How to Get Your Brain Out of the Way of Your Game

I want you to think of every sport that you have ever played in your life. When you play that sport no matter what it was, baseball, basketball, hockey, football, tennis, you never had a conscious thought of the motion that you were trying to create as you were creating it.

So many players think of a position or a motion when they play golf. This takes away the fluidity and overall tempo of the swing. When you have a conscious thought to try to create a motor skill it does not work. That is because the signal that is sent from the brain to the muscles needs to be bypassed the prefrontal cortex. The prefrontal cortex is where we have conscious thought. This interferes with the signal that should be sent from the motor system – cerebellum to the muscles. I want you to think about when you’re shooting a basketball are you telling yourself get it in the hoop get it in the hoop get it in the hoop. No you’re not, you already know that has to happen. So you don’t need to remind yourself of that as you start to throw the ball. You also don’t remind yourself as to how to throw the ball. You just throw the ball at the target. This has to happen in golf too but it is much more difficult task.

The key is to shut off the prefrontal cortex and allow the motor system – cerebellum to send the signal to the muscles. This means we have to bury that intention in order for that to happen and not be thinking about it. We actually need to clear our mind and think of nothing. And we can do that with practice and we can also be toward how to do that. A good way to start is with a pre-shot routine and practice swing understanding and feeling what you have to create. Then allowing it to happen without consciously thinking about it. We need to bury that intention because our physical body or athletic body or athletic mind already knows how to create it. The problem is we are not allowing it to be accessed. There are many things that can help this be achieved but it cannot happen without work and practice just as any other skill. Understanding how to access the motor system – cerebellum is a skill that can be learned. Once you understand how to access the motor system and clear the mind of conscious thought then you will play the best golf of your life.