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Tao Te Ching - Thoughts on the "mental game" utilizing an excerpt from this 2,500 year old manuscript
by Jeff Ritter. 
Posted in Public. Tagged with mental game.
In this blog installment I would like to share a passage from the "Tao Te Ching." The "Tao Te Ching," by Lao-Tzu is a 2,500 year old classic manual on the "art of living" and is one of the most widely translated books in world literature. As is the purpose of any of my blog entries, it is my intention to use this space to enhance your ability to have more fun playing the game of golf. This particular translation is by Stephen Mitchell.
The passage reads:
When people see some things as beautiful,
other things become ugly.
When people see some things as good,
other things become bad.
Being and non-being create eachother.
Difficult and easy support eachother.
Long and short define eachother.
High and low depend on eachother.
Before and after follow eachother.
Therefore the Master
acts without doing anything
and teaches without saying anything.
Things arise and she lets them come;
things dissapear and she lets them go.
She has, but doesn’t possess,
acts, but doesn’t expect.
When her work is done, she forgets it.
That is why it lasts forever.
As it relates to golf, I derive these meanings:
1. Balance and perspective are they key to conquering any endeavor. Without a struggle, there cannot be any triumph, as they are dependent upon eachother. When you view your learning this way, you will begin to embrace the idea that there is "joy in the struggle." This simple shift in attitude will allow you to embrace the inherent joy the journey brings without the emotional highs and lows one typically experiences with success and failure.
2. Our ego often fuels our desire to eventually "be" something that will be better than we are today. Once we become that thing, we believe that we will then be "happier" than we are today. Lao-Tzu reminds us that the journey is the destination. Properly tending to your daily practice efforts with enthusiasm and discipline, while letting go of the eventual outcome or reward, will actually make each day on the golf course more fun, while eventually delivering results with less perceived effort! There is JOY in the STRUGGLE.
For more insights on practice, discipline and the mental game. Read Chapter 9, in the Golf by Design book, "The Blackbelt Mentality."
If you have any interest in The Tao Te Ching, click the link below.
http://www.amazon.com/Tao-Te-Ching-Stephen-Mitchell/dp/0060812451
Dr. Wayne Dyer has also translated this text in his new book "Change your thoughts, Change your life" which is quickly gaining popularity.
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Purpose of this post is to watch the decision making process a tournament player goes through when "creating" a shot. Notice how Tiger walks on the green, seeing the slope and its relationship to both the hole and where his ball is sitting. Notice how when making his rehearsal swings Tiger’s eyes focus on his landing spot, then shift back to the hole as he mentally creates an image of what is to happen. There is so much information being disseminated here, but nothing about this shot is luck. He created this shot in his mind, selected the club and technique to get it done, then allowed his infinite brilliance to create one of the greatest shots in Major Championship history. When building a routine, adopt a SEE - FEEL -TRUST mentality. Practice incorporating precise imagery into all of your shots. Learn to see "exactly what you want" then watch the universe conspire to deliver it to you. The more you embrace the "possiblity that possibility exists" the greater your rewards will be!
I am Tiger Woods
There will only ever be one Tiger Woods, right? Wrong!...
