If you’ve played golf for more than one season, then you’ve experienced disappearing swing syndrome. He strikes without warning, regardless of skill level.

To quote the late Bobby Jones in his masterful book, Secrets of The Masters:”you always feel like you’re running from something, not knowing exactly what or where it is.”

In most sports, solid mechanics and dedicated practice offer some guarantee of constant improvement. In golf, however, there are no guarantees.

The first step to consistency is accepting that the results are out of your control. The second step is learning to minimize the effect of the disappearing swing syndrome by deliberately controlling your attention.

Based on my experience with over eleven thousand students, most golfers who play once a week assume that poor memory is to blame; You must have forgotten to lock your left elbow or shift your weight or tilt your wrists or…

While punishing yourself can provide some satisfaction in alleviating masochistic tendencies (which are universal to all golfers), it only serves to exacerbate the symptom. Trying to rationalize the collapse usually leads to an endless cycle of fault finding and bug fixing which in turn manifests in the proverbial blast hole.

Contrary to popular belief, the culprit is not poor memory, but rather trying to remember all the nuances of proper technique. The secret to a speedy recovery is to redirect your attention to the feel of your best shots.

All golfers have heard that golf is a game of sensations. How you feel is a byproduct of your attention. What you pay attention to affects how you feel; the better you feel, the more likely you are to create your best swing.

At least a third of the time in a round of golf is walking/riding between shots. Use the time to mentally replay past success and recall the prevailing feeling.

Have you ever been stuck behind a driving student? Have you ever wondered why they go so slowly? The student is trying to pay attention to everything; oncoming cars, traffic lights, when to apply the brakes, etc. They have not developed the ability to distinguish between attention and awareness.

Regardless of skill level, all golfers can consistently play their best if they focus on desired results rather than repeating past mistakes. The biggest mistake in traditional golf instruction is asking a student to constantly remind himself of mistakes instead of relying on his natural ability to just hit the damn ball!

Thank you for reading.