Walk'en,Waggles, and Mental Toughness
If you watch a professional golfer you will notice that their routine is the same on every shot. That is because to be on the circuit they must be mentally tough. When they approach a shot they evaluate the shot. They look at the lie, distance, wind and make a decision on their shot selecting a club. Once they make their decision they commit to it completely. They then go through the same physical routine before each shot. Most then do a waggle. A waggle is a meaningless movement that serves as a signal to their mind and body that they are ready to go. They then hit the shot. This is all about mental toughness.
We are professional athletes. We need to do the same. We need to evaluate the shot. Make a decision. Committed to it completely. Do our waggle, then make the shot. To be competitive, you need to develop a mental routine, a physical routine, and a waggle. It is all about mental toughness, not accuracy. I will give you such a routine. I call it walking the hits to the light.
Your first shot is a guess. After the first shot you have something to work with. You evaluate the shot and make adjustments to move the hit closer to the light. Right/left alignment is the easiest to do. If your first shot is 12 inches to the right, you turn your shooting toe 2 degrees to left. Lift your off foot and replace where comfortable. This turns your hips and alignment and you will hit about 6 inches left of your prior shot. You then adjust your elevation, however you do that. For lock elbow shooters that generally is balance. This a all done before the set command. THEN FORGET IT AND THE LAST SHOT.
You do your waggle to tell yourself you are ready to go. A loaded spring waiting for the light. You must forget the prior shot and the adjustments. If you do not, you will shoot from the frontal lobe, the conscious, and will miss. You have done this or have seen it done many times. First shot high over the target, next shot low under the target, next over the target. When we see this, it is a shooter thinking about his shot. He shoots exactly where he is thinking. We do not do this. We evaluate, adjust our alignment, forget it, and shoot from the subconscious. Our adjustments are those small incremental adjustments that that we have stored in our subconscious from our bucket work.
Walking the hits to the light is all about mental toughness, but it will lead you to 80% accuracy. First shot may be a miss, but each subsequent shot will be closer to the light and should be on the plate. If you miss the guess, the first shot, a five shot string should at least 4 out of 5 or 80%. That should be average for you once you learn the routine. And you should get better and better the longer the event goes, just as you do in practice.
Practice Routine: Once you have a finalized draw from your dry fire and bucket work, you can begin to practice your competitive routine. Once again on cardboard or some other target medium where you can see ever hit. Start at 10 feet, draw a 10 inch circle on the target, fire your guess, first shot. Evaluate the hit, adjust your alignment right and left, adjust your elevation, forget it, the shot and the adjustments, waggle, shoot. Go through your routine on the third shot, and again on the fourth and subsequent shots.
A good match has nothing to do with winning, speed, or accuracy. A good match is when each subsequent shot is closer to the light. We want to perfect the routine to the extent that we are mentally tough. Mental toughness wins more matches than quickness and accuracy combined. It is not a fluke that Johnny Three Toes, a seven shooter, goes through shooters with combined 7 black badges to a National Championship. On that day in Deadwood he was the toughest gunfighter there.
"Put the fear of Alleluia in 'em,
We don't practice missing!"
We are professional athletes. We need to do the same. We need to evaluate the shot. Make a decision. Committed to it completely. Do our waggle, then make the shot. To be competitive, you need to develop a mental routine, a physical routine, and a waggle. It is all about mental toughness, not accuracy. I will give you such a routine. I call it walking the hits to the light.
Your first shot is a guess. After the first shot you have something to work with. You evaluate the shot and make adjustments to move the hit closer to the light. Right/left alignment is the easiest to do. If your first shot is 12 inches to the right, you turn your shooting toe 2 degrees to left. Lift your off foot and replace where comfortable. This turns your hips and alignment and you will hit about 6 inches left of your prior shot. You then adjust your elevation, however you do that. For lock elbow shooters that generally is balance. This a all done before the set command. THEN FORGET IT AND THE LAST SHOT.
You do your waggle to tell yourself you are ready to go. A loaded spring waiting for the light. You must forget the prior shot and the adjustments. If you do not, you will shoot from the frontal lobe, the conscious, and will miss. You have done this or have seen it done many times. First shot high over the target, next shot low under the target, next over the target. When we see this, it is a shooter thinking about his shot. He shoots exactly where he is thinking. We do not do this. We evaluate, adjust our alignment, forget it, and shoot from the subconscious. Our adjustments are those small incremental adjustments that that we have stored in our subconscious from our bucket work.
Walking the hits to the light is all about mental toughness, but it will lead you to 80% accuracy. First shot may be a miss, but each subsequent shot will be closer to the light and should be on the plate. If you miss the guess, the first shot, a five shot string should at least 4 out of 5 or 80%. That should be average for you once you learn the routine. And you should get better and better the longer the event goes, just as you do in practice.
Practice Routine: Once you have a finalized draw from your dry fire and bucket work, you can begin to practice your competitive routine. Once again on cardboard or some other target medium where you can see ever hit. Start at 10 feet, draw a 10 inch circle on the target, fire your guess, first shot. Evaluate the hit, adjust your alignment right and left, adjust your elevation, forget it, the shot and the adjustments, waggle, shoot. Go through your routine on the third shot, and again on the fourth and subsequent shots.
A good match has nothing to do with winning, speed, or accuracy. A good match is when each subsequent shot is closer to the light. We want to perfect the routine to the extent that we are mentally tough. Mental toughness wins more matches than quickness and accuracy combined. It is not a fluke that Johnny Three Toes, a seven shooter, goes through shooters with combined 7 black badges to a National Championship. On that day in Deadwood he was the toughest gunfighter there.
"Put the fear of Alleluia in 'em,
We don't practice missing!"
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