Module 3: Swing Focus

Step 5: The Shot

Although the transition from the athletic phase to the swing needs to be swift and “reactive”, the mind will need to focus on something during the swing. What you choose to focus on during the second or so it takes to swing will influence your movement and the outcome of the shot.

I’m sure you’ve experienced days where you played some of your best golf while not thinking about the technical aspects of your swing. But on the other hand, you might have had great rounds where you had a technical cue or “swing thought”.

Even the best players in the world, who have very automatic and efficient swings, might have some awareness of their movement. In this section, I’d like to explore the different types of swing thoughts and help you find out what is best for you. In addition to the countless conversations that I’ve had with my students on the subject, I’ve taken a look at all the available research out there to come up with these opinions. I would also like to say that in this section I’m referring to focus during the full-swing, not the short game and putting which in my opinion should always be done without conscious awareness of your movement.

Types of Swing Thoughts

Firstly, the word “thoughts” is misleading as there shouldn’t be any “thinking” or problem solving going on during your swing.

“Swing thoughts” should really be thought of as where your attention is during your swing or as your “swing focus”. This swing focus could be on any number of things, such as a feel, a word, or awareness of a body part. Like everything with the mental game of golf, there is no best thing to focus on for all players – it’s an individual preference that requires experimentation and self-discovery. First, let’s take a look at what the research tells us.

Perhaps the most extensive and well-known studies on attentional focus in sports were done by Dr. Gabrielle Wulf, a Professor of Kinesiology at the University of Nevada. Dr. Wulf’s studies tested the effect on performance of “internal focus” which is focusing more on the body movement itself and “external focus”, which is focusing on something outside of the body, such as the target or the club movement.

She concluded:

“Instructions that induce an external focus of attention, whereby attention is directed to the movement’s effect on the environment, can enhance learning. Such instructions have been shown to be more effective than those that induce an internal focus by directing attention to the movements themselves.” (Wulf, 2001)

In 2007, she performed a full-shot test on both novice and expert golfers, to see which type of focus was better for golfers of varying ability levels. Each ability group was randomly divided into two groups, and one performed the test by external focus (focusing on the club movement) and the other either by internal focus (focusing on a body part such as the arms), or what they normally do. The results showed significantly better performance by the external focus group.

Why would “External Focus” Be Better than “Internal Focus”?

Dr. Wulf’s studies concluded that external focus facilitated greater “automaticity in movement control”, that is, because the movement is done without focusing on it, it’s more fluid. She said that: “directing attention to one’s movement (internal focus), tends to result in conscious control that constrains the motor system, which disrupts automaticity and causes superfluous muscle activity. In addition, internal focus tends to cause focus on the self which causes worry about one’s performance and “micro-choking”. When you are externally focused, you use more automatic control processes, which are unconscious and faster, making the movement more efficient, smoother, fluid and accurate.”

External Focus

Let’s take a look at some examples of external focus:

• Focusing on the clubface
• Focusing on exactly where on the ball you will hit it – a quadrant or dimple on the ball (this can help you with path direction and strike)
• Focusing on how the club will connect with the ground after impact
• Focusing on your connection with the ground (through your feet)
• Swinging to the target or to “first base”
• Swinging the weight of the club with light grip pressure
• Staying in balance
• The flight of the ball i.e., the trajectory and shape (known as distal external focus)
• Tiger Woods says he has an awareness of what the clubface is doing in his swing (through the feel in his hands)
• Tiger also said that he is able to retain the image of the target and the shot in his mind during this swing (like he’s taken a mental photo of it)

How does the body know what to do when focus is external?

One might argue that external focus should work well for a Tour player, but players of a lower skill level would be better off thinking about their swings to get into the correct positions.

However, studies show that with an external goal, your “athletic mind” already knows a lot of what to do to achieve that goal and can “self-organize” your body’s movement.

Fred Shoemaker of Extraordinary Golf came up with an interesting way to demonstrate this and train his students to swing the club more efficiently: He has them throw the club to the target. Interestingly, when the focus is on throwing the club as far as possible, the body uses its natural intelligence to assume the correct positions of the golf swing (using the weight of the clubhead and swinging with an in-to-out path). So if the body already knows what it needs to do to swing the club, then internal focus can inhibit it.

From my experience of working with golfers of all levels over the past 15 years, I would agree that being externally focused during the swing is generally better, but I would stop before making a blanket statement that all players are better off with it.

Internal Focus

Internal focus is certainly helpful during “block” practice when you are working on a swing change. However, some players can find it effective on the course for the following reasons:

• It keeps your mind focused on one simple thing instead of it wandering from shot to shot
• It can remind you to focus on a specific movement that can increase your chance of a good shot
• It can help prevent you reverting to old habits when you are under pressure
• It can help make swing changes permanent
• If you believe it’s the key to good shots, it can give you confidence in your swing

Types of “Internal” focus

Here’s are some examples of internal focus as used by The World’s top players:

• Rory McIlroy says that making sure his takeaway is wide is key for him with the driver
• Justin Thomas says he tries to “cover” the ball with his chest as he turns through impact
• Paul Casey says his swing thought is maintaining his posture and making a wide takeaway
• Patrick Cantlay says his swing thought is to have a smooth transition
• Adam Scott says he focuses on getting onto his left side through impact
• Graeme McDowell says that during those first three feet of the swing he makes sure the clubhead works away wide and outside his hands
• Dustin Johnson and Collin Morikawa make sure their left arm stays close to their chest on the backswing for their irons

These internal swing thoughts might not be what that player currently uses, but it’s what they said at the time they were interviewed. Swing thoughts can change from round to round, depending on what that player is working on, or thinks is helping them at the time.

