.jpg)
Coaching Mind's Podcast: Perform at your best!
Coaching Mind's Podcast: Perform at your best!
#117 - Evaluating Your Golf Routines 2.0
This episode is a raw tool that Ben started using with a golfer who was not happy with her routine. She felt like her mind was wandering too much during her rounds and the distractions were taking away from her game. At some point this will be cleaned up and polished, but sometimes it is helpful to see the behind the scenes of how you can help an athlete when they say, "I don't think my routine is good enough."
If you do not have any sort of pre shot or post shot routine I would encourage you to go back to the bonus season between Seasons 2 & 3 as this episode will assume that you already have a routine in place.
Here is a link to make a copy of the rubric sheet Ben put together to help evaluate whether her routine completed all of the steps necessary to control her mind and body and put her in the best position for success possible if you would like to use it with your own golfers:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1H7vdjPPL1o9UwDtK53Ac0hYKU-LQbJR2CX1_Ls-nHYs/copy
Are you an ATHLETE looking to take your training to the next level? Check out our website to learn more about 1-on-1 training opportunities:
mentaltrainingplan.com/athletes
Are you a COACH looking for an affordable year-round mental performance training program? Check out the MTP Academy available through our website:
mentaltrainingplan.com/academy
Hey, welcome to the coaching minds podcast, the official podcast, a mental training plan. Whether you are an athlete, a coach or a business professional, we're giving you the tools to help you perform at your best in those high pressure situations. Today, we are going to be talking about pre shot routines for golf 2.0. So, if you have not listened to the bonus season, it was between season two, which ended around like May 5th 2020. And before we started season three, which was like August 18th 2020, there were four bonus episodes. One was golf pre round routine, one was golf pre shot routine, one was golf postround routine, one was golf pre-shot routine, One was golf post-shot routine and then the last one was golf post-round routine. If you have not listened to those, that is the starting point that I would direct you towards and this is kind of once you have that foundation in place, now what are we going to do? What are these next steps going to look like? As we evaluate, you know, are there other things that we need to add? I fear that if you're just starting here with no pre shot routine already made that, there's going to be a little bit left out and a little bit kind of left behind explanation wise. So listen to those. If you have your pre shot routine and your post shot routine, this is this is going to be a little bit, you know more more geared toward how do we evaluate? Is this good? Is this complete? Do I need more? During one of my one on one sessions with a young lady that I meet with on a pretty regular basis, we were going through her routine because she wasn't happy with where her mind was going during a round and really, as we kind of broke it down, I think there's multiple stages that we need to have a plan for. This is all. I put this basically on a worksheet. If you want to download a PDF version of this, it'll be. It'll be available for a little while on our on our podcast notes section. So if you're listening to this as it comes out or you're listening in the next few months, you should be able to just click right in there and download the worksheet. At some point. We will shift this over. It'll. It'll always live on the MTP Academy in the resources there the sports specific resources, but it'll certainly be available for a little while if you want to download it while we're kind of talking through this.
Ben:So, in my mind, the first phase that we've got to make sure we have a plan for is kind of that prep stage where we don't know exactly what club we're hitting, what distance, the hazards. There's some things that we need to do as we prepare for what club am I going to hit, what shot am I going to take? And then at some point we need to be done with that and we're going to dive into each of these a little bit more detail here in just a minute. But at some point there needs to be done with that and we're going to dive into each of these a little bit more detail here in just a minute. But at some point there needs to be a. Okay, I'm committed to this shot with this club. Now we move into this I'm confident stage and I know what I'm going to hit. Now I'm just preparing my mind and body. I've got some steps that I'm going to be going through. And then the swing stage where we've left all of that behind. We've got one, two, three, four, boom. One, two, three, four, boom. And sometimes that's, you know, setting up or doing something with your club face or looking at your target, glancing back down at the ball, something that's repeatable, that's consistent, every single shot. There's going to be differences and nuances, to obviously like having a driver in your hand versus having a putter in your hand, but at some point we're done preparing and at some point we're done with all things planning, it's time to just let it rip.
