FLOW PASSAGES
“I guess the best way to describe it, is that it’s the only thing that’s going to happen. The
ball has absolutely no options: It will go in. I wish I could feel that way all the time, but it
only happens I think, when my concentration is at its absolute peak, and usually that’s
toward the end of a tournament, when everything is on the line, all my adrenaline is
pumping. I’m in the flow of the tournament, and everything is riding on a certain shot. I
have what I would describe as black out moments . . . “ - Tiger Woods (Vogue, Spring
2006, p. 206).
"Every golfer at his or her own level occasionally experiences, usually out of the blue, a
spell when everything feels absolutely right–grip, aim, posture, takeaway, backswing,
downswing, impact, follow through . . . the whole enchilada. It's a rare, but delightful
experience, and that week, for no reason I could think of then or now, it enveloped me for
four straight days. The result was a mind totally free of concerns about technique or ball-
striking, and therefore a mind applied exclusively to competitive strategy and course
management" (Nicklaus, p. 39)
The decisions are so fast. Your routine seems faster but slower. It’s like you are not
cognitively aware of what you are doing, of your grip or your set up, but you are just kind
of feeling your target, feeling what you are doing. The stuff you feel is not right here, it’s
out here. The stuff you are feeling is what shot is going to happen, like making a 50
footer. Obviously, before every putt, I felt it. I could see it, feel it, what was going to
happen. I didn’t question it. – Byrd
It’s total focus. But your total focus is out there. It’s as if you have a zoom lens on a
camera and you’re looking way out there. You’re zooming in and you’re really, very
specifici on where you want to hit it. You’re aware of everything, everything! Around
you but you’re not thinking mechanically of how you’re going to get it out there. You
have the feeling that you are GOING to make it work, you’re gonna create the shot, and
it’s just a real calm feeling because you’re just out there being athletic and playing. –
Funk
When you are playing well you might stay in the flow, and the zone. It seems like you are
able to slow things down, but also things seem to be moving around slowly around you,
but while you are playing, it just seems like you are able to concentrate on so many things
at one time. It becomes so clear and makes sense. You are able to look at the yardage,
look uphill, factor in the wind, think about what is going on on the green, where you want
to place the ball, and know exactly how hard you want to hit that shot, and do it in a
relatively short amount of time. Yet be so confident about it and know and be able to
effortlessly make that plan and hit it where you want to. It doesn’t seem to be that easy
even though you are trying to do the same thing. - Furyk
