Golf Practice in the Future
GOLF PRACTICE IN THE FUTURE
by Dr. T. J. Tomasi
Keiser University College of Golf Senior Faculty and Director of Research
Many athletic trainers and coaches believe the human body has reached its optimal size – any bigger, we lose speed and flexibility, any smaller, and we lose power. The problem is the body architecture (bones/ligaments/tendons, etc.) cannot take the force delivered by over-sized muscles — they rip apart. Witness the huge muscles on football players who spend too much time in the gym and/or on growth hormones; they cannot finish a season because the muscles are too big for the frame. I believe that Tiger Woods opened himself to injury by bulking up, a development that made it possible for him to move the muscles too fast.
However, if beneficial changes in performance will not come from bigger muscles, then where is training headed? The answer is that the next frontier is the mental side. The newest type, Dynamic Imagery (DI), uses gesturing during mental practice, a step beyond simply sitting with your eyes closed while using imagery. In addition to imagery/visualization, you use micro-movements tracking the actual movements as you imagine yourself performing the actions you want to learn. Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, Michael Jordan, Johnny Miller, Peter Jacobson, Ricky Williams, Bill Walton, Greg Norman and the Michigan basketball team all use DI practice, as do many others.
Muscles in Mini Motion:
All learning follows a model, so the first step is to secure a model that is correct, and then watch it until you understand the movement sequence. Then you run the movement through your own brain apparatus using the micro-movements that make it up. This process is driven by rich imagery composed of multi-sensorial pictures where you see, hear and feel the sequence. In one way, DI is like dreaming, where your body is held in immobility except for rapid eye movements and muscle twitches. This altered dream state creates a rehearsed movement repertoire absent only the GO signal needed for the full power movement.
Images on your mental scene drive motor movements, so the images you place there must be:
(1) Real in their proportion, size and likeness
(2) Multi-sensorial
(3) Clear and Compelling
(4) Repeatable
(5) Emotionalized
(6) Personalized
A good example is the image of a revolving barber pole used by water ballet swimmers, who mimic the stripe going around as they revolve in place with only their bottom half visible to the judges. The barber pole can also be used for the spiral-up motion in the golf swing during impact and into the follow through.
Takeaway:
The best vehicle for learning motor movements is actual physical practice, but if you cannot practice for real, then mental practice is an effective means to increase learning.
Here is the hierarchy of effectiveness:
(1) A combination of physical and mental practice is most effective than
(2) Physical practice alone
(3) Mental practice alone
And the least effective:
(4) No practice of either type.
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