1 00:00:01,080 --> 00:00:04,960 Before we begin, I have to warn you, especially if you're listening in 2 00:00:05,000 --> 00:00:08,919 your car. At around the twelve minute mark, you're going to hear sirens, 3 00:00:09,480 --> 00:00:13,599 but they're passing by our guest's apartment as she lives in downtown London. 4 00:00:13,880 --> 00:00:17,039 I'm sorry I couldn't remove it, but I just wanted to make sure that 5 00:00:17,079 --> 00:00:21,280 it doesn't scare you or you react to it. And one more thing. 6 00:00:21,920 --> 00:00:28,480 This is episode nine twelve and we're publishing it on nine twelve, twenty three. 7 00:00:29,120 --> 00:00:32,520 It's like my buddy John says, when he hits a golf shot that 8 00:00:32,560 --> 00:00:38,640 has a great result, just like I drew it up. It's not the 9 00:00:38,719 --> 00:00:43,840 golfer's job to try to hit the perfect shot. It's a golfer's job to 10 00:00:44,000 --> 00:00:50,200 try to be connected mind an attention in the breathing, in the body, 11 00:00:50,320 --> 00:00:55,880 in the center of gravity in the feet, and when that state is realized 12 00:00:56,000 --> 00:01:02,560 as in a connection, then movement is connected. Every single person who's ever 13 00:01:02,600 --> 00:01:07,719 been in the flow state, nobody has said I was thinking always technical thoughts, 14 00:01:08,239 --> 00:01:11,920 oh sinking, how brilliant a golfer. I am thinking everything that my 15 00:01:12,040 --> 00:01:15,840 mind coach had told me. No, they don't say that. They say 16 00:01:15,879 --> 00:01:19,959 I was balanced. I was relaxed, I was ready. I had a 17 00:01:21,000 --> 00:01:26,599 clarity of intention, and my body moved. It was effortless. This is 18 00:01:26,640 --> 00:01:30,799 Jeff Watson, sant Anna, California. I play at a Willowick golf course 19 00:01:30,280 --> 00:01:37,040 and you were listening to Golf Smarter episode nine twelve, Connecting your mind, 20 00:01:37,319 --> 00:01:42,439 breath and movement on the greens with author and teacher Jane's story. This is 21 00:01:42,599 --> 00:01:49,480 Golf Smarter, sharing stories, tips and insights from great golf mines to help 22 00:01:49,480 --> 00:01:53,519 you lower your score and raise your golf IQ. Here's your host, Fred 23 00:01:53,560 --> 00:01:59,480 Green. Welcome back to the Golf Smarter podcast. Jane. Hello, Fred, 24 00:01:59,560 --> 00:02:02,959 it's great to be seeing you again online. Thanks for asking me to 25 00:02:04,000 --> 00:02:09,800 come back. Oh absolutely, because new content. I'm excited. Took a 26 00:02:09,840 --> 00:02:15,919 new approach this time to your Connected series. This is Connected putting, which 27 00:02:16,080 --> 00:02:21,680 is one of my favorite topics. I don't know why, because I just 28 00:02:21,759 --> 00:02:25,919 keep wanting to learn more to try to improve my putting. And this is 29 00:02:25,960 --> 00:02:31,000 not just a book. Actually it isn't a book. It's actually an audio 30 00:02:31,120 --> 00:02:36,680 program which is available on my website. And I'm sure you're going to give 31 00:02:36,719 --> 00:02:40,280 the link at some point, but it's an audio program that I put together 32 00:02:42,000 --> 00:02:46,599 for people who have read Breathe Golf, which was my first book, and 33 00:02:46,840 --> 00:02:53,560 Connected Golf. If you have read those two books or listen to them audible, 34 00:02:53,280 --> 00:02:57,840 then you'll have some kind of idea of my background and the approach that 35 00:02:57,919 --> 00:03:04,280 I'm bringing to the performance space and Connected Putting is really a follow on from 36 00:03:04,599 --> 00:03:10,599 from those two books. It's actually it's a unique approach. This is not 37 00:03:10,800 --> 00:03:17,080 the same kind of approach you get from a you know, a golf instructor 38 00:03:17,120 --> 00:03:21,120 who's writing a book. You come at it from a very different place, 39 00:03:21,680 --> 00:03:25,199 not necessarily as a golfer, but definitely as an instructor. I come at 40 00:03:25,240 --> 00:03:30,000 it from a completely different place. And it's taken me twenty years of hard 41 00:03:30,039 --> 00:03:37,719 work to even to begin to be listened to by the golf you know, 42 00:03:37,800 --> 00:03:42,639 the people in the golf village. As one of my mentors likes to call 43 00:03:42,719 --> 00:03:47,560 it. I'm not a golfer. I'm a movement and performance coach, and 44 00:03:47,639 --> 00:03:52,919 my background is in the martial arts, the Eastern arts like martial arts, 45 00:03:53,039 --> 00:04:00,520 tai chi, and meditation, And rather than watering down those practices to make 46 00:04:00,560 --> 00:04:08,120 them easier and more palatable for people, I decided to stick with the authentic 47 00:04:08,240 --> 00:04:17,319 practice and just bringing out the essential elements of tai chi and a true and 48 00:04:17,480 --> 00:04:27,079 traditional practice of meditation to help golfers in two respects. Really, so my 49 00:04:27,160 --> 00:04:32,560 work is divided into two pillars. One is about breathing, awareness of the 50 00:04:32,639 --> 00:04:40,199 breathing and following the breath in a formal meditation practice, which most of my 51 00:04:40,360 --> 00:04:44,560 readers and clients are doing. If they're not doing it every day, they're 52 00:04:44,560 --> 00:04:49,399 certainly practicing three or four times a week, and we've unpacked this on a 53 00:04:49,560 --> 00:04:58,399 previous podcast episode. But the breathing meditation, it helps to quiet and the 54 00:04:58,480 --> 00:05:02,560 mind control the bi io chemistry, the nerves, and the anxiety. And 55 00:05:02,600 --> 00:05:10,279 when all that stuff is quiet, then the body can move freely. So 56 00:05:10,319 --> 00:05:15,600 the body does not like to it cannot respond to a checklist of instruction, 57 00:05:15,240 --> 00:05:18,959 Do this, do that, do this, do that, which is like 58 00:05:19,240 --> 00:05:28,319 a checklist approach to golf and to sport. The body moves freely and naturally 59 00:05:28,519 --> 00:05:31,920 when the mind is put to one side. That's the analytical mind, the 60 00:05:32,000 --> 00:05:39,120 thinking mind is put to one side. The other part of my work is 61 00:05:39,160 --> 00:05:44,279 about fundamental movement principle. So this is from thirty six years of tai chi 62 00:05:44,480 --> 00:05:49,560 training and This is all spoken about in Connected Golf, and of course we've 63 00:05:49,560 --> 00:05:56,759 done a podcast on that as well. So they're fundamental movement principles, how 64 00:05:56,839 --> 00:06:04,399 to set the body in a way that's athletic but also relaxed, and those 65 00:06:04,439 --> 00:06:14,240 two approaches unite to help the golfer bring their mental and their physical, their 66 00:06:14,279 --> 00:06:19,680 mind game and their technique together as one. And nowhere is that needed more 67 00:06:20,160 --> 00:06:28,199 than on the putting green. Absolutely absolutely, Why did you pick golf if 68 00:06:28,199 --> 00:06:31,839 you're if you know, you come from martial arts and you don't play Yeah, 69 00:06:32,399 --> 00:06:35,920 yeah, why did you say jack Nickolas? It's all because of Jackney 70 00:06:36,000 --> 00:06:42,920 class. And in fact, about twenty five years ago, when I was 71 00:06:43,000 --> 00:06:47,279 still teaching tai Chi classes. I taught them for about ten or fifteen years, 72 00:06:47,959 --> 00:06:51,399 you know at the local wreck, at the local sports center, the 73 00:06:51,439 --> 00:06:57,720 health center, the local village hall, and a lot of my students were 74 00:06:57,759 --> 00:07:01,120 coming back to the classes week on week and they were winning golf tournaments, 75 00:07:02,040 --> 00:07:08,639 and they were winning swimming tournaments, and they were having these amazing, you 76 00:07:08,680 --> 00:07:14,160 know, in the zone experiences when they were on holiday skiing. So I 77 00:07:14,199 --> 00:07:19,920 started to think there's something in this. And it was mostly the golfers who 78 00:07:19,959 --> 00:07:23,879 were saying, oh, my game's improved, or you know, I'm not 79 00:07:23,959 --> 00:07:28,600 thinking so much when I'm over the board, or my swing feels more connected. 