By Jeff Ritter
A young man approached me about assisting him with his game. He was tall, athletic, Asian, and had a pretty sweet swing. After watching some shots you couldn’t help but notice that many of his mannerisms mirrored that of Tiger Woods. I’m not saying that he hit it like Tiger, but you could just tell he was a big fan and he obviously spent hours watching Tiger move. Everything was a spot on match. The way he rehearsed his backswing and followthrough was the same. From his reaction to a missed shot down to the athletic tape on his fingers, this kid was dead on Tiger. Not to mention that his clubs and apparel were all Nike and he of course had the trademark “Tiger” head cover. In an attempt to make a compliment I said “do you try to pattern your game after Tiger Woods?” To my dismay his reply was a stern “no!” In a joking manner, I pressed a little further making mention that it seemed to me like everything he did and owned was an exact replica from the Tiger Woods Museum of Golf! He still denied that anything he did was an attempt to be like Tiger Woods. Noting that he was a little offended by my presumption, I told him “Tiger is likely the greatest ever, so if you were to emulate anyone, he would be a good guy to emulate.” Still, he wouldn’t give in to the notion. We finished the lesson and he was on his way, but for me this project was far from over. I just had to get him to admit that he was a Tiger Woods nut. I mean, everyone knew it, so why couldn’t he just come out and say it! A few weeks passed and I told the story to the guys in the golf shop. The assistant pro mentioned that he just set up a handicap for the young man and his e-mail address was TWoods59! Now I was really determined to get to the bottom of this. Not much later, he showed up again at the course and began his walk to the first tee. I noticed that he had a new bag. It looked familiar, but I couldn’t quite see it so I grabbed the binoculars from the shop and ran halfway down the first fairway. Ducking behind a tree I finally got a clear look. The bag said “Buick.” I couldn’t believe it. I mean, where in the hell, other than a “Tiger Woods” sweepstakes is a 19-year-old kid going to get himself a “Buick” carry bag. Furthermore, now he is just shoving it in our faces. I thought to myself, “this kid has gotta go down!” |  Image by: Nishant Choksi www.nishantchoski.com
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He finished his round and quickly made his way to the parking lot. I rushed to confront him about his blatant lie, but to my dismay he was getting away! I got up to a pretty quick jog, but couldn’t quite get to him in time as he slammed his trunk and hopped into his 1988 Buick Skylark. Surely you are kidding me? What is a 19-year-old doing driving a Buick Skylark?! As he peeled away from the parking lot and out of my reach, I got a quick glimpse of a bumper sticker displayed for all the world to see across the back of his vehicle. It simply said, “I am Tiger Woods.” I guess that said it all. | |
Towering Trajectory
by Brendan Doss. 
Posted in Public. Tagged with mental game, practice, shot making.
Towering Trajectory
The highs and lows of smashing windows!
By Jeff Ritter
When practising different trajectories, I like to imagine knocking the windows out
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Image by: Neil Duerden |
Pin Seeking Missles
by Brendan Doss.
Posted in Public. Tagged with mental game, practice, shot making.
Pin Seeking Missles
When something is in the way, you'll find your away around it...
By Jeff Ritter
One of the great things about golf, is its ability to throw up amazing shots! It seems that even when a player like Tiger Woods is a “little off,” he manages to create miracle shots, curving the ball around obstacles, over and under trees, bouncing across terrain eventually resting within inches of the cup. The reason players seem to be able to pull
First, their level of focus increases as they tap into their imagination and consider what they believe is possible. Secondly, they truly see an opportunity to have fun! Instead of seeing their ball land in a tough spot and getting down on themselves, they look at the situation and say: “balls to this, I’ll show them how it’s done.” They, in essence, become very “kid like” which really is the gift of golf.
Next time you hit the range, start honing your creative juices. Paint the sky with your creativity and have even more fun playing this great game! | 
Image by: Neil Duerden |
Whistle While You Work
How you appear on course is just as important as how you swing. . .
