Let your subconscious be your guide

By T.J. Tomasi

Researchers at the renowned Max Planck Institute discovered that subconscious commitment to a plan of action is made as long as seven seconds before we actually act.

This lead time is important in athletic competitions such as baseball, where a great hitter makes an unconscious decision to swing by reading the pitcher's hand position from 60 feet away as he releases the ball. If the hitter waits until the pitch is thrown, it's too late.

So your subconscious has things all figured out, if you'll just let it be. But plans get compromised because humans have what I call a "bias toward conscious action." Interference in plan execution is often based on a perceived need to "do something." For example, unless you've had special training, you'll flail about in quicksand, a conscious reaction that sinks you like a stone.

In golf, the bias toward conscious action holds sway when players abandon commitment and intervene in their swing at the last second, which is why finding ways of staying committed to your subconscious plan is key. Remember that your subconscious contains all your memories and experience, so it's far smarter than your conscious mind, which is why you should let it be the arbiter of something as complicated as your golf swing.

The study's co-author, John-Dylan Haynes, puts it this way: "Your decisions are strongly prepared by brain activity. By the time consciousness kicks in, most of the work has already been done." The implication for a sport as deliberate as golf is, "Don't screw it up by getting involved." And as Ben Hogan said, "The downswing is no place to give yourself a lesson."

To make sure you are committed to every swing, draw an imaginary line separating you and your ball. Call it the "C" line for the commitment you're going to make before you cross it to address your ball.

Once you've surveyed the scene, your subconscious develops your swing plan. Then cross the line and take your address position by first aiming the clubface, then setting your feet and shoulders in position. If an attack of conscious bias tries to change your commitment to the swing you've planned, step back behind the "C" line to renew your commitment. Then back you go to your ball and ... let it rip.

Takeaways: (1) Good players play in a smooth flow of commitment, where the swing is part of the process and not a thing on its own. (2) Commitment is an echo chamber that broadcasts confidence throughout your brain circuitry.