80 00:07:29,360 --> 00:07:31,600 And so of course, if you if you know nothing about golf and 81 00:07:31,680 --> 00:07:35,439 you start to look in that, you know that time, that's twenty years 82 00:07:35,439 --> 00:07:40,560 ago, it was Jack Nique Class. I thought, well, i'll study 83 00:07:40,639 --> 00:07:46,120 from the best. And Jack said that golf has played with the feet. 84 00:07:46,480 --> 00:07:50,360 You know, all the movement in golf is anchored in the feet, with 85 00:07:50,480 --> 00:07:56,000 the legs that are loaded. And he was famous for leaving his footprints in 86 00:07:56,040 --> 00:07:59,839 the ground after he teed off. I mean, there was nobody more grounded 87 00:08:00,040 --> 00:08:03,920 than Jack nick Class. And I also think he had a very quiet mind. 88 00:08:05,560 --> 00:08:07,360 People say, oh, we had the toughest mind in golf, but 89 00:08:07,519 --> 00:08:11,800 I don't think it was a tough mind. I think it was a quiet 90 00:08:11,879 --> 00:08:18,120 mind, very quiet, and he had a pure intention. Pure and intention. 91 00:08:18,480 --> 00:08:26,079 There's nothing to do with analytical thinking. It's somewhere it emerges from a 92 00:08:26,279 --> 00:08:33,759 quiet inner state. So anyway, it was Jack. That's why I'm here. 93 00:08:35,120 --> 00:08:37,159 You know, it's interesting when you talk about a tough mind versus a 94 00:08:37,240 --> 00:08:43,000 quiet mind. I think on the quiet mind is on the internal side that 95 00:08:43,320 --> 00:08:46,960 internally he had a very quiet mind. But the tough mind, the way 96 00:08:48,000 --> 00:08:54,200 I can see it is as a competitor, he was viewed from the competition 97 00:08:54,600 --> 00:08:58,840 as tough minded. Of course, So if you look internal and external view 98 00:09:00,279 --> 00:09:05,320 of what the mind does. But if you looked at a samurai warrior with 99 00:09:05,440 --> 00:09:13,240 a quiet mind, I mean, there's quiet and there's you know, quiet 100 00:09:13,120 --> 00:09:18,240 can be scary. You know, people who go defintely quiet in an argument, 101 00:09:18,279 --> 00:09:22,279 they're more frightening the people that yell and scream, you know. So 102 00:09:22,320 --> 00:09:26,960 it's a I mean, he wrote a lot in golf and life. He 103 00:09:26,039 --> 00:09:31,279 wrote about self mastery. The game is the game of golf is one of 104 00:09:31,360 --> 00:09:37,879 self mastery, and it really is all about that. And that's that is 105 00:09:37,399 --> 00:09:43,320 my approach. I mean when I've talked to people, and I've spoken to 106 00:09:43,480 --> 00:09:50,200 hundreds of golfers at all different levels, from the pros right down to people 107 00:09:50,240 --> 00:09:56,000 that just play at their club at the weekend, but everybody who has had 108 00:09:56,039 --> 00:10:01,320 the experience of hitting the perfect shot, they all that the mind was quiet. 109 00:10:03,080 --> 00:10:07,519 They felt relaxed, they had a clear intention. There was a clarity 110 00:10:07,639 --> 00:10:13,519 of intention about what they wanted to do. And at the highest level of 111 00:10:13,600 --> 00:10:20,080 golf. People also talk about a sense of knowing rather than thinking. They 112 00:10:20,360 --> 00:10:26,600 know that this ball is going to be pure and true. It's very interesting, 113 00:10:26,639 --> 00:10:33,080 but none of that, of course, can occur with the mainstream approach, 114 00:10:33,080 --> 00:10:39,320 which is, let's think about how we're thinking, and let's think about 115 00:10:39,440 --> 00:10:46,279 how we're going to move in a few moments time. You know, And 116 00:10:46,240 --> 00:10:52,600 anybody who has had a flow state experience on the course, that'll all say 117 00:10:52,399 --> 00:11:00,679 they were in the moment. Yeah, I've, uh, you know, 118 00:11:00,679 --> 00:11:03,639 I've I've experienced that. And it's interesting that you brought up swimming and golf. 119 00:11:05,840 --> 00:11:11,639 Swimming, I've I've definitely experienced a flow state once I was deep into 120 00:11:11,679 --> 00:11:16,200 my swim, long into it. But it's constant motion, and it's a 121 00:11:16,360 --> 00:11:22,679 it's such a repetitive motion that it's easy to stop thinking about it and just 122 00:11:24,320 --> 00:11:28,399 go with it and stay with it. Which was the times that I felt 123 00:11:28,399 --> 00:11:33,559 that had been wonderful. It's not as frequent, and I definitely golf much 124 00:11:33,600 --> 00:11:43,240 more than I swim, but the times that I've felt disconnected from my actions 125 00:11:43,960 --> 00:11:50,240 and just just was going. But it's hard to do because you have so 126 00:11:50,360 --> 00:11:56,600 much time in between the action. Yes, it's it's a shame. I 127 00:11:56,639 --> 00:12:01,399 know what you mean about swimming, because I'm a swimmer and I've had flow 128 00:12:01,480 --> 00:12:05,639 state experiences when I'm swimming. When I was a lot younger, I used 129 00:12:05,639 --> 00:12:13,120 to run, and similarly, in running, have had experiences where, you 130 00:12:13,120 --> 00:12:16,200 know, coming around a bend, there's a huge hill and instead of going 131 00:12:16,240 --> 00:12:20,559 oh god, oh you know, and worrying about it, you just stay 132 00:12:20,600 --> 00:12:24,799 with that breath, stay with that step, and you're in the flow state 133 00:12:24,840 --> 00:12:35,039 and nothing alters inside. But you see, golfers have an enormous opportunity in 134 00:12:35,080 --> 00:12:43,200 those moments of stillness, but it's wasted because they're they're taught to think about 135 00:12:43,200 --> 00:12:46,200 how they're thinking, think about how they're going to move. You know, 136 00:12:48,240 --> 00:12:52,960 it's like searching for a swing or searching for your putting stroke. And if 137 00:12:52,960 --> 00:12:58,399 we go back to the analogy of the samurai warrior before a fight or before 138 00:12:58,440 --> 00:13:03,159 they draw the sword, that that's they're not coming to get you, are 139 00:13:03,159 --> 00:13:07,320 they They're not coming for me? No way? All right, Well, 140 00:13:07,360 --> 00:13:11,480 we're gonna take a break and let them. Yeah, let's take a break 141 00:13:11,559 --> 00:13:20,039 and we'll let it pass and we'll be back right after this. I'm so 142 00:13:20,120 --> 00:13:22,919 sorry to interrupt you. And it wasn't me that interrupted, it was all 143 00:13:22,960 --> 00:13:26,840 that noise. But anyway, so what it. Let's let's talk about that 144 00:13:26,879 --> 00:13:35,159 time that golfers have in between shots, especially in between parts, that can 145 00:13:35,240 --> 00:13:41,000 help them avoid the distractions. That's right. I mean, golfers create a 146 00:13:41,039 --> 00:13:46,159 lot of their own distractions, you know, because the mind is so busy, 147 00:13:46,399 --> 00:13:52,360 and we're living in a bit of society now where people have less and 148 00:13:52,480 --> 00:13:58,559 less attention. Somebody said the other day on a Who's interviewing me that attention 149 00:13:58,679 --> 00:14:03,159 has become like a commodity, all the big corporations of buying for our attention. 