By Jeff Ritter
The great Marco, the king of Mexican game show hosts, came to me as a brand new golfer. He was the proud owner of a new bag, dapper clothes, and a bag full of tees. Even his shiny new Ping irons had yet to be swung in anger. He had long wanted to take up golf and I could sense his enthusiasm. He desperately wanted to be part of it; the people, the courses, the culture. Like most recent converts to golf, he wanted to ‘be’ Tiger Woods! He began a gruelling routine, hitting the lesson tee nearly five days a week. We had so much time to fill. He desperately wanted to be a “real golfer.” I explained to him that if that was the case, then in addition to technique he had some other things to work on. We actually had ‘coolness’ sessions where we would discuss the finer points of how to ‘properly’ take off your glove and casually slide it into your back pocket. How to lean on your putter, hitch your pants, adjust your cap, and stalk a putt like a champion. We were on the ‘accelerated programme.’ The problem was that learning a new skill is a process and Marco, however, had a remedy for such obstacles. Whenever he slid into a slump he would simply whistle’ and whack a few shots to free up again. One day I was standing about 20ft from Marco. As he swung the wind shifted and I could for the first time hear a little of what he was whistling. It sounded familiar, but for I felt uneasy and slightly disturbed. I walked a little closer to confirm what I thought I was hearing. “Marco, what are you whistling? “Frosty the Snowman,” he replies. My heart sunk. After all our finishing school he was back to “level one” in the cool stakes. I step in to explain my position. “Marco, hey man…you can’t do that bud.” He looks surprised. “What can’t I do?” “I’m sorry, but if you are going to be a stud golfer, you just can’t whistle ‘Frosty the Snowman’.” “But I like Frosty,” he protests. |  Image by: Nishant Choksi www.nishantchoski.com
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“Yeah, I know, but…if you keep doing that, then…I can’t be your friend anymore!” We’re only having a laugh of course; the kind where “ripping each other” is simply a form of male bonding. “Listen, I know that whistling helps you, so just…whistle something else ok?” He agrees and we wrap up the day’s session. A few more lessons go by and we’re chipping when Marco hits a rough patch. Once again a melody drifts over from where Marco is standing. As expected, the shots soon reassume their lazer-like precision. I lean in closer to get a read on what he is whistling. This tune is also familiar, but I’m not put off – in fact, I kind of like it. “Marco…is that?” He pauses his session. His head swivels and his eyes assume a hawk-like gaze. With a delivery as silky smooth as Ricardo Montalban he scoffs: “Yes, it is the theme song to Indiana Jones. Is that tough enough for you?” My reply is concise and to the point. “Yeah Marco, that will do!” | |
Wide Open Space
Think big to drive fear away and hit fairways with ease...
By Jeff Ritter
One of the toughest things to do at times is get the ball in play off the tee. This is especially true under pressure, when trouble lurks in all directions. Fearing lost balls and mishits, the player increases tension in an effort to steer the ball into a small space. Tension disturbs rhythm, leading to the result they most feared in the first place. In most cases, I recommend that a player pick a tight specific line, however, for players who deal with too much tension and fear of negative outcomes, I have found that doing the exact opposite can be an effective cure. |  Image by: Neil Duerden |
Don't fear flaws - use them to correct any type of ball-flight
By Jeff Ritter, PGA; with Ryan M. Noll
No matter how fundamentally superior the swings of the world’s best players are to those belonging to the rest of us, there has never been, nor will there likely will there ever be, a golf swing without at least one flaw. The swings of greats such as Ben Hogan, Byron Nelson, Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods and Ernie Els may look perfect, but each features a number of flaws—the same weaknesses that plague the swings of recreational players. If that’s the case, then why do these golfers own championship trophies while you can’t even make the A flight at your club championship? Is it because great golfers can overcome flaws by grooving them out? Not quite. The real answer lies in the ability of tour pros to repeat their flaws and effectively apply others to compensate for the error.
For example, Ben Hogan battled a snap hook early in his career. It affected his game so badly that he developed a very weak left-hand grip, a cupped wrist and an open face at the top in order to offset the hook. Not only did Hogan learn to negate his hook, he also managed to win nine majors and notch 63 victories—not a bad effort considering the flaws inherent in his swing.
Like Hogan, you, too, can learn to use swing flaws to your advantage. The key is to identify your flaws and make sure you have an even number with which to work. I believe you can play great golf with an even number of mistakes by balancing them out. With an odd number, however, you’re in for a long day.
Slicers
A slicer’s golf swing is inherently too steep relative to the ideal swing shape. When you’re too upright, generally the effects are:
1) Deep divots.
2) Toe-first contact with the golf ball.
