Focus Intensity in Bowling

I start this golf blog with a side foray into bowling. For several years I bowled in competitive leagues with friends. I was an above average bowler, carrying a 192 average in my last full league season. My best game was 299 – one pin off from a perfect 300. What I learned in bowling is that intense focus on my target leads to success. In bowling, employing a pre-shot routine helps ward off distractions and puts the mind into focus mode. I always precisely set my starting alignment for my feet, then focused intensely on the target arrow over which I wanted the ball to roll, then I started my approach with nothing in my mind but the arrow. Most importantly I had to maintain that focus on that target arrow until I saw the ball roll over the target. This latter point ensured I made a proper release. If I was distracted or not paying attention, even for an instant, the results were unpredictable, but not usually bad because my technique and form were reliably good. Also, bowling is performed in a highly stable environment where repeatability from shot to shot is possible even if focus isn’t spot-on if you have good technique.

I have played golf not quite as long as I have bowled, but am a bit below average golfer for my age. For men the average golf handicap is 19.2 and I carry 24.6 HC. I realized recently that when I employ the same intense focus on target in golf as I did in bowling, my results were usually very acceptable.

Where You Must Focus

As mentioned in an earlier blog, one of the main influences on my recent swing improvement is the youtube channel, “Wisdom in Golf” with Canadian Pro Shawn Clement. One of the primary tenants of his swing teaching is that humans are “gravity geniuses” and we will invariably hit the target we focus on. In his teaching, the biggest cause of swing faults is when the target of focus is hitting the ball. He demonstrates in several videos how a ball target generates outside-in swings and other issues. Multiple videos demonstrate via props and analogies that the way to cure swing faults is to shift focus to the real target – the spot “out there” where you want the ball to go. Once I started incorporating the sequenced momentum swing changes and added setting my target focus “out there” my swing and shot results improved significantly and from a technical standpoint is a reason I dropped my handicap by five points over 11 months.

You Can Create Your Own Target!

Before I describe my swing focus methodology, I wanted to add one more piece of information that I found in one of the many golf books I’ve read.  The mind is capable of generating any image you desire. Instead of finding a specific target “out there” to focus on such as a different colored patch of grass, or tree, if you have good visualization skills, mentally and visually place a familiar object where you want the ball to go as a target. In the book the author described visualizing placing an archery target block as his target. Although I have shot at archery target blocks in my life, it wasn’t a compelling image for me. However, very quickly I thought of my perfect target image – a bright orange Home Depot 5 gallon bucket. So when there’s not a strong target in the fairway or on the green, I mentally put an orange home depot bucket where I want the ball to go and focus on hitting the ball to that target.

How I Set Focus in Pre-Shot Routine

To reproduce the same intensity of focus I had in bowling I’ve developed the following pre-shot routine that establishes my focus for full and wedge shots. After I evaluate the lie and target and select the appropriate club, from behind the ball I visualize placing the HD orange bucket on the fairway or green where I want the ball to land and I visualize the trajectory of the ball traveling through the air to the bucket. I select an intermediate point a couple feet in front of the ball on the line where I want the ball to start. I step to the side of the ball and take one or two practice swings that replicate as closely as I can what type and feel of shot I wish to produce to deliver the ball to the bucket. I step up to the ball and align the club face with my intermediate point, align my feet and shoulders, then look up one more time to fix the target bucket in my mind. I look down and focus intently at the back of the ball (or for wedges a piece of grass in front of the ball) but still hold the bucket “out there” in my mind, and initiate the swing.

When I successfully follow this pre-shot routine and intensely focus on the bucket target, I almost always hit the ball safely around the bucket. At this point in my golfing life though, I probably employ this pre-shot routine and intense level of focus less than 50% of the time.

