We see a lot of Golf swing tips and training aids on the web. There are some really interesting gadgets and techniques in the golfing arena and we like a heck of a lot of them. However, we also know that Golf technique is hugely down to visualisation and focus, something you can read about in our recent blogs and Tweets.

A really interesting and recent article on the Wall Street Journal details a new study by the Institute of Psychology through the University of Zurich (click) that identified that a mere 40 hours of golf training by middle-aged novices led to increases in gray matter in parts of the brain involved in visual processing and motor coordination. Superb justification to family and employers alike that we need to be doing a ‘lot’ more golf as we get older.

Twenty two people with minimal experience at the sport, ages 40 to 60, took part in the experiment: Half committed to spending 40 unsupervised hours learning golf, through formal lessons or on their own. Each golfer was matched by age and sex to a member of the control group, and their brains were scanned at the start of the experiment. On average, it took the aspiring ball-strikers 150 days to complete their training, and they were rescanned when they finished, as were their control-group counterparts.

So nobody can debate the merits of formal golf training in developing our visual processing and coordination, which then helps further develops our game and so forth. A positive cycle, you could say. To really capitalise on this increased processing, ask any leading golf professional, developing our focus and visualisation techniques is the next hurdle and indeed the next step to swing perfection.

Have you ever wondered which techniques the masters use? In many cases, it is advanced hypnosis, relaxation and visualisation techniques, such as those implemented in Clear Thought Sport’s Golf Power Hour. This simple to follow recording will help you to understand what it is you are focussing your attention on. It’s seeing and visualising that perfect swing and following it through to reality.

To learn more and to sample the recording, click here
Read details of this fascinating University of Zurich study here!