I have been working with Jayne Storey of Chi Performance Golf for some time. I have to say that there are aspects of this that I am finding very challenging. Not the technique, practice or benefits. I truly believe in the process and outcomes. My personal challenge is that I have never used my breath in the actual shot. I believe I am wrong not to have done so however back in my day….
There is a lot in this. If you want to know more Jayne would be happy to hear from you or alternatively contact me.
I recently received a paper written by a long-term student and retired professor, which details from a scientific perspective, why he is now winning at golf
HOW AND WHY THIS SIMPLE APPROACH HAS HELPED ME WIN AT GOLF
by Erik A. – Oxford, UK
Student of Jayne Storey’s Chi-Performance GOLF
Introduction
I have come into golf after retirement from a career in science and medicine. I found the game immensely enjoyable, but also challenging and full of frustrations. The golf swing is a movement and must be learned like any other complicated movement, from riding a bicycle to driving a car. Once you have learned the skill, the movements become automatic and you don’t have to think about it; therefore hitting a golf ball 50 yards with a club should be as easy as throwing it by hand.
The problem is that golf is not as easy as that. Thinking and worrying about the outcome gets in the way. Muscles tighten, the head comes up and the ball is not struck cleanly. In fact, it is often “skulled”, or even be totally missed!
Also, it does not go in the intended direction and distance.
Taking lessons with a swing pro and practicing what you’ve been shown will improve the golfing skills. On the driving range, you can hit booming drives. On the practice green, you learn to chip and putt with increasing confidence. The problem is that these skills don’t seem to transfer to the golf course. There you find that the drives hardly make it to the Ladies tee or disappear into the gauze. The chips that were meant to bounce and end a foot from the pin, scurry across the green into a bunker on the other side!
Why is that? The answer must lie in the workings of the brain. In my academic work, I had come across the psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, author of ‘Flow; The Psychology of Optimal Experience’. He wrote that humans are only truly happy if they have what he called Flow. Flow is the mental state associated with intense activity in artists, surgeons, musicians or athletes.
The characteristics of Flow are:
- Intense focus on the present.
- A sense of personal control.
- Intrinsically rewarding and enjoyable.
Perhaps Flow had the answer to my golf problems? I was therefore curious to explore the Tai Chi-based method offered by Jayne Storey because it had a link to Flow, especially the area of her work which equates correct breathing with ease of movement.
Read Erik’s complete paper (with diagrams!) on the Chi-Performance blog
Happy training!
Jayne