Practical tips and techniques for golfers of all abilities, to recognise and correct bad habits. The simple exercises in my book will help you discover 1) Common errors players don’t realise they’re doing and how to stop them. 2) How to achieve the ideal state of mind for playing the best golf. 3) The single, most effective lesson that transforms any golfer’s game.
Do you play your shots like you do in your head?
You've just played two great shots to get onto the green and then fluffed the easiest of putts! How did that happen? Surprisingly it has little to do with your ability. It comes down to something you may never have considered; it's habit. Habits can make you do things you really didn't want to do, yet most golfers remain unaware of their influence.
The innovative techniques in this book will help you breakthrough the performance limiting habits holding you back and let you take greater control over your game. You'll learn how to
* eradicate those annoying mistakes more easily than you could ever have imagined * increase your distance by using less effort * improve accuracy by not trying * simplify your golf
You'll discover how to get into The Zone, the ultimate state in which to play at your peak - and take your game to levels beyond your expectations.
The book is internet linked to further resources included in the cover price. These include audio files of the techniques to download onto an mp3 player to take onto the course or range, plus advice on posture and sports injury in the form of ebooks and videos.
Excerpt
Think back to the best shot you've ever played. It doesn’t matter if it was twenty minutes or twenty years ago, you can probably recall every minor detail with ease. Perhaps it was a hole in one, a miraculous shot out of the bunker or the mother of all putts to take the game at the last hole.
How did it feel? Did you put a lot of effort into that shot? No? It was one of the easiest shots you’ve ever played, wasn’t it? Ask all the golfers you know and they’ll describe a similar sensation: it’s as if the shot played itself. Everything just flowed as your wish became your command, and your body, club and ball did exactly what you asked them to do.
Was there indecision? Or a long debate on how you were to play the shot? No? Golfers recounting their perfect moment to me have said definitely not. Although they all could recall the situation, conditions and outcome, when they came to describe what it felt like, they used words such as ‘instinctive’, ‘flowing’, ‘light’ and ‘easy’. Note the absence of technical terms. Why did it feel so easy?
You Were In The Zone!
This experience is what athletes refer to as ‘The Zone’; artists and writers call it ‘The Flow’. You temporarily existed in a different state with a heightened sense of awareness. Everything seemed easier and simpler, and you instinctively knew exactly what you had to do – nothing more, nothing less. With little perceived effort you played a peach of a shot worthy of a story years later for your grandchildren.
The Zone is the holy grail of sport. Athletes who experience it describe it as the ultimate state, a sort of nirvana, a pinnacle of achievement to reach and enjoy. It is often portrayed as a mysterious, altered state where performance is effortless, trouble-free and near to perfection. Many feel they can anticipate events, permitting them to take action before their opponent. The stress and anxiety of performing vanishes leaving them free to function without fear of consequences.
You just need to get into the right frame of mind, and with the right physical movements, you can get into The Zone more often.
Professional Reviews
Insightful and refreshing look at the mental approach to playing your best golf
If you have played golf for even a short time you have hit shots that came off the club perfectly, high and straight, to the target with very little effort. You may have even experienced short stretches on the golf course in which everything seemed easy. Of course we have also followed those perfect shots with a low hard hooks that ended up out-of-bounds.
Roy Palmer helps us understand what makes us take a great swing one time and such a poor swing the next in his book "Golf Sense, Practical Tips On How To Play Golf In The Zone". Through a series of self observations, and practical exercises he illustrates that "less is more" when it comes to the golf swing. By eliminating unnecessary movements in our pre-shot routine we are able to relax, quite our minds, and begin to focus on feeling the correct movement.
One exercise that worked for me as soon as I tried it was "Poised For Success". The author suggests that we stand in golf posture address and image a sting attached to the top of your head pulling you up so you get taller at the same time image the ground pushing your feet up. Try it for yourself and tell me if that doesn't help you get into a great athletics position.
