Module 3: Shot Routine Mastery / Lesson 4 of 5

Feel, One Cue and Quiet Eye

Lesson 4 of 5

What To Do

JJ sees the same mistake over and over: players have mechanical swing thoughts instead of feel swing thoughts. Using FocusBand, a brain training device first used by Jason Day on the PGA Tour, JJ can see where players go wrong in their routine. Most of the damage is done before the player even walks into the ball. Every player he has worked with hits a more consistent shot when they are on the athletic, feel side of the brain instead of the analytical side.

You probably play better when you do not care. In a match or tournament you do care, so you need a way to find that freedom on purpose. It starts with feel swings, one performance cue, and steady eyes. JJ is a firm believer that a player cannot have more than one performance cue and hit a good shot.

How To Do It

Step 1: Feel, not mechanics

A mechanical thought sounds like this: "I have to get my path left and my face open to hit a fade." A feel thought sounds like this: "What does it feel like to hit a cut?" Make smooth practice swings in good tempo that feel like the shot. Then walk in, check your alignment and recreate that feel.

Step 2: Find your one cue

A performance cue is a trigger word that narrows your focus. Some players need to quiet their mind and think of nothing. Others, like JJ, need one thing to focus on or they hit errant shots. His own cues are smooth tempo at the top of the swing and taking the club straight back. In putting he thinks about his big muscles moving the putter to take the hands out of it. Some days he feels it in his shoulders, other days in his lower back.

Step 3: Expect your cue to change

Your cue may change from week to week or even day to day. Find it in the warm-up, then stick with it for the round. Just because a cue works for someone else does not mean it will work for you.

Step 4: Quiet eye

Research by Joan Vickers shows that better putters hold a steady final look at the back of the ball longer than average putters, and keep their eyes still through the stroke. Before you start the putter back, let your eyes settle on one dimple. Keep them on that spot for a count of one after impact.

Step 5: Train it at home

Put a coin on the carpet and stroke putts over it while keeping your eyes on the coin until you hear the ball stop. Ten a day is enough.

Put your cue on your Yard Card

Performance Yard Card

Your affirmations, one performance cue and your motto on a card that lives in your yardage book.

Open the form

Everything you save here is stored in My Playbook.

When To Use It

Every practice swing and every shot
When you catch yourself running through a checklist over the ball
On every putt, especially short ones

Common Mistakes

Three or four swing thoughts at once
Thinking about positions and paths instead of how the shot feels
Copying a cue from a friend or a video without testing it
Looking up early on short putts to see if they went in

Practical Exercise

Quiet Eye Breath

Use this over a putt or a chip. Breathe in for 4 while you look at the target. Hold for 4 as your eyes come back to one dimple on the ball. Breathe out for 4 and let your eyes go still. Hold for 4 and stroke it, keeping your eyes on the spot.

Pattern: 4-4-4-4 seconds, 3 cycles. The voice counts each second for you.

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