Target Focus

Chapter 2 Routine

In discussing PGA tour player. John Cook’s return to play and success after a long-term injury. Ken Venturi said he had to get back his tunnel vision. When you’re a good player, you look at where you want to go after playing poorly. All of a sudden you’re looking at where you don’t want to go.

Nick price lapped the field with his five stroke win margin at the 1993 PGA Western open. It was his third PGA tour victory of 1993. And his second in two weeks, he had missed only one cut in his last 35 tournament starts the 1993 masters, his comments following his wind show, the intensity of his concentration and his target orientation. My concentration was unbelievable this week for the 10 seconds leading into every shot. All I focused on was the target.

I teach students to use one of three swing visualization strategies, hold a mental picture of the target ball flight or ball landing through the entire swing.

This is probably one of the most difficult mental exercises through which I take students. It is difficult because it is foreign to most players. If you’ve ever made a grip change, you can understand the difficulty holding a mental picture of the target is like trying to make a grip change. It doesn’t feel right, and you tend to attribute poor performance to the new grip since it feels so. In-congruent with your usual game with practice, a visual image of target ball flight or ball landing during the swing becomes natural.

The target images change, depending on the shot you are hitting. The target for putting is the spot over what you want to roll the ball. The spot on the green, where you want to land your ball or the ball hitting the flag. Stick for a chip as your target, make your targets precise and your play will improve.

PGA tour Player Nick price says the targets should be distant, And as small as you can see, he says, if you are aiming at a house that you should pick out a shingle on the roof as your target, if you’re aiming at a distant bunker, aiming to rake in the bunker, be precise.

• LPGA Tour Player, Marta Figueras noti says she has an image of the ball landing and bouncing as she swings.
• LPGA Tour Player. Jennifer Wyatt has an image of the flight of the ball during her swing.

Nick price says he holds an image of the target during his swing. He says, declare his image of the target. The better his shot will be.

If you’ve ever played basketball, football, soccer, baseball, or a similar sport, you know what a target focus is, watch a basketball player at the free throw line. Not only does he follow the same routine, bouncing the ball the same number of times before shooting, but also he focuses on nothing, but the target a pitcher pays no attention to anything, but the target, the spot in the center of the catcher’s Mitt, the outfielders focus is to hit the cutoff man and the chest on a button or a letter, his target.

What would happen if the basketball player focused on the top edge of the Blackboard or the pitcher focused on the Empire’s head or the top of the backstop. And so on.

This is equivalent to a golfer’s focus on the out of bounds, right?

Or the hazard left. If you have a target focus, your focus is on your goal. Remember your images become the targets of the nervous system.

When a basketball player sets up to shoot a free throw or a pitcher prepares to make a pitch, he is looking at his target.

The golfer is looking at the ball and has to maintain an image of his target in his mind’s eye.

Can you imagine how a basketball or baseball player would perform? If his focus was on the ball, as he prepared to shoot or throw, he would likely become mechanical and steer the ball sound familiar.

If so, I would suggest you begin to practice the target image through your entire swing.

One of the premier teachers of the past 90 years, Harvey Penick sums up target focus quite simply. Once you address the golf ball hitting, it has got to be the most important thing in your life at that moment, shut out all thoughts, other than picking out a target and taking dead aim at it.

PGA Tour Player, Billy Ray brown says that many amateurs have trouble keeping their tee shots in the fairway because they aim at a large generalized target. Their images are wide, and so are their shots. Billy Ray suggests that players aim at a specific point in the fairway. Once you determine that specific target point, keep a picture of it in your mind’s eye. Through the swing.

I teach an end swing target focus beginning with putting and chipping with the full swing. I have a player start with a wedge and rate both the shot and the clarity of the image on a one to 10 scale for a wedge, your target might be a bare spot on the range or a discoloration of grass that has one or two feet in diameter.

It is noteworthy that a direct relationship evolves between the rating of the clarity of the image and the rating of the quality of the shot.

For example, shot ratings of 10 will tend to have a clarity of image rating of nine or 10. Similarly shot ratings of 6 or 7 have image ratings of 6 or 7 learning.

Good mental mechanics is not a lot different from learning good swing mechanics, both require practice.

The transition of mental mechanics from the range to the cores is most easily accomplished through extensive practice. There are numerous variables that will affect both swinging in mental mechanics. One such variable is arousal levels.

You will read about the effects of arousal and visualization in the chapter titled fine tuning your nervous system.

In summary, if you were under pressure, you will have difficulty visualizing targets during the swing.

Please continue with: Anger