Focus Downrange
Focus is essential to playing great golf. The best part is that if you can daydream, you can play. When we daydream, our eyes may be fixed on something or someone, but our mind is witnessing or viewing something different. This is what we need when we address the ball. You see so many professional golfers look at the target downrange, then look at the ball. This could happen four or five times before they swing.
If I told you that looking down at the ball physically is not the picture in their mind’s eye, but the target downrange is, would that give you the understanding of what makes them great golfers? Looking at the ball and focusing downrange are two completely separate actions taking place, similar to daydreaming. Physically the eyes are fixed on the ball, but the mind’s focus is elsewhere.
Now if you are a golfer who is adamant about hitting the golf ball, chances are you are going to hit well behind the ball and take a divot. The body is ensuring you are in the prime position to hit the ball, which means the body is going to put you behind the ball early. Now a golfer who is going to throw their energy downrange, is going to hit the ball crisp, and may not take a divot at all.
The difference here is just focus. If you take 20 practice swings with the intention of just barely brushing the grass as you swing, with a focus of swinging fast with focus to a target downrange, the body will respond. The little white ball being placed in the way of your swing does not change anything, except if you let it. The ball is not the target, it is in the way of your swing TO the target.
-David