Focus Strategies

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All right, golfers, in this video, let's discuss focus strategies.

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So by focus strategies, I use the term of kind of quieting the mind.

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But what I'm really talking about is kind of creating a consistent thought

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process during

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the entire stroke.

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So let's look at what the opposite of a quiet mind would be.

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In my opinion, the opposite of quiet mind would be, you're standing over the

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ball and

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you're thinking about 10 different things.

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Is my grip right?

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Is my setup right?

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Is my alignment right?

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How hard should I hit this?

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Like, that should have all been done or taken care of during the planning stage

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.

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Or potentially, all that's fine.

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But then you start taking it back.

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You're thinking about the takeaway.

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And then now you start thinking about the trees or the target or something else

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other

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than what you had planned to think about.

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So basically, an unfocused mind would be jumping from focus to focus or

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different, maybe outcome,

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maybe visual, maybe feel like it's jumping all over the place where I would

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consider

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a quiet mind being able to maintain one focus from the start until you reach

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your finish.

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It can be a story, as I like to say, like you could have a different thought

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for the backswing,

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the transition and the finish, or the backswing, the release and the finish.

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But it's a cohesive story that you're focused on the entire time.

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So there's a couple different areas we can use to try to quiet the mind or

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enhance your

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focus.

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We can look at the eyes.

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So eyes darting all over the place tend to create a little bit more chaos or

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disturbance.

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So there's some research especially in putting about keeping a wide gaze and

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keeping kind

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of a quiet, quiet eye.

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So essentially, if I look here at the camera with a quiet gaze, I can see the

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bags on the

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back of the room, I can see the golf ball on the floor, like I can see all this

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stuff

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versus if I was trying to intently read the words on the camera, that would be

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a little

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bit too much detail-oriented, that would be like trying to read versus just

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trying to

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take this broad field or this broad look or the quiet eyes that we're trying to

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create.

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From the breath, I find that two things can happen.

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Either one golfers hold their breath and then release it at some point either

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usually right

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around impact or early in the downswing.

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So it's kind of a, and you can tell that there's a little bit too much kind of

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tension

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in that breath during the backswing.

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So either a steady exhale during the entire can maintain a little bit more.

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Just focusing on the breath can be one consistent feel or consistent quiet

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focus that you can

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use during the whole swing.

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But at the very least, I would try to maintain either quick changes, like quick

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inhales,

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quick exhales.

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Potentially, if you're doing long drive, then maybe a quick exhale during the

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downswing

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in the worst thing, but for overall consistency, I like steady breath and only

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rapid changes.

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Okay, as far as the mind goes, I use the phrase sensations versus words.

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So there's a big difference between reciting, I want to have the club laid off

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in the top

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versus there's a feeling of the club laid off at the top, where there's a

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feeling of

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the rhythm being a little slower in order to not get across the line, or there

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's a picture

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of where I want the club to point.

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Those are more sensory versus the checklist or the verbal cues of where do I

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want the

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club at the top.

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And that could be any part, it could be visualizing the shot, it could be your

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takeaway, it could

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be your finish position, all those could be sensations, or they could be words,

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our goal

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is to get them into the sensation.

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Now one of the places where people tend to have a lot of tension, and that

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tension can

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pull your focus would be the jaw, the shoulders, the core, the legs, so we have

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other kind

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of relaxation techniques to try to help you to understand how you can become a

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little

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bit more aware there, but sometimes just doing a little body scan, so getting

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set up and

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then feeling my jaw relaxed, or my shoulders loose, or not stiff, not locked,

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is my back

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and core moving a little bit, are my feet stable, but not too tight, like not

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having a sense

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like they need to explode, but they feel very grounded and ready to move.

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There's some vague words, but there's some of the terms that I think resonate

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with people

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when they're in a good ready state, and that ready state is typically having a

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single focus

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and having that kind of quiet mind.

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So if you're struggling with your mind jumping all over the place, I at least

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like the hierarchy

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of kind of look at your eyes, your breath, your mind, and your body as areas

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that you

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could improve your focus to improve your overall consistency.

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Now from a process standpoint, I use clarity and completeness, and what we can

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look at

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is we talked about in the planning the shot and the pre-shot, that we don't

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want to go

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backwards.

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Basically, I want to have a pre-shot routine that I can trust, and I want the

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voice, if

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I am hearing myself tell myself what to do, I want it to be a directive voice,

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not kind

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of a wishy, washy voice, so it would be kind of like, okay, I go through my due

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process,

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figure out what club I want to hit.

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I'm going to hit an eight iron, I'm going to hit a draw, I'm walking up for the

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ball,

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I'm going to focus on my takeaway and my balance in the finish, or I'm going to

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focus on a

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feeling of the club being in the slot, I'm going to focus on a stable lower

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body.

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Whatever that feel is, it's a directive voice of this is what I'm going to do,

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and you're

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not allowed to go back.

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One of the things that I can't stress enough is many golfers get bad shots when

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they go

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back in the process.

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They're getting over the ball and they're not sure if they aimed correctly, so

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now they

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have to revisit in their mind going backward a step.

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That's going to cause some extra stress and disrupt the fluidness of their

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swing.

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You want to make sure you did the process, you pick the club, you pick the

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alignment,

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you pick the swing thought, you get up to the ball, and then you go.

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Having a clarity and a completeness of that is one of the ways to maintain your

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focus.

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If you're doing that and you're still having issues, then that's when I would

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focus more

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on the sensation stuff that we talked about there at the beginning of the video

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.

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Hopefully this helps you create a little more consistency and calmness over the

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wall.