150 00:14:05,279 --> 00:14:11,240 So when you practice something like meditation or these performance practices that I'm teaching, 151 00:14:11,840 --> 00:14:20,480 you actually begin to reclaim your attention instead of squandering it and wasting it. 152 00:14:20,600 --> 00:14:26,600 So and also when we reclaim the attention, we're able to focus on 153 00:14:26,639 --> 00:14:35,639 our breath and on our body and feeling the feet on the ground and really 154 00:14:35,759 --> 00:14:39,919 centering ourselves. And when that happens, the body starts to move in a 155 00:14:41,000 --> 00:14:48,919 different way. So so when we're when a golfer standing over apart and they're 156 00:14:48,000 --> 00:14:56,120 anxious, you can bet your house on the fact that they are breathing up 157 00:14:56,159 --> 00:15:01,679 here into the chest, probably breathing quite shallow, and that their shoulders are 158 00:15:01,759 --> 00:15:05,879 tight as a result of that, and that makes the whole body tight. 159 00:15:05,960 --> 00:15:11,679 They're probably gripping the potter too tightly. The mind is thinking and worrying about 160 00:15:11,679 --> 00:15:16,960 old so and so's watching me, or everyone's come out from the clubhouse, 161 00:15:16,080 --> 00:15:20,399 or what if I miss or what if I make birdie, And all this 162 00:15:20,519 --> 00:15:24,919 stuff is going on, and there's no way the body can move in the 163 00:15:26,000 --> 00:15:31,679 way that it should move freely, naturally, spontaneously in the moment when all 164 00:15:31,720 --> 00:15:39,960 that stuff is going on. So golfers have a huge opportunity when they're standing 165 00:15:41,039 --> 00:15:50,919 over the part to settle into themselves, to bring the attention inside the body. 166 00:15:50,480 --> 00:15:56,279 Relax the chest, relax the shoulders, bring the attention to the center 167 00:15:56,399 --> 00:16:03,559 of gravity, which we call the danteen in yoga and in Zarzen meditation they 168 00:16:03,600 --> 00:16:10,000 call it the horror center, and it's a body's center of gravity. And 169 00:16:10,279 --> 00:16:15,000 when we relax the up body, suddenly we have more strength and stability in 170 00:16:15,039 --> 00:16:19,480 the legs, we're better balanced, and the shoulders can move nice and freely. 171 00:16:22,440 --> 00:16:27,879 So's I call it connected putting and connected golf. And really the whole 172 00:16:27,960 --> 00:16:37,639 paradigm thread that I'm trying to change or alert people too, should they wish 173 00:16:37,679 --> 00:16:42,200 to follow this path, is that it's not the golfer's job to try to 174 00:16:42,279 --> 00:16:51,440 hit the perfect shot. It's a golfer's job to try to be connected mind 175 00:16:51,759 --> 00:16:55,919 an attention in the breathing, in the body, in the center of gravity, 176 00:16:56,039 --> 00:17:00,799 in the feed. And when that state is realized, is this inner 177 00:17:00,879 --> 00:17:07,519 connection, then movement is connected. And back to what we were saying before, 178 00:17:07,599 --> 00:17:11,880 every single person who's ever been in the flow state, nobody has said. 179 00:17:12,519 --> 00:17:17,799 I was thinking all these technical thoughts. I was thinking how brilliant a 180 00:17:17,880 --> 00:17:21,519 golfer I am. I was thinking everything that my mind coach had told me. 181 00:17:22,079 --> 00:17:25,839 No, they don't say that. They say I was balanced. I 182 00:17:25,920 --> 00:17:30,799 was relaxed. I was ready. I had a clarity of intention, and 183 00:17:30,880 --> 00:17:38,440 my body moved. You know, it was effortless. You know. I 184 00:17:38,480 --> 00:17:44,079 didn't listen to Connected Golf. The audio wasn't available yet, but I was 185 00:17:44,119 --> 00:17:49,319 reading the script okay, and but that was fine. But I'm so excited 186 00:17:49,359 --> 00:17:52,200 because I do want to listen to it. You do you do the reading 187 00:17:52,240 --> 00:17:56,799 of this correct? I do? Yes? Yeah, Well, just your 188 00:17:56,880 --> 00:18:00,640 rhythm and your presentation is so calming anyway, so I can't wait to listen 189 00:18:00,680 --> 00:18:15,680 to it. But I did really absorb the ideas of breathing and centering during 190 00:18:15,680 --> 00:18:21,079 the putting and was looking forward so much so to my next round of golf 191 00:18:21,119 --> 00:18:29,119 where I can utilize that information. And I played golf and after the round 192 00:18:29,279 --> 00:18:33,160 and I started reviewing because we were gonna have this conversation. I started reviewing 193 00:18:33,160 --> 00:18:38,119 and realized I'd forgotten all of it. I didn't do it once because once 194 00:18:38,160 --> 00:18:45,000 I'm on the putting green, yeah, I you know, I'm very focused 195 00:18:45,079 --> 00:18:48,359 on my breathing when I'm about to hit a full swing shot. But when 196 00:18:48,400 --> 00:18:53,039 I'm on the putting green, I just it didn't. Even though I was 197 00:18:53,079 --> 00:18:57,799 trying to remind myself breathe, slow down, connect yourself to the ground, 198 00:18:57,839 --> 00:19:02,359 do these things, didn't. I wasn't able to do it. Yeah, 199 00:19:02,400 --> 00:19:06,599 it's very interesting that you say that, and it's very useful to bring that 200 00:19:06,720 --> 00:19:10,920 up as a point, because most people think, oh, that breathing, 201 00:19:11,039 --> 00:19:12,680 yeah, I can do that, you know, they take it as a 202 00:19:12,720 --> 00:19:21,039 given, whereas in fact, when the biochemistry starts to change and the anxiety 203 00:19:21,079 --> 00:19:26,880 and the stress response kicks in, we have to have a body of practice 204 00:19:26,200 --> 00:19:32,160 under our belt. This is why I'm asking all the athletes I work with, 205 00:19:32,279 --> 00:19:37,200 fifteen twenty minutes a day you sit quietly or stand in certain chigung tai 206 00:19:37,279 --> 00:19:42,680 chi postures to train your body to be relaxed but ready. If you don't 207 00:19:42,759 --> 00:19:48,240 do that, you haven't got really a hope in hell's chance of remembering when 208 00:19:48,279 --> 00:19:56,200 you need to. Because the biochemistry has gone into stress