Instruction
Why I can’t tell a 15-handicap he’s thinking too much
You’re thinking too much. Just hit it. Stop thinking about it. Paralysis by analysis.
Does any of this sound familiar? If you’ve ever been to a driving range or played at your local course, I’ll bet you’ve heard it. The spirit of the message is always the same: that too many golfers are caught up in mechanics and thoughts to be able to swing and play golf freely. And it’s a great idea for the maximum enjoyment of golf, so long as you are not concerned with results.
If your goal in playing golf is to enjoy your time with friends, the fresh air, the bucolic setting and all the rest, I suggest you:
- Hit the ball.
- Go find it.
- Repeat steps one and two.
If your golf goals have to do with improving your shot quality, shooting lower scores or competing against your peers, however, you may not have the liberty of not thinking. That is, you may have to focus on certain motions UNTIL they become ingrained enough to be executed instinctively.
This can be Pandora’s box of golf if one is not careful. Any experienced teacher would agree that too much thinking is not a good thing, however, to get to the point of non-thinking — the Zen of golf if you will — you will likely have to think. There may very well come a point when the body begins to act intuitively, but it has been my experience that the time and point where this occurs is sometimes later in one’s development.
There are many examples of this.
Let’s start with the grip. When we hand a golf clubs to people who have never played golf, they rarely hold it “correctly,” by which I mean functionally. So we show them how it should be held, and at first, it appears quite strange. They practice it over and over again until it feels natural, until they do it without thinking. I have been playing golf for some 55 years so I grip the club instinctively, but I you that at one time I had to think about how to do it.
Now ask the same people to make a backswing. Again, they won’t make anything resembling getting to the top of the swing in a favorable position to start down. I teach them the sequence, and then they practice it (and think about it) until it becomes more natural. And on it goes.
I can remember my early days of driving a car. Hands at 10 and 2, clutch in, shift, brake, etc. It was all quite confusing, to the point where I’d have to pull off the road, gather my thoughts and start again. I had to learn to drive the car. I did this by thinking about how to do it, practicing it and then executing it. Now I drive home and have no idea how I even got there, or where my hands or feet were. The point is this: muscles, tendons, joints, etc., do not act on their own. They need to be programmed — told what to do by the brain — at least for a period of time, which brings me to my role as teacher.
I cannot tell someone with a terrible grip to just go play or stop thinking so much. I cannot teach the art of mindless golf to someone standing at the golf ball in such a way as to not allow them to make anything resembling a swing. I MUST correct the grip and the posture if they wish to improve; it’s as simple as that. If you’re a regular reader of my work, you know that everyone is quite different in their method, but the commonality is at some point all golfers will need to focus (think) about making a new move if the one they’re making is not getting the desired results they want or expect.
I also teach professional golfers and highly skilled amateurs who have reached the point of instinctive golf. And yes, it’s true that at times they do get in their own road by thinking too much. It’s an entirely different animal and is worthy of a whole other discussion. The vast majority of golfers, however, especially those who took up the game later in life, may have to accept the fact that some processing — some thinking about how to do certain things — will always be a part of their routine. They do not have the liberty of mindless golf, at least not to the degree that those more accomplished players who have played since a very young age (and often with good guidance) do. But once a move or position has become instinctive, swing away.
One more point on this. The setup and the swing, although quite closely related, are separate parts of a golf game. So let’s say you take a lesson and the instructor recommends a grip change, a ball position change and re-routes your back swing. After you learn the new grip and ball position, you can free your mind. You are fully operative at that point, and free to practice the new takeaway until it becomes instinctive.
Questions? Concerns? Post your comments below. If you’re interested in my online swing analysis program you can contact me at dennisclarkgolf@gmail.com.
There may be no more painful affliction in golf than the “yips” – those uncontrollable and maddening little nervous twitches that prevent you from making a decent stroke on short putts. If you’ve never had them, consider yourself very fortunate (or possibly just very young). But I can assure you that when your most treacherous and feared golf shot is not the 195 yard approach over water with a quartering headwind…not the extra tight fairway with water left and sand right…not the soft bunker shot to a downhill pin with water on the other side…No, when your most feared shot is the remaining 2- 4-foot putt after hitting a great approach, recovery or lag putt, it makes the game almost painful.
And I’ve been fighting the yips (again) for a while now. It’s a recurring nightmare that has haunted me most of my adult life. I even had the yips when I was in my 20s, but I’ve beat them into submission off and on most of my adult life. But just recently, that nasty virus came to life once again. My lag putting has been very good, but when I get over one of those “you should make this” length putts, the entire nervous system seems to go haywire. I make great practice strokes, and then the most pitiful short-stroke or jab at the ball you can imagine. Sheesh.
