WEBVTT 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