While on a long haul flight to the UK (then the next year to New Zealand/Australia), I got a chance to read a couple of golf magazines. Several articles had strong comparisons to we who stutter trying to become good speakers. One in particular (Golf Illustrated, May 2007) really hit home. Written by a golf pro, Steve Bann, who seems to have a sports psychology background with a title of: “Confidence: The one skill in golf you really need”.

The comparisons to a golfer who has lost confidence in certain clubs or shots and a stutterer who has lost confidence in saying certain words is huge. Confidence is one of the core dynamics in recovering from stammering / stuttering.

This is the full article;

“What exactly is confidence, and why does it come and go seemingly for no apparent reason? Why is it that many golfers can hit the ball well or chip or putt well when they practice, but when they go out on the course, it falls apart?

 I believe confidence is a direct result of preparation and experience. Confidence is not some mystical belief that cannot be substantiated by tangible evidence. Confidence is knowing you can do something because you have done it before, or at least you have simulated doing it in practice enough times that you know you can do it again in a competition. Once a golfer has executed a shot successfully in competition, he then has a real and powerful experience to recall for future shot experience.

 “The Confidence Cycle” provides a great way to build confidence into your game. All successful golfers practice this way, whether structure in a formal approach or instinctive. The4re are four steps to the confidence cycle.

 Step 1: Technique

Many golfers practice technique exclusively. They are constantly working on positions, moves, pivots etc based on who is winning currently on the tour or the latest trend of swing style. However, good technique is an absolute if you are going to play golf with confidence consistently. So your technique must be attended to in every session.

 Technique by itself will give you some confidence out on the course, but what usually happens when you hit a few poor shots is that you then believe that it is your technique that is causing the poor shots. You then spend the rest of the round thinking about and working on your swing.

When you practice technique, evaluate your success or failure by whether you achieve the move or position in your swing and not where the ball goes.

Step 2: Skill

Once you have done some work on your technique, you should then practice skill. Skill is practicing a a particular shot repetitively. An example might be a 5-iron fade shot. After practicing your skill shots, your confidence level will be higher with that particular skill and you will play golf with a higher level of confidence.

Step 3: Test

Testing a shot involves focussing on a target and a goal and using your pre-shot routine on every shot. Many golfers avoid testing because they believe it can damage their confidence as it exposes their inability to hit shots when it comes. However, testing is vital in every practice session.

Examples of some basic and effective tests are three in a row test. Hit three shots in a row with a 5 iron through a ten yard gap. The first two might seem easy, but the third shot will feel much more like the pressure you feel out on the course. If you miss, start again and continue with this test until it is complete.

If you cannot complete a test after a few attempts, go back a step and practice the skill a few more times with no measurable pressure and then try the test again.

Step 4: Compete

After completing the three in a row tests you should be ready when you approach this shot on the course. Simply remind yourself that you have hit this shot three times in a row during practice, and you can certainly do it again.

Competing with confidence is the final hurdle to becoming a successful golfer. When you can successfully execute a shot on the course after taking yourself through the confidence cycle in your practice program, you will have achieved absolute confidence in that skill. Remember, confidence is a direct result of practice and preparation.“

Here is the link to the full article: http://www.mcguireprogramme.com/uploaded/files/golf_confidence.jpg

Read it? Understand the “confidence cycle”? If so, here is the comparison to stuttering / stammering:

“TECHNIQUE”

Like with golf technique, good speaking technique is very important. For us who stutter / stammer, technique is breath control, voice tone, and articulation. A golfer will go to the driving range to perfect and drill technique. We in mcgp read out loud, talk to other members or our family friends who understand what’s going on.

Like the driving range is the golfer’s comfort zone, the phonelist, courses and support groups are comfort zones for mcgp members. We use this to drill our technique.

Not really mentioned in the golf article is the importance of a coach or practice partner to give you feedback on your technique. Same with we who stutter. We need each other for that strict mutual coaching. Video cameras are great for this as well.

“SKILL”

Good golfers will use their good technique to produce different kinds of shots. High chips with backspin. Fades. Draws. Etc. Or simply making a reasonably good shot with good contact using a club that you’ve lost confidence in. This is called “skill”. A golfer will practice skill on the driving range, or a quite course where you can throw down two or three balls.

For we who stammer, skill is in things like ‘clarity’, ‘conciseness’, ‘assertiveness’.  Or simply saying a words with good technique without struggle or tricks. We develop skill by having conversations with other mcgp members, doing drills requiring memory and clarity, practicing ‘centring and clarifying’, practicing public speaking in support groups, etc.

To be continued … next: “testing” and “compete”

I recently received this email from the UK regarding my previous posts;

I just found your posting regarding golf – it was last Thursday. I introduced my use of Golf in 2001 at either Swindon or Bristol and it takes the form of an interview between a well know golf pro and a golf commentator;

Commentator: – Well Tiger, why do people refer to you as the luckiest golfer?

