Dr. Bob Rotella — No Laying Up Podcast Takeaways
As a golfer, you’re always searching for the perfect swing thought. After a few great shots, you always think you’ve found something, just for it to disappear a few holes later. Over the last two years, I’ve worked to try to simplify my golf swing to make it as repeatable and consistent as possible. I go into a round with only a few basic swing thoughts (don’t rush from the transition of backswing to downswing, power my swing with core rotation enforced by keeping my right elbow close to my right side, and to finish my swing with all my weight getting to my left side). By only having a few simple swing thoughts, I’m able to identify the causes of poor shots more easily and thus make the necessary adjustments. Additionally, less focus on technical swing thoughts allows me to spend more mental energy during the round on thinking through my course management and strategy.
Up until a few weeks ago, I was not familiar with much of Dr. Bob Rotella’s thinking. I was aware of his name and stellar reputation as a trusted sports psychologist, who counts many professional golfers as his clients. But after listening to him on the recent No Laying Up podcast on October 12, I was struck by how clear and simple some of his advice on how to play better golf was.
My most important takeaway from Dr. Rotella’s philosophy on golf centers around his idea of having a quiet mind, looking at your target, visualizing a ball flight, and that the swing is then something that happens in response to what your mind sees. Simply put, see the shot and let the swing happen. Don’t get bogged down with technical swing thoughts, fear, or uncertainty, just look at where you want the ball to go and don’t clutter your mind with too many instructions or directions.
Further, he talked about the importance of implementing these thoughts as part of your pre-shot routine. Just as you would take practice swings and check your alignment as part of a physical pre-shot routine, you should also have clear and consistent thoughts as a part of mental your pre-shot routine.
Dr. Rotella described a good mental pre-shot routine as such: “Before you hit your shot, have your mind into where you want the ball to go. See and feel the shot, be totally committed to the picture and what you’re seeing. Totally commit and don’t change your mind as you go to hit the ball. Maintain your commitment to the shot that you are seeing. If you can’t hit a shot, then pick a club that you know you can put it play and trust, the goal is to score the lowest you can score.”
While this advice sounds simple, it really resonated with me. After listening to Dr. Rotella, I realized that occasionally before I hit a shot, I don’t commit to a clear picture of what the shot will look like and where it will go. For example, sometimes when I’m standing over a shot, part of me visualizes the ball flight as dead straight, while part of me will visualize the shot with a slight fade or draw. I realize that when I do this, I’m not fully committed to the shot, and then I can end up making a tentative and uncommitted swing. I was aware that I did this on occasion, but I didn’t realize how detrimental of a thought that is before hitting a shot.
Armed with this new knowledge after listening to this podcast on a Wednesday night, I couldn’t wait to get out and play in a few days on Sunday. When I played that Sunday, I focused on the takeaways that I discussed above. Going into the round, my goal was to commit to a clear picture of what each shot will look like and where it will go. I wanted to be fully committed on each shot that I hit throughout the round as part of my pre-shot routine.
After finishing my round that Sunday, I reflected on how well I implemented Dr. Rotella’s advice. From tee to green, I think I did a great job of committing to every shot. I found these thoughts extremely beneficial for full shots with the driver, irons, and wedges. Another key point for myself was that while I do want to mentally commit and focus on where I want the ball to go on a particular shot, that I still need to put a free and confident swing on the ball. I can’t just try to steer the ball out towards my target, as I’ll end up either not releasing the club and hitting it right, or swinging with only my arms and no core rotation and send the shot left.
Around the greens, I didn’t have to change much in my mental approach, as my short game has always been highly visual. Any shot that I play around the greens I always pick a spot where I want the ball to land, and then I visualize the ball rolling out towards the hole. Then based on feel and practice swings, I try to put the corresponding swing on the ball to execute the shot that I visualized.
On the greens, I had some difficulty getting into Dr. Rotella’s recommended thought process while putting, but that’s something that I’ll work on and experiment more with going forward. I’d like to spend some time on a practice putting green and focusing on committing to a line and then visualizing the putt rolling into the hole at my desired speed.
For the round I ended up shooting a solid 75, which is lower than my typical scoring average. Unfortunately my rangefinder died on the par 3 17th hole tee box, and I ended up bogeying the last two holes. Sadly I can’t really blame the finish on my dead rangefinder.
Overall, I truly think that adopting some of these key takeaways from Dr. Rotella’s philosophies had a positive impact on my play. I’m excited about working to consistently incorporate these thoughts into my mental pre-shot routine going forward, and I think that Dr. Rotella’s teachings can help many other golfers, as well. Listening to Dr. Rotella further reinforced my thinking that I should work to maintain my simplified swing and swing thoughts so that I can approach shots with commitment, a quiet mind, and trust myself to react and make the necessary swing.
