By David Clay,Director of Instruction, Houston National Golf Academy

This particular gentleman had come down from Dallas for a golf lesson. I asked him quite a few questions before I asked him to hit some golf balls. Each time he hit the ball, he spent forever over the ball before he hit it. When he got to the nineteenth thing, I asked him to stop. He had a checklist of what he wanted to happen just before and during his swing.

Keep in mind, your brain can normally only do two things at once. I did have a professional drummer come to me not too long ago who said he sometimes had to do four things at once, but it took him over a year of continuous work to achieve it. The real problem for the golfer is once he gets past two things, other thoughts generally disappear. When you get to the third thing, the first is lost.

The left side brained person - the accountant, engineer, architect, doctor – tends to do everything in precise order, or tries to make it in order. There is another way to swing a golf club...by feel. Try to remember the feel of what you are trying to do by repeating the swing many times. When you get to the point where you have the feel, remember what you want to happen. You can rely on the feel rather than going through your checklist which focuses on the mechanics.

Try swinging at no particular object with your eyes closed. I once met a blind man who had a 10 handicap! The only way he knew where the pin was is when another player would describe the layout ahead of him if he was on the tee or a fairway. If he was on the putting green, his friend would tap the pin so he would hear the noise, then give him a line and tell him how far it was. He had an uncanny knack of hitting good shots.

Good Golfing,
David Clay