Although simple internal focus can have benefits, problems arise when it becomes too specific and varied from shot to shot. Unfortunately, the abundance of information freely available on the swing and data from launch monitors, can cause information overload, and the player will try to self-diagnose after every shot, making them more and more internal and focusing too much on specific movements. If there is too much self-instruction, especially before swinging, it can create anxiety and disconnection from the intention for the shot. Additionally, the movement is no longer whole or “holistic”, so it loses its fluidity and timing. If you do have an internal swing focus, make it simple, broad and consistent e.g., making a good turn as opposed to thinking about your wrist angle at the top of your backswing.

Learning Style and Personality Traits

While you are examining what swing thoughts are best for you, you will want to consider your learning style or “personality traits”.

Golf coach Dr. Noel Rousseau wanted to test Dr. Gabrielle Wulf’s conclusions further and in an 8 year study he set out to see whether golfers would play better with no swing thoughts at all. He tested this hypothesis with a group of golfers of advanced ability level (all were less than a 6 handicap).

During testing, he had each player follow a routine for each full shot they hit on the course. For the first part of their Pre Shot Routine, they were allowed to follow their normal routine, and if they wanted to have a swing thought in their rehearsal swings, they could. But as they walked into the ball, all players had to stop “thinking” (he called it the “Flow Drill”) and the rest of the shot routine was simple – they put their feet in place, while not being overly concerned about alignment, and as soon as the club went behind the ball, they started their swing quickly with no thought about it at all.

The results showed that some players in the group improved using this method, while others did not. So why would this be?

Upon further testing of each player, Rousseau concluded that personality traits were a factor in whether the “no swing thought” routine worked, or not.

His findings suggested that more verbal learners/communicators (who could also be referred “left brain” dominant) were better with some sort of internal instruction.

More visual learners/communicators (who could be referred to as “right brain dominant”) were better with little conscious awareness of their movement and more external focus.

The likely reason for this is that verbal learners are used to processing information by talking to themselves about it, whereas visual learners need to see things in pictures.

You could think of a verbal, logical learner/thinker as being someone like Bryson DeChambeau compared with an intuitive, visual thinker/learner such as Bubba Watson.

Dr. Rousseau took the study a step further and added pressure to the test by giving prizes for successful outcomes. His main conclusion was that of those players who were better with a swing thought, those with a broader internal focus performed better than those with more detailed internal focus when put under pressure.

Kinesthetic Focus

From my experience, Kinesthetic focus or “feel” is probably the most common swing focus among elite players. There’s no one swing thought; instead, it’s about creating a feel for the unique shot that they are about to hit. The rehearsal swing is used for creating that feel and then they have that in mind during the swing. This would be rehearsing and imagining the feel of certain parts of the swing such as the feeling of a good shoulder turn, the feel of the downswing for the shot they are intending to hit, or the feel of impact.

Auditory Focus

Some players benefit from an auditory or sound focus during the swing. This allows them to control their tempo and timing of the swing.

A good way to think of tempo is:

the ratio of the time taken to get to the top of the backswing to the time taken to get back to the ball.
If you can make this consistent, then you will have a consistent swing.

Tempo is important as it determines the timing and sequencing of the swing and brings together the many moving parts to get to a consistent impact position. When we get nervous on the golf course or if we start hitting a few bad shots, one of the first things to be affected is tempo. When your timing is inconsistent, your shots will be too. Although a tempo swing focus can benefit all types and levels of players, it could be even more effective for players who are more “auditory”.

Examples of tempo swing thoughts are songs, music, beats or counts that you can play in your mind during your swing. Experiment with a tempo that fits your swing e.g., a 1-2-3 for the backswing and 1 for the downswing. Counting by itself is a good “neutral” swing focus to keep your mind free of thoughts that could interfere with your swing.

An anticipation of what the shot will sound like can also help players who are more auditory.

Using Words during the swing

In his book, “The Inner Game of Golf”, Timothy Gallwey popularized the “Back-hit” method, which is saying the word “back” on the back-swing and “hit” on the down-swing. The purpose of it is to occupy the “thinking-self”, so the “athletic-self” is free to make the swing without conscious thought about it. For more verbal learners, you can experiment with different words that can help create a desired movement, such as “smooth back, powerful through”. You could also say something that helps with your timing, such as saying any 3-syllable word during your backswing.

Swing Thoughts Under Pressure

When we are feeling pressure, it can cause us to get more internal with our focus and try to control the swing. At this time, it’s even more important to stay connected with the target and be athletic in your swing. Try to keep your focus external or on very simple and broad movements.

What are your tendencies under pressure? Do you get quick and tighten your grip pressure? If so, you will want to think of your swing as being long, slow, and loose. PGA Tour player Keegan Bradley says one of his favorite swing cues is keeping his facial muscles relaxed.

He says: “When you can get your mouth to relax, your whole body relaxes.” (Source: Golf Digest)

Neutral swing thoughts

Neutral swing thoughts are for keeping your mind distracted during the swing (with things that don’t relate the process of hitting the shot), so you don’t attempt to control your movement, or focus on anything that will interfere with fluidity of the swing, such as:

· Humming a song
· Counting
· Breathing in on the back-swing and out on the down-swing (this can also help with timing)

Self-coaching and making adjustments

If you know exactly what causes your misses, you can “self-coach” and make adjustments to your swing during your rounds. Some players will plan for it in their pre-round preparation – so they have the solutions ready to their known misses. This can avoid searching for the answers with each swing. To make these subtle swing changes on the course, use the rehearsal swings to focus on the change and keep the focus broad/minimal during the actual swing. You will want to avoid forcing the club into different positions during your swing.

In summary:

• External focus is generally better than internal, especially under pressure
• Internal swing thoughts can work but they should be simple and broad to keep the swing “whole”
• Avoid switching between different swing thoughts with every swing
• Know your misses and plan for adjustments