mode, it creates 209 00:19:56,039 --> 00:20:02,200 the breathing changes, the anxiety is around. You start to feel nervous, 210 00:20:03,640 --> 00:20:10,400 and it takes a lot of discipline and a body of practice to overcome that. 211 00:20:11,799 --> 00:20:14,319 When we have to see it, Oh, I'm so anxious, so 212 00:20:14,440 --> 00:20:18,599 I'm really rushing and then okay, I need to breathe and I need to 213 00:20:18,680 --> 00:20:26,759 slow down and really make that effort. And of course when you do your 214 00:20:26,839 --> 00:20:30,400 practice, you know, every morning, day by day by day by day, 215 00:20:30,640 --> 00:20:37,640 things change and it's not easy. It's not easy at all. So 216 00:20:37,799 --> 00:20:45,200 it's not for everybody. It's only for people who are prepared to change their 217 00:20:45,279 --> 00:20:48,839 daily habits because they want to get from here to you know, wherever they 218 00:20:48,839 --> 00:20:56,119 are in golf, to being you know, a hundred times better to really 219 00:20:56,160 --> 00:21:00,880 fulfilling their potential on the course and really enjoying it. But I was speaking 220 00:21:00,920 --> 00:21:07,079 to a young guy recently who is a golfer and a surfer up in Scotland, 221 00:21:07,880 --> 00:21:12,279 and he's practiced diligently day by day by day by day. And as 222 00:21:12,279 --> 00:21:18,759 I said, we're talking fifteen or twenty minutes, that's all. And he 223 00:21:18,880 --> 00:21:22,680 was talking to me an I'll our zoom lesson about the fact that in the 224 00:21:22,880 --> 00:21:30,279 past he wasn't really playing golf. He was searching for a swing and just 225 00:21:30,440 --> 00:21:36,319 feeling awkward, and his swing felt weird, and his putting felt weird, 226 00:21:36,400 --> 00:21:40,240 and he was off and he was angry and he was frustrated and he couldn't 227 00:21:40,319 --> 00:21:45,240 understand why. And he has more swing lessons and he reads all the psychology 228 00:21:45,279 --> 00:21:51,480 books and nothing changes. So because he had this Kevin his name is because 229 00:21:51,480 --> 00:21:56,039 he had this body of his own effort, his own discipline, his own 230 00:21:56,240 --> 00:22:03,200 daily trying to be wyat and be in the breathing. So now when he 231 00:22:03,279 --> 00:22:11,480 goes out he can manage that state of anxiety. He can change his own 232 00:22:11,559 --> 00:22:18,599 biochemistry on the course by staying with the breath. And it's really important to 233 00:22:18,759 --> 00:22:25,839 understand that. I'm afraid many many athletes who try to work with their breathing. 234 00:22:25,920 --> 00:22:32,680 Are often taught by mental game coaches, so they have an idea about 235 00:22:32,720 --> 00:22:36,759 how the athletes should be breathing. I mean, I saw one of our 236 00:22:37,839 --> 00:22:42,920 skiers, an English skier. I won't say his name, because he did 237 00:22:44,000 --> 00:22:47,000 quite well after this, but at the time when I was watching him at 238 00:22:47,000 --> 00:22:52,880 the gates at the top of the slalom, he was literally and a lot 239 00:22:52,880 --> 00:23:00,680 of athletes think, Okay, I'm breathing. I'm breathing because they're taught by 240 00:23:00,720 --> 00:23:08,640 mind coaches or their technical coaches read something on mindfulness and this is how it's 241 00:23:08,839 --> 00:23:15,000 presented to the athlete. But of course it doesn't help at all because you're 242 00:23:15,039 --> 00:23:22,359 just exacerbating that stress response. Now, the Eastern way, the martial arts 243 00:23:22,400 --> 00:23:26,559 way, is not to try to take a deep breath like that, but 244 00:23:26,759 --> 00:23:34,319 to have the awareness in the danteenne so the naval area and slightly below and 245 00:23:34,440 --> 00:23:40,640 keeping the attention there. This is why it's important to train day by day, 246 00:23:40,759 --> 00:23:45,640 so when you have the attention there, everything slows down. The breath 247 00:23:45,680 --> 00:23:49,640 slows down, the breath deepens in the body, and this is the only 248 00:23:49,720 --> 00:23:59,960 thing that overcomes the stress response. No amount of thinking or analyzing or reviewing, 249 00:24:00,039 --> 00:24:07,359 and your technique is going to help. Wow, my fred, I 250 00:24:07,519 --> 00:24:12,000 go on and on. So I'm just so like passionate about this. You 251 00:24:12,039 --> 00:24:15,279 know you are, and I love that. I love that. We're going 252 00:24:15,319 --> 00:24:25,640 to take one more break and we'll be back right after this. You mentioned 253 00:24:25,640 --> 00:24:30,400 earlier the authentic approach. Let's let's kind of work through that a minute. 254 00:24:30,400 --> 00:24:34,440 What do you mean exactly by the authentic approach? I mean doing things as 255 00:24:34,480 --> 00:24:41,079 they have always been done for hundreds of years, not making them more palatable 256 00:24:41,440 --> 00:24:51,240 and easier for Western society and the pace of Western society, because it doesn't 257 00:24:51,279 --> 00:24:56,759 help anybody. You know, listening to a mindfulness app for three minutes, 258 00:24:56,920 --> 00:25:02,160 people will try and kid you that that's a actually going to help you in 259 00:25:02,240 --> 00:25:10,200 some way, and it doesn't. There are thousands millions of people around the 260 00:25:10,200 --> 00:25:14,319 world today in the Eastern in the Eastern World, if I can call it 261 00:25:14,359 --> 00:25:18,519 that, China, Japan, in India as well, who sit in meditation 262 00:25:19,799 --> 00:25:26,440 for twenty minutes, forty minutes. And you know, if you look at 263 00:25:26,480 --> 00:25:30,039 all the martial arts clubs, let's look at all the karate clubs in America, 264 00:25:30,799 --> 00:25:40,839 you can bet anything that the teachers, the senses who include meditation as 265 00:25:40,920 --> 00:25:45,839 part of their curriculum with their students, those students will always do better in 266 00:25:45,960 --> 00:25:53,119 a competition against another club. They're not going to do better if they listen 267 00:25:53,160 --> 00:25:59,720 to a mindfulness app for three minutes a guided meditation, because all that stuff 268 00:25:59,759 --> 00:26:03,680 does it's just more fodder for the mind, which is already overworked, too 269 00:26:03,759 --> 00:26:11,799 busy, was it? Doctor is a justice who said that the mind of 270 00:26:11,359 --> 00:26:18,480 teenagers now with their devices is like a schizophrenic mind from the nineteen fifties. 