The Glitch In Your Golf Brain
Day 1 from “Be the Ball” by Charlie Jones and Kim Doren
The Golf Book Club: Every day, we share a mental game lesson inspired by great golf books—stories and strategies to help you think better so you can play better.
The authors interviewed Ken Blanchard, founder of Golf University.
When people come to Ken’s school, they say things like, “I’m awful in the sand.”
Ken always agrees: “I bet you are awful in the sand.”
Now the golfer feels a little hurt. He says, “Ken, you just met me. How do you know I’m awful?”
Ken looks the golfer in the eye and says, “Because you’re never going to be better than you think you are.”
The mind is a computer. But there’s a glitch in the software.
When you put information into your golf brain, it takes that information at face value. That glitch can either help you or hurt you.
So Ken teaches the player to edit, “I’m awful in the sand” to “I’m fabulous in the sand.” Then, with the mind properly programmed, they work on mechanics.
“Start with your tee shot right here.”
At the 1992 Masters, Jack Nicklaus shot 7 on the par three 12th. Quadruple bogey. As he walked off the green, he thought, “Look what you did to yourself!”
But Jack knows the mind is a computer. He immediately reprogrammed his thinking. He said, “Go play golf and start with your tee shot right here.”
He birdied 13, 14, 15 and 16. He didn’t win the tournament, but he won the internal battle, and in the long run, that has a bigger impact on your handicap than any trophy.
Jack says, “Make up your mind about what you’re trying to do and do it. Go play golf and start with this shot right here. If you can do that, everything else just disappears.”
What to Do, Not What to Avoid.
Here’s another glitch in the software: your mind doesn’t know the word “don’t.”
When you say, “Don’t hit it in the water,” your mind hears “Hit it in the water.” All the mind remembers is what you’re focused on.
Ken says, “That’s why programming your mind is so important. You have to tell your mind what you want to do, not what you want to avoid.”
The software designer Frederick Lenz said, “The mind is a computer. But most of the software has been written in the language of fear.”
To help you rewrite the glitches in your brain, Ken offers a fresh take on the pre-shot and post-shot routine. Instead of steps, think of time: Future, Present, and Past.
Stand behind the ball and plan the future. This is where you write the code.
Step over the ball, settle into the present, and execute the code with your swing.
Then move into the past to analyze and learn from that swing.
Or you can just memorize Jack’s line of code. “Go play golf and start with this shot right here.”
That’s all for now. Tomorrow, we’ll learn a more visual way to program your golf brain.
Until then, keep imagining what’s possible.
Today’s Photo
More from Hamilton Island Golf Club Island in Queensland
