Technology
Target Oriented Golf, with Colin Cromack
In this episode of Golf Smarter, Colin Cromack delves into the concept of target-oriented golf, emphasizing the importance of visualization and mental focus in improving performance. He discusses how ...
Target Oriented Golf, with Colin Cromack
Technology •
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Golf Smarter number 442 from June 24th, 2014.
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Welcome to Golf Smarter Mulligans.
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Your second chance to gain insight and advice
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from the best instructors featured on the Golf Smarter podcast.
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Great golf instruction never gets old.
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Our interview library features hundreds of hours
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of game improvement conversations like this
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that are no longer available in any podcast app.
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What talking aren't to golf is about
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is helping the person establish that visualization
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of the target as they're executing their action.
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So if their conscious mind is occupied
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with the visualization of the target,
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they allows the non-conscious mind to swing the golf club.
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And it will do so because you're giving it
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a clear statement of intention.
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Your conscious mind has a clear picture
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of what it's trying to achieve
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and it allows a non-conscious mind to follow through.
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The non-conscious mind cannot carry out that action
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if you don't have a clear target in mind.
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And that's the reason why many people
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struggle with this concept of target orientation
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because they look at their target threads,
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but they don't see it.
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And because they don't see it,
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when they look back at the ball,
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their attentional focus shifts away from target
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onto the ball, onto the takeaway,
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onto the water, onto the out of bounds, onto whatever
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it chooses to jump in,
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becomes the focus of your attention at that time.
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And the non-conscious mind responds accordingly.
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Target oriented golf with Colin Crowe Mac.
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This is Golf Smarter.
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Welcome back to the Golf Smarter podcast, Colin.
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The morning friend, I'm the lightest thing here, guys.
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It has been a long time since the first time you and I spoke,
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which was episode number 137 back in July of 2008.
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So in six years time, I hope that you've not done
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a lot of changing to your method of teaching,
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but maybe updated it perhaps,
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but I've been quoting it for the last six years.
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Well, I thank you for that, Fred, and you'll be pleased to know
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that I approached the golf and the methods that I developed
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haven't changed.
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They are as consistent as they were eight, six years ago.
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But interestingly enough, I've developed a collaboration
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with a gentleman in America called Dr. Tony Papara.
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And I would like to take the opportunity
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to introduce his work as well as mine, Fred,
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to give a refresher on target oriented golf.
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And hopefully give you the opportunity to maybe talk
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to Dr. Papara with a follow-up show.
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Yeah, spell his last name for me, please.
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P-I-P-A-R-O.
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OK.
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And does he have a website as well?
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Yes, it's found at Mind Mastery Golf.
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Mind Mastery Golf?
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Golf.
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OK.
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We will look into that, absolutely.
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And as we're giving URLs, let's give yours too real quick
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to get the started.
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Yep, my website is target oriented golf.com.
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Target oriented golf.com.
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All right, well, now people can listen
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and decide if they're going to go there or not.
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But let's talk about where do you want to start.
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Let me start, OK?
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Because, again, it's been a long time since we spoke.
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I've been talking about the four levels of competence
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for years, always trying to figure out.
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Every time I say it, I'm like, wait a minute,
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is that the order?
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Did I get it?
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Is it?
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You start with, and then to, no wait, no wait, no wait.
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You got to move.
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So we're going to get into the details of that
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so you can really allow me to repeat it smoothly
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and not screw it up.
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But I got an email from a listener, John Papis.
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Up in Santa Rosa, California, and he says,
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hey, Fred, please bring back Colin Krohmack.
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He is on to something.
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His insight, golfer's cycle between conscious competence
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and conscious incompetence.
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You're constantly dragging yourself back down
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to conscious incompetence.
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You never give yourself a chance to play golf intuitively.
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That was a quote from you.
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He says, and now what John says is, this
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was a big light bulb moment for me.
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I've been playing golf for 30 years.
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For the first 10 years from ages to 11 to 22,
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I played intuitively unconscious competence
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down to a four handicap.
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But for the last 20 years, I've been dragging myself back down
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into conscious incompetence.
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Now I'm a 15 handicap.
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What a drag.
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He says, here's a list of teaching methods that I've tried.
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When I say tried, I mean, I committed to each method
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for one year, at least.
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One, led better, two, stack until three, secret in the dirt.
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Mike Maves, right foot inversion method, four, Sean Clement,
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wrecking ball method, five, Martin Ayer's, Woonwright arm,
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six, John Ayer, because I'm Bradley Hughes,
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advanced ball striking, flat entry into pack,
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seven, shoemaker, Fred shoemaker, extraordinary golf.
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He says, even when I stopped focusing on technique
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and started using shoemaker's mental approach,
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I still approached the mental side as a technique
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versus just simply unconscious competence.
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This is for example, a shoemaker's club throwing exercises
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and I open her.
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So I started thinking about my swing as a throw.
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My conscious mind was still paying attention
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to my body actions.
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Shoemaker is a great coach, but he is still having students
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focus their conscious minds on body awareness
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too much in my opinion.
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I know he wants us to focus on the target
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or the club or the ball, something external,
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but students like me will still focus their conscious mind
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on a body technique.
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That's why I'm excited to learn more
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about Colin Kromack's target oriented golf.
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I'm really, really exhausted from cycling
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between conscious competence and conscious incompetence.
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Lastly, Colin's question, does the target create anxiety
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is a very powerful question for me?
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The answer for me is no.
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I find calm in the target
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versus always finding anxiety
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by putting my conscious mind on my body actions.
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Wow, right?
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Yeah, and I say that's not uncommon.
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I mean, at the end of the day,
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John's gone through a process that many other golfers
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have been through themselves.
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And it's his desire to obviously improve in your golf.
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But the majority of the time,
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golfers spend their practice cycling
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between different methods of learning how to swing off clubs.
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And now there is a very different psychological skill set
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that's required to learn how to play golf red
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because learning how to swing,
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believe you having your attentional focus
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out on something to do with a body part, a body movement.
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And some coaches are trying to move the attention away
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from the body onto the club.
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But it still takes the individual's conscious mind
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onto a control of their motor skills.
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Now, we don't perform anything in our lives successfully,
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Fred, whilst we're consciously trying
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to control our physical actions.
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So the key thing about learning golf
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and any other life skill is we actually have to shift
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our conscious mind away from the motor skill.
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So that the motor cortex in our brain,
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which ultimately has everything that we need to carry out
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a motor skill once that skills have been developed,
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we need to actually tap into that, Fred.
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But we can't tap into that because we spend all of our lives
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being taught how to consciously try and control the motor skill.
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So the individual or the golfer never gets that sense
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of freedom in their golf game that they get
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in other aspects of their life,
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from riding a bike through to driving a car,
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where we free the conscious mind.
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So I'd like to just briefly introduce a concept to you, Fred,
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which introduces different states of the mind.