Tiger: – What do you mean, Barry?

Commentator: – Well, every time you find yourself in the ‘rrrrrough’ you put yourself back on the fairway with just a simple shot. You pause – - – to assess the situation and decide which club or iron to use, you swing a few p p p p practise shots (block release) then with your eye on the ball, draw the club right back and assertively hit the ball and follow through (eye contact, long hit and hold, and assertive first sound and keep moving forward, no holding back) and each time your ball lands back in the middle of the fairway. The same thing happens when you land in a bunker, you pause – assess the situation, choose a wedge, swing a few p p p p practice shots (block release) then with your eye on the ball you draw the club back and assertively but controlled you hit the ball with follow through (eye contract short hit and hold, keep moving forward, no holding back), your ball lands on the green next to the pin/hole. That’s what I mean. It always looks so easy for you, no matter what difficulty you have it doesn’t seem to worry you. You just take your time to put it right. You must feel very lucky.

Tiger: – Well, I must think about this (pause – resist time pressure) Well Barry, all I can say is this, the more I practise luckier I seem to get. A club could be used to demonstrate the various points.

Regards,

Geoffrey Liddington

After my previous article I got sent the following question; “How do we practice repeatedly at the work place where there are not many opportunities to ’screw-up’”

You’re right about “practicing” at work. Just like going out on course with your serious golfing friends is not the best time to practice you swing by throwing down an extra ball or two. Again, in golf, you prepare and practice for the ’serious’ rounds on the driving range and/or going out alone on a quiet, uncrowded course. Work is your ’serious’ speaking round for which you must practice in easier situations that have no consequences.

Having said this, in a serious round of golf where you start playing poorly and have no chance of a decent score/winning, the best thing to do is look at it as a ‘practice round’ and forget about the score. At work, if your stammering / stuttering has overwhelmed you and your fluency is falling apart, what are your choices? You can either continue to struggle for ‘fluency’ with tricks and avoidances, but we all know this only makes it worse, or, you can do an attitude re-adjustment and use it to practice those tools, if you have tools, that will lead to better performance/speech.

In our programme, we encourage each other to make a ‘disclosure’ saying something like: “boy my speech is really falling apart today, I’m going to have to concentrate on some things to get it back. just bear with me.” Most times the colleagues are very supportive and understanding and appreciate something being said (rather than you/us continuing to try to hide the problem). If you get ridiculed, it’s time to take a good look if this is a job you would want to keep as such disrespect/lack of support is probably not limited to your speech.

Another thing about practicing is what I said about “feared word/sound” = “feared club”. Just like you have to hit maybe hundreds of balls at the driving range to gain confidence in a club that has let you down, you have to make many many contacts (phone and street) using the word or sound that caused you to block/avoid or use tricks in order to regain confidence. and this will carry over to the work-place to improve your speaking performance.

Dave McGuire

I many times hear from those of us working to get on top of our feared words (words that trigger the stuttering block) “why do we have to make over a hundred contacts”? We know this in the McGuire Programme as “overkilling the word or sound”.

Being a beginning golfer, I experience the same thing mostly on a golf course called “Glen Annie” here in Santa Barbara. Substitute ‘feared word’ for ‘feared club’ and you got the picture. Because of the difficult fairways at Glen Annie, where the slightest slice or hook puts you in unplayable rough, i very seldom finish the course thinking “Wow, that was a great round of golf”. On the contrary, most times my thoughts are of giving up this lousy sport and putting that time into my tennis. Psychologically, Glen Annie is tough because of it’s ability to trigger frustration, self-doubt, and confusion all of which creates a downward spin.

One dynamic is my confidence in using certain clubs (usually the ones that put me in the rough, duffed the ball, etc.) takes a big nose dive resulting in reluctance to use that club in the future. Right now it’s my formerly trusty 5 wood. Avoidance. Oh yeah. And if I don’t do something about it, that fear of the the 5 wood will, ahem, “metastisize” to other clubs.

Sounding familiar? Let me spell out the comparisons:

Golf/stammering comparison #1:

Glen Annie = That tough situation full of confusing dynamics resulting in approach avoidance conflicts resulting in some stuttering blocks (chunked, sliced, hooked, skulled shots), resulting in the cycle of panic/frustration, resulting in even more blocks and loss of confidence.

Golf/stammering comparison #2

5 wood, 7 iron, etc. = The word that became charged with fear because it fell apart because of the tough situation.

Golf/ stuttering comparison #3:

Loss of confidence on one course will lead to loss of confidence playing on another course = Loss of confidence in one speaking situation (where stuttering/ stammering blocks went out of control) leads to loss of confidence in all situations.

Golf/ stuttering comparison #4:

Loss of confidence in a few clubs will lead to loss of confidence in all clubs including putting (and golf in general) = Loss of confidence in saying certain words will lead (metastisize) to loss of confidence in all words (and speaking in general).

Dave McGuire