Here’s the first article in a new three-part series by Jayne Storey, Chi-Performance Founder and Elite Movement Coach. Jayne is a person who really knows her stuff so if you’re interested in tapping into ancient movement practices and principles to leapfrog your golfing performance then I highly encourage you to follow this series.

The ideal Golf performance state is one of relaxed concentration, quite unlike any other internal condition available and it begins to be accessible only once your mind is quiet. It’s the experience of being Present, ‘in the zone’ or flow-state (to use sporting terms) where the focus of your attention is on the task at hand (holing-out on the 18th) but you’re not thinking too much or trying too hard! How can we quantify this?

Relaxation and concentration are two seemingly opposing forces which ordinarily don’t co-exist but which are necessary for effortless movement to occur, particularly when you’re under pressure to make the shot.

Something special lies in the meeting of these two states and it can only be trained via Meditation (focusing on the breath) i.e. it’s not a mental game ‘technique’ like motivational thinking, goal setting, neuro-linguistic programming and so forth but a deep and purposeful practice.

When you’re focused but relaxed you’re paying attention in the moment and are still aware of what’s going on around you, especially the environment and the beauty of the natural world which, if you can open up to it, can contribute enormously to the internal state you’re looking for.

It also activates the occipital lobe at the back of the brain, slowing down the brain-waves and allowing for increased visual acuity and greater perception – remember when Tiger Woods halted his swing because there was a fly on the ball? Those were the days Tiger was in the zone.

On the golf course, most players over-focus and try too hard, using an inordinate amount of mental energy (interference) in the form of thoughts about the technical and mechanical aspects of the swing, such that they are no longer even Present on the golf course, enjoying some of the most glorious locations on Earth, but instead disappear altogether into the minutiae of their minds.

When you are ‘thinking about moving’ you’re engaging the pre-frontal cortex (PFC), the newest (in evolutionary terms) part of our brains which has responsibility over thinking processes like comparison, understanding and analysis. You may rightly have used this part of your mind all day at work and most likely during a lesson with your swing coach and on the driving range afterwards as you try to hone the new learning.

Using this part of the mind to try and control the complex motion of your golf swing during play spells complete game disaster as it interrupts the signal destined for the motor-system (the part of the brain responsible for movement) disrupting the chain of events in your neurons, muscles and tendons, all of which can fire quite happily in the right sequence without you interfering.

So it’s not the ordinary everyday mind that’s required on the golf course but something else, a state of attention that is relaxed and yet attentive. Perhaps this state is already there, underneath the noise you’ve got used to?

Research shows that the zone or flow-state experienced by golfers, especially around the greens, is akin to the Zen-mind achieved by regular practitioners of Meditation – the simple (but not easy) art of focusing on the breath.

When you’re in the zone (or in deep Meditation) there is an experience of internal quiet and a pulling away or detachment from distractions both internal (difficult emotions, memories, adding to your ‘To-Do’ list) and external (traffic noise, television, children playing).

The PFC goes off-line or shuts down altogether with regular practice, allowing for a more unified experience which includes the whole brain rather than any specific or individual part; it also helps to marry up your mind and body as well as calming the emotions so that you remain in balance with no single aspect predominant and over-riding the other two – again, giving you a more unified experience of yourself.

Relaxed concentration can be activated only through the process of Meditation which is simply the honing of your focus of attention on the simplest, most fundamental action that’s keeping you alive and able to play golf – your breathing.

All the problems you have on the golf course stem from not trusting the innate intelligence that lives within you and of which you are a part; trying to control it, organise and interfere with it, thinking that you know and can do better is the road to golfing misery.

Studies on Zen-mind or the meditative state of relaxed concentration show two vitally important changes of perception which are phenomenally useful for your golf game.

When you focus on and follow your breathing you greatly reduce the internal dialogue such that you have fewer thoughts about yourself, your performance and the score. This allows you to play each shot as it happens and not dwell on past holes or project your mind into the back nine.

You stop talking to yourself about outside distractions and influences as well, anything from the weather, overly chatty companions or fellow players trying to give you advice on your grip. You also won’t be rushed but will feel you have all the time in the world to make the shot. This is one of the main indicators of being in the zone.

One breath at a time, one shot at a time, one hole at a time.

Relaxed concentration is not a ‘mental game’ tip or trick, you can’t think your way into it or force it into being through an effort of mental willpower, neither is it a psychological technique that you can call upon without doing the necessary work to cultivate this state through your daily practice.

Again, it’s a practice and not a ‘technique’.

It can only be achieved through effort but not an effort of willpower i.e. you can’t force it any more than you can make yourself get in the zone. All you can do is make effort towards passivity, effort towards getting out of your own way, effort to quieten the mind, effort to follow the breath and by doing so you allow a change in your internal state.

If you train yourself in this way, with time given each day to sitting quietly following your breathing with your attention, you can recall it on the golf course any time you feel anxious, nervous, uptight or excited or to re-focus when it’s your turn to putt for the championship.

It’s interesting to note that as more technical books have been written about the golf swing and the more golfers fill their heads with technical details, the worse people are playing! A symptom of Western culture per se and the golf industry as a microcosm of this wider trend, is that we’re suffering from acute collective ADHD as our minds have become overly obsessed with information now on-tap 24/7 at the push of a button (or the swipe of a screen).

So you will need to keep working to find this state of relaxed concentration because the pull back into the default setting of the non-focused, scattered mind with an untrained attention that goes hither and yon is just too great to overcome without consistent training; it’s become the natural tendency of the Western mind which you must work against if you want to play effortless golf.

The practice of sitting quietly training the attention to follow the breath that comes and goes from your body naturally, peacefully and without any effort on your part is the way to experience more joy, happiness and inner peace, as well as more birdies and golf trophies!

Signup for Jayne’s newsletter to get your Free Training Report ‘Breathing to Win’ or find out more about Jayne’s Chi-Performance method here

In the next piece we’ll look at Jayne’s research around bio-chemistry and the best way to overcome nerves, anxiety and adrenaline when you’re on the golf course. 

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