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And it's important to understand this
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because if we don't know where in the mind
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we're trying to improve a skill,
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then it's very difficult to target what it is
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that we're trying to improve.
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So you're obviously familiar with people talking
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about the subconscious mind.
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And the subconscious mind, Fred,
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is basically whereby we develop our self-image
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and our belief systems.
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They are acquired over a lifetime through our experiences
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and through people talking to us and telling us things.
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And we start to develop a belief system
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about who we are in life.
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Now, the subconscious mind is different to the non-conscious mind.
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The non-conscious mind is that part of the brain
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which is responsible for your motor skills.
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So when you're an infant, when you're a child for instance,
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before you learn language, it's very interesting, Fred.
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But we learn to walk as infants
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without actually having learned any language at that time.
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So the conscious mind or the cognitive process
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in the prefrontal cortex hasn't developed all right.
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So we can't think our way through learning how to walk.
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We do that process by awareness.
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And there's often a parent opposite
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to where we're trying to go.
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And when we stumble slowly towards that other parent
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and through a series of repetitious movements,
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we develop the motor skills for walking.
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No conscious mind involved in this process, Fred,
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but we learn to walk.
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And that skill of walking becomes adaptive.
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We learn to then crawl and run and skip.
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And let's not forget, Colin, that we also learn to fall.
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We learn to fall.
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Which is actually incredibly important
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because you can't learn resiliency
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if you haven't fallen over.
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And it's all done, no Fred, without any conscious mind involved.
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Right.
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Let's throw this process.
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And this is really important to understand
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in motor skills acquisition.
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We develop motor skills when we keep the conscious mind
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out of the picture.
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Because the conscious mind, in essence,
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is something that we develop through language
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and through thinking process, whereby we start
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to actually give ourselves a sense of direction
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through our thinking process.
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But that thinking process isn't very adapt
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at developing or controlling our body.
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It's not designed to control the body.
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That's what the motor cortex is therefore.
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So what we have to do, you see,
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what happens is when we start to become,
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we learn language, we start to learn a skill
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like riding a bike thread.
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Typically, what happens is we've learned language at that time
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and we start to be very anxious when we are learning
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to ride a bike because we are being taught
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how to control the pedals and our focus
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is on trying to control the bike at that time, you see.
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But through a series of repetitious processes,
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which are constrained by the instrument, the bike,
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our attention naturally shifts to the road ahead.
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So what's actually happening is our conscious mind
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is being allowed to navigate to an external focus.
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And once that happens for the external focus,
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allows the non-conscious mind to take over the control
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of the vehicle, the balancing of the vehicle
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and the movement of the pedals is all done non-consciously.
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And you can take this process through any skill
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that you've ever developed.
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When you learn to drive a car, initially,
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you're getting instruction.
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You're getting conscious instruction.
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You're trying to consciously control the steering,
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changing the gear, changing the clutch
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and the pressing accelerator.
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You're really quite poor at this time.
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But again, you're constrained by the vehicle
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and once you start allowing your attentional focus
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to shift to the road ahead,
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your non-conscious mind starts to take over the vehicle,
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the control of the vehicle.
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So every situation that occurs in life,
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we are allowed naturally to go to an external focus, Fred.
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It's just all good so the external focus is the key thing.
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It allows us to pass over the motor skill
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to the non-conscious mind.
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If this was easy, I wouldn't be the only one
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on this trail right now.
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Hi, I'm Dave.
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Exercise is hard.
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Getting started is hard, sticking with it
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probably the hardest of all.
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That's why I do a daily 10 minute podcast,
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walking is fitness to provide you with the motivation
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to get out and take the walk.
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And to keep it fun, every episode is recorded
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while I'm out walking.
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It's like we're taking a walk together.
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Is there a subtle difference between non-conscious
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and unconscious or is it a huge difference?
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Well, this is an important thing, Fred.
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The unconscious mind is another thing altogether.
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The unconscious mind is when you're asleep
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and when you're asleep, you're aware of the environment,
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but you're not paying attention to anything
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other than what's going on in the dreams.
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But the dream itself is not something
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that you're in control of.
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Okay.
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But the key thing is, Fred, is that the unconscious mind
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is very active, it's very busy,
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and you're very aware of something in the room
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should occur, but typically you're not actively paying attention.
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It's only when you wake up that the conscious mind
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sort of kicks into action and you start thinking
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about the day ahead.
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And so the conscious mind gives you the direction,
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it gives you the intention for what you're going
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to spend your life doing throughout the day.
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So you've got the unconscious mind,
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which is obviously one aspect of your mind.
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You've got the subconscious, which is where your belief systems
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and your self-image is developed.
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You've got the non-conscious, which is responsible
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for the motor skills.
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And you finally got the captain of the ship,
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which happens to be the conscious mind.
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But the conscious mind gives the direction,
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it doesn't carry out the action,
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it's not powerful enough, it's not fast enough.
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So the reason why I'm explaining these different states
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of mind, Fred, is that in research, in neuroscience,
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that these minds, they don't exist.
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They can only research the brain.
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And so any mind is just kind of an epiphenominin
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of brain activity.
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They can't describe the minds that I'm talking about.
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Now, there are lots of people that work with the subconscious mind.
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They try and help people improve,
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golf, for instance, by using things like hypnosis and NLP,
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trying to change self-image and belief systems,
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which work by you shutting down for a moment of conscious mind,
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you park it to one side,
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whilst you go in and implant new memories
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into the area for the subconscious mind.
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So what you're trying to do, Fred, is override
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what were dominant memories with new memories.
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We are purely memories.
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Everything you and I that we experience
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are created from experiences that we've had
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and stored as memories.
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So if you've got a bad memory that's preventing you
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from performing, it is possible to go in and replace that
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with a much more empowering one.
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But it takes time, it takes effort.
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But the point is, Fred, changing subconscious patterns
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doesn't change the motor skills.
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It doesn't change the non-conscious skills
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that you're trying to develop.
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You see that the non-conscious mind, in essence, Fred,
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once the motor skill has been developed,
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is perfect if we keep the conscious mind away from it.
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So that's the big question, right?
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How do you do that?
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You play target oriented golf.
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Boy, you can't walk into that one.
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Well, you know, this is where you might develop the work, Fred.
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It takes time to understand the subject matter
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and to go and apply in practice and in your play.
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But people spend 20 years trying to learn how to swim
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in a golf club. Why don't they try and learn how to trust
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themselves to swim in a golf club?
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When they've developed other skills in their lives successfully
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by getting the conscious mind out of the picture.
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But you're not really serious about why do they question themselves
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on their mechanics because it doesn't go well
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every single time you swing the club.
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So you're always questioning yourself.
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Yeah, well, that's the problem, Fred, from the very first golf lesson.
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When the club is put into your hand and you have your attention
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taken to how to grip the golf club and you try and hit a golf ball
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whilst your attention is internal and probably on the grip.
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You hit a poor golf shot.
