Right Brain V Left

Use Your Brain Properly for Better Performance.

By: Bruce Munch

Head Professional, White River Golf Club

I am sure many of you struggle with the conflict of hitting the ball well on the range and being unable to reproduce the same results on the golf course. I imagine that you all know if you are right-handed or left-handed. Do you know if you are right-brained or left-brained?

If an overly dominant hand has led to problems in the mechanics of your swing, I am sure your instructor has given you exercises designed to reduce the dominance of that hand in order to allow the hands to work together properly. You may be experiencing the same problem with your brain.

Our brain is divided into two relative halves. Typically the left half of the brain is involved with logic, order and sequential planning. The right half of the brain is more creative and deals more with the overall idea or plan.

In learning motor skills such as the golf swing, most instructors encourage the left-brain to be dominant by teaching the move in a stepwise, logical manner. There is nothing wrong with this and in fact is comforting to most students who would be confused if the swing were presented as a total package.

By learning the swing in this manner, we can go back when the swing fails to work properly and find out which step is causing the problem. In most cases, problems in the forward swing are caused by errors in setup and back swing. This is why, as instructors, we spend so much time working on improving the setup and back swing of our students.

Once you have mastered the logical progression of the swing using your left-brain and practiced these moves till they flow smoothly, it is now time to invoke the creativity of the right-brain.

It is most important, at this stage of development of your golf swing, to give up the controlling aspects of the left-brain and allow the right-brain to create the artistic flow of the whole golf swing. Inability of students to give up control and trust their swing is the greatest single reason many players have difficulty on the golf course. It is doubly difficult when you consider what happens when a player goes out for a round of golf, intent on giving up control and allowing the swing to happen. After the first errant shot, the left-brain comes roaring back trying to control the next swing and all rhythm and continuity is lost. The controlling left-brain causes a situation we call “paralysis by analysis”.

So, how do we overcome this urge to be overly controlling? The obvious answer is practice. Fuzzy Zoeller was reputed to have said, “The more I practice, the luckier I get!” This is very true. Without sufficient practice to generate consistent success on the range, it would be impossible to give up control and trust your swing because the basis for such trust has not been established.

The execution of complicated procedures must be well learned before they can be trusted. If this were not the case, when you were 16 years old, you would have been given a car and a license and told to “go for it”. This would not have been good for your health or the health of others on the road. By the same token, over confidence can lead to careless mistakes and accidents and the same is true with your golf swing. Have you noticed that in a round of golf, if after a few good holes, you think “I’ve got it now”, you immediately lose it. This is why we must learn to play in the moment. Keep away from too many highs and lows. Stay level in your emotions.

After you have practiced enough to begin to trust your swing, play some practice rounds with the intention of “allowing” the swing to happen, rather than “making” the swing happen. Don’t even try to do this when out with your friends playing a three-dollar Nassau. It won’t work. This must be done alone or in the company of others who have also designated this as a practice round. Don’t even keep score. Keep mental track of the swings where you truly gave up control and if you have practiced sufficiently, you should find that these swings produced the desired results with less effort than your previous swings. Once you feel this, you will be well on your way to true enjoyment of this great game.

Remember, the golf swing is more like a dance than a march. So, use your brain properly and dance your way to a successful and enjoyable season.