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Articles>
If You Had IT Then You Still Do
March 1, 2011
I am sometimes asked why it is that excellent players can suddenly lose whatever it is that makes them great - better than all the rest - and also whether once they have lost IT is it possible to get IT back again?
The answers with explanations are covered in depth in the upcoming book (www.di-sport.co.uk/registerinterest.htm) however some of the basic principles are laid out here:
The Zone States
Memory Storage and the Tombola Effect
Time Distortion
The Link Between IT, The Tombola and the Zone Sates
The Zone States
These are the chemical states or other wise known to you as "states of mind" which allow you to perform well in a particular activity. In the many elements of golf such as driving, approach play, chipping, putting, competing, etc each activity has a different zone state which when accessed enables the performer to achieve extremely high levels of performance.
These zone states can be separated further within each activity depending on what you are good at you will know for instance that driving straight has a different state of mind to driving long and somewhere between these two is the state of mind of driving long and straight. As a top performer you are able to access these zone states at will. Professionals learn how to do just this through trial and error and many many hours of hard work and sweat. Now do they sit there and think "OK I need to get the right chemical mix going around my body"? Of course not most of them are unaware and couldn't care less about their mechanics, what they do is use things like pre-shot routines, key thoughts, remembered shots, etc in order to get in the right frame of mind to perform the activity in question well
Memory Storage and The Tombola Effect
We store memories in the form of our senses (see, hear, touch, taste and smell) with the former three being relied on most when constructing a plan of action.
They believe that every event that you are involved in is stored in your memory and though it isn't always easy to recall some memories you can know that they are still there.
You know those barrels that are used for tombola raffles? Imagine your golfing memory storage as one of these. Initially, think of it as empty before you start to learn. Each time you attempt to hit a ball is stored in the tombola barrel and each time you attempt to hit another shot you will first pick a memory out of the barrel (blind and at random)with which to use as a design for this next shot. After some time you may hit a good shot and following this, when you pick out of the barrel you will begin to search for a memory similar in some way to the good shot, you become a bit choosy once you know what you are looking for!
The more good shots that you put into the tombola barrel the better the chance of picking a good one out. And they don't even have to be real; they can be shots that you have played in your imagination which are still treated as memories and put in your tombola. Notice the difference between a professional and a rank amateur is that the professional has more good shot memories in his/her tombola barrel from both doing and thinking of good shots, whereas the opposite is often true of the amateur even down to replaying his hooks and slices from the last round to add yet more poor shots into his tombola - this difference may have come about through the hard work and time that the pro puts in but it also has a cumulative affect.
Time Distortion
Let's think about how once we have "it" we might lose "it".
Think of a professional "A particular professional comes to mind who had it all - winner of majors, tournaments; known for his focus on the course when he won, skill with the putter, etc".
Over time, as he got older and more of his time was required by interviewers, photographers, sponsors and family he tended to practise less and as the years and tournaments passed the number of missed putts began to mount up in numbers again. Then he got a bout of the "Yips" which affected his performance and his results.
Each time he had a bout and the ball missed the hole he stored that as a memory in the form of pictures, sounds, and more importantly feelings and these memories went in to his tombola.
Given that this professional is in the public eye interviewers ask him to talk them through HIS problems (which he has to replay in his mind in order to explain thus sticking yet more YIP memories in his tombola), well wishers comment on each and every putt missed - notice no-one comments on the putts that went in, and very soon the professional was thinking over and over again about what was causing it - each time putting another YIP memory into his tombola. When he came to play a short putt soon after he finds himself rooting around in the tombola and every memory felt like a YIP - now the pro just knows that he can't get the YIPS out of his head at the time. The more he thought about the YIPS the more chance he gave himself of having them!
The Link Between IT, The Tombola and the Zone Sates
You have probably already worked out the link for yourself and this is explained in the book however the key to the answer to the second part of the question is that YES it is possible to get it back again.
Assume that the professional falls out of the limelight of the sponsors, interviewers and others who have either eaten into his practise time or have compounded by adding to the poor memories being stored.
Out on his own he begins to practise like he loved to before and he begins again to create many more good putt memories in his tombola along with a sense of enjoyment- let's say he then changes tour and moves away from those who compounded his poor memories and finds people who just are glad he's on their tour or they want to talk more about the flamboyance of his clothing than his golf. Before long he finds that his performance comes back, his tombola seems full of good putts and here we go again...
The Truth of it is... watch for the next atricle or getting the message now go straight to http://www.di-sport.co.uk/sportenhancementproductscds.html
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31 Rock Hill, Bromsgrove, Worcs, B61 7LL, United Kingdom
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