Graeme McDowell: Positive Questioning in Golf and Life
Perhaps the biggest challenge in the game of golf is around attention, that single word that is so important for performance.
In a nutshell, the ability, or your ability, to keep your attention in a useful place, get the task done, produce a golf shot, and give yourself the best possible experience out on the golf course is the paramount driver for performance.
In fact, it's the paramount driver for life itself.
Your life experience will be determined by what you decide to pay attention to, and the greatest weapon you could possess in the battle for attention are questions.
I can't overemphasise enough how important it is to understand that questions focus your attention. We've covered this point in other areas. Still, I think it's important to understand this before you go and play a round of golf: the quality of the questions that you ask on the golf course will really determine the output and the experience of that particular day.
Graeme McDowell, a player I've worked with for over 20 years, US Open winner, there's always a great line that he came up with was that “questions are indeed the answer”, and one of the simple things to understand with this is that whenever you go out onto the golf course by asking more effective questions that then you send your mind in a productive direction. It's so easy to fall into the trap of negative questions.
You know, why am I playing so bad? Why me, why am I having no luck? Just begin to catch the questions that you habitually use what is it that's wrong with my game? As opposed to beginning with a sense of possibility.
One of the fundamental questions that really, I believe, underpins everything in terms of future performance is the whole question around possibility, and just thinking of it in a simple way like this that when you play a golf shot, wherever you are on the golf course, if it's the first hole, if it's the 15th, the 12th, the 9th, whatever it is, whatever's happened previously, whatever may happen in the future, this particular shot that you are about to play, if you asked yourself the question, is it possible that this could be a good shot?
Now, just consider that, at whatever level you play, I'm assuming that you've been playing for it for at least a few months now, even if you're a beginner golfer. This question is relevant, though if you ask yourself the question, is it possible that this shot could be a good one? And the answer clearly is yes, that in this particular moment, it is possible that this shot you're literally always one swing away from feeling different on the golf course.
But so often we close that possibility down because we make statements to ourselves about it's just not my day, or I'm not swinging it well, or the swing feels awful or whatever. We don't understand the powerful impact that that has on the brain and body system.
By opening up the possible question and the frame of reference of possibility, we free ourselves up in this particular moment. If you think about it, when you go to play golf, the first opportunity to ask the possible question is on the first, and you only run out of possibility when you tap the ball in on the 18th ring, unless you decide otherwise.
When you've asked the possible question, you're then much more able to get into this particular shot and create the shot. As we've said before, what does a good shot look like? What's my target? But fundamentally understanding the immense benefit and value of effective questions.
So the key point with this would be, first of all, to observe your current questions, become aware of your current questions, become aware of your default questions, and then resolve to ask better questions. I would go as far as to say, resolve to ask better questions, not just in your golf, but in your life in general, because then the whole experience begins to shape to a way, to an experience that is far more productive and far more enjoyable.