Factors That Limit Focus

There are many factors that lead to my low focus success rate. Some examples include:

A major factor affecting the ability to focus in a round is length of play. The ability to consistently maintain focus can be diminished over a long period of time in rounds taking 4 to 6 hours to play. I typically focus in waves where I might play three or four holes with intense focus then sort of forget over a few holes then focus again for a stretch. The reading I’ve done on the mental game suggests limiting the intense focus to shots only and have a trigger that pops you into the pre-shot routine and focus mode.

I played a round in mid-Spring last year at Lago Vista Golf course with temps in the mid-80s. As I navigated my way through the round I found that all the water stations were empty. I called the clubhouse to get them filled but they never caught up to me. By the 15th hole, I was hitting one weak shot after another, loosing over 30% distance on every shot. I knew I was dehydrated and learned that lack of water leads to loss of strength and stamina. Since then I always make sure to have plenty of liquids and snacks before I start a round. In a related vein, my 12 years in the U.S. Army damaged my feet and I’ve found from experience that I can walk 9 holes but to attempt to walk 18 holes always leads to inability to focus when severe foot pain sets in later in the round.

The ability to focus can be affected by tensions induced by the importance placed on the results of the round or of particular shot or shots. For some reason I feel a need to play well around the group of friends I play with regularly and put unnecessary pressure on myself to do so. My personal best in the last few years was a 94 scored during weekday round played with complete strangers. I was completely relaxed and enjoying the game and hardly paying attention to the score and I was pleasantly surprised by the result after the round. I enjoy competition so last year I joined the Austin Golf Association (AGA) who puts on two tournaments per month. Interestingly, the first time I broke 100 after a several year break from golf occurred in my very first AGA tournament on a course I hadn’t played on. Even though competitive tournament golf is supposed to reduce scores due to tension, my best rounds have occurred in tournaments. I believe this is because I tend to use my pre-shot routine more often and focus more intently during tournaments. In addition, I prepare for every tournament by mapping out a plan to approach every hole on the course with google earth and the course scorecard.

Where bowling is played in a stable environment, golf is played in nature and where the ball lands produces an infinite variety of conditions some of which you may not have encountered. This variety results in focus issues for me and likely for most golfers at my level. If I’m distracted by thinking about how to hit a ball out of a divot, I may loose focus on the ultimate target – the middle of the green or spot on the fairway where I want the ball to go. For me, at least, this loss of focus usually results in a bad ball strike with typically unpleasant results because my technique in golf is still a work in progress. I approach any unfamiliar situation with imagination and ask myself – is there a shot in my experience library that can extract the ball from this lie? One major difference from earlier years to today is that I am much less shy about taking an unplayable lie. It is so much easier to take the penalty drop and get the ball into play than try the impossible hack that often results in needing another and another. I’ve learned that bad shots happen so take your medicine and move on.

Which segues nicely into the last focus inhibitor – emotional reactions to bad or very good shots can induce a physical and mental break that interferes with focus. When I hit a bad shot I often whack the ground with my club in anger and frustration. Because I get them so seldom, a birdie induces a joyous shot and fist pump or two. Often, after bad or good shots I would loose focus and follow up with a bad shot (and another and another) because I made poor decisions or reverted to ineffective arm swings with poor results. After reading several books on the mental side of golf I have reduced this tendency by allowing myself to react then work on letting go and concentrating on what decisions I need to extract myself from the trouble and get the ball back into play.

How I Plan to Improve Focus in Rounds

In order to get to my goal of better than average golf by the end of next year I need to work on improving my focus from shot to shot and on a larger percentage of shots in a round. In order to improve in this area I believe that it is necessary to track where I am now and how I perform on focus in each round to ascertain if I am improving. Therefore, it is one of my goals this year to start grading every shot on every hole as to whether I have attained the mental focus required. If I took five shots on a par four and on only three shots I performed my pre-shot and focus routine I will write on the scorecard a 3/5. After the round I will calculate the focus percentage and evaluate if I am improving this pre-shot/focus grade over time. What I know from my bowling experience is that I can lower my handicap when I increase my ability to focus on every shot and I should see an improvement in golf if I improve my focus.