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You naturally attribute that poor golf shot with something
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that you're doing physically wrong.
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So you spend a lot of time focusing on trying to improve your grip
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whilst you're in golf balls.
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Once you've got your grip feeling right,
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but you're still hitting poor golf balls,
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you then switch your attention to your stance or your posture
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or your take away or any other number of body parts.
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Isn't that the point that there are so many different things
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that can go wrong?
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How can you be unconscious about it when you're trying to
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analyze and practice awareness of where it is and what's going wrong?
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Yeah, well, that's the point, Fred,
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is that if you spend your life trying to develop the motor skill
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with that conscious thought process of trying to control that skill,
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you'll never go into experience a trust in it.
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Now, the reason why I mentioned my partner, Dr. Tony Baparo,
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was because he spent his life in research dedicated to understanding
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potential focus in relation to motor skills acquisition.
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And what his dad has developed a golf coaching program
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that I believe every PGA coach and any golf coach out there
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should understand.
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Because what he's advocating, Fred,
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is that whilst an individual is learning how to develop
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the motor skills to swing a golf club,
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they need to be keeping the conscious mind busy and occupied
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whilst moving into the specific positions
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that the individual is trying to move into based on the coach
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is advice.
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So you know, you might be aware of the concept of Tim Gourway
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and in a game of golf where he advocates the concept of back hit.
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The idea of this, Fred, is that by saying something
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whilst you're moving the body,
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you're keeping the conscious mind engaged
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so that it allows the non-conscious mind to move the body.
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You can't be attending to the body if you're engaging the mind
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with that command.
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Now, what Dr. Baparo has done is developed a very systematic way
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of a goal for developing a golf swing
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without hitting golf balls, first of all.
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Because you need to develop the motor skills for swinging a golf club
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before you actually start trying to apply it to a golf ball.
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Because what happens is whilst you've got the golf ball there, Fred,
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and you're trying to not only develop the motor skill,
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you're reacting every time to where the golf ball's going,
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you're constantly doubting the fact that you're in the right position.
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So your conscious mind is constantly switching
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to and from different body parts,
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and there's never any control over the attention.
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And that's what we're trying to explain in our work,
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is that the attentional focus needs to be controlled
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not only out on the golf course when you're trying to perform,
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but it needs to be controlled whilst you're developing
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the motor skills for a golf swing.
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Because without being aware of your attentional focus,
spk_0
the mind is doing whatever it chooses to do,
spk_0
wherever the individual chooses to think.
spk_0
And consequently, when it comes to playing golf,
spk_0
if you spend your whole time consciously practicing
spk_0
the information that you're consciously being taught,
spk_0
you have no choice but to consciously play.
spk_0
And therefore, you never get to that place
spk_0
as well you're out there experiencing a trust in the golf swing
spk_0
or the cutting stroke that you would do in any other life skill.
spk_0
Let me tell you the importance of the target thread.
spk_0
If you and I were to go out onto a park
spk_0
and we had some balls in our hands
spk_0
or we were simply, I was asking you to simply throw the ball
spk_0
at different targets,
spk_0
you intuitively would know how hard to throw the ball
spk_0
based on the target selection.
spk_0
Your attention would be always external,
spk_0
your mind would typically be quiet
spk_0
and your non-conscious mind would be allowed to throw the ball.
spk_0
All right, can I stop you right there?
spk_0
Go ahead.
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All righty.
spk_0
Let's take that analogy that you were bringing
spk_0
and let's put it into say shooting a basketball.
spk_0
All right, go ahead.
spk_0
There's the basket, throw the ball up to the basket.
spk_0
And unconsciously, I would think,
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okay, I just need to do that, right?
spk_0
Just this motion here and it'll go in,
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but it doesn't go in, right?
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So when I'm out on the driving range
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or when you and I are working out
spk_0
and we're just working on practicing my swing,
spk_0
I'm on the range, when you're on the range,
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there's nothing that can go wrong, really.
spk_0
It's like, let's say there's no consequences
spk_0
to something going wrong.
spk_0
But when you're about to take a golf shot
spk_0
during a round of golf,
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that's, I guess, when the doubt would come in,
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that's when you'd have problems
spk_0
because then you'd go, if I don't get this right,
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there are consequences.
spk_0
Yeah, but you're switching to a different aspect
spk_0
of golf performance here, Fred,
spk_0
because you're starting to talk
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about the concept of psychological performance,
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whereby if an individual is having all of these thoughts
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that you're talking about,
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then they haven't got a sense of control
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over what it is that they're trying to achieve.
spk_0
And what I mean is that those thoughts do occur
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because the individual hasn't developed
spk_0
a very systematic way of guiding themselves
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through that period of time that I specialize in,
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which is that time between stepping in
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and executing the golf shot.
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You see, many people recognize that they try
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and break up the golf shot into this concept
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of a think box and a play box,
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whereby you are doing all of your strategizing,
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and then you step behind the ball,
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and then you stop thinking,
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and you just move into a play.
spk_0
Unfortunately, Fred, you can't stop thinking,
spk_0
and that's the point is that when you step into play
spk_0
your golf shot, the individual's attentional focus,
spk_0
if it's not being controlled,
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introduces all of those other around your thoughts
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that you're talking about.
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And it's that the fact that you're trying to stop thinking
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leads you so vulnerable
spk_0
because you actually need to be really focusing your attention
spk_0
during that period of time between stepping in and executing.
spk_0
That's when you're really need to be concentrating,
spk_0
not pretending that everybody's having a great time
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because all you're doing is leaving yourself vulnerable
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to a situational event that comes in
spk_0
and destroys your ability to swing the golf club.
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So jumping back moment to that concept
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of throwing a basketball, Fred,
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when you're throwing the basketball,
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you miss the shot.
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That's okay, you're not going to make it a shot,
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but the point is that your attention is naturally external.
spk_0
You're not thinking about how to throw the ball.
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You're not thinking about how to throw the ball.
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Your attention needs to be on the basket.
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On the target?
spk_0
On the target, yeah.
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Now that the concept in golf of targeting
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is very important,
spk_0
and it's something we need to talk about
spk_0
because there are many theories of golf instruction
spk_0
that suggest that you shouldn't have to pay attention
spk_0
to the target once you've aligned yourself to it, Fred.
spk_0
Because it doesn't go anywhere,
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at the end of the day, once you've aligned yourself to it,
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why do you need to think about the target?
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Well, based on our discussion that we've had so far,
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if you're not thinking about the target
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when you're trying to execute your action,
spk_0
what are you choosing to think about?
spk_0
You see, the target, primarily,
spk_0
what target are you going to go for is about,
spk_0
is helping a person establish that visualization
spk_0
of the target, Fred, as they're executing their action.
spk_0
So if they are, if their conscious mind is occupied
spk_0
with the visualization of the target,
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then it allows the non-conscious mind to swing the golf club,
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and it will do so because you're giving it a clear step
spk_0
of statement of intention.
spk_0
Your conscious mind has a clear picture
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of what it's trying to achieve,
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and it allows the non-conscious mind to follow through.
spk_0
The non-conscious mind cannot carry out that action
spk_0
if you don't have a clear target in mind.
spk_0
And that's the reason why many people struggle
spk_0
with this concept of target orientation,
spk_0
because they look at their target, Fred,
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but they don't see it.
