Reacting to the Shot

WEBVTT

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Okay, last step in the process is reacting to the shot.

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So remember a good shot could be a result of a good process or good execution

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or good

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outcome or I guess the definition of a good shot could be good process, good

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execution,

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good outcome.

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We boiled it down, we're planning what we're going to do, then we're going to

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aim it, then

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we're going to execute, then we want to react to it and hopefully reinforce the

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good shots

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and learn from the quote "bad shots."

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There's a sports psychologist named Dr. Morris Pickens, he's got a 2x2 matrix.

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Really if I boil it down, after I hit a shot, one of a couple things could have

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happened.

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I could have had a good process or a bad process and I could have had a good

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outcome or a bad

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outcome.

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So that creates this kind of 2x2 matrix, where I have either good execution

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with a good or

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bad result or bad execution with a good or bad result.

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So my goal is to decide ahead of time that I'm only going to get critical of

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the bad

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execution, bad result.

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I'm going to try to stay positive on good execution, good result.

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Bad execution, bad result means I liked my process, I hit the shot I wanted,

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maybe I just

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got a bad bounce or something like that.

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And a bad execution, good result, maybe I had a bad execution, I caught it thin

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and it took

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a funny hop and it ended up close to the hole.

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I want to be able to appreciate and kind of laugh at the game and still look at

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that

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positively because I got a good result.

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It's really only the bad execution, bad results that I want to be overly

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critical of.

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And I find that you want to decide ahead of time before you get to the round

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that that's

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going to be the case.

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I'm going to reward positively with some good feelings if I have either good

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execution

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or good result and it's only those bad ones that I'm going to get extra

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critical on.

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Now execution could be broken down into two parts.

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We could look at the pre-shot which is kind of planning and evaluating the shot

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as well

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as getting into a good setup.

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All of that, the planning requires no athleticism.

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So that's really just discipline and sticking to my process.

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But then I have the swing, the actual execution of the shot and that can be,

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you know, that's

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an athletic event.

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There's a lot that could go wrong there.

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So I want to be extra critical on the pre-shot or the planning things that

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require no athleticism,

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they just require commitment to the shot in the process.

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So when I'm reacting to the shot, after I've hit the shot, I like to have a

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quick little

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checklist to go through.

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So I want to focus first on what did I do well.

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I find many amateurs hit the shot and then their first reaction is, "Oh, I hit

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it poorly.

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Oh, I got quick."

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Well, they jumped to the thing that they didn't like.

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And the way the brain codes memories is based on emotions.

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And so if you're consistently getting upset after your shots and you're

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consistently focusing

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on the negative, you're actually going to ingrain and potentially anticipate

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more of

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those negative reactions.

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So we want to start with the positive.

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We want to start with, "What did I do well?"

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And I want to start with one process and one execution thing.

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So it could be, "All right, I really committed to a target or I really kept my

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balance through

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the shot, I swung the tempo that I wanted, I just didn't hit it solidly,

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something like

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that."

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So I'm going to pick a process and an execution.

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So after I've focused on what I did well, then I can pick one, possibly two

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things that

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I would improve upon.

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So with the, "What would I improve upon?" with the process, I want to ask

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myself questions

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like, "Did I pick a specific target?

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Did I pick a specific shot?"

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Did I remember to aim?

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Remember aiming by itself is a technical skill, but remembering to aim and

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getting fully committed

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to that aim is more of a mental skill.

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Did I avoid revisiting steps?

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So when I go through my funnel and I'm evaluating the shot and I get to the

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swing, or the shot

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that I want, did I stay fully committed to that shot?

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While I was going through the aiming, while I was getting over the ball, while

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I was getting

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ready to pull the trigger and while I was swinging, did I not go back in time

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and say,

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"You know, is this the right club?

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The wind is different than I thought, maybe I should have picked a different

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target."

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I want to avoid revisiting steps, that's a big source of tension and bad shots.

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And then lastly, "Did I maintain my focus during the whole swing?"

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Now that doesn't mean, was I thinking about the target, it kind of, what it

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means is when

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I'm over the golf ball and I'm making the full swing, did I maintain my

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connection with

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what I was going to do and sticking to the plan all the way through to the

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finish?

