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Tyler Ferrell is the only person in the world named to Golf Digest's list of Best Young Teachers in America AND its list of Best Golf Fitness Professionals in America. Meet your new instructor.

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Playing Golf As A Visual Golfer

Visual, or "picture players", need a clear image and then let the body take care of the rest.

The picture player’s wiring is located in the visual context of the brain. This player learns by what he/she sees. Therefore, this wiring is very applicable to the target game of golf. The eyes program the execution of the shot.

  • Uses eyes
  • Clear picture creates motion
  • Choppy walk/swing
  • Visual aids, alignment station
  • Color coordinated dress
  • Clubs selected on looks, accuracy
  • Learns by seeing, pictures
  • Speech: “See what I mean”
  • Out of body
  • Concentration = focus on target
  • Swing programmed by target
  • Mantra: “Stare at target, glance at ball”
  • Stress: Loses target/tension
  • Stay in present by engagement with target
  • Fuzzy targets = ambivalent shots
  • Eyes up at top of trajectory
  • Key: Clarity of picture sensory rich
  • Create targets/highest trajectory of shot
  • STOP: Feeling/Tempo
  • Start the movie/special effects
  • Continue: The technicolor/HD
  • Bad play = feeling, mechanics
  • Voice: High, squeaky, fast
  • Math/science/engineering, visual arts, photography, video
  • TV, Photos, Classical music

Images for Picture Players

  • Pretend to focus the lens of a camera of a difficult putt; zoom it in close and then zoom it back wide-angle.
  • Change the color of the picture of the putt from black and white to Technicolor; to red filter, to blue filter, back to living color.
  • See a waterfall going into the cup.
  • On a wedge LOB shot, see a parachute with a golf ball in the harness.
  • On a short putt, make the hole look as big as a “BASKETBALL.”
  • On your tee shot, draw an imaginary line from your ball to the target.
  • On a fairway shot, hit the ball through an imaginary window in the sky.

Tips for Picture Players

Use your eyes to create interest with your targets. I’ve seen picture players create huge truck tires as targets, huge donuts, goal posts, baskets for chipping, towels for pitching, waterfalls for downhill putts, etc. By using your ability to create visual images, you can truly play like a kid!

Also make sure your outfits are color coordinated, have your golf bag, headcovers and towel match, purchase your clubs on how they look, play at beautiful courses that allow you to enjoy eye candy. Visualize your targets at the top of their natural trajectory on full shots, top of the flag on lob wedges, landing areas on chips and pitches, and move the hole in your imagination on breaking putts, on uphill puts visualize the hole farther away, on downhill putts create the image of the hole closer to you.

When practicing, use visual aids to help your mechanics. Put clubs on the ground, use water bottles on the ground for swing path, stick old shafts in the ground for visual reference, etc. Whenever there is a target involved in your practice, make sure that you don’t stay over the ball with your eyes down. (That will make you a second-rate feel player.) STARE at the target, glance at the ball and hit it! Swing to the target! Putt to the picture!

P.S. Find a picture player teacher. Watch Tiger, Annika, V.J.

The key to all of this is the answer to the question: HOW DO YOU KNOW WHEN TO TAKE THE CLUB BACK?

The picture golfer’s ideal answer is, “when I have a clear and vivid picture of the target, then I go.”

For more details on this system, check out Dr. Bill Campbell's program "Hard Wired for Golf"http://hardwiredforgolf.com/

Tags: Mental Game

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This video is playing golf as a visual golfer.

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So visual golfers are fairly easy.

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They get all the information or the majority of their information for how they're going

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to perform based on what's coming through their eyes.

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So this can be an advantage in some ways because if a visual golfer gets hurt, they're

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not going to be as self-aware and kind of have as many freakout moments to if that pain

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increases a little bit because they're more concerned with what's going on with their

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eyes.

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That being said, architects can do things to try to trick them, which field golfers and rhythm

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golfers tend to not really worry too much about.

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So if you're building the pre-shot routine as a visual golfer, so you kind of didn't

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like either of the stillness or the constant motion drill and when you close your eyes,

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you can actually see a picture of the golf ball.

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Then what that means is that during your pre-shot routine, you have to make sure you

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have a crystal clear image for what you're trying to do.

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Now whether that image is like a target or a whole hoop that you're going to hit the ball

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through, whether it's an arc like a rainbow that the ball is going to follow, doesn't

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really matter.

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Whether it's a specific look to the path of the club coming into the golf ball where if

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it's there, I know I'm going to hit it well, if it's there, I know I'm not.

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You have to have crystal clear imagery.

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So I use the example of an HD television versus an old static, you know, rabbitier television.

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So you need to make sure that during your pre-shot routine, you get the crystal clear

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image of the shot and you're going to take your backswing as soon as you have this perfect

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image, this crystal clear image.

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So you're going to get set up in your alignment, make sure that all your lines look good,

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and then you're going to stare at that target, stare at that target, just glance back

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at the ball.

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You're going to stare at the target until you have a crystal clear image of exactly what

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the ball is going to do.

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And then when you come back, you're just going to go.

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So a couple of good examples of visual golfers would be someone like Rory Macaroid, someone

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like Tiger Woods, someone like Jack Nicholas, Anica Sornstam, those were all pretty clear

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visual golfers.

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Being over the golf ball too long can be problems for a visual golfer because you'll

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start to feel things.

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And one of the other things that you'll tend to see is that when a visual golfer is playing

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his best golfer, your best golfer, you're going to see almost a consistent time that

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they spend looking at the target.

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So they're going to have this pattern of, okay?

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Got it.

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One more good one.

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Got it.

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Go.

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When they tend to play poorly is when they're going to get under stress and they'll

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stand over there and those just keep looking back almost like really quick looks, almost

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like my brain is forgotten where the target is.

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And that's one of the clear ways that you know that a visual golfer is kind of storing

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a bit of stress and he's not quite, he doesn't have a crystal clear picture.

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So yes, you could potentially still hit an okay shot that way.

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But as far as law of averages, we want to make sure that we have a consistent look to

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taking this picture of the target and then a consistent way of knowing that we're ready

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and that we have this clear image that we're going to use to trigger our takeaway.

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When you have those clear images, that's going to help you take it from the range to

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the course.

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So when you're doing your drills, you want to focus on lines, angles, pictures.

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So one of the examples would be, if I'm doing the handle and the bucket drill, the handle

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in the bucket drill could be a tempo drill.

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It could be feeling that club shallow during transition.

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It could be a field drill where I'm feeling the muscles in my hands and my shoulders

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or it could be a visual drill where I feel like I'm just pointing this generally out in

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that direction kind of like so.

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As a visual golfer, you want to focus more on where are these angles pointing more so than

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what you're feeling in your body.

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When you have crystal clear imagery, that's going to tend to transfer these movements

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for you to the course better than if you develop feels or tempo.

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