golfrewind.com

Moe Norman's swing thoughts. (Moe Norman)

Mental Golf Tip: Swing Thoughts (No "swing thoughts")

When I swing I think about the tempo, not rushing the shot, or pause at the backswing.

What are your swing thoughts during the swing? Do they vary upon the type of shot (chipping, pitching, putting, full shot, sand)?

Swing thought is completely determined by what I want the ball to do. I think I have deeper thoughts on short game shots since they are usually not stock "grip and rip" situations.

I find myself thinking of Heather Locklear. It seems to have helped Jack Wagner's game, maybe it will help mine.

For me, I find that I have to bring only one swing thought for each swing. My brain is defective and can only handle a single thought. If I ever think of my release, spine angle or hip rotation or something else like that, I would be in grave trouble and my scores would triple.

My swing thoughts range from swing through the ball, keep weight forward, swing freely, commit to the shot. I generally hit 9 - 12 greens per round, so I don't worry too much about the swing.

That's what works for me.

On prep. for the swing. I just think...... slow, sweet, smooth and easy..... and now that I have written that down and re read it. OMG lol does that ever look lame with a bit of creepy tossed in. lol I think y'all know what I mean however. Once I start my swing. I think of nothing. until I lift my head.

Generally its a case of concentrating on timing and rythmn,and staying in the moment so to speak.

Think about having a proper setup to the ball and then just think about the target.

I do a lot of thinking on the setup but do very little thinking on the swing. As others have said, tempo is very important. Lately after setup and just before the swing I think of tracing the same path with my hands going back down to the ball as I traced going up to the top of the swing. Then I just let the swing happen. It is really working for me and when I do mess up I find I am loosing my tempo by swing too fast on the forward swing.

It's been said many times it is best not to have any swing thoughts, but I think it can be a good idea to concentrate on one or two aspects of the swing until they are ingrained and happen naturally.

Currently, I am working on 2 swing 'feelings' ... keeping my back leg steady and feeling the pressure remain on the inside of the foot and feeling a center of rotation in my chest remaining in the same spot from address to impact. I'm a relative beginner, just starting to regularly shoot in the 90s, so I find these 2 things very helpful because they give my swing a foundation. When I take a shot and both of these things feel right, I almost always make solid contact and hit it where I aimed. My plan is to keep working on these 2 thought/feelings until it's mostly an ingrained feeling I don't have to think about, and not really a 'thought'.

Only one I'm trying to keep at this point is to stay relaxed and not over swing. Been helping me be more consistent and have better overall ball-striking throughout the round.

"Do it again."

Another thing on swing thoughts that I have found in my game:

If I have any kind of distracting or negative thought at address, I almost always hit a bad shot. I need to learn to step away, clear the mind, refocus and re-address. This doesn't happen very often to me, but when it does, the results are usually very bad if I swing anyway.

I also sometimes know I have taken a horrible back swing, but continue to finish the swing and hit a bad shot. Anyone have this experience and be able to 'abort' and re-address?

I play best when I don't have anything going on in my mind. Before I hit my shot, I'll tell myself everything I should do, but when I actually step up to the ball and get ready to swing, my mind is pretty much empty.

During my actual swing, I'm not thinking of anything except keeping my eyes on the back of the ball. Prior to pulling the swing trigger, I'm getting balanced, making sure my grip feels good, and assessing what my swing needs to do to hit the shot I'm trying to hit. This all takes place in about 5-10 seconds max after I address the ball. Then I let all that go and just try to keep my eyes on that spot on the ball and if I'm thinking about anything, it's tempo and rhythm...like a 1,2 count. Works well for me.

I just think about hitting the ball with an easy swing in back, come down and crush it.

Positive. It can be that simple, but unfortunately it is often not!