Focus

[Hennybogan]

Bagger,

I shot sporting clays for a while. Although I never acheived a very high level, I did train with a pair of top teachers. One of the fundamentals was to have fixed eyes (zero motion) as you call for the bird. I believe that it is a sign of a quiet mind. We were also taught to picture the break points beforehand. One more piece was what they called relative speed. When you move in sync with the target it appears to slow down. The analogy they used was cars on a freeway. If you are sitting still, they appear fast. As you accelerate to their speed, they seem to slow down. I don't know how it all relates to golf in real terms, but it is another example of training and using the mind for peak performance.

HB

[12 piece bucket]

Bagger,

I shot sporting clays for a while. Although I never acheived a very high level, I did train with a pair of top teachers. One of the fundamentals was to have fixed eyes (zero motion) as you call for the bird. I believe that it is a sign of a quiet mind. We were also taught to picture the break points beforehand. One more piece was what they called relative speed. When you move in sync with the target it appears to slow down. The analogy they used was cars on a freeway. If you are sitting still, they appear fast. As you accelerate to their speed, they seem to slow down. I don't know how it all relates to golf in real terms, but it is another example of training and using the mind for peak performance.

HB

There's this dude in Greensboro that did a big study on eye movement in putting. He said as a rule almost ALL short putts are missed when the eyes MOVE rather than staying still. He had this deal where you put a mirror on the ground and watched your eyes when you practice putting to make sure they don't move. Pretty interesting stuff.

[danny_shank]

Bagger i've experimented with this in my game and i have to say i've had the opposite effect that you experienced. I love the precision involved in aiming at a specific blade of grass or dimple on the ball. But it seems that every time i intensely focus on an aiming point like that i forget to make a golf like motion. It's like the more i focus on a specific point the more my mind forgets about what my hands are doing.

I seem to play my best golf not particularly conscious of the ball at all, just thinking completely about my hands.

[Bagger Lance]

I seem to play my best golf not particularly conscious of the ball at all, just thinking completely about my hands.

I think this was discussed here in the past. Something about being "ball bound". Good point!

[Hennybogan]

How about still eyes with soft focus?

[12 piece bucket]

How about still eyes with soft focus?

That's kinda what the dude was saying . . . that your eyes have to be relaxed not to move around. So you just keep them relaxed and just kinda gaze is what he said.

[macparrott]

That's kinda what the dude was saying . . . that your eyes have to be relaxed not to move around. So you just keep them relaxed and just kinda gaze is what he said.

It's easier to drive a car when you are focused on the road but sort of letting your subconscious (sic) mind do the work. I'm not sure that the focus can be quite that "blurry" on the ball, but I think that the swing works better in that autopilot state than it does when mechanics are in the frontal lobe.

[davidmac00]

probably spelt that wrong,but you get the picture.

anyway having trained in karate as a nipper,i was taught not to stare but to use peripheral vision, as you become more aware and movement seems to be slowed.

you can easily try this if you have some sort of fan in the house.gaze to the side of the fan and the blades go slower than if you stare at them.turn on the fan first or there will be no change!

david