# Call Your Shot



## bigwave916 (May 30, 2012)

Playing in a tournament a week ago, and playing lousy figuring I had no chance of finishing ahead of anybody in my flight, I decided to relax and just finish the round and call it a day.

I'm currently a 20 handicapper and when I say playing lousy it means no chance to break 100. One of my competitors was having an off day also and he and I shared a cart. Once we relaxed and gave up we started playing better. A little too late but still enough to give us hope and maybe consider trying another tournament down the road.

On the last hole, a par 5, I just picked a spot in the fairway and laid a nice drive right to the spot, picked a safe area near 100 yds or so from the green and popped a 3 wood right where I was aiming. My cart partner ends up in the same place after taking a detour through the woods.

So there we are looking at a two tiered green 100 yds away with a a gentle crescent shaped slope that formed a sort of horshoe around behind the pin.

Now we've been joking and enjoying the last few holes, neither one of us in the running and so I said to him: "You know if we were any kind of golfers at all we could throw a ball up on to that slope and have it back up to the pin." He says, yeah, but I think I'm going to throw mine out to the right and let it run up the slope and around then back to the pin"

Now we're both standing there grinning, loose and care free and damn if he didn't hit the ball exactly as he said he would leaving himself about a 2 foot putt. 

Not to be outdone, I hit my wedge above the hole and for a split second I was afraid I hit it too far but it checked up, spun back, then took the slope and ended up just six inches from the cup and darn near went in on the way by. Tap in birdie.

The moral of the story of course is relax and visualize your shot. I'm thinking that I need to "call" every shot if not aloud then at least to myself.

A guy told me once "Trust your instincts, cause thinking ain't working" I'm convinced the brain works a lot better when you program it for the result that you want not how you want to produce that result.

Regards,
BigWave


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## FrogsHair (Mar 4, 2010)

I agree that more thought by the golfer as to what they want the ball to do is a good thing. Doing this allows for more focus by the golfer. The more focused we golfers are, the better shots we will hit. That, or our misses won't be as bad. 

I am bad for not focusing as much as I should. Focusing on a golf shot for me is too close to being like work. I play in a couple of tournies every year where I need to play well. For those rounds, I do play at my best, both mentally, and physically. I even put in quite a bit of practice prior to those two tournaments. However any other round I play, I just want to hit the ball, go find it, and hit it again. 

My wife asked me one time where I was going to hit a ball. I replied "over there some where" which is exactly what I did. That ball went right where I hit it, in the general direction I was aiming. For me, and for the enjoyment I want out of the game, that's good enough. :thumbsup:


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## bigwave916 (May 30, 2012)

The experience I described reminded me of Bob Rotella's book "Golf Is Not A Game of Perfect." In that book, Bob teaches that every shot should be visualized and that you should trust your swing to produce the shot you visualize.

I read that book quite a few years back but with my handicap, I obviously don't have a swing that can be trusted. Or maybe, the experience I had a couple weeks back was an indicator that no matter what your skill level you need to focus on the shot you want to hit and put all the mechanics and swing thoughts out of your mind to produce the best possible results.

Think about mechanics when you are practicing a change you want to make to your swing, but play in the "trusting" mode where all you think about is where you want the ball to go and the shape of the shot you want to hit.

I think I'm going to get the book out and re-read it. Maybe I do have a swing that can be trusted as long as I'm not standing over the ball thinking hip turn, shoulder turn, head still, knees flexed, weight on the balls of the feet, left arm straight, right wrist under the shaft at the top, club pointing to the target, finish the backswing before you start the down swing, swing inside out, delay the release of the wrists, right hand rolls over left, high follow through or anything else that I might get wrong during the swing.

No wonder I play so lousy. The part of my brain that controls the moving parts is going "HUH?" I'll just give it a visualization of what I want and let the brain take it from there with out any interference from me. If Rotella's theory is right the result should look like an instant replay of the visualization.

Regards,
BigWave


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## FrogsHair (Mar 4, 2010)

You are on the right track. A golfer, when playing golf can't think about their golf swing, during their golf swing. The only time a golfer should think about their golf swing is while on the practice range. Then, only one part of the swing at a time. Just too many elements to think about during the swing, in such a short time frame. What do the swing gurus say; 1.5 seconds back, and 1 second down. Does not leave much time to think about the various swing components. The only real way I know of for a golfer to think about their swing is by watching their swing on video, from more than one angle. 

I have heard many times that a golfer's best swing takes place in said golfer's subconscious. It's my opinion that by visualizing the shot, the golfer is transferring that shot into their subconscious. 

About the only thing a golfer can consciously think about is their pre-shot routine which includes proper aim, and setup for the shot at hand. Proper aim, and set up for the shot at hand, at the very least, gets the golfer's swing started properly. With out a proper start, the golfer has little chance generating a decent, repeatable swing down to impact with the ball. 

Myself, the only thing I think (focus) about during my down swing is a spot just in front of the ball in my stance. That's where I want my iron to make contact with the ground, after hitting the ball. With my metal woods, I just think about a nice easy swing. In the movie "Tin Cup" the golfer would say "dollar bills" to achieve that nice easy swing. I adopted that after watching the movie. Seems to work well for me. :thumbsup:


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