271 00:26:18,519 --> 00:26:26,200 It's on a parallel isn't it. Yeah, And we're we're trying to solve 272 00:26:26,319 --> 00:26:30,680 problems using the very thing that creates the problems in the first place. My 273 00:26:30,799 --> 00:26:36,200 mind's too busy, So therefore should I listen to a mindfulness app on my 274 00:26:36,319 --> 00:26:41,079 phone? I mean, in whose universe does that make any sense? Not 275 00:26:41,160 --> 00:26:47,920 mine? If my mind is too busy, I need to I can work 276 00:26:48,039 --> 00:26:56,599 at at bringing my attention to the breath and allowing the mind to calm down. 277 00:26:57,440 --> 00:27:03,240 So when I say authentic, I mean doing things, doing it properly, 278 00:27:03,440 --> 00:27:10,039 doing it as it as it should be done, you know, and 279 00:27:10,960 --> 00:27:15,880 doing it in a way that actually has benefit. But also the thing that 280 00:27:17,119 --> 00:27:25,440 is most beneficial is the effort that one makes to do the practice. When 281 00:27:25,519 --> 00:27:32,119 you consistently make effort, and also when you struggle with yourself. You know, 282 00:27:32,519 --> 00:27:34,359 I'm bored. This is awful, My god, you know, I 283 00:27:34,400 --> 00:27:40,119 want to hang myself. I'd rather wash up or do anything than sit in 284 00:27:40,200 --> 00:27:45,039 meditation. But then maybe after a few weeks, it's like, oh, 285 00:27:45,079 --> 00:27:48,640 I had a better game of golf today, I wasn't so nervous walking out 286 00:27:48,640 --> 00:27:52,599 to the first tea. And I go back to my practice the next day, 287 00:27:52,640 --> 00:27:57,279 and actually I quite enjoy it. And maybe the following week I experience 288 00:27:57,359 --> 00:28:04,759 a few moments of absolute quiet, total calm, and I carry on and 289 00:28:04,920 --> 00:28:10,759 my golf gets better, and wow, my relationship gets better, and I 290 00:28:10,960 --> 00:28:15,839 sleep better, and I enjoy the taste of my food more. And when 291 00:28:15,880 --> 00:28:19,119 I'm out on the golf course, I actually hear the birds singing. You 292 00:28:19,160 --> 00:28:27,160 know all this it's like an unfolding of one's natural abilities and the joy of 293 00:28:27,240 --> 00:28:37,720 it. But without the effort, none of that arises. Does That makes 294 00:28:37,759 --> 00:28:48,640 sense? Years makes sense as easy as it should be where you make it 295 00:28:48,720 --> 00:28:52,480 sound, man, that's so sure about that? I want to ask you 296 00:28:52,480 --> 00:28:57,880 about slow walking meditation. Sure still walking meditation. What do you want to 297 00:28:57,880 --> 00:29:04,359 know about it? How to do? Yes? Yes, But it's integral 298 00:29:04,480 --> 00:29:12,599 to you know Japanese za zen, which is the breath centered meditation that they 299 00:29:12,640 --> 00:29:18,480 that they have done in Japan for hundreds of years. It actually comes from 300 00:29:18,599 --> 00:29:22,000 Chan meditation, which is a Chinese word, but everybody knows it as zen, 301 00:29:25,680 --> 00:29:34,680 and the monks alternate between sitting in meditation and doing a slow walking meditation. 302 00:29:37,160 --> 00:29:42,119 If anybody wants to study those two things further, I would highly recommend 303 00:29:42,519 --> 00:29:49,640 a book called Zen Mind. Beginner's Mind by Shunriya Suzuki was the epitome of 304 00:29:49,680 --> 00:29:56,839 a zen master. And there's no philosophy, there's no preaching, there's no 305 00:29:57,880 --> 00:30:03,319 spiritual connity, if religious connotations, if people are put off by that, 306 00:30:03,720 --> 00:30:11,279 there's purely the breath, the most fundamental of all our activities and bringing the 307 00:30:11,359 --> 00:30:17,920 awareness to that. So slow walking can help on the golf course in so 308 00:30:17,960 --> 00:30:23,960 many ways. When we practice slow walking at home or in the garden or 309 00:30:25,000 --> 00:30:30,319 in the park, we're trying to walk as slowly as possible, keeping the 310 00:30:30,400 --> 00:30:36,799 same structural and postural points in the body that we do in our standing meditation. 311 00:30:37,720 --> 00:30:41,200 And you can find out all about that on the Connected Putting audio and 312 00:30:41,720 --> 00:30:48,359 in the book Connected Golf, and I have free worksheets and training reports if 313 00:30:48,359 --> 00:30:53,920 you just want to message me, send you something. So when we're walking 314 00:30:55,000 --> 00:31:02,240 slowly, we're trying to be again training the attention to stay with the body, 315 00:31:00,720 --> 00:31:06,200 with the posture, with the center of gravity, with the breath, 316 00:31:06,359 --> 00:31:10,960 and with that step. So it's a training that helps us to stay in 317 00:31:11,000 --> 00:31:15,759 the moment rather than the mind rushing on ahead, thinking about how we're going 318 00:31:15,799 --> 00:31:19,440 to play the next shot or how we're going to get out of the bunker. 319 00:31:23,640 --> 00:31:27,599 And on the golf course, it's very useful because when you have that 320 00:31:27,799 --> 00:31:37,920 training behind you, then it's much easier to stay present rather than you know, 321 00:31:38,000 --> 00:31:42,000 getting yourself into a frenzy in your mind thinking, oh if I just 322 00:31:42,119 --> 00:31:48,160 birdy this, you know, the I'm the club champion. So again it's 323 00:31:48,359 --> 00:31:56,359 authentic, traditional formal training to stay in the moment, and the moment is 324 00:31:56,440 --> 00:32:04,240 always it's always an absense of thinking. And this is why, you know, 325 00:32:04,359 --> 00:32:13,839 I'm continually surprised with even the greatest golfers they talk about, you know, 326 00:32:14,119 --> 00:32:17,880 thinking about the present moment, which again for me, is it shows 327 00:32:17,920 --> 00:32:25,279 they've been taught by a mind coach rather than being taught by somebody who has 328 00:32:25,680 --> 00:32:32,799 an experience of meditation. Because the present moment, one's experience of the present 329 00:32:32,880 --> 00:32:38,960 moment is the absence of thinking. It's not the mind's job to try to 330 00:32:39,000 --> 00:32:46,519 be present. The mind is for planning, thinking, organizing, it's for 331 00:32:47,680 --> 00:32:54,200 recalling the past, working out problems, projecting into the future, and in 332 00:32:54,319 --> 00:33:01,440 meditation, all of that is it just quietens down because we're not giving we're 333 00:33:01,440 --> 00:33:06,559 not feeding that, we're not giving it energy, we're not encouraging it. 334 00:33:06,599 --> 00:33:13,000 We're not on that treadmill. We've taken our taken back our mental attention, 335 00:33:13,200 --> 00:33:17,640 taken all of it back and put it in the body, in the breath. 336 00:33:21,119 --> 00:33:25,359 So it's a long answer to your question, but they're all very very 337 00:33:25,440 --> 00:33:30,920 helpful practices to stay, stay where you are, be where you are. 338 00:33:32,759 --> 00:33:37,799 Yeah, yeah, listen, let's do one more time out here and see 339 00:33:37,799 --> 00:33:43,079 what's happening this week on Golf Smarter Mulligan's, and we'll be back more with 340 00:33:43,240 --> 00:33:49,079 Jane's story on connected putting. After this this week on Golf Smarter Mulligan's, 341 00:33:49,079 --> 00:33:52,359 we go back to twenty twelve and part two of our conversation with Jim Waldron. 342 00:33:52,759 --> 00:33:58,920 In this episode, we cover consistency, distance, accuracy, and golf 343 00:33:58,960 --> 00:34:05,240 schools. Anybody who promises instant, permanent swing like a pro results, it's 344 00:34:05,279 --> 00:34:08,079 just not going to happen. It may happen on some shots in the golf 345 00:34:08,119 --> 00:34:12,320 school, and that does happen for most of our students in our golf schools. 