Our bodies lie to us. What we FEEL isn’t always accurate. I’m sure you’ve had an experience like this.
This was my experience. I used to be a decent golfer, but took about 5 years away when I couldn’t really afford to play golf. When I came back to the game, all of a sudden I couldn’t hit a ball straight. I went and took a lesson and explained to the instructor that everything was going to the right and I didn’t know why. He watch a couple of swings and quickly stopped me. He told me that the ball had to go right because me club face was pointed to the right. This confused me. I looked down at the club face and it looked square to me.
He said that what I thought was square was actually open (facing right). He then put the club face into a square position. I looked at the face even more confused. To me it looked like the club face was pointed left now, or closed. My instructor explained to me that it might feel that way, but that the club face was actually square. He told me to hit a shot. I said I was scared I was going to hit the ball so far left that it would hit me in the shin. He told me to hit a shot. I did, and the ball went dead straight. What I felt was square was actually open, and what was actually square felt closed. My perception was totally off.
I had a player in the NBA that I worked with that leaned way to the left when he shot. I told him I wanted to work on it, and he agreed. I told him to get his spine straight up and down. He leaned left. I told him that he still leaned, and encouraged him to try again. He leaned left and shot. We tried over and over again with no success.
So I told him to make a new mistake. Lean to his right this time. He tried to lean to his right, ended up with his spine straight up and down (just like I ultimately wanted) and shot. I laughed and told him that his spine was straight on that one. He looked at me like I was crazy and said he felt like he was leaning way right. I went and got my iPad and took video. I asked him to lean right again, took the video and showed him. He looked at the screen and burst out laughing. “That’s crazy. I felt like I was leaning so far to the right!”
Our perceptions of what we are doing can lie to use. Make sure you are being really honest with yourself and confirming what you are feeling by using video often. The more you confirm, the quicker your body will learn what is actually happening.
