New Directions

Back before we talked of "settled science," there was the "fact" that we used 8% of our mental capacity and a teacher from middle school also chipped in that Einstein might have used 12%.  But all that was wrong and what is currently "fact" is that this vast portion of mental structure is used to provide humans and probably all critters, with the ability to smoothly move hands and arms and body and store sequences of movements to be called upon when needed.

My recent time with Mavrick, a 6 week old, showed me that all of this smooth and useful movement has to be learned.  Mavrick was pretty good about hitting himself in the forehead with his hand.  But he couldn't do too much else with it.  Every repetition needs to be written and remembered and discovered.  Lots to learn and of course we don't remember all the struggles along the way.


I think I mentioned in a previous post about The Inner Game of Golf by Jim Gallwey.  The book had a couple of useful things in it and because of recent information, I wanted to return to it.

I also mentioned that I found the process of acquiring new physical skills to be of intense interest to me and the recent info also plays into that.

The info was about internal versus external learning.  There is a story about how Tom Kite and Ben Crenshaw went to their coach, Harvey Penick and asked him how to hit the ball higher.  He gave them a bucket of balls and sent them down by a tree.  "Come back when you can hit the balls over the tree."  He told them that they could figure it out without his help, i.e., internal learning.

I've also heard the line, "you can teach yourself something a lot better than someone can teach it to you."

Which leads us to elite golfers.  Two of them are frequently mentioned.  They being Jim Furyk and Bubba Watson.  Characteristics in the common were that they learned at a young age and figured it out themselves and were willing to swing very hard at the ball.  In contrast to that is to go to a pro who will adjust grip, stance, backswing and downswing and then with your head full of positional and static position information, you will try to deliver the club with some kind of speed to the ball.

Bubba and Jim have unusual swings.  But they've learned them.  We can judge that they might not be the most efficient, but certainly workable to provide both of them with employment in the entertainment industry.

One more story that my dad used to tell: Harpo Marx became successful and decided to get some harp lessons.  He could play, but thought that maybe he could get better.  As my father describes it, Harpo could do things that the professional harpist couldn't.  "Show me that again!"  I'm not sure this is true, but I hope it is.

Another theme is that the human mind is very good at completing tasks.  For example take this ax and chop some wood or use this knife to sharpen a stick.  When we take on that task, we don't worry about how far back we take it or our hand positions at impact, we just do it.  And if we were to continue to do it, we would gain muscles, callouses and efficiency.

Shaun Clement has applied this to golf.  Take an iron and imagine that just below the ball is a dandelion stem.  Our task is to clip the stem just below the ball.  Note that we are not trying to hit the ball or have anything to do with it.  Just nip the stem.

How easy is that to do?  Pretty easy probably.  Would we come over the top to do this?  No, it's an easy swing from the inside and we let the club slide past the ball/ dandelion as part of this effort.

I'm stealing from one of Shaun's videos on Youtube, but imagine that we want to hit a low shot.  We can do this without much thought and the hands will lead the shaft a bit more and the club face will be less lofted.  A simple task and within the grasp of most golfers.  But try and think about it and you'll have more problems.  Just do it.

Bunker play?   Just a different task, but nothing unusual, the stem is a bit lower.  Driver?  Hit up on the bottom of the dandelion head.

A friend mentioned in one of her art classes that they were to copy a drawing, then paint it.  "Can't draw?" asked the teacher.  "Well, this curve is the letter E, and then there are some vertical lines from the letter.  You've all written the letter e, so this is nothing difficult."  And it wasn't.


So I go to the range today.  The sky was clear today and no rain unlike yesterday.   I start off by doing some chipping to loosen up.  I gave myself tasks to perform, rather than hitting the ball to the hole.  "Nip the stem" and "we want the ball to land on that spot."  Seemed to be doable.  Club to stem contact was pretty good, ball was along for the ride.

Off to hit some irons. 

Nip the stem!  Nip the stem!  This seems to be doable.  I'm not thinking about backswing or arm positions or much else.  The ball is going ok.  I seem to be able to hit it about as hard as I want.  My balance is good and I'm not getting into bad positions where I can't deliver the club.

I work through the bag and I am happy.  I'm not thinking about much.  This is like the last few rounds I've played, where I just swung and enjoyed the walk.

I have hope for the future.

Rounds are scheduled for next week.  Stay tuned!

Now, as for those tasks...  How complex can we make them?  Is "nipping the stem" the proper task or should it be "Make the ball fly out to the right and curve back to that spot on the green?"   Do we need to verbalize?  Can I just look at a chip or iron shot and visualize where I want the ball to go?  Can I just look at a chip, noting elevation changes and things to go over and then just do it?

The Inner Game of Golf proposed that kind of task. "Hit the ball below that tree, then curve left to the fairway."    Gallwey thought that your brain could figure it all out and complex tasks were ok.

I shall seek to find the answers.