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And because they don't see it,
spk_0
when they look back at the ball,
spk_0
their attentional focus shifts away from target
spk_0
onto the ball, onto the takeaway, onto the water,
spk_0
onto the out of bounds, onto, don't knock this up.
spk_0
Whatever chooses to jump in,
spk_0
becomes the focus of your attention at that time,
spk_0
and the non-conscious mind responds accordingly.
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OK.
spk_0
Call an understand what you mean by they don't see the target.
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If you and I, Fred, were standing on a T-box,
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and I was observing you looking down the fairway,
spk_0
I wouldn't have a clue what the focus of your attention was.
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Now, if I was to then say to you, Fred,
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can you see that red roof in a distance?
spk_0
By giving you a description of that object,
spk_0
I brought your attention to that object.
spk_0
So you are now seeing the object that I brought your attention to.
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Now, when you're looking down the fairway,
spk_0
typically what's happening is that people are very aware
spk_0
of the water and the out of bounds and the bunkers,
spk_0
and oftentimes are drawing their attention
spk_0
to the very things that they don't want to be hidden in the ball out.
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Sure.
spk_0
So the very important thing, Fred, is that in the brain,
spk_0
the visual system is quite complex.
spk_0
There are many pathways to taking information in through the eye.
spk_0
It hits the back of the brain,
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and then it goes off in many different directions.
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Majority of the information that we process in our brain,
spk_0
we don't have to attend to Fred visually.
spk_0
And what I mean by that is we navigate through traffic
spk_0
in our car, processing lots of information visually,
spk_0
but we're not paying attention to it.
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It's the same when you're walking and doing anything.
spk_0
We're always processing visual information,
spk_0
but we don't attend to everything.
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When we want to attend something, Fred,
spk_0
typically what, there's another process
spk_0
that happens in the brain, in which you compare the visual imagery
spk_0
that you're looking at with a pre-existing memory
spk_0
of what it is you're looking at,
spk_0
and you use a label to bring a description to that object.
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So when you read, for instance, a paper or a book,
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do you ever hear that internal dialogue,
spk_0
the internal voice that goes on in your head
spk_0
when you're reading a paragraph of information?
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Oh, I have four or five voices in my head.
spk_0
I'm reading.
spk_0
Well, I would put it into your schizophrenia right now, Fred.
spk_0
The important thing is, the question I asked
spk_0
was, why do you think, when you're trying to read,
spk_0
why do you have to use that internal dialogue?
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Because we're processing visual information,
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where's the internal dialogue coming from?
spk_0
Well, the key thing is, Fred, is that every single word
spk_0
that you're reading, you're actually comparing
spk_0
with a pre-existing memory of that visual information,
spk_0
and you're using it, you're using your internal dialogue
spk_0
to bring the words to the focus of your attention.
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So that's the scene process.
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Difficult to be looking at the pages,
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seeing the information requires your attentional focus
spk_0
to be involved.
spk_0
I'm with you now.
spk_0
Good, because it's really important, Fred,
spk_0
that same process that you use when you're reading
spk_0
your internal dialogue, how is that internal dialogue
spk_0
any different to your thinking process
spk_0
when you're out in the golf course?
spk_0
You know, when the erroneous thoughts are coming in,
spk_0
it's the same internal dialogue.
spk_0
It's just that it's not coming off of a page.
spk_0
It's random information that you're pulling out
spk_0
from your mind.
spk_0
Now, my point is this, Fred, if you're looking down the
spk_0
fairway to describe your target,
spk_0
you've got to see your target, you've got to describe it
spk_0
to yourself.
spk_0
It's not enough just to look at it.
spk_0
And it's the same thing applies when you're over your
spk_0
golf ball.
spk_0
You've got yourself nice and settled over your golf ball.
spk_0
If all you do is look back out down the fairway,
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it doesn't bring the target to your focus of attention,
spk_0
unless you describe it to yourself,
spk_0
so that when you feel like you're connected to your target,
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you can bring your eyes back to the ball
spk_0
and still feel connected to it in order to execute
spk_0
the swing at it.
spk_0
So the concept of target orientation involved
spk_0
looking at something, but using your internal dialogue
spk_0
to reinforce what it is that you're looking at, Fred.
spk_0
The reason why this is important is that if you're using
spk_0
that internal dialogue to keep your attention on the target,
spk_0
then you cannot be thinking about your golf swing.
spk_0
In fact, that's the whole point of this,
spk_0
is that you're trying to keep your attention external
spk_0
in order to allow your non-conscious mind to swing
spk_0
the golf club.
spk_0
If I was to ask you that I was going to put a local
spk_0
theater production on, now I was to ask you that I want you
spk_0
to be the lead in the show, the lead actor.
spk_0
Now, what would be the first thing that you would ask for
spk_0
from me in order to perform on stage?
spk_0
A script.
spk_0
This is important.
spk_0
Why would you need a script?
spk_0
Because if I'm going to be in a play and memorizing my lines
spk_0
and performing my lines, I got to know the outline
spk_0
and I got to know the direction that we're all headed in.
spk_0
Yeah, exactly.
spk_0
Now, what would happen if you went on stage without having
spk_0
learned your lines?
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You don't want me to add lib.
spk_0
Yeah.
spk_0
Unfortunately, Fred, this is what every golfer is doing on the golf club.
spk_0
What did you set me up?
spk_0
This is the point of attentional focus, Fred, is that as an actor,
spk_0
you go and perform because you know exactly what it is you're going
spk_0
to deliver.
spk_0
And mentally, you've learnt your lines and we go out there and deliver them.
spk_0
And your non-conscious mind just goes and does whatever it is
spk_0
that the conscious mind is directing it to do.
spk_0
Now, the purpose of my work is to help a golfer develop their own personal scripts.
spk_0
I keep their attentional focus systematically occupied with the same tasks
spk_0
every time they prepare to play a golf shot.
spk_0
So that period of time between stepping in and executing their swing Fred,
spk_0
which takes about 12 to 14 seconds is typically time
spk_0
where the golfist's conscious mind is allowed to run free.
spk_0
And they are trying to go through a physical pre-shot routine.
spk_0
But under the surface, the conscious mind is very,
spk_0
variable.
spk_0
And it's that variability in their conscious thought process,
spk_0
which creates such variability in their outcomes.
spk_0
But the visualization, Fred, that needs to happen at execution,
spk_0
which is target orientation, is denied if the individual does not prepare
spk_0
themselves for that moment successfully.
spk_0
And what I mean by that is if there's no proper state management,
spk_0
if there's no proper breathing, there's no proper awareness of the body
spk_0
before you get to target orientation,
spk_0
then any single erroneous thought that comes in can elevate the person's
spk_0
anxiety level, their arousal level, and that adrenaline flow stops the muscles
spk_0
from performing as they would do if they were relaxed.
spk_0
And whatever it is, Fred, that is choosing to create that arousal,
spk_0
means that the individual's attention must be on something other than targets.
spk_0
And that's the key thing about target, you see.
spk_0
There are many theories that suggest the target creates anxiety in golf as Fred.
spk_0
What's your opinion on there?
spk_0
The anxiety produced by...
