"Come forth into the light of things, Let Nature be your teacher." -- William Wordsworth

An anonymous reader of my last entry shared a link to Chuck Hogan's website. I mentioned Hogan in a previous post about the "zone", but at the time didn't know who he was. It turns out Hogan has worked for years with golfers of all levels, including several well known PGA and LPGA Tour players, helping them enter the "zone" using a combination of mental and physical disciplines. He provides several fascinating articles at his website, one of which provided insights that I haven't really considered in depth before.


Early morning round by Deano8 at flickr.com

Most fascinating is Hogan's observation that, unlike golf, we perform activities like brushing our teeth, tying our shoes, and driving our car without any thought of how we are doing the doing. He notes that the number of motor skills required for shoe-tying is far more complex than something as simple as the putting stroke. Once the skill has been learned, all that is required is intent to perform the task, and with little attention to the intention. What appears to make golf different from these other activities is that we attach "caring" to its outcome. Hogan suggests that its the caring that blocks the doing.

I've observed that in each of my par or near-par rounds, I was playing without expectations, with my attention focused less on my game and more on my natural surroundings or golf partners. I was "playing" golf. It didn't require intense concentration. It didn't require trying. I didn't experience tension.

Hogan claims that the mainstream philosophy that we must concentrate well to play well may be flawed. He submits that tension is too often associated with concentration and concentration is too often expressed as trying - with a hard, glaring, squinted-eyed stare. Instead, Hogan suggests that "soft eyes", eyes of engagement without tension, are part and parcel to the "zone".

These soft and engaged eyes are sensitive to all of it's surroundings, allowing us to be, as Hogan teaches, entirely free to consume the target and all of it's conditions, such that the golfer is less "hitting the ball to the target" and more "having the target elicit the ball from the golfer."

That sounds like something Shivas Irons would say!

Chuck Hogan warns us to "be careful of descriptions of how it is done. The descriptions of how one person plays great golf may be exactly how you would play your worst golf. Be careful of how it is supposed to be done and become a great student of how you play extraordinary golf. Have your way. You have specific ways that you play your worst and best golf. Become a student of how you work. Notice the subtle ways that you hit great shots and lousy shots. Assume nothing! Be a student of your own process. Know thyself! It might just turn out to be the most fascinating pursuits of your entire life."

With all senses engaged, come forth into the light of things surrounding and creating each shot, and let golf become your teacher.

Labels: Articles, Chuck Hogan, Concentration, Disciplines, Learning