3) An open clubface at the point of contact.
 | Deep Divots A steep swing is traveling down too abruptly through the impact zone, which makes it difficult to pick the ball clean and avoid digging deep into the turf. The necessary fix is to inject some width into your swing to help shallow out the steep, descending blow. A great way to add width is to widen your takeaway, much like Jack Nicklaus did in his heyday. The steep-swinging Nicklaus triggered a bigger turn by first turning his head away from the target. Although turned, Nicklaus kept his head stationary, forcing him to stretch his arms low, wide and away from the target on his backswing. This trigger was exceptionally useful with fairway woods. |
| Toe Contact Despite the awesome information we can get from a videotaped or televised golf swing, it’s darn near impossible to get an exact idea of how close or far we should stand from the ball. Players with naturally steep swings tend to benefit from standing closer than usual to the ball to accommodate their upright swing shape. For a player with a normal swing, standing closer to the ball can put the heel dangerously close to the ball, often causing shanks. But for a steep swinger who misses frequently on the toe area of the club, standing closer will help balance the toe hit caused by the steep swing. Scott Hoch, who has among the most upright swings on the PGA Tour (his irons are about four degrees upright), stands closer to the ball to accommodate his steep swing. If he were to back away, it’d be near impossible for him to hit solid shots. In this case, he didn’t change his swing, he just changed his distance from the ball. |  |
 | DRILL: Get Closer at the Start Steep swingers need to stand closer to the ball. Here’s how to hug it at address. Hold a club in your right hand, then sole it squarely behind the ball and step in with your right foot so that the handle of the club rests against your right thigh. Step in with your left foot, then widen your right foot to about shoulder width for a full shot. Because you started with the club leaning against your body, your setup position will be nearer to the ball than normal, thus helping you to prevent toe hits. This drill is useful for every club in the bag. Remember, always pick a target and align your body not at, but parallel to that spot. You’ll see improvements immediately! |
DRILL: Roll the Ball for More Width
Set a golf ball about a foot behind and just inside the target line from where you would normally place a ball at address. With your left arm only, gently use the back of your iron and roll the ball away from the target line. Use a cap or a basket to catch them. The ball should roll slowly, not quickly, into the basket. So long, deep divots!
Open Clubface
If the clubface is opening too much and stays open at impact, the means for balancing things out is to adopt a stronger grip where both hands are rotated well to the right on the grip at address. In most cases, this grip is considered to be too strong, but for a slicer, it’s the perfect remedy. If you’re concerned that a strong grip will turn your slice into a hook, consider the swing style of Fred Couples. Couples has a stronger-than-usual left-hand grip, but uses a cupped left wrist at the top and a fast turn to the target to keep the clubface in check. Keep in mind that cupping the left wrist usually promotes a slice, while flattening or bowing the left wrist generally will produce a hook. Another common balancing act for slicers is to simply preset the clubface closed at address. This helps the golfer who chronically slices to maintain a square clubface through impact.
DRILL: Front Loader
Another one of my favorite drills that tends to work beautifully is what I call the Front Loader. This drill is designed to help you feel a postimpact hand rotation for more of a hooking shot. Set your ball on a medium-height tee. Hold your club a few feet past the ball as if you were about 1⁄4 of the way into your followthrough with the toe of the club turned well past the heel. Swing back (don’t contact the ball in the backswing) to about a 3⁄4-length backswing then through, striking the ball with the front-loaded rotated feel. You should see the ball easily holding its line and perhaps even hooking a little left.
 | Strong Hands! If it’s easy to read the glove logo in a mirror, then you know you have a strong grip. Mimic the fold in your index finger and thumb with your lower hand and you’re set. In this postimpact photo of Couples (right), you can see his body has outraced his hands through impact. If he didn’t have a strong thrust through the ball, his strong grip would cause hooked shots. This is why it’s critical to fully turn your body with a strong grip. |
Hookers
A player who hooks the ball has a golf swing that’s flatter and more rounded than that of a player who slices, leading to the exact opposite impact and flight characteristics.
1) No divot or divot well behind the ball.
2) Heel-first contact.
3) Clubface closing too much through impact.
No Divot Or Divot Behind
A flat swing tends to travel along the ground for longer than it should, and when this happens, the face is likely to close and sweep across the ball with a hooking motion. Here, width is the enemy.