This book is a insightful and refreshing look at the mental approach to playing your best golf. The author challenges us to evaluate our concepts on how to move our bodies and face bad habits we may have developed in the golf swing. By staying away from useless swing thoughts and technical mechanics we are taught to focus of the fundamentals of movement that allow us to get into The Zone. In the end we can all be better golfers by putting the ideas in the book into practice.
Great book
Golf Sense - Practical Tips on How to Play Golf in the Zone by Roy Palmer is a fascinating book that any golfer, regardless of talent level, can benefit from reading. Based on Palmer's preferred instructional technique, The Alexander Method, golfers are introduced to a detailed, well-written account of what it feels like to be "in the Zone" and how one can hope to replicate this feeling every time he or she steps on the tee box.
In every sense of the word, and as stated above, Golf Sense is detailed. While the reader may find himself re-reading the content once or twice before understanding what is being conveyed by the author, Palmer does a fine job of substantiating an abstract concept into words. "Being in the Zone" can mean many things to many golfers, however we can all agree that this is the period of time when effort is at a minimum while positive results are at its highest point. The question that Palmer addresses in his book is simply how one can find the Zone every round.
Using examples and exercises throughout each chapter, Palmer suggests that finding the Zone is contingent upon "unlearning" bad habits that every golfer experiences at one time or another. Written in a style that analytical thinkers and psychology buffs will enjoy, Golf Sense offers the reader an explanation as to why we behave in certain ways when performing a physical movement. In terms of everyday examples addressed in the book, touching one's nose with a finger is much easier when done on instinct as opposed to thinking about every minute movement that is included in the action itself.
Parallels to golf can be drawn rather easily, especially when considering the popular mechanical aspect of golf instruction seen on the market today. Keeping your head still or folding your right arm are phrases simple enough to understand, yet confusing enough to litter your head with a checklist too long to recall during a golf swing. As Palmer points out early in his book, the golfer only has a fraction of a second to make an adjustment to his or her swing before ultimately falling into bad habits learned over numerous poor shots. It is in this split-second that new information or techniques can be introduced to the swing, allowing the player to learn a new motion that can potentially lead to different results.
Having played golf for almost two decades I can certainly relate to the examples and frustrations that "Tom", the books fictional example, experiences throughout the chapters and lessons. Falling into bad habits because they feel "right" or comfortable is an interesting concept that one would assume almost every golfer, professional or amateur, often battles with during a round. Tensing one's shoulders before a putt can be dismissed as easily as saying "this is how I learned the game", however does not suggest that this is the correct way to swing a club. Looking at one's faults in golf can be difficult to accept, however is a necessary element of improving one's game if done correctly. In this respect, Palmer succeeds admirably.
A contradiction exists with the message from Golf Sense, however, that a reader may pick up up upon finishing the book. While Palmer suggests "forgetting" about mental checklists and "unlearning" bad habits, one cannot help but wonder if new adjustments and mindsets are nothing more than cleaner ways to describe similar actions. In other words, "remembering to forget" can be just as frustrating or confusing as following poor habits in the first place.
While the information presented in Golf Sense may not be for everyone, one thing is clear: Palmer understands the psychology of this great game and possesses a talent in conveying abstract material to the reader in a fashion that is easy to understand and apply to his or her own game.
Anxious to Try it Next Spring!
I was originally inspired by this golfing inner peace (or getting in the zone) from the movie The Legend of Bagger Vance - the scene on the tee when Bagger is explaining to Junuh why Bobby Jones is so good ("he's in the field"). To me, there's just something about letting go of all the BS in your head, getting out of your own way (mentally) and just letting your natural swing emerge - it just sounds like the way a golf swing is meant to be executed.
So as I digested Mr. Palmer's book, I felt his writings and exercises (many of which can be done without a club and while you're actually reading the book) would really help me find that happy place to exist in during a round. For example, he points to tension in the swing as a major cause of poor play - tension that you may not even know you have since habitually, you've swung the same way for so many years.
But realizing the cause of your poor golf shots is only the beginning. Golf Sense is packed with simple ways to put you in (and keep you in) a calm and relaxed state of mind on the course (which will translate into a more relaxed swing, and subsequently lower scores). I have to say, I'm anxious to give it a try.
