Sports
Green Valley golf tips: Approach your swing like a child
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| Mike touzeau | Special to the Green Valley News Mara Przymierski helps student Joan Dakin become aware of the club position at the top of her back swing. |
By Mike Touzeau, Special to the Green Valley News
How can those pesky little young’ns learn this game so easily when, after 40 lessons and 40 years, I still don’t get it?
When children set out to learn just about anything, says Green Valley Golf Instruction pro Maria Przymierski, their minds focus on maybe one thing — and sometimes, nothing at all.
Absent are judgments about what they’re doing or not doing, and missing are mind-cluttering analysis of details.
For them, it’s inquiry, not assessment, she says.
“Most people pay close attention to assessment,” she says to the student as she tries to get her to “quit thinking so much,” adding, “You’re attached to hitting versus attached to the process.”
How do we undo all that? How do we learn to find what’s missing in our swings and not judge every shot we hit?
“The golf swing happens from the ground up,” Przymierski explains, so she tries to guide the student’s thoughts away from her hands and arms to think first and only about how one foot is working, and then swing for a while with that as her focus.
Following a few smooth swings with good results, the student begins to question her mechanics and the trouble starts again, so Przymierski reminds her to think only about rotation and how her feet are working.
The smooth swing returns.
“The foundation of the swing is this rotation and weight transfer,” she tells her, pointing out that what is going on with the lower body is important, the same as for any sport.
“We need to search for monotonous, repetitious body movement,” she says — something the pros have been able to develop from hours of practice so they can focus on targets, distances and strategy decisions, instead of thinking about swing mechanics while they’re playing.
The pros have relatively the same positioning as amateurs, she explains, but once the amateur starts the swing, the mind takes over and thinks about the details and mechanics of how to “hit at the ball.”
Sample of the amateur’s internal monologue: In order to hit this ball, I have to do this, and that, and that other thing...
“You need to pay attention to one thing in the process,” she says in guiding her student, “and then just swing, instead of judging the parts of what you did.”
Like the innocent openness of a child’s mind trying something new, we need to inquire.
What’s missing here? Where does the club pass through? What makes the club go there?
“Once you know the process, it’s like riding a bike,” she says, smiling.
The student takes another club out of her bag and Przymierski notices a frown.
“This club is always a problem,” she tells her teacher as she addresses the ball.
Another smile from the pro.
Knowing this lesson is being videotaped so there can be no doubt what is happening for her client, she immediately walks over and takes the “evil” club out of the student’s hands and launches four or five picturesque shots in a row right at the target.
“There’s nothing wrong with this club, is there?”
Watching with approval as her student begins to swing freely while the “nemesis” club becomes “friendly,” she tells her, “There is always a limiting belief that is at the core of the cause of the problem of your swing. It’s my left arm. I’m not an athlete. I’m not keeping my head down. It’s this club.
“We believe we need to do things perfectly, don’t we, to get the ball to go where we want?”
Perhaps the “frustrated” hackers need to see if we can return to some of the those innocent days when we just let ourselves find the answers as we went along, and learn to swing like a child again.
Mike Touzeau is a freelance writer for the Green Valley News.
Know your pro
PGA and Future’s Tour pro Maria Przymierski flat-out loves to help people learn. Teaming recently with Torres Blancas head pro Rich Elias to form Green Valley Golf Instruction, the former Tucson Golf School instructor helps students dig deeply into their mental approach to the game while she creates understandable images for students to guide them in developing a smooth and natural swing.
A certified yoga instructor, she ties together the physical and mental outlooks toward the challenge of this difficult game, providing practical tips to beginners through advanced.
Especially popular with seniors and women, Przymierski and her partner run weekly clinics together and have launched a program that includes ladies clinics, junior camps, family golf days, and adult/junior retreats at both TBGC and Canoa Ranch this summer.
Golfers can now sign up for those classes, or a private lesson, by calling 400-9457.
When children set out to learn just about anything, says Green Valley Golf Instruction pro Maria Przymierski, their minds focus on maybe one thing — and sometimes, nothing at all.
Absent are judgments about what they’re doing or not doing, and missing are mind-cluttering analysis of details.
For them, it’s inquiry, not assessment, she says.
“Most people pay close attention to assessment,” she says to the student as she tries to get her to “quit thinking so much,” adding, “You’re attached to hitting versus attached to the process.”
How do we undo all that? How do we learn to find what’s missing in our swings and not judge every shot we hit?
“The golf swing happens from the ground up,” Przymierski explains, so she tries to guide the student’s thoughts away from her hands and arms to think first and only about how one foot is working, and then swing for a while with that as her focus.
Following a few smooth swings with good results, the student begins to question her mechanics and the trouble starts again, so Przymierski reminds her to think only about rotation and how her feet are working.
The smooth swing returns.
“The foundation of the swing is this rotation and weight transfer,” she tells her, pointing out that what is going on with the lower body is important, the same as for any sport.
“We need to search for monotonous, repetitious body movement,” she says — something the pros have been able to develop from hours of practice so they can focus on targets, distances and strategy decisions, instead of thinking about swing mechanics while they’re playing.
The pros have relatively the same positioning as amateurs, she explains, but once the amateur starts the swing, the mind takes over and thinks about the details and mechanics of how to “hit at the ball.”
Sample of the amateur’s internal monologue: In order to hit this ball, I have to do this, and that, and that other thing...
“You need to pay attention to one thing in the process,” she says in guiding her student, “and then just swing, instead of judging the parts of what you did.”
Like the innocent openness of a child’s mind trying something new, we need to inquire.
What’s missing here? Where does the club pass through? What makes the club go there?
“Once you know the process, it’s like riding a bike,” she says, smiling.
The student takes another club out of her bag and Przymierski notices a frown.
“This club is always a problem,” she tells her teacher as she addresses the ball.
Another smile from the pro.
Knowing this lesson is being videotaped so there can be no doubt what is happening for her client, she immediately walks over and takes the “evil” club out of the student’s hands and launches four or five picturesque shots in a row right at the target.
“There’s nothing wrong with this club, is there?”
Watching with approval as her student begins to swing freely while the “nemesis” club becomes “friendly,” she tells her, “There is always a limiting belief that is at the core of the cause of the problem of your swing. It’s my left arm. I’m not an athlete. I’m not keeping my head down. It’s this club.
“We believe we need to do things perfectly, don’t we, to get the ball to go where we want?”
Perhaps the “frustrated” hackers need to see if we can return to some of the those innocent days when we just let ourselves find the answers as we went along, and learn to swing like a child again.
Mike Touzeau is a freelance writer for the Green Valley News.
Know your pro
PGA and Future’s Tour pro Maria Przymierski flat-out loves to help people learn. Teaming recently with Torres Blancas head pro Rich Elias to form Green Valley Golf Instruction, the former Tucson Golf School instructor helps students dig deeply into their mental approach to the game while she creates understandable images for students to guide them in developing a smooth and natural swing.
A certified yoga instructor, she ties together the physical and mental outlooks toward the challenge of this difficult game, providing practical tips to beginners through advanced.
Especially popular with seniors and women, Przymierski and her partner run weekly clinics together and have launched a program that includes ladies clinics, junior camps, family golf days, and adult/junior retreats at both TBGC and Canoa Ranch this summer.
Golfers can now sign up for those classes, or a private lesson, by calling 400-9457.
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