Avoid paralysis via analysis
BY Andrea Furst
Golf is a truly strategic sport that requires the effective use of tactics and analysis to excel. However, it is possible to become too analytical during play and I have observed on numerous occasions players allowing self and course analysis to interfere with the flow of a round.
There are three basic ways that you can use analysis to your advantage. One is analysing course layout and each hole of the course to prepare for the round. The second way is in the information gathering and decision making stage of your pre-shot routine whilst you are playing and the third way is a post round review once you have completed playing.
On the pro-tours, course analysis is usually performed by professional caddies however amateurs at any level can start to use effective preparation to their benefit by understanding what the course is demanding of you as a player at your level.
Map out the course (via a basic drawing on a blank piece of paper) and speak to your teaching professional about their suggestions for how you should play the course given its features. Given the distances and hazards you can work out plans for club and shot type choice for each shot. Analyse past rounds and honestly asses which shots have been successful and which have costs you strokes to help prepare for future rounds on the same course.
Use Your Smarts
Use your‘smarts’ is something I often say to the more analytically minded. You will often hear people make the comment that successful sports people are either great thinkers or don’t think at all. There are several reasons for these sorts of comments.
Generally speaking, smart athletes know how to use their mind to its maximum but they don’t exhaust it by over-thinking. Athletes that appear not to think at all simply do not spend the time mentally engaging in their game in the detail that others may, they just do it.
If you are a player who does tend to think too much during a round – put the emphasis on your‘smart’s’ during the pre-shot routine when you are taking in all of the information presented to you before deciding on the shot, so that you can rely on your tactical analysis, commit to your decision, and then walk in to execute the desired shot.
Too much analysis after the shot is wasted energy and most amateurs are trying to change their swing out on the course when in fact the likelihood of change while you are playing with a strong technical focus is very low.
After the round is completed, you can break your game into the four areas of technical, mental, physical, and tactical. You will find that you can evaluate at the end of the round to begin with and then start incorporating the focus on each of these areas as you play the round. A thorough performance review can also assist your learning from each round and progress for subsequent rounds.
Evaluate what you did well and why. The importance of recognising and recording what you did well during the round cannot be emphasised enough. So much time is dedicated to improving the gaps between what you did and what you need to do to improve your performance that it is easy for players to overlook what they actually did well on the course.
The point of taking the time to acknowledge the ‘good stuff’ is so that you continue to do it. What’s more, it is always helpful to know why it was done well through understanding how you did it – super helpful if you want to repeat it! Plus, working on strengths can often have benefits over and above the improvements of only focussing on your weakness, particularly in a tactical game like golf.
Be Honest With Yourself
Evaluate what you did not do well and why. Be honest with yourself. Focussing on your weaknesses will improve your game. Be sure to understand why underachieved in a specific area (i.e., technical, tactical, mental, and physical) to the level that you want or need to, and understand the inter-relationships between each of these areas. For example a physically tired golfer can suffer from lack of focus and concentration, which influences club selection and shot execution.
When you have that understanding it is easier to determine what you need to do in your practise to improve these areas. Develop a plan of what you can do to improve your aspects of the round that you did not do well. Detail a specific solution for each area and ask your teaching professional for some assistance with drills or activities that they can recommend to you which will address your areas of weakness.
One you have a solid idea of the strategies to improve weaknesses and maximise strengths you can set process goals for your round to help keep your focus on achieving small tasks while you play. Process goals can help focus your analysis on some key factors that assist your game. You can monitor these throughout the round. Process goals are simple statements that you can determine easily whether you did or did not achieve them. They keep you working on the creating direct control over your own performance and thus influencing your results.
Analysis is extremely beneficial for become a great strategy player – learning to match the skills you have and the demands of the course conditions on that day. Furthermore, if you analyse your entire round you can start to accumulate useful information about all areas of your game that keep you focussed on the small steps needed to make the improvements you want on your game.
