Golf Smarter – Episode 713 – Gary Nicol
Gary Nicol joined Fred Greene for the second time on the Golf Smarter podcast to discuss the release of the latest Lost Art book, The Lost Art of Playing Golf.
What Is The Most Important Question A Golfer Can Ask?
‘Why do I play golf?’ Such a simple question, such a short question, but unless you are brutally honest with yourself about the answer we believe your progress will always be somewhat limited.
If you have a big enough why then you will always find the how. So why do you play golf?
Be careful as your brain creates an answer for you because it is likely the answer is a conditioned response to what you think you should say – even to yourself. Our premise is that since you began to play the game in the first place, the reasons you kept striving to get better may well have been hijacked, for reasons we will explain.
The culture of the game and the messages from certain sections of media may well have skewed your thinking.
What we want to stress more than anything is that we believe for you to get the most from your remaining time with the game of golf you need to be playing for your own reasons.
Not anyone else’s construction of the purpose of the game.
The authentic reasons for you as an individual. When you are in touch with your truth then you can begin to play a game really worth all of the time and effort.
Many players we have worked with over the years have been liberated when they actually give themselves permission to play ‘their’ game as opposed to ‘the’ game.
One way you can begin to unlock the answer to the question is to go back to the beginning. Just take some time to think back to the very earliest memories you have of the game.
How did it all start for you? What was it about this strange ball and stick game that drew you in the first place? How did the relationship begin? Who got you started?
Cast your mind back to what may for some be a very distant past and allow the vault of your mind to open up to the memories of where it all began. The reason for this is your first attempts to play the game were more than likely taken for the purest of reasons.
Something in the game itself captured your imagination and got you interested, the game drew you in. At the very earliest stages, it probably wasn’t about what golf could bring you in the future it was about what golf provided you in the present.
For many, the sheer joy of swinging a club through space and finally making good contact with the ball and seeing it fly up into the sky started a love affair that lasted a lifetime.
To strive to be the very best you can possibly be, we think, is a great reason to play the game. But the line shouldn’t blur so golf becomes something you are as opposed to something you do.
To embark on a journey of personal mastery would be a wonderful answer to the fundamental question of why you play.
As the legendary golf coach Fred Shoemaker said: “To fall in love with the idea of mastering a game you will never master.”
This is a perspective about what you can do to improve yourself as opposed to falling into the ego trap of comparison with others.
When you are clear with your why you then stand a very good chance of finding the how.
The Lost Art of Playing Golf
This excerpt was taken from Gary and Karl’s book, The Lost Art of Playing Golf which is available in hardback and Kindle formats.
Golf Unfiltered Podcast – The Lost Art of Playing Golf
In their latest podcast appearance Gary Nicol & Karl Morris sat down with Adam Fonseca at Golf Unfiltered to discuss the release of The Lost Art of Playing Golf.
What Have You Got To Be Grateful About Today?
Karl Morris on how you can fundamentally change your perception of the game of golf forever
It was a wonderful spring afternoon. The ground was beginning to dry out after a harsh and wet winter and the trees looked like they were ready to start flourishing for another year. It was easy to feel the sense of optimism spring brings with it each year.
As I walked the back nine I noticed a wooden bench next to a tee. There was a brass plaque with an inscription on the bench.
It was a commemorative plaque that said: ‘To The Tuesday Boys’.
Underneath the title were the names of four golfers and their years of birth and death. It seemed each of these four players had all passed away within a relatively close period of time. It was poignant to think of these four former golfers, no longer with us.
They had clearly played for many years together on a Tuesday – The Tuesday Boys.
I began to think of how many times they would have set out on a round of golf. How many times it would have been just another Tuesday. This ritual obviously went on week after week, year after year.
They would probably have got together on the 1st tee and said something about the state of their game, how they had been struggling with their tee shots, the week they had just had from the previous Tuesday and their hopes for the round ahead.
They must have gone through this routine time and time again. Played golf together on a Tuesday. They would have shared the highs and lows of the game. The emotions, both good and bad. The opportunity to sit in the clubhouse afterwards reflecting on the round and sharing in great conversation and friendship.
Then suddenly they had run out of Tuesdays. One by one, the Tuesday Boys must have got smaller in numbers as a group until they didn’t have any Tuesdays left. The last putt had been holed and the opportunity to enjoy another round had gone forever.
This experience really reinforced to me the utter preciousness of each and every chance we have to play this wonderful game. The incredible way we all take for granted the fact that for us all there are unfortunately only a certain number of Tuesdays left.
None of us know how many Tuesdays it will be but don’t we all labour under a certain illusion these opportunities will go on and on? There will always be another game to play. Another chance. Another Tuesday.
Well, at some point there won’t be another opportunity. Every single one of us will at some point play our final round. We will sink a putt on the 18th green and it will be the last putt we ever hit.