Ben:And then the last phase is kind of the post shot. And in this post shot, really, we can kind of break it down into two pieces. There's, there's this how do we wrap up the shot that we just just made? And then what are we doing during this walk to our next shot? A lot of the problems arise from the time that I hit this shot until now. You know, I've got multiple, multiple minutes where all I'm thinking about is gosh, why did I do that? Or, oh no, what do I have coming up? So what am I doing to control my mind and body during that walk to the ball to hit my next shot? Looking at the sheet now, within that prep stage, because this just kind of cycles, right, like we're preparing, we're not sure what we're going to do. Then we're confident okay, here's what I'm going to do, then we let it rip and then we need to do something afterwards, right. And so once this kind of cycles back to the next shot, the first box on there is focus on this shot.
Ben:And my question that I had for the young lady that I was working with was like okay, point to where in your routine does this step get accomplished? And, to be honest, I kind of used it almost as like a rubric, like a grading sheet. I try to make a big point out of not telling people what to do with their pre-shot or post-shot routine, but I do say I want you to consider this and then I want you to make the decision Do I need this, do I not need this? And so on the left hand side, in those blanks, she has a, an arrive at the ball kind of routine and then goes into her pre shot routine and then has her post shot routine and the, the reason she likes that is the arrive at the ball, you know, depending on, am I in the middle of the fairway, am I behind a tree? Do I have a short shot coming up? Depending on the situation. Sometimes there's different things that happen.
Ben:But then, once she gets into her pre shot routine, she wants it to say nope, every single time I do this, then this, then this, and boom, and you know whatever, whatever that looks like for you, I would encourage you, on the left hand side, to write down here is my pre shot routine and don't just say, well, you know, sometimes I do this, sometimes I do that. That's not a routine. Let's say here's what I'm committing to. I'm going to do this step one, and then this step two, and then this step three. And so you know, I asked her where on this do you focus on this shot? Where in your routine? What step in your routine do you have? Here's where I'm going to turn off all the other things going on. I'm going to forget about the last shot. I'm not worried about my score, I'm not worried about my opponent, I'm not worried about anything else, past or future. I am right here in this moment, this ball at my feet, right now. What am I doing? And I think it's important to have something that kind of cues you that hey, here we go. And she has a short little phrase that she says to herself and that kind of kicks off okay, I'm now beginning this process.
Ben:We talked about, you know, in the previous episodes about pre-shot routine, the whole wide focus versus narrow focus Like where does that show up in your routine? Where do you make sure that you're not so dialed in on the ball that you're forgetting or leaving out? Oh shoot, there's water in front of me. I need to be short of this, but also, at some point, you need to be able to not be worried about that water. You need to be narrowed in now on this shot, on this ball, on this swing. So what's that look like for you? How do you accomplish that? Somewhere in there, there needs to be a strategy, and she calls it her strategy session. Basically, we're talking what club are you going to hit? What's the distance that you have? What shot shape are we going for? What hazards are on there? Things like that. And you know just being sure that you have a plan for that and you know when that occurs during your routine.
Ben:The next one visualization. And these are you know, I told her these are not necessarily in order, because some people like for visualization to happen now, some people like visualization to happen in the next stage, but at some point I think it's important that you need to be able to show me yes, here is where, in my pre-shot routine, I'm going to make sure that I stop and I slow down and I visualize my shot Somewhere in there. I like to encourage my athletes to have either go-to statement or some kind of phrase, some kind of mantra like what are you doing positive self-talk wise on a repeated basis, so that you know we don't want to just wait until our mind gets in a negative spot. Like what if we could just be a little bit proactive and there could be something that I'm going to say to myself, maybe as I pull my club out of the bag? Or maybe I'm going to say my go-to statement after I visualize my shot. I don't know.
Ben:The next one on there is physical. So here we're talking like breathing and forced muscular relaxation. So if you are going to take a deep breath, when is that going to happen? Are you only going to do that when you're feeling pressure? I don't know that that's the best solution. Maybe you want to pair it up with I'm going to visualize the ball path and I'm going to breathe at the same time, or I'm going to take a breath and then say my statement.
Ben:But I think somewhere on there, having a plan for here is where I'm going to breathe and remind myself to do my breathing, to take back control, to prepare my body physically and being proactive, rather than just reacting to oh shoot, my heart rate is out of control, shoot. This is a really important putt. Maybe I should take a deep breath here. Same with forced muscular relaxation. I have a lot of golfers that I work with that do the forced muscular relaxation as they're taking a club out of the bag, or they'll take a club out, they'll get a real tight grip as they take a big deep breath and then exhale and relax and loosen those muscles. Rather than letting muscle tension be controlled by that lower part of the brain, we're saying no, we're going to intentionally take back control and we have the ability to tighten or relax muscles. And so you know just that physical preparation stage where is that taking place?