But I’m a traditionalist, and do not look toward the long putter, belly putter, cross-hand, claw or other variation as the solution. My approach is to beat those damn yips into submission some other way. Here’s what I’m doing that is working pretty well, and I offer it to all of you who might have a similar affliction on the greens.
When you are over a short putt, forget the practice strokes…you want your natural eye-hand coordination to be unhindered by mechanics. Address your putt and take a good look at the hole, and back to the putter to ensure good alignment. Lighten your right hand grip on the putter and make sure that only the fingertips are in contact with the grip, to prevent you from getting to tight.
Then, take a long, long look at the hole to fill your entire mind and senses with the target. When you bring your head/eyes back to the ball, try to make a smooth, immediate move right into your backstroke — not even a second pause — and then let your hands and putter track right back together right back to where you were looking — the HOLE! Seeing the putter make contact with the ball, preferably even the forward edge of the ball – the side near the hole.
For me, this is working, but I am asking all of you to chime in with your own “home remedies” for the most aggravating and senseless of all golf maladies. It never hurts to have more to fall back on!
Over the last couple of decades, golf has become much more science-based. We measure swing speed, smash factor, angle of attack, strokes gained, and many other metrics that can really help golfers improve. But I often wonder if the advancement of golf’s “hard” sciences comes at the expense of the “soft” sciences.
Take, for example, golf instruction. Good golf instruction requires understanding swing mechanics and ball flight. But let’s take that as a given for PGA instructors. The other factors that make an instructor effective can be evaluated by social science, rather than launch monitors.
If you are a recreational golfer looking for a golf instructor, here are my top three points to consider.
1. Cultural mindset
What is “cultural mindset? To social scientists, it means whether a culture of genius or a culture of learning exists. In a golf instruction context, that may mean whether the teacher communicates a message that golf ability is something innate (you either have it or you don’t), or whether golf ability is something that can be learned. You want the latter!
It may sound obvious to suggest that you find a golf instructor who thinks you can improve, but my research suggests that it isn’t a given. In a large sample study of golf instructors, I found that when it came to recreational golfers, there was a wide range of belief systems. Some instructors strongly believed recreational golfers could improve through lessons. while others strongly believed they could not. And those beliefs manifested in the instructor’s feedback given to a student and the culture created for players.
2. Coping and self-modeling can beat role-modeling
Swing analysis technology is often preloaded with swings of PGA and LPGA Tour players. The swings of elite players are intended to be used for comparative purposes with golfers taking lessons. What social science tells us is that for novice and non-expert golfers, comparing swings to tour professionals can have the opposite effect of that intended. If you fit into the novice or non-expert category of golfer, you will learn more and be more motivated to change if you see yourself making a ‘better’ swing (self-modeling) or seeing your swing compared to a similar other (a coping model). Stay away from instructors who want to compare your swing with that of a tour player.
3. Learning theory basics
It is not a sexy selling point, but learning is a process, and that process is incremental – particularly for recreational adult players. Social science helps us understand this element of golf instruction. A good instructor will take learning slowly. He or she will give you just about enough information that challenges you, but is still manageable. The artful instructor will take time to decide what that one or two learning points are before jumping in to make full-scale swing changes. If the instructor moves too fast, you will probably leave the lesson with an arm’s length of swing thoughts and not really know which to focus on.
As an instructor, I develop a priority list of changes I want to make in a player’s technique. We then patiently and gradually work through that list. Beware of instructors who give you more than you can chew.
So if you are in the market for golf instruction, I encourage you to look beyond the X’s and O’s to find the right match!
Most pros take months, even years, to win their first tournament. Lottie Woad needed exactly four days.
The 21-year-old from Surrey shot 21-under 267 at Dundonald Links to win the ISPS Handa Women’s Scottish Open by three shots — in her very first event as a professional. She’s only the third player in LPGA history to accomplish this feat, joining Rose Zhang (2023) and Beverly Hanson (1951).
But here’s what caught my attention as a coach: Woad didn’t win through miraculous putting or bombing 300-yard drives. She won through relentless precision and unshakeable composure. After watching her performance unfold, I’m convinced every golfer — from weekend warriors to scratch players — can steal pages from her playbook.
Precision Beats Power (And It’s Not Even Close)
Forget the driving contests. Woad proved that finding greens matters more than finding distance.