Without being alarmist or a doom merchant, it is so important to embrace a vital key in the quest to unlock and reshape your golfing story and get the most out of this human experience. That is the skill of gratitude.
There is strong evidence to suggest that in the quest to feel good about ourselves and release our true capabilities the skill of gratitude is a huge asset.
Be grateful for this opportunity to play. The opportunity to walk around a golf course, in nature with the company of others. The opportunity to move your body, to test yourself and see what you can achieve.
The outcome will be what it will be but you are providing the conditions to allow a good performance to emerge.
Taken from The Lost Art of Playing Golf, which is now available now at thelostartofgolf.com in hardback (£19.95) and Kindle (£9.99) formats
Out Now: The Lost Art of Playing Golf
New book release: The Lost Art of Playing Golf by Gary Nicol and Karl Morris – with a foreword from Rudy Duran, Tiger Woods’ first coach
This new release from the authors of the Amazon bestseller The Lost Art of Putting explores your relationship with the game and asks: when was the last time that you felt your score accurately reflected your true ability as a golfer?
Why do you play golf? Do you find the game as fulfilling as it used to be? Do you remember a time when you felt truly comfortable on the golf course? Do you remember a time when you felt truly comfortable on the golf course, treating it as a playground to explore? Can you imagine what it feels like to create unique golf shots in your mind and then execute these intentions?
The Lost Art of Playing Golf suggests answers to these profound questions. It will help you to re-connect with the soul of the game.
Learn how to approach the game you love in a profoundly different way – and liberate yourself to derive more pleasure from your precious time playing golf.
The Lost Art of Playing Golf follows on from the Amazon best-selller The Lost Art of Putting. It becomes the second title in the ‘Lost Art’ series.
It is the belief of leading tour coach Gary Nicol and performance coach Karl Morris, who have 60 years’ combined coaching experience, that despite us having access to more information than ever we are not becoming better or happier golfers. If anything, the opposite is true.
The Lost Art of Playing Golf drills down even deeper into your ability as an individual to discover your way of approaching the game rather than being told how to.
The message they convey is one of golfers reconnecting with their own creativity and the wisdom of their own body.
The ideas and information they share are backed up by the very latest research into how best to utilise the connection between mind and body.
Born in Scotland, Gary Nicol turned professional in 1988. Since then, he has travelled the world coaching golfers of all standards from weekend players to tour pros including Ryder Cup players, Olympians and winners of major championships. Gary is a certified TrackMan Master and Mind Factor coach and is based at the stunning Archerfield Links on Scotland’s Golf Coast.
Karl Morris has been involved in performance coaching for 30 years. In that time, he has worked with multiple major winners in golf – including Darren Clarke and Graeme McDowell – Ashes-winning captains in cricket as well as Premier League and international footballers. His passion has always been to make mental game coaching both practical and applicable.
The Lost Art of Playing Golf was edited by experienced golf writer Dan Murphy and published by Sports Publications (sports-publications.com).
With a foreword written by the first coach of Tiger Woods, Rudy Duran, the book is available now at thelostartofgolf.com and costs £19.95.
Note from the editors
- Learn more about the Lost Art series at thelostartofgolf.com
- The Lost Art of Playing Golf is available in hardback format at thelostartofgolf.com, priced at £19.95 and £9.99 respectively.
- The Lost Art of Putting is also available in hardback and Kindle formats at thelostartofgolf.com, priced at £19.95 and £9.99 respectively
- Buy both books together at thelostartofgolf.com for £30
- For more information about the book, contact Tom Irwin, Sports Publications’ commercial director, on 0113 289 3979 or [email protected]
- Follow The Lost Art on Twitter (@LostArtofGolf) and Facebook (The Lost Art of Golf).
- Gary Nicol and Karl Morris are available for interview about the book and/or expert comment on any matters relating to The Lost Art of Playing Golf
Manual labour or mental labour?
We have all heard, read and said that golf is all in the head more times than we could possibly count. Golf is a mental game.
Perhaps Bobby Jones said it best: “Competitive golf is played mainly on a five and a half inch golf course… the space between your ears.”
So why is it that the vast majority of golfers spend a disproportionate amount of time hitting balls rather than thinking about how they are going to get round the course by creating a plan or strategy?
There could be any number of reasons.
My personal belief is that the culture of golf in general and coaching in particular would suggest that “the secret is in the dirt”. I’m not saying you don’t have to work hard and hitting lots of shots on the range is not the way forward. Anyone who has ever achieved success in golf has put in the hours, without exception.
There are countless tales about the best players over the years having hit shots from dawn until dusk or until their hands bled in their quest for improvement. We always hear about the manual labour but one thing we never really hear about is the mental labour. What were they thinking about? What were they focusing on? Were they working hard or working smart?
Hitting shots on the range. Not hitting balls. On the surface, they may sound similar but trust me, hitting shots and hitting balls are two entirely different things. The golf course and its designer are constantly asking you to do two things – to think about and to execute a particular shot at a unique moment in time.
