No one wants to hit bad shots but “avoidance” makes them more probable
It’s an old media phrase from the pre-online era: when you book a big-name person for an interview, it’s known as a “good get.”
Through 10 years and more than 300 episodes of our Swing Thoughts podcast, we’ve managed more than a few. The latest was Dr. Raymond Prior, one of the top performance consultants in the business today.
The timing of our interview was fortuitous, coming just after the wild and woolly Ryder Cup.
Most aspirational golfers say they cannot control their minds and prevent negative thoughts. Some say it means they’re weak, just not cut out to be a “good golfer,” a basket case.
What it means is: you’re normal. You just haven’t learned how to use your mind effectively when you’re playing golf, and it’s a good bet you may not be very good under stress in other parts of your life.
As Prior articulated on episode #301 of our show, your brain’s No. 1 job is to keep you alive. It’s wired to monitor your environment for threats—whether it’s a giant snake, your stressed-out boss, or the water hazard in front of the green.
When we perceive our environment is dangerous and we risk suffering pain—whether it’s getting eaten or losing a Pro V1—it’s natural to think about avoiding pain.
When we believe we’re threatened, Prior says we’re likely to focus on “avoidance-based tasks.”
However, when you’re focused on avoidance tasks, you are not focused on the task of hitting a good golf shot. That is, you’re not focused on your “desired pursuit.”
“If, for example,” Prior said, “I’m on the first tee and I think, ‘I don’t want to be embarrassed in front of these people,’ it is … a protection avoidance-based task that goes to the top of my brain’s priority list.”
Prior says the negative thought isn’t what causes a bad shot. “It’s of zero consequence.” The problem is executing the shot while focused on the avoidance task.
“If you’re aware you have avoidance-based thoughts, you don’t have to follow them,” Prior said. “They are just ideas. If I can see them as that, then I can introduce a different task to my brain. That takes (the avoidance-based) task off the table.”
A pursuit-based task could include rolling the ball over a spot, shaping the ball, hitting it at a target, feeling your hands, or watching a spot on the ball.
But many golfers find it difficult if not impossible to dismiss negative thoughts about possibly topping a shot, missing a short putt, and so on.
There’s a big difference between fixating on the danger and accepting it. When you’re facing a difficult shot or situation, Prior says it’s crucial that you accept everything going on. That is, there’s no point wishing no one was watching you, or that your hands stop shaking, or that the water wasn’t there.
As an example of a player accepting the situation and focusing on what he wanted to do, we discussed how Shane Lowry appeared to be handle the 18th hole of his singles match in the Ryder Cup.
Based on Lowry’s post-event disclosure that he told his caddie that “I have the chance to do the coolest thing in my life here,” he certainly knew that by making the putt, Europe would retain the Cup.
Prior said Lowry’s nervous system was no doubt “firing on all cylinders.”
But Prior said that rather than try to “turn off certain thoughts” about the crowd or what the putt meant, Lowry likely focused on his pursuit-based tasks.
Prior imagined Lowry’s thinking was something like: “Just hit this putt on this line at this speed, give it a run and let’s see what happens.”
In many ways, our discussion reinforced the importance of mindfulness: accepting what’s happening rather than try to control it.
Focusing on what you want to avoid means you’re worried about the future. Focusing on the task at hand allows you to be in the moment, present.
Prior said: “To grow, develop and change over time, there’s a layer of acceptance and kindness that’s far more valuable than judgment and being at the whip’s end of our own thoughts and feelings.”
My most recent book is Getting Unstuck: 7 Transformational Practices for Golf Nerds, which is now available in both soft cover and Kindle formats.
If you’ve ever considered mental game coaching, I’m inviting you to take the opportunity for a FREE 30-minute coaching call.
During this free session, we’ll discuss:
· What’s happening in your game?
· What are your objectives?
· What specifically makes you feel stuck?
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This FREE session will show you how to finally start moving forward.
To register for your free session, send an email to tim@oconnorgolf.ca.
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