How to Become a Feel Player

What is a “feel player”? Of course, it is a golfer who gauges his shots mostly on his sense of feel. Every golf club becomes part of his body when he grips it. Oh, there are calculations to be made, but the finer touches happen when the feel golfer makes his slow, easy practice swing. He just knows how much to give each swing to give the ball the proper finesse.

Does feel come from hitting thouands of golf balls, or is there another way to attain this level of golf?

Most golfers would kill for this instinct… But is it really an instinct or can any golfer learn to play by feel?

My answer is that golfers can learn to be feel players without spending every waking moment on the driving range.

Let me enlighten you…

First, where does feel happen? Is it physical touch or is there more?

Feel is an interaction between the brain and the body… Just as golf requires the use of both brain and body.

Please indulge me for a second while I go off on a slight ranting tangent, because this always gets my blood boiling…

For years, golf has been taught as either a physical game or a mental game. Like it or not, it is both and separating the two only screws up golfers. If you try to teach them something physical, they have to find a way to remember it. If you try to work on their mental game, they find that all the great thoughts in the world are useless if their golf swing ain’t working that day.

Feel golf is the best example of mind and body working together. But feel is somewhat of an enigma for many golfers. That’s because feel requires the golfer to use a different part of their brain. It requires the use of the “non-thinking” part, or subconscious. In other words, it uses a process in the brain that is separate from conscious thought.

For golfers who learn to play by feel, they find that the special brain process also helps them in other areas of their lives. For example, feel players are often well spoken and they are better than average problem solvers.

What process am I talking about? I call it the Monitor.

The monitor is that part of your brain that watches out for you. It tries to make sure you don’t say embarrassing things. It tries to make sure you don’t hurt yourself. The monitor is there to keep you safe. Most people don’t realize they have this process working, but it is present in every human being. Once you start to tap into the monitor, your life and your golf game start to improve.

People ask me why it is that some people improve quickly with Golf Swing Control while others struggle. The answer is that those who improve quickly make better use of their monitor function.

The best example of the monitor function is the classic freckle-faced kid asking the pretty girl for a date. He doesn’t think he’s worthy and he’s trying to work up the courage to call her. The conversation in his mind is between his conscious and his monitor. The monitor says, “Just do it.” and the conscious says, “What is she says no?” The conversation creates a twisted feeling in his stomach.

In golf, the monitor function has another role. It is used to monitor feel.

I know that right now you’re cussing at your computer because you’ve been trying to pinpoint how your golf swing feels for years and that just hasn’t worked. I’ve been there too. But there is a reliable place where feel never changes and that feel can be used to make your golf swing more consistent.

The monitor can also help you to stop making bad decisions and to control your emotions on the golf course as well. From the mental game standpoint, the monitor will do things for you that golf psychology can’t touch. The monitor is the secret to sub-par golf.

So how do you use it? I’ll start with two exercises; one for your physical game and one for your mental game.

Exercise 1) Take a walk. As you make each step, try to pinpoint where the greatest weight is felt under your feet at every moment. In other words, if you land on your heel, is it the inside or outside of the heel? When you roll forward on the foot, does your weight go to the outside of the foot or do you move from the heel to the ball of the foot? When you push off, does the weight center in the big toe, or do the smaller toes do more work? Do this drill until you know exactly how your weight moves across each foot. You’ll probably find that each foot feels differently.

Exercise 2) Listen to yourself speak in every conversation. Count how many time you say, “um”, “ah”, or “you know”. That’s it. Let me know what happens as you continue to monitor your conversations.

What I’ve just given you is the first step towards developing a mental game that rivals Tiger Woods mental game. A word of warning: Tiger has been doing these things since he was a toddler, so he has a big head start. That said, anyone can make up ground in this area… And it doesn’t involve hitting thousands of golf balls.

I want to hear your feedback on this. But before you write, do both exercises, re-read this post and take some time to let it sink in. Like everything else I do, there is much more in this post than is immediately seen during the first read.

Regards,
Tracy

Tags: golf mental game, golf swing