On The Tee with Hank Johnson

1. Plan and commit time for practice following your lesson. In the words of the great Harvey Pennick, "Lessons can never take the place of practice; they just make practice more worthwhile."
2. Select your teacher carefully. The best reflection of a teacher’s ability is the improvement of their students. Do your homework just like you would if you were choosing a surgeon. The best teacher for you might not be the one most conveniently located or least expensive.
3. Be prepared to answer four basic questions related to your golf game:
   • What do you want?
   • What’s keeping you from having it?
   • What do you need to change to get it?
   • Are you willing to do the practice that will be required to change?
4. Plan to communicate openly with your teacher. After all, you are partners in this project. Make sure you inform your teacher of any physical condition that might affect your golf performance.
5. Bring your teacher an open mind. You're not likely to find the truth if you've already made up your mind what it ought to be.
6. Be willing to work on one thing at a time. Quality instruction is based on the "building block" concept. A good teacher will expect you to master one assignment before moving on to the next one.
7. Maintain a written record of the specifics of your lesson for future reference during your practice. Even the great Ben Hogan kept a notebook so he could remember what he was working on from one practice session to the next.
8. Commit to being your own coach. An effective teacher will give you specific tools to monitor your practice. The major objective for your practice should be to eliminate incorrect repetitions. Just as every skill is enhanced by practice, every bad habit is more deeply ingrained through repetition.

Champions almost always have a very powerful physical presents. They physically project determination, high energy, confidence and strength. The way they walk, carry their head, their shoulders, and so forth, all contribute to that image. Many competitors lack a strong and positive physical presence. They often project poor confidence, indifference, low intensity, uncertainty, negativism, or a general absence of inner strength. What is often overlooked is the fact that players can significantly improve their emotional control by improving and strengthening their physical presence.

A very important question then is how physical presence contributes to emotional control. The answer lives in the delicate between our minds and bodies. The fact is, we cannot affect one without also affecting the other. When we physically change how we appear on the outside we invariably evidence corresponding change psychologically and emotionally. So keep in mind the following:

How you feel on the inside is closely connected to how you look and feel on the outside.

• If you want to feel high positive intensity, start visibly projecting intensity.
• If you want to feel determined, start looking determined.
• If you want to feel strong and confident, start acting like it.

Channeling high positive emotions during competitive play is no simple task. It is every bit as much a learned skill as developing a great swing. Unfortunately, players rarely train as conscientiously to improve their emotional control as they do in other areas.

The next time you’re feeling down and the world has turned against you in competition, when you’re feeling negative and lost, fight those feelings by controlling how you look on the outside. Throw your shoulders back, pick up your walk, and start manufacturing confidence physically even if you don’t feel it. Remember that you can’t always directly control how you feel, but you can always control your physical presence, and that often gets the job done itself.

The message is clear: work hard to develop and maintain the physical presence of a champion – no matter how you feel – and you could become one.

Let's talk about whether you should continue playing while you're trying to make a swing change.

I believe you should; however, you must learn to separate playing and practicing. This is a skill that all good players have, so why not learn how to make this important mental transition while you are learning your new swing?

In practice, you have to focus on the details of your swing (the parts) in order to change them. Your swing mechanics become much more important that the quality of the shots you hit. Do it right, even if you miss the ball, until you no longer miss the ball.

In play, the ONLY thing that matters is the quality of the shot. There are No style points! You really shouldn't think about the parts of you swing while you're playing, unless it's in rehearsal prior to actually playing the shot. When it's time to play a shot that matters. You should focus on your target and just "feel" the swing that will make the ball go there.

Here's the process: You use mechanics to create a feel for the whole swing. That's what practice is for. When you play, you use that feel of the whole swing to re-create the mechanics. Thus you have to train yourself to mentally switch back and forth between practice and play.

I believe that there is no better time to train yourself to flip the mental switch between practice and play than while you are in the process of making a swing change.