Golf Tips for Beating Paralysis by Analysis (Video) - by Pete Styles
Golf Tips for Beating Paralysis by Analysis (Video) - by Pete Styles

As much as I try to help golfers improve with the tips and the drills and the hints that I try and to get across to them, I am very conscious of the fact that some golfers can take on too much information, stand over the golf pole without the clear path or program of what they’re actually trying to do, and end up almost paralysed by the analysis that they’ve made. So we call that paralysis by analysis. They stand over the ball and think, ‘I don’t even know how I’m going to get the club back, ‘I’m thinking about grip and swing and head and tempo and time and everything else.’ And they don’t really get the best out of their golf practice and certainly, on the golf course, they don’t get the best results.

What I’d like you to consider is that when you drive to the golf course, to get there, very rarely do you actually have to think about the technique you use to drive, it becomes pretty much second nature, you think about the way you want the car to go, and the car will kind of just find its way there. The same way it happens when you’re playing good golf, so the best players in the world when they’re playing well, they look at where they want the ball to go, a couple of little practice swings and their body instinctively knows what to do. And that doesn’t come immediately naturally, you have to work hard on being able to get into that subconscious stage. But it works best when you've got one or two key swing thoughts rather than 10 or 15. And the last key thought you might have just when you play is to relax or to grip it lightly, or to swing with good tempo. And those are the sorts of thoughts that would dissipate all the other thoughts that are trying to get into your brain.

So when you set up to the golf ball, you banish all the other thoughts to the back of your mind, you’re thinking ‘good tempo.’ And that should help you get over this paralysis by analysis. One of the nice way that will help you take the club away from the ball without freezing over it, is to develop a little trigger. So whether you've noticed from watching my previous videos when I actually hit shots, I generally have a little trigger of just nudging my hands forwards. And I’ll be honest with you, it’s not something I’m conscious of, I only notice it because I see my videos. But I set up to the golf ball and in good position, a little waggle, and there’s the trigger.

And my hands push forwards and my knees flex, and that’s just my little way of saying, ‘okay we’re ready we can take the club back.’ And it stops me freezing over the ball thinking ‘how does that club move?’ I set up nicely, a little trigger and the club moves away. I’m not suggesting that you necessarily copy my trigger but try and develop one of your own. Whatever feels comfortable, whether it would be a waggle and then a hit, whether it would be a knee dip, even lust a blink, it might just be your set up to the ball, you blink and then you swing the club. It’s just something to stop you getting paralyzed over the top of the ball and effectively getting the yelps. So avoid the paralysis by analysis.

 2013-04-03

As much as I try to help golfers improve with the tips and the drills and the hints that I try and to get across to them, I am very conscious of the fact that some golfers can take on too much information, stand over the golf pole without the clear path or program of what they’re actually trying to do, and end up almost paralysed by the analysis that they’ve made. So we call that paralysis by analysis. They stand over the ball and think, ‘I don’t even know how I’m going to get the club back, ‘I’m thinking about grip and swing and head and tempo and time and everything else.’ And they don’t really get the best out of their golf practice and certainly, on the golf course, they don’t get the best results.

What I’d like you to consider is that when you drive to the golf course, to get there, very rarely do you actually have to think about the technique you use to drive, it becomes pretty much second nature, you think about the way you want the car to go, and the car will kind of just find its way there. The same way it happens when you’re playing good golf, so the best players in the world when they’re playing well, they look at where they want the ball to go, a couple of little practice swings and their body instinctively knows what to do. And that doesn’t come immediately naturally, you have to work hard on being able to get into that subconscious stage. But it works best when you've got one or two key swing thoughts rather than 10 or 15. And the last key thought you might have just when you play is to relax or to grip it lightly, or to swing with good tempo. And those are the sorts of thoughts that would dissipate all the other thoughts that are trying to get into your brain.

So when you set up to the golf ball, you banish all the other thoughts to the back of your mind, you’re thinking ‘good tempo.’ And that should help you get over this paralysis by analysis. One of the nice way that will help you take the club away from the ball without freezing over it, is to develop a little trigger. So whether you've noticed from watching my previous videos when I actually hit shots, I generally have a little trigger of just nudging my hands forwards. And I’ll be honest with you, it’s not something I’m conscious of, I only notice it because I see my videos. But I set up to the golf ball and in good position, a little waggle, and there’s the trigger.

And my hands push forwards and my knees flex, and that’s just my little way of saying, ‘okay we’re ready we can take the club back.’ And it stops me freezing over the ball thinking ‘how does that club move?’ I set up nicely, a little trigger and the club moves away. I’m not suggesting that you necessarily copy my trigger but try and develop one of your own. Whatever feels comfortable, whether it would be a waggle and then a hit, whether it would be a knee dip, even lust a blink, it might just be your set up to the ball, you blink and then you swing the club. It’s just something to stop you getting paralyzed over the top of the ball and effectively getting the yelps. So avoid the paralysis by analysis.