off , but you gotta be careful . You also need to get out of your head to operate at the highest level and that takes training too. Lots of it. The circus juggler is not thinking about the how? The guy wired in , writing code is not thinking how. But he is focused. There's a big difference. Your computer as Homer called it needs to be programed for successful output.

Take care of your mechanics and then move on to what really matters. Some guys never do this, never find the zone except by accident.

"Let the motion make the shot". "The Three Stations" . The computer. You dont/cant steer dandelions...Homers revelation. See Scott Gummers book for more on that. The plane line disappears, the ball disappears its just you , your pressure points, the Arc of Approach and the line of flight of the ball. etc etc . Stevie to Adam Scott...."9 iron fade 146". Adam " how bout 148?". "9 iron fade 146!". Without a Stevie you have to do it yourself. See the ENTIRE shot though the air and let the feel of the motion replicate it. Say it to yourself or to buddies. "I wanna little fade , 146 lightish lag pressure". If you start thinking about how to hold it off or something you've lost the moment. Somedays its easy, some days it aint.

You can take your typical 10 handicap golfer and while getting him to hit balls on the range, say to him at the top of his backswing "fade" or "draw" or "slice" etc and he can do it. Much to his surprise. He'll do with hand manipulation of course since he cant adjust his grip mid swing but he can do it. Easily. But the typical 10 cap by him self on the course tries to hit straight shots and misses wildly. Why? I believe a golfer should start shaping shots before they think they are ready to do so. Both ways. High and Low too. Like call shot in pool. Navigate the hole with a thought to your leave , like shape in pool. Plan two shots ahead or three and give yourself your desired leave for the kill shot. Pot the black.

In the end this is playing golf, the other stuff , thinking mechanics is practicing golf. You can do both on the course. Some guys never stop practicing no matter where they are, in tournaments even. In their own minds they're never quite ready to let go of it. The time to let go of it was yesterday. George Knudson, "you've got to give up control to gain control". Lag Pressure will be there , its like your best friend. Actually it likes it when you let go, sorta perks up a bit, like an old dog sensing he's about to go for a walk.

In short Id say hammer your mechanics but with a thought to getting past them and PLAYING the game. This is where the highest level of execution is for all of us as we approach our full potential.


PS How bout this one. " A fudge thats it, I quit, gonna walk in, frig it. But first Ill just take one more swing at this freaking thing. What the? Thats my best shot today Sammy!" What changed for this guy? Whats the lesson? Its a hackers thing but it applies to all of us, from Tiger on down. Bobby Jones wrote about this phenomena. How to use it.