Close your eyes for a second and visualise your practice routine, if you have one. How much thought goes into what you are doing on the range? What are you paying attention to? What are you focusing on?
In essence, if you are working on your technique, your attention or focus can and will be in one of three places – what you need to do, what the club needs to do or what the ball needs to do.
In all likelihood you are thinking about what you need to do with your hips, shoulders, lead arm or trail leg – what ever happened to left arm and right leg?
Or you might be thinking about what the club needs to do – not too much on the inside on the way back, parallel to the ground and your target line at the top of your backswing or whatever.
Quick question: When was the last time you hit the ball in your backswing? Correct, never. So why pay so much attention to it?
What we pay too little attention to is what the ball needs to do, to the shot itself.
In today’s world, with so much contrasting, conflicting and as a result, confusing information out there on social media (YouTube, Twitter, Instagram) it’s all too easy to jump from swing tip to swing tip in a bid to find the answer to all your woes. Unfortunately, quite the opposite tends to happen. In a bid to get better, you actually get worse. Why? Because very little is said about the shot. It’s all about technique.
While a good technique may be aesthetically pleasing to the eye, it does not guarantee that you will hit good shots. Hitting good shots guarantees hitting good shots.
Virtually everything designed to serve a purpose, whether that be the device you are reading this on, a formula one race car or the shoes on your feet is designed with a function in mind. The function creates the form. Why should hitting a golf shot be any different?
The three products I mentioned above were all designed with specific purposes or functions in mind and built around that. In golf we learn to swing first then create shots later. Does that make any sense to you? It makes no sense to me either.
Rather than working relentlessly on trying to perfect your swing, would it not be sensible to pay attention to creating better shots. Let the function create the form, let the task create the technique.
To me, that is working smart. That might involve more mental labour in experimenting and learning how you actually create a variety of shots and how you are going to use them on the golf course but it will almost definitely reduce the amount of manual labour required.
The choice is yours, choose wisely.
The Brainbooster – Ed Coughlan
Karl Morris was joined by one of the world’s leading authorities on Skill Acquisition, Ed Coughlan.
The Brainbooster – Gary Nicol
Gary Nicol joined his fellow co-author on the Brainbooster podcast to discuss The Lost Art of Playing Golf.
18Strong Podcast – Episode 252
Gary and Karl joined Jeff Pellizzaro on the 18Strong podcast to discuss their latest book The Lost Art of Playing Golf.
What is your intention?
Picture this, you go for a golf lesson because you’re struggling with your game. You explain to the pro you would like to become more consistent.
Your pro asks you to hit a few balls with your 7 iron, then tells you what you’re doing wrong. You might even have your swing captured on video and put on screen beside your favourite tour pro to show you what you “should” be doing. Sound familiar?
There are a couple of things missing from this scenario. You probably haven’t been asked what your INTENTION for the shot was or where your ATTENTION was. Without knowing the answer to these vital questions, assumptions will be made. Dangerous and unhelpful assumptions.
Questions are extremely powerful. Questions focus your mind, they focus your attention. Can you hear that noise in the background? You can now because I directed your attention to it.
Without knowing what your intention for the shot is, your pro or coach can only guess. Without knowing where your attention is, it is unlikely they will be able to help you.
Rather than ask what is wrong with your swing, ask what is wrong with your shots. If you ask 10 coaches what is wrong with your swing, you will receive a variety of different opinions. If you ask what is wrong with your shots, they will all tell you the ball travelled a little too far left, right, long or short. They will provide you with facts.
I don’t know about you but I would much rather deal with facts than opinions.
An opinion will be formed based on whatever preconceived ideas your coach has about what a “good” swing looks like. If your swing doesn’t fit into a particular pigeon hole, the likelihood is you will spend the best part of your lesson trying to “fix” your backswing, hip rotation, create more downswing lag or some other magic move.
While this might work with the odd shot on the range through repetition, transferring that on to the golf course will be tricky at best. Focus on creating golf shots rather than golf swings. If you don’t train your shotmaking skills on the range, don’t be surprised if you can’t play them on the course.
Think about what the golf course demands of you. The course, or more specifically, its designer, constantly asks you questions.
Can you figure out what the best option for this or any given shot is and can you execute that shot? That is the art of playing golf.
At no point does the course or its designer ask what your swing looks like or if you turned your hips faster through impact.
I am not saying that technique isn’t important. However, if you only pay attention to what you or a body part needs to do, you run the risk of becoming disconnected from the task at hand, which is creating a shot. Conversely, if you pay attention to the shot and allow the task to create the technique, your brain and body will become engaged and absorbed in that task and will in turn, figure out the best movement pattern to make that happen.
As a direct result, your technique will improve. Quite the opposite of what the culture of coaching might have you believe.
The shot creates the swing, not the other way round. Think about this the next time you go to the range or the golf course, I’d love to hear how you get on.