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Or did I get distracted somewhere in the backswing, did I start trying to hit

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the ball instead

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of swing through, basically short circuiting the fullness of the pattern?

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So this is one of the traits that I tend to reinforce when we're doing the on-

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course

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playing lessons.

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Now execution errors, you know, sometimes I can have a great process and I'm

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still

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going to hit a bad shot.

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Execution errors, you want to air detect and correct, so you want to get really

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quick

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at being able to read the ball flight and your pattern and your tendencies.

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So I like all my students to know if I hit it fat, what were likely causes, if

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I hit

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it thin, if I hit it left, if I hit it right, so if I hit a shot, then maybe it

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went left

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and I felt like, okay, I slid a little and got a little quick with my arms.

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What I want to do then is air detect and correct.

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The best, the gold standard, I think Jim Furek was the absolute best of this.

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When you would watch him in his prime, he would hit some bad shots and he would

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stand

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there and he would watch and then he wouldn't, he'd reset up, he wouldn't

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really move around,

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he'd just kind of reset up and then he'd take one practice swing after the shot

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where

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he corrected what he felt was wrong, so that's the air detect and correct.

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That can be really good for focusing on technical swing issues.

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Now if it was a planning mistake, I want to read the feedback again, so maybe

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it went

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left, maybe it, I chunked it, whatever it was, I want to look back and see,

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well did I miss

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anything in planning?

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So for example, if I had an awkward stance like this, maybe I hit it fat

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because I didn't

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dig my foot in and I didn't get my pelvis really stable and so when I swung my

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foot pushed

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into the sand and it dug down, so I didn't really forecast what the slope was

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going to

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do or what the stance was going to do, but I want to look through the wind, the

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slope,

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did I misjudge how it was going to land and then with short game did I pick a

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shot, did

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I pick the right trajectory, did I think through either the lie or the landing

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zone?

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Those are the most common issues that I see that people neglect in planning,

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sometimes

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it's oh I didn't feel that the wind was into me or I didn't take enough club

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because

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it was uphill, things like that add up over time and by going backward through

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your planning

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process you can get better at anticipating where the problem would be instead

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of just

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being able to react to it.

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Now this was John Daly, I believe it was at Pebble Beach throwing his club in

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the water,

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we want to have a process for being able to let go of whatever happened,

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remember our

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goal is to respond positively to any of the good either process or outcomes and

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only react

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neutrally to the bad ones which is basically try not to get too upset if you're

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going

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to get upset limit how long you can get upset before moving on and getting

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ready for the

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next shot because we don't want to carry over that negative energy to the next

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shot.

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So I want to have something for being able to let go between this shot that

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just happened

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in the next shot, for me personally it was once I took a drink of water, I had

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my water

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bottle in my bag, once I took the drink of water that was it, I had cleansed

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the last

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shot and I was ready to move on to the challenge of whatever the next shot was

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but some other

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things can be the you know contract relax, breathing, mechanical sigh, using

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your eyes,

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we've got another video here where we'll go through some routines that you can

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use for

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being able to let go of emotions.

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So I want to be able to emotionally and mentally accept whatever happened and

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move on to the

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challenge of whatever the next shot will be and as Rory said in that intro we

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're going

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to do that until we run out of holes.

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Okay we made it to the end of reacting to the shot, let's recap the good shot

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process.

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So a good shot can be a result of either a good process, good execution or good

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outcome.

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We want to really reinforce that good process to help us get the best chance of

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having

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good execution.

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So the whole steps of executing a good shot, I'm going to plan what shot I want

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to hit,

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that boils down to where do I want my next shot to be played from, to get there

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, I'm

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going to figure out what club do I want to hit, which shot do I want to hit and

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where

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do I want to aim.

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Then I want to take my time in aiming the shot, get into the right state of

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mind over

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the ball so that I can have a fully committed swing to give myself the best

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chance at a

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good execution and then I'm going to react to the shot hopefully positively

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most of the

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time or neutrally when I have my bad shots.

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If I do that that's going to give me a better chance of hitting more and more

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good shots

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which is ultimately going to lower my scores.

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So this is the bulk of the playing smart golf approach but in the rest of the

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videos we'll

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tackle some individual issues or we'll give some more general strategies that

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can help

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you with the mental process or refining your process as far as it relates to

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strategy or

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scoring goals.