Instinctive Golf Blog

“Wu-wei” (pronounced ooo-way) is a concept developed by philosophers in early China of the Confucian and Daoist (or Taoist) schools of thought. Wu-wei literally  translates as “not trying, “non-doing’, or “non-action.” The practice of wu-wei is a fundamental tenet in Chinese thought and is a central concept in Chinese martial arts. Wu-wei cannot be actively … Continue reading Wu-Wei

Do you ‘dig deeply’ or ‘tread softly’? Of course, I’m referring to golf swing basics and your golf swing. Do you ‘dig a hole’ or ‘sweep the turf’? A traditional paradigm in establishing a proper golf swing is that you must take a large divot from the ground under and past the golf ball in … Continue reading Divot Digging

The proliferation of golf instruction that emphasizes golf mechanics and positions in the golf swing often stifles many golfers’ improvement and enjoyment of the game. The focus on conscious attempts at controlling parts of the golf swing and parts of the body may be at the cost of the body/mind feeling a sense of the … Continue reading Feeling the Whole Golf Swing

For your meditative experience You can walk out in nature…… You can sit on a cushion and try to empty your mind OR You can use the tool of a golf club as inquiry To see what you might find! Meditation is simply a method or modality that encourages a consciousness beyond our thinking analytical … Continue reading The Meditative Nature of Golf Exercises

I recently read a mentally stimulating golf book, The Practice Manual, The Ultimate Guide For Golfers by Adam Young, a world-class golf teaching professional from the UK. It’s a very detailed book about how to improve your golf game through understanding both the dynamics of a proper golf swing and how we learn a physical skill … Continue reading Golf Practice

The ‘keep it simple golf’ approach to improvement is rather simple, but it may not seem “easy” at first. The process may seem “difficult” because of our tendency to rely on our conscious thinking mind in so many of our activities, and to make the shift to trusting in our subconscious kinesthetic instincts to perform … Continue reading Trust Your Golf Instinct

Traditional golf instruction often tells us that we must have a “pre-shot routine” with a consistent series of physical movements in preparation for an effective and reliable golf swing. The intended purpose is to have a physical routine to minimize mental interference in performing the mechanics of our golf swing. Professional golfers have had hundreds … Continue reading Reflections on a “pre-shot routine”

Could the traditional methods of learning and improving one’s golf game through a how-to instruction model change to a guided “self-discovery learning process?” It would only happen one golfer at a time. Awaken Your Inner Golfer offers a vehicle for that possibility. Traditional golf instruction tries to teach us something (a physical motor skill) that … Continue reading Golf exercises and learning

To ‘cart’ or ‘not to cart’, that is the question: whether ‘tis nobler in the mind…… I wonder what Shakespeare would opt for?!?  Riding a motorized cart playing golf is not always a ‘given’ despite the fact that it has been made customary. To ‘cart’ or ‘not to cart’ presents an opportunity for a conscious … Continue reading To cart or not to cart?

Let’s explore trying versus allowing in developing an effective golf swing. First, let’s look at the words themselves. Try is defined as “to attempt, endeavor, to make an effort” with synonyms of “strive, wrangle, work, labor, and struggle for.” Allow is defined as “to permit, to acknowledge as valid” with synonyms of “permit, let, grant, … Continue reading Trying vs. allowing