Dr Rich Golf reports on golf swing research interviews
About a month ago I posted an ad in GolfNewsRI seeking volunteers to participate in an interview about their golf swing. The response was very strong and I completed 40 semi-structured interviews, each one from 60-90 minutes long. Golfers ranged from mid-thirties to early seventies; handicaps ranged from +2 to 28, and 80% of the interviews were with men. Most of the golfers have been playing for many years and those who played for fewer than 4 years were very committed to improving their game and tried to play as often as possible. Not one of the subjects played less than once/week and most played 2-3x/week. To be sure, this is not a random sample, but a self-selected group of people very interested in golf and curious about the mental aspects of the golf swing.
What are some of the takeaways from my interviews?
Golfers like to talk about their game but do not have anyone who listens, so there is isolation that golfers face when trying to improve.
Every golfer wanted to improve - but surprisingly, very few had any plan. A significant minority were involved with sporadic technical lessons.
Every golfer identified problems with focus and concentration but not one had any plan to learn more about those skills.
Common issues included:
Problems with consistent tempo. Most of the golfers volunteered that their swing was often “too fast” but had no plan to fix it.
Problems managing their own thoughts when rounds were either going well or going poorly. Again, there was no clear pathway to improve their focus.
Over half the golfers were not committed to a pre-shot routine, and those who did have one acknowledged that they were often not really engaged with it.
Almost every golfer had multiple, often shifting, swing thoughts - even those who said they had none.
Putting was of special interest to everyone. For those who wanted to improve putting, no one had specific ideas of what to do to improve their mental approach. The common advice to “think about nothing” was either not working or they could not do it.
Only the lower handicaps thought in terms of golf strategy but the higher handicaps acknowledged it would be very helpful if they could get some input.
5/40 had a problem that could be considered the “yips” but none really knew the scope of information available to try to intervene systematically.
Many wondered how to play without being impacted so much by the other golfers around them.
In summary, golfers could easily identify significant issues, but almost no one had a plan for addressing their issues with golf mental coaching. Most seemed to be on a path of continuing with “the same things.” There was a sense that somehow just playing more and fiddling with a never-ending cascade of golf tips was going to be enough. There was an understanding that almost every top-level golfer utilizes a mental golf coach. Also, stay tuned for my next contribution to the top tier of mental golf books.
For those who recognize some of the issues mentioned here, or want to learn more about how mental coaching can help their game, contact Dr Rich Golf. There is no charge for an initial call.
401-578-3887