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■ Advice for’constant practice’
100 practice swings before bedtime, etc.
As a daily routine to do without thinking
Not external motives such as the gaze of others
With my own sense of accomplishment, etc.
Hang a pro swing around you
Psychological’energy effect’ is also of great help
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Two months have passed since the year has changed. Usually, in the New Year, golfers pledge to practice by setting a goal to play golf better this year than last year. After eating a big heart, I quit the pass at the practice center or eagerly search the Internet to find videos and practice constantly. However, after about a month or two, the determination of the beginning of the year, as usual, disappears like snow melts in the spring breeze and often becomes fuzzy.
How can I improve my skills by practicing consistently throughout the year without giving up? Sports psychology has long studied how people who decide to exercise for various reasons can continue without quitting midway.
First of all, those who do not give up on golf practice and continue steadily have in common that they start practicing with an intrinsic motivation and have a clear goal. In other words, they practice for their own fun, pleasure, satisfaction, and pursuit of a sense of accomplishment, not external motives such as the gaze or coercion of others. In addition, rather than a vague goal of having to practice a little, set specific goals such as’find a golf driving range for an hour each day’ or ‘100 practice swings before bedtime’ and practice them.
In order to continue practicing without getting tired, above all, practice should not be a special task, but rather a routine that you do without thinking every day, such as eating or sleeping. It’s like drinking coffee after a meal or looking for a TV remote control when you come home, making practice a habit.
Japanese writer Haruki Murakami (村上春樹), who rises and falls in the number of Nobel Prize winners every year, began working as a full-time writer at the age of thirty-two, aiming to write consistently every day. To this end, I wake up at 4 a.m., write five or six hours without a break, run or swim to replenish my stamina, and then read a book or listen to music, then go to bed at 9 p.m. and have been keeping it for nearly 40 years.
In order for golf practice to become a habit, it is necessary to keep a certain day of the week or a certain time of the day as a practice time. If you keep it for about 3 months, the practice will end up in your body, and after that, you will automatically find the practice field.
Cleaning men’s bathrooms is a headache for every building manager. This is because too much urine splashes out of the urinal due to an inattentive male customer, making the floor dirty and odor vibrating. With one simple idea, Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, has reduced the number of urine drops popping out of urinals by 80%. It is a picture of a fly in the center of the urinal. This is thanks to the men who do business find the picture of a fly on the urinal and focus on it.
The psychological device that induces human unconscious behavior is called’nudge’. Nerzy is an English verb meaning “prick” with an elbow. It was first used by Professor Richard Sailor of the University of Chicago, a 2017 Nobel Prize winner in economics, as a behavioral economics term that refers to a gentle intervention that induces the choice of others.
You need energy to practice golf without giving up. It is to create a physical environment to eliminate obstacles that interfere with practice around life, and to practice practice automatically without great will or effort. For example, if the weather is not good or the temperature is low like these days, you will not go to the practice center as an excuse. There is no way to avoid practicing if you purchase simple exercise equipment such as a putting mat or a swing exerciser and keep it in the house. It’s also helpful to put a picture of your favorite pro golfer’s swing in a prominent place.
The initial environment setting is also important, because even when the program that was watching on TV is over, it is annoying to turn the channel, so humans have a psychology to maintain the status quo, as if watching programs on the same channel over and over again. Be sure to include golf practice on a daily schedule, write it on a post-it, and set an alarm by registering it in the mobile phone schedule management app.
Professor, Graduate School of Golf Science and Industry, Kookmin University
Doctor of Sports Psychology