What Woad did:
• Hit it straight, hit it solid, give yourself chances
• Aimed for the fat parts of greens instead of chasing pins
• Let her putting do the talking after hitting safe targets
• As she said, “Everyone was chasing me today, and managed to maintain the lead and played really nicely down the stretch and hit a lot of good shots”
Why most golfers mess this up:
• They see a pin tucked behind a bunker and grab one more club to “go right at it”
• Distance becomes more important than accuracy
• They try to be heroic instead of smart
ACTION ITEM: For your next 10 rounds, aim for the center of every green regardless of pin position. Track your greens in regulation and watch your scores drop before your swing changes.
The Putter That Stayed Cool Under Fire
Woad started the final round two shots clear and immediately applied pressure with birdies at the 2nd and 3rd holes. When South Korea’s Hyo Joo Kim mounted a charge and reached 20-under with a birdie at the 14th, Woad didn’t panic.
How she responded to pressure:
• Fired back with consecutive birdies at the 13th and 14th
• Watched Kim stumble with back-to-back bogeys
• Capped it with her fifth birdie of the day at the par-5 18th
• Stayed patient when others pressed, pressed when others cracked
What amateurs do wrong:
• Get conservative when they should be aggressive
• Try to force magic when steady play would win
• Panic when someone else makes a move
ACTION ITEM: Practice your 3-6 foot putts for 15 minutes after every range session. Woad’s putting wasn’t spectacular—it was reliable. Make the putts you should make.
Course Management 101: Play Your Game, Not the Course’s Game
Woad admitted she couldn’t see many scoreboards during the final round, but it didn’t matter. She stuck to her game plan regardless of what others were doing.
Her mental approach:
• Focused on her process, not the competition
• Drew on past pressure situations (Augusta National Women’s Amateur win)
• As she said, “That was the biggest tournament I played in at the time and was kind of my big win. So definitely felt the pressure of it more there, and I felt like all those experiences helped me with this”
Her physical execution:
• 270-yard drives (nothing flashy)
• Methodical iron play
• Steady putting
• Everything effective, nothing spectacular
ACTION ITEM: Create a yardage book for your home course. Know your distances to every pin, every hazard, every landing area. Stick to your plan no matter what your playing partners are doing.
Mental Toughness Isn’t Born, It’s Built
The most impressive part of Woad’s win? She genuinely didn’t expect it: “I definitely wasn’t expecting to win my first event as a pro, but I knew I was playing well, and I was hoping to contend.”
Her winning mindset:
• Didn’t put winning pressure on herself
• Focused on playing well and contending
• Made winning a byproduct of a good process
• Built confidence through recent experiences:
- Won the Women’s Irish Open as an amateur
- Missed a playoff by one shot at the Evian Championship
- Each experience prepared her for the next
What this means for you:
• Stop trying to shoot career rounds every time you tee up
• Focus on executing your pre-shot routine
• Commit to every shot
• Stay present in the moment
ACTION ITEM: Before each round, set process goals instead of score goals. Example: “I will take three practice swings before every shot” or “I will pick a specific target for every shot.” Let your score be the result, not the focus.
The Real Lesson
Woad collected $300,000 for her first professional victory, but the real prize was proving that fundamentals still work at golf’s highest level. She didn’t reinvent the game — she simply executed the basics better than everyone else that week.
The fundamentals that won:
• Hit more fairways
• Find more greens
• Make the putts you should make
• Stay patient under pressure
That’s something every golfer can do, regardless of handicap. Lottie Woad just showed us it’s still the winning formula.
FINAL ACTION ITEM: Pick one of the four action items above and commit to it for the next month. Master one fundamental before moving to the next. That’s how champions are built.
PGA Professional Brendon Elliott is an award-winning coach and golf writer. You can check out his writing work and learn more about him by visiting BEAGOLFER.golf and OneMoreRollGolf.com. Also, check out “The Starter” on RG.org each Monday.
Editor’s note: Brendon shares his nearly 30 years of experience in the game with GolfWRX readers through his ongoing tip series. He looks forward to providing valuable insights and advice to help golfers improve their game. Stay tuned for more Tips!
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Steven
Nov 16, 2016 at 1:39 pm
Great advice Dennis. I am a little biased because I tend to think a ton about the swing. When people say a golfer is overthinking, my guess is the golfer is trying to think about too many different things at once. Incremental improvement with focused thinking on a limited number of changes is necessary to make changes. If it takes 21 days of conscious choices to break a habit, then changing a small thing in a rapid golf swing would take similar conscious thoughts over a significant amount of time.
