TOP 50 TEACHERS Gary Nicol and Karl Morris
Gary and Karl have years of experience coaching everyone from beginners to Major winners. Karl’s company The Mind
Factor works closely with TPEGS Ultimate Golf Experiences, run by Gary and Andrew Coltart at Archerfield Links.
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FOCUS FOR GREEN SUCCESS
In an exclusive excerpt from their new book, The Lost Art of Putting, Gary Nicol and Karl Morris
detail how taking control of your thoughts as you approach the green can help you hole more
O
n your next round, give yourself a new and unusual task. Monitor
your thoughts between playing your approach to the green, and
reaching it. This seemingly innocuous period of time can have a
profound eff ect on what happens once you reach your ball.
For many club golfers, this period is one in which your mind drifts back
to the past (“I should have hit my approach diff erently, or better”) or
forward to the future (“if I can’t two-putt from there that’s another shot
gone”). With this type of thinking, the walk on to the green can set you
up to feel anxiety and dread.
But consider that the walk from your approach shot to the green is an
opportunity. It is an opportunity to receive the information the green is
trying to give you… to create the mental conditions that allow you to hole
a putt. Above all, it is an opportunity to place
your attention in a place you personally fi nd to
be really useful.
Time and time again with players who think
their stroke is at fault, we have had real and
lasting success by simply getting them to
work on their “walk”
up to the green.
Just imagine now if you made a
commitment as you walk up to the green to
simply place your attention on your breath. Most importantly, you commit
to breathing in and out through the nose. You do not attempt to take a
deep breath in through the mouth – inevitably heaving your shoulders up
at the same time – as this will only serve to increase any tension levels.
You are aiming to slow down the breath gently as you inhale and exhale
through the nose. You may notice your mind wandering to what the putt
may be for, or drifting back to the putts you have just missed… but allow
yourself to notice this before letting your focus of attention return to your
nose breathing.
At the very least this is a wonderful exercise to train your attention. You
are in eff ect meditating while you are walking. You are deciding to put
your attention in a place you deem to be useful. You are quietening the
mind while at the same time grounding yourself in the present moment.
Many players report back that this is a deeply satisfying exercise. It
actually feels good to be present. The walk itself becomes a pleasure for
its own sake.
You may not fi nd the time to meditate formally but you get exactly the
same benefi t by doing this exercise. The science on meditation is very
strong - it has been proven to be good for you.
As a very pleasant side-eff ect to all of that
healthy benefi t, we believe you will be pleasantly
surprised at the eff ect on your putting. When
employing this sort of meditative breathing you
may begin to notice that as you walk onto the
green you start to get a sharper, in-focus look and
feel of the slopes and undulations of the greens.
Your ability to visualise the line and pace of the
putt improves.
All of this is because with ‘the walk’ you are so much more in tune with
your body as opposed to being lost in your head.
When you are more tuned in to your body, you are synchronising your
system to take in the relevant information that you need to hole the putt.
In other words, you feel truly ready to putt when you stand over the ball…
and that’s a feeling worth having.
‘WE HAVE HAD REAL AND
LASTING SUCCESS BY SIMPLY
GETTING PLAYERS TO WORK ON
THEIR WALK TO THE GREEN’
The Lost Art of Putting
is available now on
Amazon in hardback
(INR 1600) and Kindle
(INR 800) formats.
46
GolfPlus
FEBRUARY
2019