Lizard Brain Mental Golf Tips
What is a preshot routine and why does every golf book mention it? Why is a little routine so important? The answer to these questions lies in the realms of psychology and psychology is a hugely important factor in any and every endeavour. To succeed at any sport you need to have your brain ‘onside’.
To understand a little of how a preshot routine helps you play better golf you first need to understand how the old noggin works, why it does what it does. The brain is a fluid thing and constantly adapts and changes with each experience we have. It actually changes physically by growing new connections which form neural pathways which allow it to make connections which enable you to live in the world. You know a chair is a chair because of these connections.
The brain can be broken down into two very rough parts, the emotional brain and the rational brain. The two parts can work together and often do but they can equally fight and cause trouble. When playing golf you need both parts but in different ways and that is exactly where a preshot routine helps by lining up the brains and letting them do what they do.
A successful golfer will always use a preshot routine, it helps focus his thoughts, prepare his body for action and then let his body perform that action. So what do we need for a good preshot routine?
Firstly, we have to decide what we want to happen, where we want the golf ball to go, this is course management and this is where the rational brain comes to the fore. It takes in all the data from your eyes, ears and prior knowledge if any, of the course, and processes this into a decision as to where the best place to land the ball would be. This part of the routine is normally done standing behind the ball looking down the fairway and you will see every good golfer doing it, the calculations going through their mind and quite often a club in their hands just swinging back and forth.
The next part of the preshot routine engages the emotional brain, the earliest brain sometimes referred to as the lizard brain. This is where your fight or flight response lies, there is little by the way of rationale here it is all emotion and feeling. It is also where your golf swing lives.
Your preshot routine now engages the emotional brain by visualising your golf shot, you notice how the professionals become still and focused. They are playing the shot in their lizard brain, a film show of how the shot will look, how the ball will fly and where it will land. They will then take two or three practice swings and only then will they address the ball. They are now solely using the emotional brain, no thinking is done here only feeling.
By performing your preshot routine before every shot you will grow the path ways in your brain which will allow you to perform at your highest and play your best golf.