Try to balance things out by staying centered, with your backswing resisting movement away from the target. Ben Hogan, a very flat swinger, was able to steepen his hit by reminding himself to keep his weight on his left side as well as narrowing his release angle through the ball. Hogan also visualized his arms wrapped tightly with rope, indicating the importance of keeping his arms tight to the torso, another means of narrowing the arc.
DRILL: Left Foot Right Toes
Stand solidly on your left foot with your right foot back and your right toe down for balance. Hit some shots from this stance. You’ll feel extremely centered over the ball, with little or no head movement. Any lateral movement will result in a loss of balance. Staying more centered will effectively narrow the width of your swing, leading to crisper contact. It’s that simple.
 | Stay Centered! Although Ben Hogan didn’t keep his hands in front of his chest at impact, he could do it when he had to. Here you can see that Hogan maintained knee flex and kept his weight in the center of his stance, resulting in a crisply hit bunker shot. His weight never fully shifted to his back foot. Staying centered is key for better bunker play, as is a more upright swing |
Heel Hits
Often, heel hits are the result of standing too close to the ball. The fix is to actually try a technique that Fuzzy Zoeller uses. Zoeller sets up the ball well off the heel (don’t be afraid), then works his arm close to the body through contact to deliver a solid blow. This address position forces Zoeller to do two things: 1) it prevents too much lean into the ball at impact, which can lead to a shank or heeled shot; 2) it keeps his arms close to his body, which is another means of adding speed, much like an ice skater spinning faster as the arms work closer to the torso. This drill absolutely forces you to stay a comfortable distance from the golf ball. With practice, you’ll grow accustomed with a stance farther away from the ball resulting in fewer heel hits.
DRILL: Be Like Vijay
Most of you have seen by now some of the interesting drills Vijay Singh does to work on his game. One of the most common is hitting shots with a glove tucked under his arm. If you’re hitting shots off the heel, then your arms are swinging too much away from your body through impact. Hit a few shots with a glove or headcover tucked under your right arm. You’ll feel more harmony between your arm swing and body turn leading to on-center hits. Caution: Your arms will require some room to float and move as your swing size increases, so keep these swings small at first for best results.
| Stand Away From It! Take a look at Zoeller in this photo (right). He has taken avoiding heel hits even further by setting up extremely far from the ball. For the normal player, this stance could lead to off-balance toe hits, but for the flat swinger, this stance can help eliminate heel hits without making a major adjustment to the swing. Try this routine with your irons and kiss heel hits goodbye! |  |
Clubface Closing Too Much
If you hook the ball too much, in some cases, it’s due to excessive hand and wrist rotation through the downswing. One of the best ways to beat this flaw is to adopt a slicer’s (weak) grip. Instead of the two folds in the hands between both thumbs and index fingers pointing at the right shoulder (left for lefties), try pointing both folds more toward your sternum. This will help you not only prevent a closed face at impact, but also to get more of your body involved in your swing. Another cure for a closing face is to speed up your turn to the target. Increasing your body’s rate of rotation will delay the closing of the face, leading to less hooks and straighter shots. A good example of someone with great target-side body action is Sergio Garcia. Notice how his hands are in front, and his shirt buttons are facing the target in this postimpact shot.
| DRILL: Thumbs Up Hold your left hand up in front of your chest and give the standard thumbs-up sign. This will put your left hand in a neutral position. Place your left hand on the grip in the same position so that your left thumb is positioned nearly straight down the shaft. Violà! Hooking the ball is a tall order with this kind of grip. |  |
When you don’t turn your body, the clubface closes too fast, causing a vicious hook (top, far left). To avoid this position, be like Sergio and make sure you clear your hips through impact (top, left). This will make closing the face more difficult and help you hit the ball straight. Also, if your shoulders are level at impact, you’ll come over the top, so keep your front shoulder up!
There you have it. Practice these moves and you’ll see much faster improvement than you ever will trying to grind out swing flaws from your natural swing. Remember, all swings have flaws, and the key to improvement is getting those flaws to work as effectively as possible for you. Do this and you’re sure to see some amazing results.
