Extraordinary addendum

I am a huge fan of Fred Shoemaker's 'Extraordinary Golf' and fully intend to follow his principles of awareness or learning, enjoyment and performance, all in balance. However, I am learning that some of the other ideas, like the freedom he talks about and the awareness of target, are more subtle and elusive customers.

My experience of the last few rounds suggests to me that it is OK, even necessary, to use technical or mechanical thoughts when setting up for a shot and, for that matter, to use a pre-shot and set-up routine that is highly mechanical. I accept, of course, that what needs to follow is a swing that is 'free' from further technical or mechanical thought. I also accept that it is not good to be 'ball focused' and that the focus should be 'target'.

Having said that, the major problem FS refers to is the self-talk and often self-criticism that goes on during the swing, usually at the worst time, i.e.. the top of the backswing. It is this mental interference that robs the swing of the freedom and fearlessness that it needs to have in order to be consistent and effective. In a sense, he advocates a thought-free swing period - i.e. during the 2 seconds it takes to complete a full swing.

I've also read FS's 'Extraordinary Putting' and having read it I can vouch for the fact that my putting is extraordinary - extraordinarily bad. I am trying to practice the awareness that he speaks about and apply the thought free swing principle. But my putting is far from fearless and far from effective. I don't quite know what to do except persist. One thing I haven't tried is rehearsing the putt strength in a practice swing - something I will do next round.

Anyway, I am learning. But I do think I need to revert to my (hopefully) smooth 'lag-and-load' swing, which I will try to get it into my head before I start the swing. I refer back to Mark Evershed's 'educated hands' concepts, which I think is not inconsistent with FS's need to improve one's awareness, as part of the learning concept on which he places so much emphasis.

Mid-week this week is a practice round. I will be swinging easily and trying to keep the gremlins in my head at bay. We shall see what happens.