The biggest goal for a golfer is consistency – well, they want to be consistently good!
There are so many ways to become more consistent – but in this short blog, I’m going to share a very unique way that I have seen players become instantly more consistent.
Have You Got This?
Before we explore consistency, if you’d like a copy of my Ebook “Golf Hacks”, with lots of tips to quickly improve strike quality, club path, direction, strategy and more, enter your email below.
Go With The Flow
Have you ever hit the zone?
I’ve been able to train myself and many others to enter this peak-performance state more often with the drill you are about to see.
Our brains usually quieten and turn off (and a flow-like state is reached) when 3 things are present;
- Rhythms
- Doing the same thing over and over
- A belief that you don’t need to be “consciously controlling” to still perform
Rhythms are why we rock a baby to sleep.
When you drive your car to work the same route to work every day and don’t remember any of the journey – that shows how “doing the same thing over and over” can help us enter the zone.
The first time I tried this drill (it’s coming, I promise), it was really disconcerting for me to give up conscious control of my swing. However, when I saw I could hit great shots without thinking about movement, it showed me how “a belief that you don’t need to be consciously controlling to perform well” helped me get into the zone and perform better more often.
The Drill
There is a whole process to learning this, and many layers that you can add on to make your routine as robust as hell. I have an entire module dedicated to this in Next Level Golf. However, here are the nuts and bolts.
- You start standing behind the ball
- You take your first step forwards and start counting 1…2…3… at your normal swing tempo
- You step into the shot, still counting
- You make your backswing, still counting at the same tempo
- usually, the last beat (impact) we don’t count during that one
The whole process looks just like this
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What I’ve Found
Doing this with many players (and having many email reports from members in my Next level golf community), it seems a consistent theme that players start to become much more consistent.
They tend to start to zone in on their normal, ingrained-patterns.
Now this isn’t always good – a shanker might start to shank it more consistently!
Consistent – but not good!
However, for many, their best patterns come out more often. For example, in my own game, I will tend to hit a 5-10 yard draw when doing the counting routing, and very rarely miss to the right of my start line. I can then use this information, combined with aiming correctly for my pattern, to produce a tighter dispersion.
Again, this is all information I show you exactly how to do in Next Level Golf.
I even have statistical evidence (from using my Foresight Sports GCquad) that it helps to lower the standard deviation (a measure of consistency) of both clubface presentation and outcome.
When It Won’t Work
Don’t get me wrong, this drill is not easy to do at first.
- For those who always have their mind occupied by swing thoughts (this used to be me), it can be a struggle to let those go and focus purely on the counting.
- For those who can’t, and never could, hit a barn door from 3 feet away, this might not light your game up
- When the drill is brand new and you are just getting used to it (stick it out) it might not provide the best results
However, if you diligently practice this drill, I haven’t come across a player yet who hasn’t learned something of great value that they can use – even if they don’t actually use the drill in play.
For me, that “something of great value” was the realization that I didn’t have to be bound by technical thoughts to still perform well.
Want to Learn More?
Take your game to the next level – learn more about this drill, as well as
- Swing technique
- Improving self-coaching
- Strategy
- Game management
- Practice/training methods/games
- Motor learning
- Psychology
And much more – check out my ultimate program, Next Level Golf (click the image link below)
Minuto, Greg
Adam, you have several videos/tutorials, I would like to try one. Should these be taken in any order? Read your book, really good!
Matt Wade
This is GREAT stuff!!! Have you tried counting 1,2,3,4…1,2,3,4…1,2,3,4 similar to how musicians count? Makes me wonder if the results would be different if you counted differently.
admin
I actually do that for putting. And I give the ABCD;s to kids
Tim Willwerth
Used the drill today and except for a double on the hardest hole I was three over on the front nine, a huge improvement over my last couple of months.
Matt Wade
This is an amazing drill for many reasons, but especially for those that tend to play golf swing instead of just playing golf. I just left a range session where I tried this with great results on the first shot. It was tough at first to feel confidence/trust but after a few swings I realized that I didn’t need most of my swing thoughts to hit good shots. After 10-12 shots trying this drill I began to feel true confidence standing over the ball and swing the club naturally. Who knew golf could be so simple, 10/10 would recommend!!!
Abbie @Golf Mario
I really enjoyed reading this! As a golfer myself, I am very inconsistent. I get frustrated because of that, so this was very helpful. I love how you mentioned you do the ABCD’s with children. That is great!! My two daughters are still young, but I can’t wait to take them on the course when they get older. Maybe they’ll need some lessons, haha. I would definitely recommend this drill. Thanks for sharing!!
John
Focus on the numbers instead of swing thought. Genius. Similar to how other athletes focus on their breathing. Can’t wait to give it a try.
Jason
Adam, since reading your Practice Manual a month ago, I’ve started incorporating a rhythmic count to start my swing (all swings). For example, after setup, just before the takeaway, I count 1-2-3 in my rhythm. I started this with putting to have a consistent stroke. Since I read your book, I have incorporated it as a trigger for all my swings—mostly to move my thoughts from internal or external to neutral.
Would you still recommend the drill in this article? Or is what I am doing a similar practice?
admin
Hi Jason, it’s similar enough. The main goal is to create a different thought process in the brain that allows for the motion to come out more unconsciously. You can sing Lady Gaga if that achieves the goal 😉