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I'm trying to figure out, is this like, do we create this on ourselves?
spk_0
This anxiety, dude, of...
spk_0
Well, the point is, Fred, the anxiety doesn't happen to you.
spk_0
You create that?
spk_0
You create it by how you choose to think at that moment.
spk_0
Uh-huh.
spk_0
Now, if you're only having those erroneous thoughts because you haven't developed
spk_0
a systematic process to keep those erroneous thoughts at bay,
spk_0
you can't have these anxious anxiety provoking thoughts if you're busy focused on something else.
spk_0
That's designed specifically to keep your state correct in order to get target oriented.
spk_0
But there's so many things to be focused on.
spk_0
No, it's the point, Fred.
spk_0
Well, let me ask you this question, Fred, can you pay attention to more than one thing at a time?
spk_0
Unfortunately, yes.
spk_0
Give me an example.
spk_0
Um, I can be in a conversation with somebody and hear a conversation going on behind me and following that as well.
spk_0
Okay. What's actually happening, and you might not necessarily notice it,
spk_0
but your attention is actually switching between the two very fast.
spk_0
Okay.
spk_0
You cannot have your attention in two places at once.
spk_0
You're aware of one whilst you're attending to the other.
spk_0
Okay.
spk_0
But you're not really attending to them both at the same time,
spk_0
and it's an important distinction to understand here.
spk_0
Because you in effect can't be attending to two sources of information simultaneously,
spk_0
but you can certainly be aware of sources of information simultaneously.
spk_0
So you can certainly hear something whilst reading.
spk_0
You're aware of the noise, but you're not necessarily paying attention to it.
spk_0
Your attention might flick to it, but then come back.
spk_0
Or you might be looking at something that's occupying your attention.
spk_0
And you might hear a noise, your attention flicks to that, and then comes back.
spk_0
It doesn't, you're not in two places at the same time.
spk_0
Right. No, it definitely flit.
spk_0
Yes, I would agree with you that it flicks back and forth,
spk_0
but it flicks back so fast that I can pick up and gather the information from both sides simultaneously.
spk_0
It feels like I'm doing this simultaneously, is that I can get it here.
spk_0
Y'all, okay, I got that part.
spk_0
I'll get this part and I'll go in and piecing both of them together.
spk_0
Yeah, it's an illusion, Fred, but that's the nature of the brain.
spk_0
Most of what we... Most of my life, Colin, is an illusion.
spk_0
I just want you to know.
spk_0
You're not alone now.
spk_0
Everybody's life is the same.
spk_0
What we're doing within the brain is often predicting what it is that we expect to see,
spk_0
rather than actually seeing what is in front of us.
spk_0
Because the majority of the time, our brain is in a state of processing information
spk_0
and therefore it's doing it at the non-conscious, subconscious, unconscious level.
spk_0
We aren't consciously attending to everything, but we simply cannot.
spk_0
So a lot of the information that arises into consciousness has already been predicted
spk_0
by other aspects of your brain.
spk_0
And what you see is a prediction from your brain, not what is actually out there.
spk_0
And the way I demonstrate this, Fred, is to people is...
spk_0
Have you ever seen little paragraphs written in which all of the words are spelled incorrectly
spk_0
except for the first and last letters?
spk_0
Mm-hmm.
spk_0
And you read it as if it's written correctly.
spk_0
Yeah.
spk_0
Yeah, well, there's the predictive process happening, Fred.
spk_0
You're reading those words and you're visually processing it.
spk_0
Now, if your eyes were simply giving you the information to your brain,
spk_0
then what you would be saying would sound like the garbage that's actually written on the page.
spk_0
But it doesn't.
spk_0
Because what you're doing is you're taking the visual information, comparing it to a memory,
spk_0
you're then using your internal dialogue to say, well, that's what it was saying.
spk_0
That's what it says.
spk_0
When it wasn't that at all, you see.
spk_0
So your predictive nature of the brain can...
spk_0
It convinces us that we're seeing something that we're not.
spk_0
And that's the reason why targeting is important in golf, in respect of...
spk_0
We don't see the target unless we actually support it with that internal dialogue process.
spk_0
In essence, what's happening, Fred, is we might be looking down the fairway,
spk_0
but unless we describe the target to ourselves, we don't get chance to see the target when we're looking at the ball.
spk_0
Can you give me a practical demonstration of how to focus on...
spk_0
Get to find your target, focus on your target, and only focus on your target through the completion of your swing.
spk_0
Yeah, well, the key thing is, Fred, we've got to establish, first of all,
spk_0
the difference between our desire to our outcome and our target.
spk_0
Because there is a lot of people that suggest that the target creates anxiety.
spk_0
Now, what creates anxiety in golfers often is the fact that they are thinking about their desire to outplay.
spk_0
They are not comfortable to shot, which is how it happens to be where the ball will be finishing.
spk_0
Now, in golf, we cannot control that.
spk_0
And if you are paying attention or trying to control where the ball will finish,
spk_0
that happens to be a future event, which can create an anxiety response, because you're not in control of that.
spk_0
This sounds like a contradiction to the target, though.
spk_0
Yeah, but the desired outcome is not the same as the target, more often than not Fred.
spk_0
And that's the reason why this discussion is important.
spk_0
That's what, to me, that's a very thin line.
spk_0
Well, it might be a thin line, but let me give you an example.
spk_0
Let's take chipping, for example, Fred, where you're going to chip a ball onto the green,
spk_0
and your hole is obviously on the other side of the green.
spk_0
Clearly, your desired outcome for that shot is to get the ball in the hole.
spk_0
But what would be your target?
spk_0
What would be my target on the chip?
spk_0
Yeah.
spk_0
It is to, to me, the target would be like a three, four-foot circle around the hole.
spk_0
Try to get it in that area.
spk_0
Okay. You see, what I'm advocating is that with a chip, you typically chip the ball onto the green,
spk_0
and you'd identify a landing spot.
spk_0
Okay, yeah, I'd write, so my target would be the landing spot.
spk_0
And then pick the landing spot and try to guesstimate how much roll I'm going to get if it lands there,
spk_0
and will it get me into that circle?
spk_0
So, yeah, I guess the target would be the landing spot.
