Today I’ve got a guest post from the “Anti-Practice” Golf Coach Craig Sigl.
Now, in reality, he’s not really anti-practice, but he focuses on how average golfers can improve, when they simply don’t have the time to spend on the range.
Check out what he thinks we can all learn from Bubba Watson and his impressive victory at The Masters.
Take it away, Craig…
Bubba Watson has never had a swing coach. He hasn’t had a lesson since he was 10 years old.
His playing approach is contrary to every golf strategy book ever written… as he says it like this: I always ATTACK.” He goes for the pin no matter the situation.
Bubba Watson isn’t a big student of the game either. Here’s what he said about that:
“I don’t play the sport for fame. I don’t try to win tournaments for fame,” Watson said. “I don’t do any of that. It’s just me. I’m just Bubba. I goof around. I joke around. I just want to be me and play golf.”
About his swing he said: “I just swing funny and somehow it works.”
This guy is my new hero.
In an age where parents are moving their families to Florida so they can play year round and to work with Golf Digest top instructors, is Bubba just a rare exception or does he know something most golfers don’t?
It’s my contention that every golfer can adopt his secret and improve your game with it. It’s not hard. In fact, I think it’s hard to hold on to those old beliefs that your swing isn’t good enough… IT IS.
I read an article that said that Tiger would try to pair with Bubba on practice rounds in the majors because he was intrigued at how someone could make the ball move the way Bubba does without ever having had a swing coach. Tiger probably studied Bubba’s swing in great detail to try to find the mechanical key that makes it work. When all the while, the secret was probably in a few simple words and sentences that Bubba plainly and simply gives away for free.
What can us mere mortals learn from Bubba?
Does Bubba have talent? Of course. More than Tiger or Phil? I doubt it. But he knows how to win.
What does he have a tremendous amount of?
TRUST in his swing and his game.
There is no perfect swing, there is no perfect golfer. As Bagger Vance said: “You’ve got to find your authentic swing”
You can spend your life trying to tweak your swing or your putting stroke or you can get on to the business of scoring well. The two don’t always jive together. Just ask David Duvall if you don’t believe me.
Here’s another gift Bubba has given us. Will you accept it? From Bubba himself in a post-win interview:
“I don’t even know what happened on the back nine… Nervous on every shot, every putt. Went into a playoff. I got in these trees and hit a crazy shot that I saw in my head, and somehow I’m here talking to you with a green jacket on.”
Nervous on every shot, every putt
You can play well AND feel nervous.
The mental game is everything, just ask Tiger who is in the midst of re-learning that.
And by the way, remember when I said last year that Tiger Woods isn’t mentally tough. Well, maybe now he is even though he didn’t win the Masters. He did win last week and that says a lot… AND it doesn’t prove I was wrong a year ago when he couldn’t win anything after faltering from his personal problems.
Nobody is stuck at where they are at today. Everybody can change and does change. That’s the only constant!
All golfers can adopt a new way of thinking or a new focus in order to break through what’s been holding them back on the course and life. What can you take away from this for your game that can open some new doors that had previously been closed?
And here’s another rambling that will mean something different to everyone with regards to golf…and life that may or may not have anything to do with Bubba Watson and the 2012 Masters…you decide:
Happiness = Growth (or improvement)
Here’s why – We get used to everything! No matter how great your game is. No matter how big your house is. No matter how good looking your partner is….you get used to it and the great feelings you once had when you first got that, will always fade.
Therefore, the only thing that brings us sustained high enjoyment is the chase for the better game, not a score for any single round.
Let me hear your opinions on any of this below….
And if you would like to check out Craig’s Break 80 Without Practice Program – CLICK HERE
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It is interesting without instruction, we watch others and adopt a way of hitting the ball, it is as simple as that in the beginning, the down side is every golfer has their opinion on how to hit it, if we listen to them, we lose our zeal generally, as we don’t get the fact the long time the other person has been at it, it works for them because they have done it until it works. Advice only works if you totally understand it. Me, I watch for tips I can try, and if they work, adopt them. Works for me, though I admit lessons are better if you can afford it.
I actually learned to hit trouble shots first hahaha because I was always in trouble in the beginning, and still can rival many good golfers at getting out of trouble, I see Bubba is an expert at it, telling me Woods and Watson spent a lot of time in the rough or woods learning their own way, Woods has simply forgotten his roots at golf, Even Bubba said so.
If we understand we are going to have bad days and good days, stop asking the hacker next to you what you are doing wrong, unless he or she is consistantly scoring in the 60s. They have their demons and are more than willing to impress them on you , the one thing I cringe at is someone telling me I raised up , keep your head down when I miss-hit, I simply am miss-hitting, my swing is mine, and likely the next shot I am going to hit it out 90 degrees onto the green a 150 yards away, I only wish I could hit it consistantly strait hahahaha
The whole point is keep practicing, get lessons from someone who can score in the 60’s or low 70’s should you need it, not from your buddy who hits in the 90’s, along the way you will learn to hit it that 90 degrees, or what ever, and will stay with you into you are too old to play, it is called the school of hard knocks, the rest is simply fine tuning the little frustrating bugger.
Sorry about being long winded, sadly I only touched on what I wanted to say , Hit’em long
Kyle Gosnell
Jacksonville FL
Hey Kyle – thanks for the comment, I couldn’t agree more!