NLP - a missing recording track and links with emotional intelligence

The other day I was playing golf with a friend. I am not very good, being very inconsistent, but I had just watch the majestic flight of my golf ball soaring from the face of my driver, straight, true and long. This is a rare occurrence for me. I rarely use my driver as my strength and erratic direction means I usually send it a long way into trouble and I find myself playing recovery shots from the start.

I usually use a driving iron. It is shorter, but for me more consistent ie less trouble. The difference this time was I had been watching Sergio Garcia, line up in a particular way and I wanted to try it. In truth I think the results were better, though it old just have been that was just concentrating more.

Anyway, I thought back to a round of golf earlier in the year when I played with a young prospective pro-golfer and his coach. It was interesting to watch the coach using NLP techniques to anchor good "results" and reference bad ones.

So I thought back to what the coach had been doing and tried to anchor my good drive. I replayed it in my mind and I could find the mechanical, preparatory elements along with the high of watching my ball fly and land in position "A+" (and yes I went on to par the hole in regulation), but my body has no record of the biological elements. No feel about the takeaway, the tensioning, the downswing or the release. I did it. I know I did, but it left no imprint, no feelings, no record. There was nothing to anchor to in the biomechanics of that beautiful shot.

This is not the first time I had been aware of this, but maybe the first time I realise it's significance. In golf lessons I have had professionals tell me to feel the club face open on the back swing (nothing!), to feel the tension as my body coils (nothing!), to feel the club head release at impact (nothing!), and so it goes on.

If I was recording my golf experience as a music track, it is as if the track recording the biomechanics, ie how my body does what it does, is left blank. Now I don't know if it the recording head (yes, pun intended) that is wrong or the medium I am recording too, but something is missing and probably goes a long way to explain why I am still a high handicapper who can hit some wonderful strikes, but not consistently or frequently enough to worry any competitions, other than last place.

The other resonance is some reading I have been doing around emotional intelligence and the importance of self awareness. One needs this in order to understand what to do different, when and how. I don't think I am too bad there, though I know I can and want to improve.

I want to improve my golf, but I need to work out why I a missing important information and what if anything I can do about it?


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