346 00:34:12,360 --> 00:34:15,239 But we also tell people, look, this is a process that you're 347 00:34:15,280 --> 00:34:17,360 starting. If you think you're going to come to the school and we're going 348 00:34:17,400 --> 00:34:21,400 to teach you in three days how to swing like a pro, and that's 349 00:34:21,400 --> 00:34:23,880 going to be your swing that you'll take to the golf course for even most 350 00:34:23,880 --> 00:34:28,880 of your rounds of golf, you're kidding yourself if you can't be done. 351 00:34:28,920 --> 00:34:32,079 If anybody's promising that level of I'm talking permanent improvement in three days, obviously 352 00:34:32,199 --> 00:34:36,800 avoid those people like to play because they're liars. What you want to expect 353 00:34:36,960 --> 00:34:40,199 is to get information that you can use for the rest of your life to 354 00:34:40,199 --> 00:34:44,639 get better at golf. And you want to learn how to learn it, 355 00:34:45,079 --> 00:34:49,159 and you have to learn from the golf school how to practice effectively, both 356 00:34:49,239 --> 00:34:52,760 home practice, which is the most effective way to practice, and what you 357 00:34:52,800 --> 00:34:55,400 do at the range. That's episode two hundred twenty eight, part two of 358 00:34:55,440 --> 00:35:01,000 our conversation featuring Jim Waldron of Balance Point Golf com on our sister podcast, 359 00:35:01,480 --> 00:35:07,519 Golf Smarter Mulligans, and it's being released this Friday morning. Originally published as 360 00:35:07,559 --> 00:35:13,480 a member's only episode in February twenty twelve, means that this insightful conversation has 361 00:35:13,679 --> 00:35:16,639 never been shared with the public before. So if you're a fan of Golf 362 00:35:16,679 --> 00:35:22,559 Smarter's content, then don't miss your chance to get two episodes every week. 363 00:35:22,960 --> 00:35:28,639 That's Golf Smarter, golf's longest running podcast, and Golf Smarter Mulligan's episodes from 364 00:35:28,679 --> 00:35:32,920 our archives that revisit the best of the Golf Smarter podcast. They're both available 365 00:35:34,000 --> 00:35:45,440 for free from wherever you're listening right now. There was one aspect of your 366 00:35:45,679 --> 00:35:52,079 audio presentation that I was reading that really caught my attention, and I need 367 00:35:52,119 --> 00:35:55,880 to know if I got this right or if this was just the brain fog 368 00:35:55,960 --> 00:36:06,400 from lingering with COVID talking about if you see if I can interpret this properly, 369 00:36:06,920 --> 00:36:08,440 if you're sitting in a chair and you take a golf club and you 370 00:36:08,480 --> 00:36:15,159 put it on over your shoulders, behind your neck and you rotate your body 371 00:36:15,880 --> 00:36:22,119 with the golf club. You rotate from the waist, not the shoulders. 372 00:36:23,480 --> 00:36:31,559 But when you're putting, and it seems like you're trying to rotate from the 373 00:36:31,719 --> 00:36:37,400 upper body the top your shoulders, you're rotating there. And it made me 374 00:36:37,440 --> 00:36:40,800 realize, wait a minute, am I putting all arms and not using my 375 00:36:40,920 --> 00:36:46,480 body in a way that when I went out and started practice putting with that 376 00:36:46,599 --> 00:36:53,280 in mind and was keeping my body from my waist up as one, I 377 00:36:53,360 --> 00:36:59,880 was able to get a better role on the ball, a better strow, 378 00:37:00,360 --> 00:37:06,639 more consistent line instead of trying to force it with just my arms. Am 379 00:37:06,639 --> 00:37:10,840 I overthinking this? Or did I come on? That's beautiful? That's beautiful. 380 00:37:10,960 --> 00:37:15,760 And that is the way that people part when they're when they're relaxed and 381 00:37:15,800 --> 00:37:27,079 when they're in the zone. Going back to Jack Nicklass and the correlation between 382 00:37:27,119 --> 00:37:36,360 his approach to golf and tai chi, all movements, jutting stroke, all 383 00:37:36,480 --> 00:37:42,119 movement, including the putting stroke comes from the ground upwards. It's anchored in 384 00:37:42,159 --> 00:37:46,880 the feet and then moves through the waist. And I was always taught when 385 00:37:46,880 --> 00:37:53,360 I had teachers long ago in Thai Chi that the upper body must respond to 386 00:37:53,559 --> 00:38:01,360 the lower body. It should not initiate movement. And here's the problem with 387 00:38:01,599 --> 00:38:08,000 putting from the shoulders. When my attention is on my shoulders, then I 388 00:38:08,599 --> 00:38:15,039 become very tight in the upper body and my breath is centered in the chest. 389 00:38:15,199 --> 00:38:20,880 And as we've spoken about on this in this conversation, when that all 390 00:38:20,960 --> 00:38:27,559 that's going on, it creates anxiety. And couple that with the way that 391 00:38:27,760 --> 00:38:36,000 golf is taught. You know, in the mainstream, there's always some kind 392 00:38:36,039 --> 00:38:40,840 of stress already embedded into the golfer because they're trying to get it right, 393 00:38:43,559 --> 00:38:50,559 rather than like Hogan and Nick Class would they try to actually feel, well, 394 00:38:50,599 --> 00:38:54,400 what's going on in my body? You know? So, as I 395 00:38:54,440 --> 00:39:00,480 said before, this is about reclaiming your power, reclaim your attention from YouTube 396 00:39:00,480 --> 00:39:05,559 and Instagram and all this, you know, all this stuff. Reclaim it 397 00:39:06,800 --> 00:39:13,400 and reclaim ownership of your own body. Inhabit your own body. So when 398 00:39:13,440 --> 00:39:16,920 you stand over the part, and I love how you described the way that 399 00:39:17,000 --> 00:39:25,000 you interpreted connected putting, Fred that you when you're moving your whole upper body 400 00:39:25,039 --> 00:39:30,320 as a unit, and that's perfectly right, that the movement is actually initiated 401 00:39:30,480 --> 00:39:37,800 from the duntienne, which is the center of gravity, and it will make 402 00:39:37,840 --> 00:39:44,039 the stroke feel more pure and more true, because there are no straight lines 403 00:39:44,079 --> 00:39:47,360 in nature, and the putting stroke really isn't a straight line. Is it's 404 00:39:47,599 --> 00:39:52,840 it's it's got to be as slight. There's a straight line, but it's 405 00:39:52,880 --> 00:39:58,199 a straight line within a curve, if you know what I mean. And 406 00:39:58,320 --> 00:40:02,960 the duntienne is imagine like a ball, imagine a golf ball inside the torso, 407 00:40:04,719 --> 00:40:10,559 which is the center of it's your point of centrifugal force or centrifugal force 408 00:40:10,639 --> 00:40:16,000 for American audience, thank you. And it's like the hub of a wheel. 