I have been fortunate enough to train under Sandra Haynie, a World Golf Hall Of Famer, for the past two years. I am proud to say that it has taken me two years to begin to understand what she has been trying to tell me from the beginning. It is my sincere desire that I can save you the time, effort, and frustration that I have had with this illusive concept called target awareness.
Target Awareness Defined
It has been my experience that there are two different types of target awareness. The first type, which is what I understood long before my relationship with Sandy, was the target awareness I could take in with my eyes. What I mean by this is the target that I began looking at from behind the ball during my pre-shot routine, and the target I could see when I turned my head while at address.
It is the second type of target awareness that I have begun to practice with, and that is the target that we can’t see during the two seconds or so that it takes to swing the golf club. It was during this two-second interval where I began to find what she was trying to tell me all along. I needed to visualize this target throughout this two-second interval when I wasn’t looking at it. She would always guide me to be more specific; in other words, not just an area but a specific target destination.
True Confessions
I began practicing and experimenting on the range with this dreaded two-second interval. Wow! There was a whole lot of thinking going on, and some quite subtly. My ability to stay focused throughout these two seconds varied shot to shot and practice session to practice session. I also noticed one more important thing – the quality of my shot-making correlated directly to the quality and quantity of my attention to the target throughout this two-second interval. I also was able to take this newfound focus out on the golf course, and surprisingly found that I sharpened my attention to the target more on the course than just hitting shot after shot on the driving range.
I began asking other students that I train with how they dealt with this two-second timeframe. I will leave the names out to protect the innocent.
Student No. 1 – 15 Handicap
Buddy: Do you have a picture of the target in your mind during your swing?
Student: Don’t know for sure, but I’ll give it a try.
Buddy: Let’s go out and hit some balls together.
Student: (After 10 balls) I can’t do it.
Buddy: Come on it’s just me and you out here. Let’s give it a try.
Student: OK. (Some more balls) I saw the target that time; it came in and then went.
Student: I saw the target that time … the whole time.
Buddy: Good shot, this is good.
Student: This is interesting, but I just can’t sustain it. (Shots are going to the right … very much right.)
Buddy: Keep going through your pre-shot routine looking at the target and then try to stay focused throughout the entire time.
Buddy: What’s going on?
Student: I keep thinking about my takeaway.
Buddy: Why are you doing that?
Student: Because if I don’t take it back to the inside then I’m likely to hit it to the right.
Student No. 2 – 10 Handicap
Buddy: Do you have a picture of the target in your mind during your swing?
Student: I’m not sure.
Buddy: OK, take me through your pre-shot routine.
Student: I get behind the ball and take in my target. I align my clubface to the target, then I align my body around the club and keep looking at the target. Then I swing.
Buddy: Do you have a picture of the target in your mind during your entire swing?
Student: No, I guess not, but if I finish in balance looking at the target then I know this equates with a good outcome.
Buddy: How do you practice finishing towards the target in balance?
Student: I’m not sure.
Student No. 3 – 5 Handicap
Buddy: Do you have a picture of the target in your mind during your swing?
Student: I don’t know. I’ll go into the hitting bay and give it a try.
Buddy: How did it go?
Student: Nothing, I saw nothing during that time.
Buddy: Let’s try looking at this doorknob 10 feet away. Take a moment and stare at it. Now close your eyes. Do you still see it?
Student: No, nothing. I’ll tell you what though, I play my best golf when I have the target in my mind. I don’t know how it happens, but it does. And I’m sure that I’m seeing it during my swing as well.
Buddy: Maybe we can practice visualizing this target during our training?
Student: I think there might be something to it. I’m going to work at it as well.
Questions and Observations
- If we are not singularly focused during this two-second interval, then what are we focused on?
- Is this game illusive because we are looking down at the ball and don’t have the advantage of looking at our target during the execution like a baseball pitcher or a basketball player?
- If the best players see the target both before and during their swing, then maybe this is something that needs to be practiced to be understood.
Buddy Fichera is the General Manager of the WinStar Golf Academy in Thackerville, Okla., and can be reached at buddy.fichera@chickasaw.net.
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