Figure 21—
Illustrations of “the altered-putter” concept. All varieties of putters are
possible, with the common characteristic being the altered putter face. A small
portion, or strip, of the original clubface is left to contact the ball.
Attempting to hit the ball on this small area will result in an on-line stroke
that does not “break down” through the hitting area. Completion of the
visualization fulfills the older swing thought of “continuing the putter toward
the hole.” Below are additional putter styles.
Figure 22—
Illustration of the arc and path of the putterhead. Like the clubhead in the
fullswing, the putterhead travels along
a smooth arc. The shoulders rotate the putter backward, while the job of
the arms, hands, and wrists is to maintain the address dynamics; that is, the
shoulders supply the force to hit the ball forward, and the arms, hands, and
wrists keep the putter in a “square” position throughout the stroke.
The arc of the putter does come slightly
up (off of the putting surface), as a result of the angle at which the
shoulders rotate.
Figure 23—
Illustration of the putting stroke from directly behind. Many golfers visualize
swinging the putterhead straight back and through. However, the inclination and
rotation of the shoulders gives the putterhead an arc that comes upward (off
the ground) and inside the line of the putt. Sound execution of the putting
stroke will bring the putterhead up a slight plane, as illustrated.
Figure
23a—
Illustration of the triangle formed by the shoulders and hands. If you try to
maintain the triangle during the course of the stroke everything will be
steady, which will produce a consistent stroke.
Competition/Playing
“Under Pressure”:
“When baby needs a
new pair of shoes,
it can alter anybody’s
thinking.”
—Tony Lema
Playing “under pressure” is a phrase to
describe situations when one has more “at stake” than in the average every-day
situation; these situations can range from playing in the U.S. Open, to just
wanting to avoid embarrassment in front of other people. When one becomes
fearful, or anxious, the muscles become tense, movements become quick and
jerky, and mental acuity decreases—all reactions that are deleterious to one’s
golf game! Arnold Palmer emphasized the importance of the mental aspect in golf
when he said, “I have to hold that confidence is 90-percent of the game...You
have to develop a mental approach that will always insure that you will never
beat yourself...”
Research studies to pinpoint the reasons
that some people are able to handle high-pressure motor-skill tasks (such as
putting under stress) better than others, show that trained athletes are more
able to handle the pressure because of their mental strategies which decrease,
or minimize, the physiological effects of the stress. Somewhere in their brains
are neural pathways—formed from experience, learning, and creativity—that
produce thinking options to deal with the situation, and to perform calmly and
confidently the task at hand; that is, these athletes switch on thoughts that
help to successfully negotiate the situation. These trained athletes have had
many previous experiences with such stressful situations, and thus have gained
valuable insight and confidence that one can only gain through such
experiences.
“Choking” is the term that we use when
someone does not successfully perform a task, which is fairly routine, when
under increased pressure; even the simplest task, becomes very difficult when
one’s mind is full of doubt, the knees shake, the heart pounds at nearly 120
beats per minute, and one’s level of concentration is severely affected! The
best athletes take measures to prevent, and to control, these bodily reactions
so that they can perform at the highest levels. They have learned to prevent,
or to stop, the deleterious effects of the nervous reactions, usually by
looking at the situation in an objective, rational, manner and by concentrating
on lines of thought which are directed toward the positive aspects of their
ability.
In an interview a number of years back,
Jim Colbert was asked the reasons behind his tremendous success on the Senior
PGA Tour (he earned about 1.7 million dollars as a 25-year member of the PGA
Tour, and about 8 million dollars in six years on the Senior PGA Tour). In
addition to finding therapies to help his ailing back, Jim attributed help from
Jimmy Ballard, whom he met in his mid-thirties, which profoundly improved his ball-striking
ability. When asked about the reasons behind his tremendous putting ability,
Colbert alluded to being able to channel that energy of nervousness into the
job at hand. According to Colbert, those moments when athletes do really
special things come from that high-aware state, or nervousness, that athletes
experience when they are in high-pressure situations. In other words, Jim learned
to take a positive view of the nervousness, and not to wish it away because he
knows that it will push his play to a higher level. In those years while
playing on the Senior Tour, Jim Colbert played some of the best and most
consistent tournament-golf ever seen—the culmination of decades of
trial-and-error learning to perform at his best both physically, and mentally!
We all loath the feelings and bodily
reactions associated with high-pressure situations, but our mind-set about the
situation usually determines how far these bodily reactions go and how
successfully we are able to handle the situation. Dow Finsterwald said the
following about how he learned to deal with the pressure of tournament golf:
“What I’ve managed to do...is learn to face
and accept the inevitable out
there. Sure I hear the noises,
but I have pulled their teeth by expecting
them. By reconciling myself to
many things that are inevitable at a
tournament which is supported and
attended by the public, I have pretty
well eliminated their power to
disturb me”.
Finsterwald
learned to overcome the pressure by expecting it, and accepting it, as part of
the job of being a tournament professional. By accepting it, rather than
wishing it away or running away from it, he gained control over it and was able
to play his best golf.
Golf is a game of precision, but it’s not
good practice to worry, or criticize, the condition of your swing on the golf
course. You can only work with what you have at the moment, and you’ve got to
make the best of it! After he turned
professional, Doug Ford received some very important advice from his father:
“He knew my swing wasn’t much to look at, but he insisted it was good enough.”