spk_0
Yeah, that's important, Fred, because you've already differentiated, you know,
spk_0
what your desired outcome is, but you separated that from your target.
spk_0
And ultimately, your target selection determines what club it is,
spk_0
you're going to use to play that shot.
spk_0
All right, so the target is very different to your desired outcome.
spk_0
And when you're trying to play the shot, you, and effectively, you're aligning yourself to the target point,
spk_0
not to the desired outcome.
spk_0
Okay.
spk_0
Because if you've chosen the right target and you choose the right club, Fred,
spk_0
you'll get the desired outcome.
spk_0
So, psychologically, can you see that there's a difference between what your target is
spk_0
and your desired outcome on that shot?
spk_0
On that shot, yes.
spk_0
Yeah, but that same principle can be extrapolated to every single other golf shot.
spk_0
First of all, you've got to ask yourself when you're stepping into a golf shot,
spk_0
what's my desired outcome for this, but then you've got to say,
spk_0
what's my target for this golf shot?
spk_0
And very rarely will they be the same.
spk_0
Your desired outcome and your target won't be the same place,
spk_0
because we don't hit perfectly straight golf shots when we're playing golf.
spk_0
And so, because we cannot control where the ball finishes, Fred,
spk_0
we can only control where the ball starts.
spk_0
The idea of target orientation is to establish what on that starting line,
spk_0
you're hitting the ball at that's going to allow you to achieve your desired outcome.
spk_0
So, you put yourself on a T-box, for instance,
spk_0
and you look down the fairway, you see where you want the ball to finish on the fairway.
spk_0
But that landing spot on the fairway isn't where your target will be.
spk_0
Your target, because there's nothing there often that gives you a cleanness
spk_0
for the visualization process.
spk_0
So, you typically, what you do is you find a line on that,
spk_0
either on that line where you're wanting the desired outcome,
spk_0
or you might even move left or right off that desired outcome,
spk_0
and establish a target that's on your target line.
spk_0
So, it might be something that's off the golf course,
spk_0
it might be a roof on a house, or it might be a electricity pile on.
spk_0
It might be a tree trunk, but it's always something, Fred,
spk_0
that gives you a clear visual connection with where you're going to start that ball.
spk_0
Because it's that target that you're trying to commit the swing towards,
spk_0
knowing for well, you'll get your desired outcome.
spk_0
You've got to let go of that outcome,
spk_0
and just trust that the club you've chosen and the target you're selecting
spk_0
will help you achieve that desired outcome.
spk_0
When I'm standing behind the ball looking down the fairway,
spk_0
setting my visualizing where I want the ball to whip my target is.
spk_0
But I also look at the end target, the ball, and then a point just beyond the ball,
spk_0
as where I want to start the line.
spk_0
Is that my target?
spk_0
No, no, it's not, Fred, you're only using that point behind the ball
spk_0
as your alignment to help in your alignment to your chosen target.
spk_0
Once you've aligned yourself to your chosen target, Fred,
spk_0
you forget about that spot in front of the ball,
spk_0
because that was only used to help for alignment purposes.
spk_0
But the key thing is that once you've established that you're going to hit the ball towards a predetermined target,
spk_0
that is visually attractive to you,
spk_0
you're always looking for something that's easy to see,
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because that's the whole purpose of target orientation.
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You're trying to give yourself, you're trying to make it easy for yourself,
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by giving yourself a clear target.
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If all you do is try and establish where you want the ball to finish on the fairway,
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you end up with just a big load of fairway and not long for a lot of focus.
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You don't give yourself a clear focal point to hitting your ball towards.
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And again, you're psychologically stepping into a place
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which can be creating the anxiety response,
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because you're trying to control where the ball finishes,
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and you simply cannot do that.
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And therefore, being a future event,
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you create the anxiety response due to the lack of control that you perceive over it.
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So, you know, if I was to stand in front of you, Fred, hands out,
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you get your friend, the ball to me,
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the target and the desired outcome would be the same, my hands.
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And as I move away from you, you still recognize that the target and the hands are the same place,
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but you've got absolute freedom in your actions,
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because you've got that clear target to throw the ball out.
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If I put my hand, just as you're about to throw the ball,
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and I put my hands behind my back, two things typically happen,
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I make you think, where's my target,
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and I stop your flow of action.
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Well, that's exactly what happens when you look back at the ball, Fred,
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and you haven't got a clear statement of intention in your mind,
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because your attention then shifts to something else,
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and that creates the funky swings that people experience more often than not.
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It's the lack of clear intention with aligned attention that creates the ball gov swing.
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So this concept of targeting is important as well in, in putting,
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because unless you've got a straight part to a hole,
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the target and the target and your desired outcome are also different.
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You know, if you've got an uphill part, Fred, to a hole that's a straight uphill part,
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your typical target point will move behind the hole,
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because you're having to put more force onto the ball to allow it to, to go uphill.
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So you're passing through the hole basically to ensure that you've given the ball enough energy.
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And if it's a downhill part, you clearly don't want to be putting out to act the hole,
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you put out a spot in front of the hole,
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and that becomes your focal point for your part.
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So you're establishing how much energy you have to impart on the golf ball
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based on your target selection point.
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And as soon as you start to introduce break, left and right,
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your target point starts to shift left and right of the hole as well.
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So you've always got, Fred, the desired outcome of getting the ball in the hole.
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But if you actually attempt to part, always with your attention on the hole,
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when you step into it along yourself to your chosen line,
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but then switch your attention back to the hole,
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what actually happens, Fred, is you end up pushing or pulling the ball off of the target line
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because you're thinking about the desired outcome rather than a target point on that line that you've chosen.
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There's a system out there called Aimpoint, which is excellent for green reading.
spk_0
Yeah, we've talked about it and we've had them on the show.
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Okay, well, the idea of it, Fred, is the fact that it establishes what your line is.
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It gives you great confidence to know that's the line that you're going to put on.
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Where I differ from that system is that the advocate that the target or the Aimpoint
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is always perpendicular effectively to the hole.
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So it's perpendicular to where the hole is.
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I don't agree with that because clearly there's many times where the ball goes nowhere near perpendicular to the hole.
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You only have to put it a few inches and it will roll off and break and do all sorts of things.
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So your target point is on that Aimline, but it's not the Aimpoint that they are advocating because again,
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it's a great system for green reading, but once you've got your line,
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the advocate is then suggesting what you need to do and it establish how hard or how much you need to control the putter.
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What speed do you need to put on the putt?
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But that's bringing your attention back to the conscious control of the putterhead.
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And that again destroys the putting stroke because you're consciously trying to control that stroke again, Fred.
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So the idea of targeting is to keep your attention external and allows the non-conscious to puttable.
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And that's the reason why I love the green reading system.
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I just disagree with where the individual's attention is taken when they then have to putt because again,
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there is nothing that we perform by consciously controlling our action and therefore by staying external,
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by staying target-oriented on target instead of outcome, you start to separate the difference psychologically,
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but also all you're recognizing with a putt Fred is you can't do anything with the putter other than puttable on a straight line.
