Month: July 2014

I haven’t blogged for about 2 and a half weeks for various reasons. My grand kids were in town for a week and golf took a back seat for that week. But most of all just not a lot of progress made on finding the answer. The scores the last two weeks have been about the same with most in the mid 70’s and a couple of 80’s tossed in just to make sure that I know I haven’t found the answer. There has not been a lot of stimulus to write, but today I thought I would like to discuss a subject not directly related to golf, but with some of the things that I am doing right now, it may have more meaning, if by some flukey chance, these things turn out to be successful.

I would like to discuss our perceptions, or the way we perceive things. In some cases this could be about a particular subject. Let’s take the example of Obama Care. There is one side that feels this is the greatest thing since sliced bread. The other perception is that Obama Care threatens the very existance of the American way. Each side argues passionately for their point of veiw and thinks the other sides perception is skewed or wrong. This ends up with neither side  coming close to convincing the other side to change their mind. I can tell you that that there are two areas where our perceptions are definitely skewed or wrong. This is in the area of time and speed. Time is a constant. A second is a second, a minute is a minute, an hour is an hour and so on and so on. But in your feeble little mind 5 minutes can seem like an eternity, if you are waiting for someone or standing in line. On the other hand if you are engrossed in a book or a video game, an hour can fly by in the blink of an eye. We look up from the game or book and say, “Oh my God where did the time go, I’m going to be late for work”.  The same thing can be said about speed. Most of us have to drive a little way through congested streets and neighborhoods to get to the freeway or interstate. When you first get on the interstate and get into the flow of traffic and hit the 55- 65 mph speed you really get that feeling that you are hip hopping right along. Before long however, as the traffic keeps moving you accelerate up to 75 and 80 mph and don’t even know it, because now that feels the same as when you were going 65. Then when you get off the interstate, maybe on a two lane highway, where the speed limit is 55, that will feel like you are just crawling. Even though the speed can be pretty much the same if will feel different depending on when and where you are doing that particular speed.

Now what does this have to do with golf. Your golf swing has these two components, time and speed. There is a certain amount of time you will have to take to make a golf swing. Your swing, and I am not talking about the amount of clubhead speed you can generate, will also have a certain speed. It will be your perception of the time and speed of your golf swing that will dictate how you make adjustments during a round of golf. My guess here, and I am dealing from my own experience, that these perceptions are wrong. I am not sure how they are wrong and they may not be wrong all time. I may have some conclusions on this in a later blog. Anyway, just food for thought, don’t let it give you indigestion. See you when I have something to write about again.