Mongoose
Nov 15, 2016 at 1:41 pm
Also watching the golf channel for instruction, geez what a joke…
Grizz01
Nov 14, 2016 at 4:32 pm
I’ve been playing golf for 47 years. The more I watch/read the instructions from professionals, the more I see them actually making the game harder/difficult. A person only has so much talent/ability. These guy just keep pushing it… they just an’t look at a student and say… “That’s the best its going to get for you.” They got to keep them coming back to pay the bills. The game is not as difficult as you all make it out to be.
Dennis Clark
Nov 16, 2016 at 9:23 am
Actually, I appreciate your cynicism, but having done this work for 35+ years I’ve got a long line of people who want to see me for help with their game. The LAST THING I want is for anyone to come back; one and done! Point them in the right direction — now go tell someone else I’ve helped you. That’s my marketing model. A good teaching pro’s day has fresh faces every day and a new problem to solve every hour. Thanks.
RCCM
Nov 17, 2016 at 10:27 am
Caveat, I’m not an instructor. So many people who throw shade at instructors are the same ones who are unable to accept any new movement or setup position in their golf game. You can give golfers the correct instruction but you can’t give them the mental fortitude to put it into practice. I see it with my friends, and I’ve been through it myself.
The real battle is not finding and getting the correct instruction, the real battle is getting the student to accept the instruction and practice new and uncomfortable feelings. The difference between those who will get better and those who will not is between the ears.
If you’re not willing to be uncomfortable, you will not get better.
Martin Chuck
Nov 14, 2016 at 12:44 pm
Dennis, great article. I’ve been teaching for 30 years, and when I hear somebody with a high handicap tell me they’re thinking too much, I say “good, now I have you right where I want you.” With my golf school students, I will ask the group if any of them have played a musical instrument. I find those that have suffered through the learning and skill development of a musical instrument understand the process of learning. That can apply to golf really nicely. On the other hand, The “athlete” just expects to do something because of their physical skills in other areas. That’s problematic 🙂
Dennis Clark
Nov 14, 2016 at 4:09 pm
Hi Martin, as a 20-handicap guitar player and singer I can soooo relate to that. Patience is a learned skill and one of ther few times we get to practice it is when challenging ourselves with learning a new task. Ive worked with some of the greatest athletes ever, Dr. J. MJ, (taught in AC New jersey for some time and many of them would come on casino outings) and they can’t believe they cant hit that little white ball just sitting still in front of them! The less physically talented, as you mentioned, are not as shocked by slices and and ground balls!
Modog
Nov 14, 2016 at 11:14 am
tried to tell a 22 h/cap to keep it simple. pick the club, 1 practice swing and hit it, no overthinking. he said how do you turn off your brain. couldn’t answer.
Dennis Clark
Nov 14, 2016 at 4:00 pm
Mo…”brain dead” bodies do not move. For obvious reasons. Every movement we make has to start in the brain. It can become instinct but needs programming first! So as much as i would prefer non-thought it wouldn’t help me learn a skill! Thx for reading.
Bob Jones
Nov 14, 2016 at 10:52 am
What this means to me is to set up feeling the shot, not the stroke. I don’t know if a recreational golfer can ever have enough repetitions to get to that point. I’m not there, and I’ve been playing for almost 60 years.
Cap
Nov 14, 2016 at 10:46 am
So much truth here. I recently read an article about how ones fondness for pseudo-intellectual quotes (‘By blossoming, we dream.’ or ‘You and I are dreamweavers of the quantum soup’ etc.) is inversely proportional to their IQ. Well, golf has it’s own lexicon of bollocks babble–golfisms, if you will. We’ve all heard them: ‘keep your head down’, ‘hold the club like a baby bird’, ‘take 2 weeks off then quit the game’ (actually, this is pretty solid). Much like psycho-babble quotes, golfisms are appealing because they are concise and have an element of truth. In fact, they might even work for you provided you don’t spend too much time thinking about ‘buts’ and ‘ifs’. But an effective golf swing is a shape-shifting beast. People are built differently both mentally and physically and even a layman who sees Arnie’s swing next to Hogan’s can tell you that there may very well be more than one way to play the game. The reality is, there are precious few blanket statements when it comes to the golf swing and if you read the time-worn clichés as gospel, you’ll probably never see the light.
Double Mocha Man
Nov 14, 2016 at 11:48 am
Good post. If I ever hear the phrases again, “Keep your head down, you’re hitting behind the ball, swing easy…” I will hurl. Both my stomach contents and the club I happen to be holding at the time.
