Does anyone notice that a lot of golfers practice swings often look nothing like their ball-hitting swing? Their practice swing has a nice tempo, looks fluid....effortless, good shoulder turn, etc. Then during the "real" swing they look tense, they shorten their shoulder turn, the club travels on a different path, and some folks stand up halfway down, etc. None of which they did during their practice swing.
There's something about the ball being in front of a club that subliminally creates an apprehensive, untrusting mindset. My old golf coach would tell us to NOT do a practice swing and instead think of the "real" swing as being the practice swing. It's very interesting how the brain can switch gears so darn quickly and ruin an otherwise decent swing.
The tapes which run "full time" in our heads which are negative in content is based on experiences of bad shots. And, obsessive compulsive behavior of some, to hit perfect shots. A fallacy and personality flaw mixed with an imperfect game. The reason many quit the game. Disciplining the mind to hear Voice #2 is the goal and the challenge of every shot, every game. Building positive experiences and "dwelling" on THAT content.
This somewhat goes back to my post regarding the book "The Inner Game of Golf" regarding how Gallwey believes the brain has a "drill sergeant, instructional, scolding" side, called Self 1, and a Self 2, a "carefree, relaxed, just play and have fun" side.
Self 1 pays less attention to practice swings because they "don't matter", there's no "pass / fail" component. Thus Self 2 is "allowed" to execute practice swings. But as soon as the ball is in front of a club, Self 1 shoves Self 2 out of the way and takes over. "Ok, remember this, don't do that again, you always hit it right here, you topped that last shot, don't do that again either, don't flip, get on your left side", and on and on.
Self 1 has barked out so many instructions to the point Self 2, the "manager of the practice swing" is summarily and immediately fired, and likely fired during the final practice swing. Thus Self 2 sets up the swing the player wants to use, then Self 1 steps in and watches every little move, grades each position as they unfold, and is ready to scold the player for anything but a near perfect shot.
Just today, a guy literally took 5 or 6 practice swings to hit a 152 yard 7 iron. The shot was from the middle of the fairway from a flat lie. This is a person who has hit tens of thousands of 7 irons over decades of playing golf. But somehow this 7 iron shot, as well as all of his other shots, is like groundhog day, like he's starting from scratch.
It's obvious to me his Self 1 has not only assumed command over his real swings, but also his practice swings, and his Self 1 takes over the moment he steps on the first tee. It looks like a whole lot of "no fun". His Self 2 isn't allowed to feel the club, trust his swing, step up to the ball, visualize the shot, and hit. And by the way, he pulled that 7 iron shot 20 yards left into a deep bunker. Imagine that, after all of Self 1's checking, rechecking, monitoring prior to his real swing, he hit a bad shot. Plus, he said he was hitting great on the range before the round. This makes sense because his Self 2 is allowed to swing the club on the range because it's fun, doesn't matter.
It's also interesting that despite all of his oppressive Self 1 instructions during practice swings, he hits about 30% of his shots well. So one might argue that this he should shed Self 1 and let Self 2 play and see if the outcome is the same. I doubt his authoritarian Self 1 would "allow" that to happen. LOL In reality, Self 1 does NOT trust Self 2, and Self 2 sees Self 1 as the oppressor.
That’s the difference between being swing focused and ball focused. During the practice swing the brain is focused on the club swinging toward the target. When the ball is there the brain is focused on hitting the ball. The hitting the ball swing is a different swing than the swinging toward the target swing. You have to give the brain a task to accomplish. If the task is “hit the ball” the brain will take the most efficient path to hitting the ball. This is usually a lift and chop path with no rotation of the shoulders. Even if you take a rotational based back swing if you default to the ball, you will chop down at it.
The task needs to be target focused. Something like “throw the club head to the target”. With that thought your brain will take the most efficient path toward the target. Another task is cut the grass with the leading edge of the club head. Your brain won’t chop down to ensure the grass is cut not plowed.
Try some practice swings with a tee in the ground, no ball. Task yourself to send the top half of the tee down range. When you can do that well, put a ball on the tee, task yourself to send the top half of the tee down range again. Don’t focus on the ball. See the tee and cut the the top half toward the target.
If you can commit to throwing the club head down range while cutting grass you will begin to stop defaulting to the ball as time goes on. Soon you will be able to recognize when you defaulted to the ball. The key then is to figure out why the ball became your focus during the swing.
Golf is a journey toward self discipline, and mental focus.