Conscious Vs. Unconscious Golf Swings
In a mechanical sense, the golf swing is truly complicated in its myriad intricacies. From the position of the hands on the club, to the tension in those hands to how those hands hinge and rotate during the swing are just a fraction of the elements taking place in one small part of the swing. To dissect a golf swing into all its parts would relegate one to a list of about a thousand or more moves or combinations of moves. Whether or not one is "conscious" of all or some of these moves during a swing is what would ultimately determine whether one makes a conscious or unconscious golf swing.
Other People Are Reading
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Unconscious Non-golf Correlations
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Outside golf, people embark upon mechanical moves every day that are voluntary in nature but take on a sense of "unawareness" or "unconsciousness." For example, when a person walks up a flight of stairs, nary is the thought given to the mechanical nuances that it takes to complete this endeavor. Actually placing the foot on the stairs and using the calf muscles and hamstrings to push the body up to the next step are certainly voluntary muscle movements, but they come instinctively and with almost no thought or "consciousness" when they are being performed.
Conscious Non-golf Correlations
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Outside of golf, there are many activities in which people participate where most of the moves are indeed "conscious." For example, when lifting a heavy box off the ground, a person is acutely aware of the major movements taking place and focusing quite intently on them. The bending of the legs, positioning of the hands, the methodical pushing off the balls of the feet and the effort to keep the back straight are all elements the person is completely aware, or "conscious" of, and focused on making these moves correctly. These movements do not happen naturally or without thought.
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Conscious Golf Swing
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The golfer with a "conscious" golf swing may also be considered to have a very mechanical swing as well. This means the golfer is aware of many different movements taking place during the swing to take the club on its path. Just as the person lifting the heavy box is concentrated on the position of the hands, the golfer with the conscious golf swing concentrates on many of the machinations taking place. For example, in a conscious golf swing, the player may focus on hinging the right wrist vertically at a certain point in the swing, the weight locking in on the inside part of the right foot, the pushing off of the right foot, the dropping of the hands vertically in the downswing and so on. To be conscious of all these elements is a difficult task and one used mainly in practice.
Unconscious Golf Swing
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To play with an "unconscious" golf swing is simply to have all the moves in the swing come naturally without having to think about all them when they are taking place. This type of golf swing does not generally take place as a result of natural gifts but through much practice. A player will generally practice each of the moves in a golf swing, being quite methodical and conscious of these moves, developing muscle memory through repetition. Once muscle memory has been developed on a certain move of the golf swing, that part of the swing is deemed to be a natural or unconscious move. The more moves that become natural or unconscious through practice, the more that player is deemed to have an "unconscious golf swing."
Tournament Terminology
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Often in competition, a player who is performing at a very high level is said to be "unconscious." This term does not specifically relate to the player's swing being unconscious but to an almost total unawareness of the surroundings or the significance of that performance. When Jack Nicklaus shot 30 on the back nine at Augusta during the final round of the 1986 Masters, commentators may have said "he was unconscious out there." This would mean that he was certainly utilizing an unconscious golf swing but also that he was completely unfazed by any of the possible distractions such as the weight of the moment, the difficulty of the course, the pressure of the opponents and so on. In this scenario, it's more of a psychological phenomenon than a mechanical one.
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- Photo Credit Golf player image by Dario Corno from Fotolia.com
