"I am the greatest, I said that even before I knew I was." 

Muhammad Ali

Lot's of new things have been developing and changing at Confident Golf since I last post. Currently I am just chasing down the last few bugs in our approach but I promise I will be back blogging shortly. In the mean time I just wanted to get this out to you.

 Watch the video to see how you can train without manipulating the putter.  

Michael 

The above 3 photos demonstrate just how critical and exact AIM is.  Where talking 1/2 the diameter of a golf tee!

My question is HOW important is AIM, really?

One point of view like the golfer who stopped to talk to me while taking these photos is:  

AIM is really important because even if you have the perfect stroke but you miss your immediate target a fraction your going to miss the putt.  My new friend then promptly in excitement out of his discovery waved his teacher over to show him this new game changing breakthrough.

What happened next was very interesting to listen too.  

With one look the Pro came to the same conclusion...looks like in our next lesson to make more of those 8 footers to save Par of Bogey like we've been talking about to bring your score down we need to work on your AIM.

Well that is certainly ONE way to SEE it.

But if you took on that belief where would it take your game? How would it shift your practice- would it be more enjoyable?  more intense? more free? would you have fun? What if not only you believed that but your teacher supported it too?  What would your futures lessons be like?  What do you think they would tell you?  How would your conversations be structured?

I am really interested in what your first thoughts are after seeing this?  I invite you to leave your comments below.  I will be expanding on this in the near future on the blog and our soon to be launched Ezine Golf Caffeine, a monthly update on the ongoings of Confident Golf, please look for it and sign up.  Like the RSS feed its FREE and who doesn't like FREE!

But I am suggesting that there is another empowering point of view.

(Please note: During the photo shoot I moved the camera to give my friend and the pro a demonstration and I forgot to mark where the tripod was, so you will see the photos do not line up exactly.  But it does transfer through the thought) 

1. Clarify and confirm commitment (This is what your working on and you want me to observe?)
2. Let the student do it
3. Observe the students "performance"
4. Celebrate or refine or redirect approach

4.5 All great performance starts with having a clear Goal (a commitment) and Confidence. For short term enjoyment and long term progress you can't accomplish one without the other. 

CLARIFY:

One of the reasons golfers don't improve is they actually change their focus.  Clarifying defines the commitment not only of the full lesson but of THIS moment.  If may start with a general goal, I am here to work on my putting and end up with putter face over rotating. As a coach by asking intelligent questions you narrow unspecific and general putting down into something specific the student has interest in. It is important to note this is not teacher directed.

LET THE STUDENT DO IT:

Once the student clarifies their intention. Get out of the way!

OBSERVE THE PERFORMANCE:

This is where REAL learning and the seeds of self coaching are really planted, if steps 1, 2 and 3 are congruent the student should be able to handle step 4 on their own.  

CELEBRATE or REFINE or REDIRECT Approach

As a coach the one thing your looking for is *progress* When students ask: How do you do it? I always tell them the same thing I make success very, very easy to achieve and make it almost impossible to fail. In golf we rarely learn things perfectly the first time so what I am looking for is tiniest moment of success. If I have a goal for my students its unlocking their skill to manage-THIS-moment before the moment manages them.  

###

For more information about Confident Golf coaching or Golf Awareness Program mentoring

Contact

Michael Landgrebe, http://confidentgolf.com

Trendy: @confidentgolf

Old School: Michael at Confident Golf dot com

As a result of my belief in target awareness I support and encourage that initial ball flight is initiated by the direction the club shaft is moving for without that awareness of a pull swing contrasted to a push swing one is ultimately left more confused when it comes to learning the art of self coaching ball flight.  

Most golfers and teachers obsess on technical swing mechanics, that they get overly concerned about at what degrees their elbows are at, how many degrees the hips rotate and under estimate the power of sound simple fundamentals, awareness of motion and the shape of their swing they are creating in this moment.  Was it a chop or a swing?  

I choose to separate the club face and swing path into individual learning experiences and as individual development, confidence, awareness and performance improves then and only then do I blend the two events.

 If you have ever been taught how to drive a stick shift car or have tried to teach someone else then you know how challenging it can be  when you approach it as ONE process, you know the conversation "release the clutch add a little gas....stall....NO release the clutch and THEN add the GAS!!....stall.....and everyone begins to get frustrated with each passing stall.   The reality is each cars clutch is different some engage an inch off the floor board and others are 4 inches or more off the floor board.  But when you separate the two skills the clutch and the gas you have a completely different experience and understanding.  Because of the cars idle speed, you can learn the clutch first, feel where it engages and if you want stall it out on purpose to experience, here is where it picks up and right here is where it stalls. Do this enough times and without the yelling the lights come on, and a discovery is made ah that's where I add the gas.

That is basically the same approach I follow in learning golf.

In fact one of my goals with Confident Golf, TrainWIN and the Game Awareness Program is to pin point exactly where your game IS not by relying on technology but by tapping into the best computer in the world the human being and comparing your performance with your ability.

Here is just a simple idea of what Confident Golf is about:

I created this image with two words POTENTIAL and PERFORMANCE. In golf and any thing in life there is always a GAP between where you are and where you want to be.  No matter how good you think you are you can always improve, you can always get better in some small way.  If you notice there is a bigger GAP at the top and as it funnels down the GAP narrows.  Now in my experience I don't think anyone ever completely closes the GAP but everyone plays from one of those levels.  Where would you put your game right now? At the top, the middle, near the bottom?  Think about it and be honest with yourself.  I hope you find it interesting and I hope it makes you think about your current model of golf instruction, I have to keep you in some level of suspense so I can't share with you everything about the model but I can give you a hint, traditional golf instruction methods only sees POTENTIAL and PERFORMANCE and over looks everything else! 

Here is a simple drill for you to try with your friends:

USE THE VOICE OF A FRIEND ONLY

• Putt with a blindfold 
• The person putting puts on the blindfold 
• The person putting declares the distance they will putt, say 10 feet 
•  Stroke the putt and listen for your friends voice
• The role of the friend is to clarify the actual putt to the goal....2 feet short or 3 feet long and left
• Putt until you hit your commitment of 10 feet

For ADD fun call the putt before you get feedback

###

For more information about Confident Golf coaching or Golf Awareness Program mentoring

Contact

Michael Landgrebe, http://confidentgolf.com

Trendy: @confidentgolf

Old School: Michael at Confident Golf dot com

Dark Ages: Nah, I wouldn't want you to lick a stamp for me!

No matter what you've been told or choose to believe about the putting stroke we *always* swing a golf club tracing a circle on an *angled plane*  

The more upright the putter is the less the hands and club face open and close and the flatter the putter is, the hands and club face open and close more.