His father knew how easy it was to get lost in worry about one’s swing
technique, and how important it was to free the mind from this doubt so that
one can concentrate on the task at hand. The tension that this line of thought
can cause, is deadly to the relaxation and concentration that is necessary to
play “at one’s best.”
Byron Nelson, known as one of the greatest
players of all time and for his record of 11 tournament victories in a row,
said:
“When you’re in
competition, scoring is a game of it’s own,
and if you have to
concentrate on your swing, the pressure
is magnified a thousand
times.”
According
to Nelson, the touring professionals of his time practiced very little at the
important tournaments—just enough to warm up—because they wanted to concentrate
on strategy, and avoid the added burden of worrying about the condition of
their swings. Nelson said that one must master the mechanics of the game,
practice incessantly so that they become second-nature, and continue to
practice to stay in “this groove.” This practice will carry over onto the
course, and enable you to play without having to worry too much about your
swing.
Today, there is a great deal of emphasis
on the “pre-shot routine,” a step-by-step mental checklist that the golfer
completes before each shot. Gene Sarazen advocated the use of a pre-shot
routine, as “the best way to overcome the jitters.” According to Sarazen, by
concentrating on the elements of this routine (taking the stance and other
set-up factors, visualizing and thinking about the shot, etc.) one does not
have time to get shaky nerves. Most of the successful thought strategies that
highly-trained athletes employ to deal with stressful situations serve to not
only ensure the likelihood of producing the desired result, but they also can
be thought of as distractions to prevent the mind from focusing on thoughts
that could make one nervous and tense. The human mind can only focus on so many
things at once, and you can learn to work this toward your advantage in
stressful situations!
J. Douglas Edgar, while playing with Tommy
Armour in the French Open, was showing signs of extreme nervousness which was
affecting his play. Armour turned to Edgar and said, “Why don’t you hum a tune,
or whistle, old chap, and get your mind off this damned thing?” Edgar took
Armour’s advice, and he went on to win the tournament. Noticing his constant
whistling, the Frenchmen called him “The Whistling Champion.” His focus was
redirected toward the whistling, and away from the thoughts that were causing
him to be nervous. Edgar also believed that his idea, “the gate”, worked
because it served as a mental distraction that focused the mind on “the movement”
and away from worry “over an infinity of details.”
The information and the procedures
involved in The Redemptive Golf Swing and The Composite Putting System have all
been designed to prevent one from being affected by “nerves.” The
anxiety-preventative aspects are the following: First, this knowledge, or
insight, breeds great confidence to perform the job at hand because you have a
first-rate system that will allow you to successfully negotiate the situation;
Second, focusing on the procedures and check-points funnels your thoughts and
prevents you from focusing on things that could result in nervousness and
tension; Third, the concisely organized procedures of this system allow you
time to consider other factors, such as course management. Over time, the mere
thought of this system should take care of those old doubts, and worry, that
plague most golfers on the golf course.
When you get nervous, it’s because you
don’t have “muscle memory”.
The
Redemptive Golf System:
Combining the most advanced research in
learning and memory technology,
physiological psychology, and
kinesiological research to achieve the highest
degree of swing mastery and swing
consistency that has ever been achieved !
Recent research shows that complex
movements such as the golf swing,
which are composed of a series of smaller movements, can have an
incorrect segment “clipped out” and
replaced with the correct movement
through several techniques. This
correct sequence of movements is then
stored in the cerebellum, and motor
centers of the brain, and can
be called forth to produce a correct
swing at normal speed on the golf course.
This is analogous to putting together a
film, frame by frame, and then
seeing the desired result when playing
it at full speed. This “muscle memory"
is actually brain, or cerebellum,
memory.
About
the Author:
Dan Blevins is a graduate of Earlham
College (Richmond, Indiana) with a
degree in Biology, and California State
University (Fullerton, Calif.) with a
degree in psychology. A four-sport
varsity letterer in college (track,
cross-country, baseball, and golf), the
four years that he played varsity
golf sparked the beginnings of his
intense interest and search to develop a
golf system that would allow him to
consistently play at his best. An avid
reader, he used his knowledge in human
anatomy/physiology, psychology,
and movement studies, to finally
piece-together the system that he had been
looking for all those years. During his
senior year in college, Dan was
the recipient of the Wendel M. Stanley
Senior-Scholar Athlete Award, named
after the the school's 1946 Nobel Prize
winner and which carried the
condition of being an outstanding
athlete with an extremely high level of
academic achievement (3.4 overall GPA
or higher). A resident of Anaheim,
California, he has worked both in
business and as a teacher in the Anaheim
Union High School District while
teaching such subjects as Chemistry,
AP Physics, and advanced math. As a
substitute teacher, he had the unbelievable coincidence of having Tiger Woods
in many classes when Tigerattended Orangeview Junior High and Western High
School which are both inthe Anaheim Union High School District. His father,
Harold Blevins, was born in Topeka, Kansas, and is a cousin of 5-time British
Open winner,
Tom Watson, through his grandmother
whose last name was also Watson.
Dan modeled his putting stroke after
Watson's, which produces deftly accurate results, and he describes it as being
like a person with a "modern, high-precision, scoped rifle versus others
who are using 18th Century muskets."