Ben:And the next one assess and adjust. So you know, you've maybe taken into consideration wind and you've taken into consideration your club and you've taken into consideration all these things. What if there's, what if there's some adjustments that need to be made? Are there, is there any last minute decision? Are you going like step by step? Are you going in order? Is there time for this? Because the next step is commitment and at that point we're saying there are no more steps. We are done. We are done picking our club and picking our shot shape, and we are done thinking about the hazards and the distances and all that. Here's what we're doing I'm hitting this club at this percentage, with this shape.
Ben:And now I'm committed to the next phase, which is kind of building this confidence I call it the confidence stage with her. I'm now confident in what I'm doing, so I'm going to do something for, like, rhythm and tempo Maybe you know she likes to align and then stance and then look, look, hit, and that kind of gives her a rhythm that she likes. You know, some golfers like to have a trigger, some golfers like to have a swing thought when does that happen? Where does that happen? Are we still behind the ball? Where does that happen? Are we still behind the ball? Are we to the side of the ball right now? You know for your routine that if you go through those, can you say, yes, my confidence is now built up. And yes, if I do these in order, I'm staying present in this moment, I'm not thinking about past or future. And if that's the case, then now we're ready to enter into that last stage, the swing stage, and it's boom, boom, boom swing, and it's just over and over and over that same repetitive, what you know, whether that has to do with your alignment or your club head or your stance or where you're looking at.
Ben:At some point we just need to commit to this shot and we need to let it rip. And now, what are we doing? So, now that ball has left our club face and we no longer have any control, and we're going to have an emotional reaction and we're going to have some thoughts, some feelings that we're going to have to deal with. How are we going to do that? What's our strategy going to be? Again, if you want some tools, go back and listen to the other podcasts.
Ben:At some point we need to accept the outcome. We need to say you know what that stunk, I'm ticked, all right, we're forgetting about that shot. Now I'm moving on to the next one. I accept here's what happened, here's the situation Doesn't matter anymore, can't control it anyways. Now we are going to move on and we're going to start thinking about the next shot, or we're going to start thinking about whatever's going to be next, but sometimes we're still worried about fill in the blank. Maybe it's overthinking about the wind, or maybe it's. I can't help but think about the fact that I'm slicing all of my long irons or, you know, duffing my chips, or I'm hitting under the ball or on top of the, whatever that looks like. And we've talked a lot in the past about having a little mini notebook, the permission to forget journal and basically being able to write down okay, I'm going to fix my long irons with my swing instructor at our next session, or I'm going to hit up the range afterwards and I'm going to practice 10 of this shot or whatever. But having that notebook where we take it from our working memory and our brain is trying to hold on to it and remember it and think about it and remind ourselves of it and don't forget about it, I'd say no, we have a plan, we're going to deal with it later. In the meantime we've got some other things to worry about, and so then the next phase is kind of this walk to our ball.
Ben:And here is where a lot of golfers get in trouble, because I think, on one hand, you can be tempted to be so dialed in and so hyper focused and trying to stay locked in by the time four hours is up. I mean you are just mentally and physically and emotionally exhausted, like I just don't think that's possible to stay completely locked in and focused, and I would encourage you, you know, just to pay attention to stuff like this on Twitter, instagram your favorite social follow some professional golfers and listen to Rory or Max Homa talk about how they focus on things that they're grateful for. Listen to some of the guys and gals that talk about, you know, looking at this beautiful, pristine nature that you're out in the middle of the landscape that's around you, somehow allow your mind to not drift off. Is drift off is not right, but maybe just like, relax a little bit. Don't be so dialed in and so amped up and so locked in, but you also, you know, can't go off into into la la land.
