Visualizing the Target Line

• January 14, 2008

In a lot of my posts, I talk about focusing on the target line.  I want to share with you exactly how I visualize the target line before each shot.

I start from directly behind the ball, so the ball, the target and I form a straight line.  I let my eyes scan from the ball to the target and back to the ball.  I see the point on the ball that is directly behind the target.

This is where it becomes a little tricky to describe, but I will do my best.  Using the back of the ball as a guide, I maintain a sense of where the target line is.  I don’t “see” the line, but I am fully aware of its existence.  It is similar to the feeling of knowing where my nose is when my eyes are closed (another reason not to drink on the golf course).  My best physical description of what I see is an invisible line about the width of a golf ball extending from the front of the golf ball out as far as my peripheral vision will allow me to see.  I know that sounds strange since an invisible line cannot have a width.  Maybe a better description would be a transparent line, pressed flat against the surface of the ground.

I do not actually pick out a spot or a blade of grass.  My transparent line extends over blades of grass, and I might happen to look at a specific spot from time to time.  The important part is that my mind is focused on visualizing a line that extends to the target.

I am visualizing this line as I walk up to the ball from the side.  I don’t look at my target until I have, at the very least, set down my club with the face pointing down this line.  When I look at the target, I do it by tracing the line with my eyes from the ball out to the target.  When I look back at the ball, I trace back down the line.

Focusing on the exact point which is the back of the ball helps my brain process the ball’s location as I focus on the target line.  What I do next seems natural to me, but perhaps it is natural to me as playing piano is natural to a pianist.  Or perhaps not.  I turn my focus onto using the clubface to strike the ball down the target line.  I imagine using the clubface in the same manner that I would use a hammer.  I think this is an excellent analogy, as there are many similarities between swinging a golf club and hammering a nail.

I only visualize the target line from the ball on towards the target, and not extending behind the ball, because I am not interest in what happens behind the ball.  My backswing is a reaction to what I am trying to achieve in my downswing.  Every part of my body, including my feet, knees, hips, shoulders, arms, hands, and head are “connected” to the target line.  The target line is the line to swing through.  If I can make my clubface start at the ball and swing down the target line, then undoubtedly, I will have struck the ball from directly on the target line.

Unless I do something incredibly uncomfortable with my hands or arms (which someone would do only if they were deliberately trying to do something, such as “release” their hands), the club face takes care of itself.

Written by John at 2:09 pm. Mental Game x Send to a Friend: Your name: Your email: Friend name: Friend email: (No Ratings Yet)  Loading ...

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