Repetition does NOT Guarantee Optimum Skill Access
In my 30+ years of helping golfers I have noticed three CRITICAL misconceptions about “Muscle Memory” related to Golf Swing Skills:
1. Volume Equals Strength
2. Muscles Have Skill Memory
3. Skill Access is Physical
Volume Equals Strength
Making a high Volume of Repetitions at the range does not Guarantee that the Skills you are training will become your dominant Skill Pattern (Strength) on the course.
No matter how many balls you hit at the range… if the Quality Ratio (the ratio of high-quality reps to substandard quality reps) and the Intensity (the level of challenge) is not high enough, you will not be able to access your best Skills on the course when it matters.
Muscles Have Skill Memory/Storage
When it comes to Skills (learned movement patterns) Muscles DO NOT have Memory.
The memory for ALL your Skills is called “Procedural Memory” and it is Stored In Your MIND.
We will explore how this works and why this knowledge is CRITICAL to the quality of your golf game later in this post.
Access to Skills Is Physical
In my experience collaborating with golfers of all levels this misconception is the one that will cost you the most strokes on the course.
When you ASSUME that Skill Access is Physical (automatic) it encourages you to continually improve “Skill Level/Swing Mechanics” to play better golf.
The reality is that Skill Access is NOT Physical (automatic)… Skill Access IS triggered by Mental State (controlled by measurable metrics).
You can only ACCESS YOUR BEST Skills when you can ACCESS a specific set of mental conditions on command/on the course.
What Exactly is “Muscle Memory”?
Before we explore HOW the Muscle Memory misconceptions influence your game it is important to understand exactly WHAT “Muscle Memory” is.
There are two types of Muscle Memory:
Strength Memory
When you engage in strength training and increase your muscle mass your muscles remember this increase in size and strength for up to 15 years.
This makes it easier to gain size and strength after a period of inactivity.
Strength Memory has minimal influence over Learned Movement Skills.
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2. Procedural Memory
Procedural Memory helps you in the performance of Learned Motor Skill Patterns.
When you ride a bike, climb stairs, or swing a golf club you are using Procedural Memory.
Procedural Memory is stored in and accessed from the “Subconscious Systems” of your mind.
Because Access to Procedural Memory is stored in your “Subconscious Mind,” this means Access to your best skills is determined by your ability to Access your “Subconscious Mind” using Key Mental Performance Metrics.
In the image below the "Subconscious Systems" are designated as the Action System.
The "Conscious Systems" are designated as "Thinking" and Emotional".
The Bottom Line:
When you want to ACCESS YOUR BEST Skills on the course, you need to be able to reduce the “Mental Noise” of thoughts/emotions/pressure/distractions in your “Conscious Mind.”
There is a direct relationship between the amount of “Mental Noise” that you can “Quiet” and the quality of the Skill you Access from the “Subconscious Systems” of your mind.
Why is Reducing “Mental Noise” the Key to Accessing “Muscle Memory” and Playing Better Golf?
Let’s use two analogies to explore why “NOISE REDUCTION” is the KEY to Accessing Your Best Skills on the course.
First… I want you to imagine you are on a road trip in a rental car with no satellite radio and you cannot access the playlist on your phone.
Hopefully, you have a vivid imagination.
When you are trying to tune in a Station that you like it is critical:
1. The Signal of your desired Station is strong
2. There are not a lot of Competing Signals
The Strength of the Signal is determined by the Strength of Your Learned Skill Pattern.
· Have you done enough repetitions?
· Were a high percentage of the repetitions of Optimum Quality?
· Was the Intensity of the repetitions high enough?
If the Strength of Your Learned Skill Pattern is high enough… you will be able to ACCESS and enjoy the music on the Station you want.
UNLESS…
There are other SIGNALS creating interference/NOISE that reduces the clarity and quality of your desired SIGNAL.
In terms of golf:
Thoughts/emotions/pressure (which are all in your Conscious Mind) are the interference/NOISE that reduces your ACCESS to the desired Signal (which is in your Subconscious Mind) and reduces the Clarity/Quality of the Signal.
Now let’s explore the second analogy to dive deeper into how the interference/NOISE affects your Skill quality on the course.
I want you to Imagine you are walking down a set of stairs.
Successfully going down a set of stairs is a Procedural Memory/Skill that you have hopefully had a high degree of success with.
Because of your success rate, in most cases it is easy to “quiet” your mind and not “think” about the mechanics of what your feet/ankles/knees are doing, not “worry” about executing the movements poorly and not experience the “pressure” of walking down the stairs if there were high consequences for moving poorly.
Now imagine walking down the stairs in the image below.
The perceived “challenge” of the task of walking down a set of stairs has just increased dramatically.
You are still walking down a set of stairs, but the consequence for making mistakes is much higher.
When the challenge/consequences go up so does the amount of “NOISE” in your mind.
· You start to “think” about where to place your feet and how to maintain balance.
· You start to “worry” about not executing a Skill you know that you have mastered.
· You begin to feel “pressure” because of the consequences of making a mistake.
When you are experiencing excessive “NOISE,” the normal reaction is to try to control your movements to minimize potential mistakes.
The most common example of this is using swing thoughts.
When you try to use more control, you are increasing activity in the “Conscious Systems” of your mind which decreases ACCESS to your best Skills.
This is one applicable meaning of the phrase “Paralysis from Analysis.”
WHY is Conscious Control a problem?
Because your highest level of learned skills is stored in the “Subconscious Systems” of your mind… where there is NO Conscious Control.
In simplest terms… Walking down any stairs is always easiest when you just let it happen.
Let It Happen means treating the “High Risk” stairs the same as the “Low Risk” stairs.
The challenge is having enough Trust in your Skills to “Let It Happen” as opposed to trying to “Make It Happen.”
More on Trust in an upcoming post!
The Big Picture
Your Learned Skills for Golf are stored as electrical impulses in your "Subconscious Mind” (NOT in your muscles).
Kropotov, Juri D (2009) Quantitative EEG Event-Related Potentials and Neurotherapy, Anatomy of A Procedural Memory
Learned Skills become Patterns once you execute enough quality repetitions at a high enough level of Intensity.
Once Patterns are created, they NEVER break down.
When you feel like Skills are breaking down it is caused by NOISE/interference.
Access to Your Learned Skills is dependent on Your Mental State.
There are Measurable Metrics you can train to Access optimum the Mental State for Golf https://www.ggzap.com/golfers/competitive-golf
THE optimum Mental State is the Zone which is a specific, measurable, and trainable
brain wave frequency.
The method for getting in/near the zone is reducing the volume of Mental Noise” in your conscious mind.
If you Rely on your Muscles and the “myth” of Muscle Memory for Skill Access on the course… prepare to be disappointed.
Thoughts, Emotions, Pressure and Expectations WILL all cause the quality of your Skills to fluctuate seemingly out of control.
Looking For More Information or Expert Help?
I am always happy to jump on Zoom Call to chat with athletes/coaches/teams and organizations interested in learning more/playing better.
Click the link below to book your complimentary 30-minute Zoom Call.
Just one of many simple, effective devices for measuring mental state
All The Best,
Geoff Greig
Instigator GGZAP
Flow Code Master Coach
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