409 00:40:16,400 --> 00:40:20,920 It's the hub of a wheel around which your upper body can rotate quite 410 00:40:21,000 --> 00:40:27,440 naturally. And people know this. Everybody knows this. And when you've felt 411 00:40:27,480 --> 00:40:30,119 this, when you've hit the ball, struck the ball suite and you've struck 412 00:40:30,159 --> 00:40:35,760 it beautifully. What I find really interesting with the women that I work with 413 00:40:36,000 --> 00:40:42,719 is that they seem to intuitively know this stuff. Anyway, if you look 414 00:40:42,719 --> 00:40:49,039 at the way the women move their bodies on the pros, how they move, 415 00:40:49,199 --> 00:40:53,960 they have this beautiful separation where their legs are very firm, the hips, 416 00:40:54,039 --> 00:41:00,639 the hip bones only move a fraction. But then there's this beautiful operation 417 00:41:00,800 --> 00:41:05,360 where the waist and the upper body that also actually carries on that rotation. 418 00:41:07,440 --> 00:41:09,559 So you guys need to watch the girls how they partner, you know, 419 00:41:09,719 --> 00:41:15,079 how they swing, because that's tai chi. It's rooted in the feet, 420 00:41:15,800 --> 00:41:22,599 moves through the waist, and then it's just expressed in the hands. But 421 00:41:22,679 --> 00:41:29,039 as I say, everybody who's had a beautiful shot, or enjoyed swimming or 422 00:41:29,159 --> 00:41:38,119 walking in the park, or being on a skateboard or a snowboard, yeah, 423 00:41:38,239 --> 00:41:42,639 or figure skating skateboard, that is my age away. We used to 424 00:41:42,719 --> 00:41:46,400 play on skateboards and when we were kids. But anyone who's been in the 425 00:41:46,440 --> 00:41:52,719 flow state knows this. But of course it's not taught in mainstream sport. 426 00:41:52,840 --> 00:41:59,039 It's psychology, mind game technique, that's what's taught. So this stuff, 427 00:41:59,119 --> 00:42:04,519 this work that I bringing it can underpin that because I'm no way am I 428 00:42:04,679 --> 00:42:08,639 saying don't have any more technical lessons or don't bother with psychology. That's not 429 00:42:08,679 --> 00:42:15,079 what I'm saying. It's all very useful. It's extremely useful to set goals 430 00:42:15,320 --> 00:42:22,599 and to try to talk to yourself more positively and encourage yourself and reframe negative 431 00:42:22,639 --> 00:42:28,760 thoughts. That's valuables. It must be done, and we must learn about 432 00:42:28,920 --> 00:42:35,280 technique for our sport. But what I'm saying is when you're playing your sport, 433 00:42:35,719 --> 00:42:40,199 when you're playing golf, you must play golf, not think about how 434 00:42:40,199 --> 00:42:44,440 are you going to how are you going to hit the shot? I mean 435 00:42:44,480 --> 00:42:51,719 the girls, the English Lionesses we've just won the semi final against Australia in 436 00:42:51,760 --> 00:42:57,719 the football, and Serena Viigman, the Dutch the coach of the Lionesses. 437 00:42:58,559 --> 00:43:04,400 What I find remarkable about her and the squad is that she talks about the 438 00:43:04,480 --> 00:43:09,599 team play football. They play football. It seems so simple, but they 439 00:43:09,639 --> 00:43:17,639 play football. They're not thinking about playing football or thinking about technique or hesitating 440 00:43:17,679 --> 00:43:24,320 before they make a pass or overthinking a penalty shot. They're playing football. 441 00:43:24,559 --> 00:43:30,880 So golfers, I think, can you would benefit from understanding that? Reading 442 00:43:30,960 --> 00:43:37,679 a book on psychology, reading about technique, having a swing lesson That's like 443 00:43:37,880 --> 00:43:43,679 me. I'm trying to learn the guitar, so I'm trying to learn flamenco 444 00:43:43,800 --> 00:43:50,320 and blues guitar, and when I practice technique, I'm practicing technique. But 445 00:43:50,480 --> 00:43:55,280 that's not music, is it. It's not music. It's me going up 446 00:43:55,360 --> 00:44:00,679 and down the fret board, practicing technique and where fingers are landing and how 447 00:44:00,719 --> 00:44:09,079 to pluck the strings. So in golf, technical, psychological, it's all, 448 00:44:09,079 --> 00:44:14,079 it's all part of what makes you a great golfer. But it doesn't 449 00:44:14,079 --> 00:44:20,559 help you play play on the golf course. It doesn't help you release the 450 00:44:20,679 --> 00:44:25,400 complexity of the golf swing in a way that's effortless and natural in the moment 451 00:44:27,159 --> 00:44:34,679 on the course. You need this other other work to underpin that. Wow, 452 00:44:34,960 --> 00:44:42,239 like doing flamenco and blues guitar is kind of like played learning how to 453 00:44:42,440 --> 00:44:47,480 play golf and walk on a balance beam. I mean, there's so radically 454 00:44:49,559 --> 00:44:53,719 I mean the technical aspects of both are so radically different. I mean, 455 00:44:53,760 --> 00:44:59,079 why don't you just do one at a time. You might be overthinking the 456 00:44:59,159 --> 00:45:06,000 guitar there. That's a lot. It's it's it's in conjunction with my teacher. 457 00:45:06,400 --> 00:45:10,199 I have personal lessons and online lessons with somebody here. But it's the 458 00:45:10,239 --> 00:45:16,320 fact that it's like gypsy music. It's music that has songs, it's music 459 00:45:16,360 --> 00:45:22,360 that's come from the people you know, grown up from the streets. So 460 00:45:22,440 --> 00:45:25,639 actually there is a similarity between them, and one day I may go to 461 00:45:25,719 --> 00:45:30,559 one or the other. But I mean, my you know, do you 462 00:45:30,559 --> 00:45:36,159 know Joni Mitchell. Joni Mitchell let me she had this amazing comeback recently. 463 00:45:36,360 --> 00:45:42,239 One of my favorite singer songwriters. But she's a painter. So she always 464 00:45:42,280 --> 00:45:47,159 said how the painting feeds the music. The music feeds the painting. So 465 00:45:47,199 --> 00:45:51,440 I can play blues all weekend, and then I don't want to do that 466 00:45:51,519 --> 00:45:54,199 anymore, and I don't want to do a bit of flamenco. But it's 467 00:45:54,239 --> 00:46:00,280 like athletes. A golfer, you know, Martina, I've had a lover 468 00:46:00,519 --> 00:46:04,239 the greatest tennis player, one of the greatest tennis players of all time, 469 00:46:04,559 --> 00:46:12,039 is a brilliant golfer, you know, So I like multiplay. You've talked 470 00:46:12,079 --> 00:46:21,719 about your you're you're not obsession, but your study of Jack Nicholas seems to 471 00:46:21,760 --> 00:46:27,320 be quite deep. Are there women golfers that you also seem to really focus 472 00:46:27,360 --> 00:46:34,760 on and learn from? Well? I liked Mickey Wright. She passed away, 473 00:46:34,800 --> 00:46:37,760 I think a few years ago, but she was a golfer of whom 474 00:46:37,800 --> 00:46:44,800 Ben Hogan said that she had the best swing. And again, it's it's 475 00:46:44,920 --> 00:46:52,239 just so so beautiful language free, so natural, and she if you look 476 00:46:52,280 --> 00:46:55,760 back at some of her interviews, she talks about just being in the moment. 