TOO MANY THOUGHTS?

While I was recently watching The Players, one of the analysts on Golf Channel was speaking about Jordan Spieth and showed him videoing his putting stroke before the round started.  The debate was that if you think about mechanical thoughts, then you are unable to putt freely.  Jordan was for; the analyst against.  I can see both sides. Some players don’t like advice about or to think mechanical thoughts while playing a tournament round – the ol’ “take to the course the shots you have on the range” type of motto.  These players are more focused on feel than trying to fix whatever might be wrong with their game at the moment. Other players are very technical and want all the tips and advice they can get.  Maybe Jordan is this type of player.  Maybe he feels like there is something wrong mechanically in his putting stroke and wants to change it.  It could be something very small, yet produce great results. The key is to know your students.  Know what kind of information they can mentally handle prior to a competitive round and what they can’t.  As golf teaching professionals, we need to adapt to our students’ way of processing information.