Dennis Clark
Nov 14, 2016 at 4:20 pm
Mocha, LOL. here’s one for ya…In over 35 years of teaching I have NEVER seen a student “pick up their head”. They come to the tee swearing that’s the problem, then look at the video and are SHOCKED that their head is down and they are looking right at the golf ball! John Jacobs used to tell me that he heard so much about keeping the head down, he thought the object of the game was to kick the ball.
Dennis Clark
Nov 14, 2016 at 3:54 pm
Very true Cap. If you hear keep your down, keep your left arm straight, slow your swing down, walk away. A lot of the psycho babble is because that person knows nothing else to say…There are NO, as in ZERO things that apply to every single golfer other than the ballistics of impact! How to get there is a highly individual matter! Thx for reading.
Gary
Nov 14, 2016 at 9:52 am
Don’t expect so much of yourself no matter what level of player you are. Yes, you can visualize your shots but don’t fantasize about them. Play to a level that is within EASY reach, not a level that is far beyond your ability. The one thing you can focus your attention on is balance…you should strive to keep your balance no matter how good or bad the contact with the ball might be. By keeping your balance, you will become more consistent with your quality of hits.
4Right
Nov 13, 2016 at 8:10 pm
Tell them to stop reading Golf Digest, and Golf magazine. Taking the cookie cutter lessons and thinking their way to 115…
Egor
Nov 13, 2016 at 4:43 pm
Thanks for the unstoppable autoplay videos on mobile devices.
¯\_(?)_/¯
SOL
Nov 12, 2016 at 10:48 pm
Stages of Learning:
1. Unconscious Incompetence – you don’t know what you don’t know
2. Conscious Incompetence – you don’t know how to do what you know about
3. Conscious Competence – you know what to do and can do it, but you have to think about it consciously
4. Unconscious Competence – you have fully ingrained the correct movements and can execute without consciously thinking about them
Dennis Clark
Nov 13, 2016 at 12:39 pm
Stage 1. As Seen in every beginner
Stage 2. As Seen in early days of lessons
Stage 3. As Seen in skilled amateurs.
Stage 4. As seen on TV.
TWShoot67
Nov 13, 2016 at 2:02 pm
I like this analogy ^^^^^^^
Double Mocha Man
Nov 12, 2016 at 8:44 pm
I play with 15 handicappers and they always have swing keys but they are the wrong ones. One guy, bless his heart, is an attorney so his swing keys are absolutely right. You can’t even question them.
Toad37
Nov 13, 2016 at 3:16 pm
Cool starry bra
J.
Nov 12, 2016 at 7:32 pm
This even rings true when someone is custom fit for clubs.. You can pay for golf equipment, but if you have a horrible swing.. then.. go see an instructor with a Trackman.
Hugh
Nov 12, 2016 at 4:44 pm
Even just one thought that is easily repeated to give you focus and commitment to each shot has worked for me. Very good article and rings true to all of my customers that use our driving range.
Rors
Nov 12, 2016 at 1:23 pm
I think with the evolution of flight scope, swing instruction has become more a science now. Instructors have a vast amount of information based on different numbers they see on data they collect. So in my opinion students gets intimidated with information, thus think swing not golf. Instructors need to be very creative when teaching, getting to know the student and theirs goals. I would never teach a recreational golfer the same as a top junior, or college player. My lesson plan would be more around him correcting mistakes made on the course, plus not trying to transform their swing other than to enhance it… Great article and it brings up many opinions, which this is mine… Thanks for reading, and would love to read yours…
Dennis Clark
Nov 12, 2016 at 5:53 pm
swings and students are like fingerprints,with no two alike…over nearly 40 years and 30K lessons, I never plan a day or lesson. I react to what i see instinctively and correct (or not) from there. The principles of instruction are finite, the methods of presentation infinite. Thx for your interest.
Smokin' Gun
Nov 12, 2016 at 1:06 pm
Caveman golf… Hit ball, find ball, hit ball again…
Shanker
Nov 14, 2016 at 12:21 pm
Sometimes the 2nd part is the hardest to achieve!!!
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acemandrake
Nov 12, 2016 at 11:41 am
Correct. I started playing at 9 (I’m now 59) with good instruction.
The more you play the more “natural” and instinctive the game becomes (playing golf NOT golf swing).
Now if I can just get out of my own way…:)
Dennis Clark
Nov 12, 2016 at 5:47 pm
Thats the point, you can play “golf not golf swing” from 50 years of playing not everyone can. Thx