477 00:46:57,920 --> 00:47:00,639 There's one story where I can't remember where she was in the States, 478 00:47:00,679 --> 00:47:07,280 but she's coming down the eighteenth Fairway and you know she's expected to win on 479 00:47:07,400 --> 00:47:13,159 her home course and her parents are there watching her, and you know you 480 00:47:13,280 --> 00:47:16,320 can't. She said, you can't let all that stuff get you. You 481 00:47:16,440 --> 00:47:23,920 just have to be focused on on what you're doing, what you can control, 482 00:47:24,280 --> 00:47:28,880 you know. And I sort of put that into a mantra, which 483 00:47:28,920 --> 00:47:32,480 is one breath at a time, one shot at a time, one whole 484 00:47:32,559 --> 00:47:37,880 at a time. But I was at the Women's Open last week and I 485 00:47:37,920 --> 00:47:44,079 have a client who was playing in that and it was great to follow her 486 00:47:44,199 --> 00:47:50,239 around and but also to see the difference between how how she prepares for her 487 00:47:50,320 --> 00:47:57,119 shots and how the other girls prepare. I could really see with my client 488 00:47:57,239 --> 00:48:00,159 how she was breathing and she was in the body, and a lot of 489 00:48:00,199 --> 00:48:08,480 the other girls they relying purely on technique. Yeah, but we can learn 490 00:48:08,800 --> 00:48:19,239 from any athlete and and from our own practice. Let's figure out and share 491 00:48:19,360 --> 00:48:27,599 with everybody how to obtain your audio program of connected putting okay. So I 492 00:48:27,639 --> 00:48:35,239 have a website. It's Chi Dash Performance, so g is spelt Hi Dash 493 00:48:35,400 --> 00:48:39,840 Performance dot com. G is the Chinese word for the energy or the breath. 494 00:48:42,320 --> 00:48:46,480 And there's a menu bar there. One of the links is products and 495 00:48:46,559 --> 00:48:51,119 you can go to the shop page. You'll see my books there, but 496 00:48:51,199 --> 00:48:55,039 you'd have to get those from Amazon, I think. But the audio connected 497 00:48:55,119 --> 00:49:01,039 putting is right there. If you send me a personal message, my email 498 00:49:01,079 --> 00:49:07,840 addresses there, or you can use the contact form on the website. Tell 499 00:49:07,880 --> 00:49:13,039 me you've heard me talking to Fred, and I'll send you some bonus material 500 00:49:14,119 --> 00:49:19,599 and that would be a quick start guide to your performance practice. So how 501 00:49:19,639 --> 00:49:25,039 to do this training? And I have some drills, some range drills and 502 00:49:25,159 --> 00:49:31,719 putting drills, and I also put together a training report on chipping. So 503 00:49:31,760 --> 00:49:36,079 they're not available on the website, but if you message me, I'll send 504 00:49:36,119 --> 00:49:42,039 it to you. Yeah, So message Jane and just mentioned Golf's art and 505 00:49:42,119 --> 00:49:45,880 you'll get those bonus items as well. So, Jane, thank you very 506 00:49:45,960 --> 00:49:49,840 much for joining us today. It was great to talk to you again. 507 00:49:49,880 --> 00:49:58,920 Invest of luck with the audio presentation. You're probably aware that usually the theme 508 00:49:59,000 --> 00:50:06,719 music ends when they say goodbye. But twice during this recording, Jane's signal 509 00:50:06,760 --> 00:50:09,800 fell out and we lost her and didn't realize it. So one there's an 510 00:50:09,920 --> 00:50:14,679 edit. You probably didn't know where it was, but the ending was clearly 511 00:50:15,079 --> 00:50:20,559 not real anyway. Get a great line from a listener who shared this with 512 00:50:20,599 --> 00:50:23,639 me on Instagram. It says, when I was young, I sucked at 513 00:50:23,719 --> 00:50:30,119 golf, but after years of dedication, practice and coaching, I'm no longer 514 00:50:30,239 --> 00:50:37,480 young. Frequently I'm asked, both from listeners and from guests about the lessons 515 00:50:37,519 --> 00:50:43,039 that I take, And if you haven't figured it out from listening, I 516 00:50:43,079 --> 00:50:47,119 don't take lessons. Actually, okay, I've had four lessons in starting to 517 00:50:47,239 --> 00:50:52,639 play in nineteen ninety seven, three with a coach named Doug Acton, a 518 00:50:52,679 --> 00:50:58,599 wonderful coach here in Marine County, and two of which of those lessons is 519 00:50:58,760 --> 00:51:04,360 when I just started playing. Surprising to me is that he's never really been 520 00:51:04,440 --> 00:51:07,400 interested in being on the podcast, so he isn't. I've also had a 521 00:51:07,480 --> 00:51:12,400 lesson from Ken Doherty, the head golf professional at Marine Country Club right next 522 00:51:12,400 --> 00:51:15,239 to my house. Now. The last time Ken was on the show was 523 00:51:15,280 --> 00:51:20,800 twenty seventeen. The reason I bring it up is because I'm committed to getting 524 00:51:20,800 --> 00:51:23,320 the best instruction I can on Golf Smarter, and I wanted to show you 525 00:51:23,400 --> 00:51:29,239 that you can improve your game and lower your scores from the lessons that we 526 00:51:29,280 --> 00:51:32,760 get here. I've mentioned before that when I started publishing the show in two 527 00:51:32,760 --> 00:51:36,840 thousand and five, I don't think I had a handicap, but a good 528 00:51:36,920 --> 00:51:40,800 round was in the high nineties. But as of today's recording, I do 529 00:51:40,920 --> 00:51:45,360 have an ongoing and honest handicap, and I'm a nine point five. Now 530 00:51:45,480 --> 00:51:51,039 my point is that I'm not discouraging you from taking lessons, but I am 531 00:51:51,079 --> 00:51:57,800 here to testify that I've become a single digit handicap golfer primarily from the construction 532 00:51:57,840 --> 00:52:00,880 that we get here on Golf Smarter. I know you can too. I 533 00:52:00,920 --> 00:52:05,559 do want to welcome this week's Golf Smarter Ambassador, Jeff Watson of Santa Anna, 534 00:52:05,639 --> 00:52:08,400 California. Now, as you heard, Jeff chose to record his episode 535 00:52:08,400 --> 00:52:13,480 introduction on his own phone and then send me the file. You can do 536 00:52:13,519 --> 00:52:17,280 that too, especially if you're the outside the United States, where sometimes the 537 00:52:17,320 --> 00:52:22,880 phone number that I provide doesn't always work. But if you'd like to just 538 00:52:22,920 --> 00:52:25,440 call our toll free golf Smarter listen, line and be on the podcast and 539 00:52:25,519 --> 00:52:30,679 receive a free gift for participating. You're encouraged to do so. Gifts include 540 00:52:30,679 --> 00:52:36,360 Tony Manzoni's video of the Lost Fundamental, a box of Odin X one balls 541 00:52:36,400 --> 00:52:39,760 with a Golf Smarter logo, or a glove and glove storage compartment from Red 542 00:52:39,840 --> 00:52:44,599 Rooster golf dot com. I'll leave a link in the show notes and today's 543 00:52:44,599 --> 00:52:47,920 blog posts so you can learn more about each of these places. So what 544 00:52:49,039 --> 00:52:52,239 about you. We'd all like to hear where you live, play, and 545 00:52:52,280 --> 00:52:55,039 listen to golf Smarter. Send me an email and you two can receive a 546 00:52:55,119 --> 00:53:00,400 free gift of your choice just for participating. To me and I'll get back 547 00:53:00,400 --> 00:53:05,320 to you with some instructions of what to do and what to say. Send 548 00:53:05,320 --> 00:53:09,039 your request to Golf Smarter podcast at gmail dot com, or click on the 549 00:53:09,079 --> 00:53:15,320 Hey Fred button when you visit golfsmarter dot com