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It's designed to do nothing other than hit a ball on a straight line.
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So you've got to establish the line that you're going to send it on and how far down that line your target point will be
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to allow that ball to break off towards your desired outcome, which is the hole.
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You follow?
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You don't always hit the target, Fred.
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The point of target orientation is not to hit the target.
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In fact, it's only on chipping where you actually hit, you have an opportunity to hit the target that you've chosen.
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But every other shot with target orientation, what you're doing is giving yourself a sense of commitment to something in the distance
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that will allow the non-conscious self to react to that target.
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And if you've chosen the right target, you get your desired outcome.
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And that applies to every goal shot.
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So as you said, when the idea of this work of develop Fred is the individual allows them to step into every goal shot.
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Regardless of whether or not they're on a team box or on a putting ring, they can apply the same mental process to preparing to play for the shot.
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So you don't actually see driving, chipping, pitching, putting as different disciplines.
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They all just different golf clubs, but you apply the same mental discipline to them.
spk_0
That simplifies the game, Fred, because you're ultimately just following the same script every time you step into player golf shot.
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The only difference you have is identifying what your chosen target is, which would determine what club you're going to use to play that shot.
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And the real challenge is that, again, what I was saying is that target orientations trying to help golfers be in control of events.
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So the target is something that you lie in control of, you've chosen it yourself, and you're ultimately hitting the ball towards it.
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You're not trying to control where the ball finishes in this instance.
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You cannot control whether ball finishes, but again, if you've chosen the right target and chosen the right club, then you've just got to trust the fact that based on your chosen, you know, selections that you'll get your desired outcome.
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But golf is not a game of perfect as we know.
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It's a game of identifying how to achieve the best outcomes based on the fact that you've got the opportunity to choose what it is your targets are.
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It's interesting, Fred.
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When it comes to putting, it's a little bit more difficult because in effect, we don't really get a choice of targets.
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You know, if we've read the grain and established the line, then we need to find that target point on that line.
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But if we choose a different line, then we've got to choose a different target point.
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There's nothing concrete there for you to say that's definitely my target.
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It comes down to you being intuitive as to how much energy you have to impart on that golf ball to allow gravity to pull it towards the target point.
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And all of this stuff is, again, it's beyond your control.
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All you can do is assess the shot, choose your target and hit your ball towards chosen target.
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Now, to get to that place of target orientation, Fred, you've got to prepare yourself mentally as you step in in order to give yourself a chance to visualize that target that you've chosen.
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Otherwise, and the reason why target orientation hasn't worked for probably people that have tried it, is that as you step in, the erroneous thoughts that come along can elevate arousal.
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When you're looking down the fairway, you're seeing all of the hazards.
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And when you look back at the ball, you're thinking about a swing for target is nowhere to be seen.
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And it's natural then to believe that the poor golf shot was caused by your poor swing.
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As if the swing itself was the problem, not the fact that it wasn't getting any clear statement of intention as to what to do.
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And that comes back to, you can't become target oriented on the golf course, Fred, unless you practice target orientation on the range.
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Because this has to become a dominant mentality in order for you to take it out to the golf course.
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And you find that more people on the range that they're focused on just striking the ball over and over as opposed to using a target.
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Well, they might have a target, Fred, but they're not actually paying attention to.
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You know, the whole purpose of my work is to help people understand how to effectively manage their state in order to get to the state of target orientation.
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You can't get your state right if you don't have control over your self talk.
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And you can't then get your attention in the right place.
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If you're on target, if your self talk is out of control, you see so it's an interaction, Fred, you've got to get your state right to open up your ability to focus.
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But you can't focus until you get your state right.
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So you have to have proper breathing strategies and techniques as you're preparing to execute in order to really open up your ability to get to that target orientation.
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The whole purpose of this work, Fred, as I said, is to get to that place where you ultimately experience and afraid of me, your physical actions, just as you would do hitting a baseball or using a hammer.
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It's just a tool that you're using to carry out a task.
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We're not thinking about how to use the tool.
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We've been into this conversation for 59 minutes now, Colin.
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And I want to, I know, I can't, I looked up, I'm like, you're kidding, 59 minutes.
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But I really wanted to get into, I think we've gotten the point and the understanding of target orientation as you've been talking about.
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I really wanted to talk about the stage of skills.
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If I've got this correct from unconscious and competence all the way through unconscious competence, can we cover that?
spk_0
Yeah, absolutely, Fred, the key thing is that these stages of learning that are often presented to people.
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The idea of these stages is that we move from a process of unconscious incompetence, which is where we don't really know the skills that we need to learn before we start to develop the skills.
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But once we, once we understand it, we start to become what's called unconscious competent whereby we, sorry, conscious.
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Aha, it's not just me.
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Okay.
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All right, we started unconscious incompetence.
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Yeah, unconscious.
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And the next stage would be conscious incompetence.
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So we're going through a series of repetitions in which we are focusing on the skill.
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And this conscious incompetence is where most golfers are trying to develop their swing.
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And many people, through repetitions, start to show some skill and they develop what is conscious competence.
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You see, they're still thinking about the swinging of the golf club at this point, but they are becoming better than those people who have just started.
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And once you've started to develop that proficiency in normal life skills, we shift those motor skills to a state of unconscious competence.
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So we stop consciously trying to control the motor skill.
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So that state of unconscious competence, Fred, does not happen through repetition, which is the biggest mistake people make is that they believe if they keep practicing the same way they will get to a place of trust in that skill.
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The only time you get to a place of trust in the skill is when you actually stop paying attention to it.
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And the way you achieve that in golf is by switching your attention away from it and onto the target.
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That shift, Fred, happens naturally in most other life skills because we naturally want to be interested in where we're going.
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But you have to have some confidence in your golf swing to get there.
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So you can let go of it, don't you?
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Yeah, clearly Fred.
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And this comes back to how you acquire the skill.
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And hopefully you'll have an opportunity to talk in detail with my partner who spent his life helping people understand that the skills pros acquisition.
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You cannot have confidence in a skill that's not obviously been developed.
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But how that skill is developed, Fred, it requires you having to allow yourself to shift your attention away from that skill.
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You will stop yourself from ever getting to that place of trusting in it whilst you constantly only focus on it.
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So the purpose of the work that I'm doing for Ed is to give people an alternative way of practicing at the range called a trusting mode.
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So if you imagine there's a training mode and a trusting mode, training mode is where an individual is gone to the range to work on a skill, a technical skill.
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When they've spent maybe half an hour doing that and how that's being done can be significantly improved, but I'm not going to get involved in that discussion.
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That's where I'd like you to talk to my partner.
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But once you put aside the training mentality, Fred, by switching into trust mode, what actually happens is you stop the analysis of your swing.
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You simply allow that swing to be what it is as it is developed.