Ben:So what are you going to intentionally think about and you know we've talked on here before the the reason that gratefulness or gratitude is such a powerful tool is just neurologically, when that part of your brain is active, the part of your brain that is responsible for processing fear, anxiety, worry, those types of emotions the two can't be what we would call lit up or active at the same time and so being able to, you know, engage that man I'm just, I'm so grateful for. Maybe it's something to do with a family member or a parent that's spent all kinds of time and effort and energy and money on helping you develop your game. Or maybe you're grateful for the the other people in your life your teammates in your life, your coaches that are helping you out, the opportunity that you have, the fact that you're playing a game that you love. This is so enjoyable, this is so beautiful and wonderful and fun out here and then now, as we get up to our next ball or our next shot at the ball, having some way to flip that switch All right, game on. Or all right, here we go, or something that kind of starts to lock us back in. That starts to redirect our focus. You know, we're not staring off at the clouds or the mountains or the sunshine or the pretty grass or the flowers or whatever. We're not thinking about being grateful about our coach or how much we love whatever. Now we're coming back to golf and now we're in a better place than if, during that walk, we're like gosh.
Ben:I can't believe I did that. Why did I stink and do that? Was it in my wrist? Am I not coming through to my club head Start, to my club face start to close, instead of arriving at the ball in a more negative or a more anxious state? Now we're arriving and we're a little bit more grateful, a little bit more positive, a little bit more optimistic. A little bit more grateful, a little bit more positive, a little bit more optimistic, a little bit more. Hey, it's cool, we got this, let's go. And then now this process starts all over again, and so that's just.
Ben:That's one of the tools that that I use when I'm working with individual athletes. I'm putting this out here just as some things for coaches or parents or players specifically to just have some ideas to go through in your own mind. Maybe make your own rubric. Like what, what do you think are all the different stages, all the different phases, all the different times where you're preparing for a shot, then you commit to the shot, then you make the shot, now you deal with that shot and now we're walking to the ball and now we're moving on to the next shot. Like, what are all those steps for you? What are those look like? How are you going to do that? Don't just hope that you're going to do this with your team. Please don't hesitate to reach out. You can go to mentaltrainingplancom slash podcast, and there's a contact us button right there. If you got anything out of this, please don't hesitate to share this with another coach that you think might enjoy listening to this, or a golfer that you know that maybe wants to fine tune or tweak their routine just a little bit.
Ben:I do think this is such a powerful tool, especially for golfers who are not happy with what they're focused on and instead of you know us trying to say something like hey, just don't worry about it, because that's not a thing, like what the heck do you mean? Don't worry about it? How am I supposed to do that? I think this is powerful because instead we're saying here's what we're going to think about, here's the next step, here's what matters right now, here's what's important, here's our plan for dealing with where we're coming up short, here's our plan for fixing things at a later time. But I'm committing to this right here, right now. I'm going to be present. I'm going to be at my best. My body and my mind are prepared. I have what it takes. Let's go give it our best shot, because I mean, that's ultimately where we're going to put ourselves in the best position possible to succeed. One last topic before we, before we close this out. So I also sent to this young lady.
Ben:Ben Silverman needed to hole out from 109 yards to make the cut and he decided to mark his ball when play was suspended Friday night and he had a range session of full 56 degree wedges before his attempt and he has the opportunity to make this shot. And it shows him practicing this shot, this distance, with this club in his hand. He knew what he was going to do. He knew how he was going to do it. I mean, here's a man who's made $1.115 million playing golf. You know, is he the greatest all time? Certainly not. Has he been paid a lot more money than me to play golf? Absolutely, he knew exactly what he was trying to do. He practiced that shot over and, over and over and then, when he had the opportunity to go do that in a competitive setting, he didn't even hit the green.
Ben:So we don't have that opportunity during a round of golf. We can't just suspend play and then go have a range session and practice this shot with this club. And even if we could. We're not guaranteed that we would hit it anyways. We're not going for perfect. We're going for can we put ourselves in the best position possible to give us the greatest chance for success? To prepare our mind and our body to perform at our best and then be able to handle the consequences? Find ball, hit ball, put ball in hole? That's what we're trying to do, and way too many times we overcomplicate this with so much junk that's going on in our mind. And having a routine like this gives us some steps that we can go through. It gives us things to focus on, it gives us a pattern and a plan, it increases confidence, it allows us to feel more relaxed and it's one of those tools you can use to give yourself the best chance during competition. If you have questions, please don't hesitate to reach out Until next time. Make your plan and put it to work.