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And so by developing a way of trust in that swing, by practicing breathing state management target orientation, you start to allow your attention to shift external.
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And your motor skills, Fred, automatically start to move up into that state of unconscious competence because you're not consciously inhibiting them.
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It's the conscious inhibiting of the motor skill because you're consciously always trying to control it that stops that from happening.
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And that comes into again, it's very important to understand that whilst you're trying to develop a motor skill, you should also be training your attention at the same time, but that isn't happening today.
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So by using Dr. Paparo's methods, you're able to keep the conscious mind engaged with a specific command whilst you're allowing the unconscious mind to move the golf club into the appropriate positions you need for a golf swing.
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The idea, Fred, is that we don't have, well, there are systems out there that do keep people within a framework.
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You know when we're sitting in a car learning, we're constrained by the vehicle.
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When we ride a bike, we're constrained by the vehicle. When we try and swing a golf club, there's nothing constraining us, is there?
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And yet there are systems out there like the K-Vest and others that allow you to be effectively training your body, but whilst being told whether or not you're in the correct positions through verbal feedback, biofeedback.
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But at that time, Fred, the conscious mind is still being left to its own devices and it's typically involved in the swing.
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We need to get the conscious mind out of the swing in order for that skills to move to that place of unconscious competence that we're trying to achieve.
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And so yes, it does require, golf does require an element of time where you do develop the skill.
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But if you're trying to develop the motor skill whilst hitting golf balls, your attention is simply so disparate.
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It's on so many different things that you really don't have an opportunity to ever develop the single pointed concentration that I'm talking about through target orientation.
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So what we're trying to advocate is that when a person learns, it's working on their technique, taking the advice that's being given to them by their coach, it's not enough for them to be hitting golf balls and reacting to the outcome and trying to consciously change their motor skill.
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Because you never develop a consistent motor pattern for swinging that golf club because you're always consciously trying to change it.
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It's like having a piece of jelly thread, you're never let set, you constantly shaking it around and you're ending up developing competing memories, which you never really know which ones you're going to draw on to swing that golf club.
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And so you're trying to ultimately allow the conscious mind to be parked for a time to allow the non conscious self to move the body to the appropriate positions and you start to through repetition of these exercises, you start to develop a proficient golf swing.
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And in fact, if there's no ball in place, you know, you even know it's how great people's practice swings are when on the golf course and yet when they step up to the golf ball, that swing kind of disappears.
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Absolutely.
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Yeah, well, well, that's what's happening for the the attention focus is very different in when you're trying to hit the golf ball because you swing, you're no longer just swinging the club through to your target, you're actually trying to hit the golf ball or trying to control the swing and that destroys the swing.
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So what we're advocating is that you develop a proficiency in your golf swing, start off developing the swing, put a tee down on the ground, starting that without evaluating where the tea's going, just start feeling your golf swing is starting to be consistent.
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And when you start to introduce the ball, you'll notice that the individual, your attention starts to go to the ball and it's that in itself, which is a problem because you end up trying to just to be consistent.
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So you can just hit the ball rather than swing through it to the target.
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So this whole process for it involves in slowly introducing these concepts so that people can transition through a skilled acquisition phase relatively quick compared to what they're doing today, you know, years and years and years and years and years of repetition and practice doesn't manifest as trust on the golf course.
spk_0
Something is wrong. You would think that people could learn to trust their golf swings, but they never do.
spk_0
Well, that's because of how they are practicing learning and playing the game.
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And what we're trying to do through our program is to just introduce a new set of skills that will make the most of the great PGA instruction that they're being given.
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But they need to learn how to shift their attention away from that in order to experience what it like to play golf, not just swing golf clubs.
spk_0
Excellent. All right. Well, listen, Colin, I think we need to wrap this up. We're 70 minutes into the conversation.
spk_0
Sorry, sorry, for having to talk with Diane. Obviously, obviously we can. But I want to have a little respect to the audience and actually I'd like to ask the audience a favor.
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Does this resonate with you? I know we've talked about putting. We've talked about, you know, aim point. We've talked about various mechanics and and thing and mental game, things like that.
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But this specifically, how does this resonate with you? Does this work for you? Are you get this at all?
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And if I would love just click on the hay, Fred button and send me an email. Tell me what you thought of this conversation with Colin. Hopefully you got to hear the entire thing.
spk_0
And again, it give how people get in touch with you where you are and how to work with you if they want more.
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My website is target oriented golf. That's that's target oriented, which is ORE and TED golf.com. I provide remote services.
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I ultimately help golfers. They go away. They video their pre-shop routines and through a series of training manuals and videos.
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We help change their practicing methods so that they develop a new mental pre-shop procedure, not a routine. The idea of it is a routine is something you do without thought.
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That's the last thing that we need in order to get our focus in the right place and the same place every time.
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So what I do is help them develop a mental procedure which will give them a very disciplined systematic approach to every golf shop.
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And it simplifies their golf, but it takes time to practice and learn them, right? It's no quick fix here, Fred.
spk_0
No, there never is. There never is in golf.
spk_0
Well, there is. The golf smarter podcast is there.
spk_0
Colin, it's been, like I said, it's been eight years, it's been six years, it's been a great talking to you again.
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I'm so glad that you're still focused on your target and that you're keeping us focused on our target. It's really been great to have you back on the show.
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It's been a pleasure, Fred, and I can't thank you enough for giving me the opportunity.
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So often we talk about what a critical asset confidence is to lower scores, but I recently realized how much of that has to do with playing a course or familiar with watching my friend Neil putt when playing with him at his club or how I play it.
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I think that my favorite course from T to Green is so much different than playing a course that I've either yet to play or play occasionally.
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Not just different my mind, but I feel less tension during my setup swing and follow through just the other day I played at TPC Harding Park in San Francisco with some college buddies.
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We like to play there once in a while because the 11th Hall is directly across from our Alma Mater San Francisco State University.
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Even though I never played there as a student, we still laugh about the stories of how we sneaked onto the property late at night.
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Despite that, I love that course. It's definitely one of my favorites, but I don't play there very often.
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I struggled to find the fairway all day and didn't sink any putts longer than six feet. It really made me think about playing with confidence and how much a difference it can make.
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Even if you're quite comfortable with your stroke and your equipment. As I start to play more since our travel has been completed for 2025, I see my game improving again.
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But there's a huge difference when I'm playing at the courses I'm most familiar with. Is this totally obvious to you and I'm the last one to realize it?
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Or is this a suggestion that resonates and will be incorporated into your next round?
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I'd love to hear your thoughts on where you find confidence on the course or in your game.
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If you have any questions about whether or not I'm using any of the methods, equipment, or apps we've discussed, or if you'd like to share a comment about what you've heard in this episode or any other, please write to me.
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I'll get back to you. Send it to GolfSmartorPodcast at gmail.com or just click on the hay-fred button at golfsmarter.com.