If you’ve ever wondered whether the blocking behaviors associated with stuttering are present in other performance activities, this golf story should win you over. Jake is a freshman at Cornell University in Ithica, New York.

     Hello, I am a freshman at Cornell, and I have had a problem with blocking in my speech for about six years.  I read your article, and it really applied to me. 
     I am working with some counselors on campus right now to try and make some progress.  When I am alone (as the case with many people) everything is fine, but the moment I have to talk to people, things get all tight, much like the isolated incident you were talking about when you were in San Francisco, except my incidents are not isolated.  They are ongoing all day. 
     It is not very noticeable to other people, but it frustrates me.  I look ahead to words that I am going to say, and when I do, I always stop before them.  Something really interesting, though, is I had the SAME EXACT thing happen to my golf swing.
     I started playing golf competitively at age 12, and I started to care about the result of each shot.  I developed this habit of going up to the ball and setting up to it and not being able to pull the club back.  It felt as though my arms were frozen and could not move at all. 
     Eventually the feeling would lessen, and I could just barely get the shot off, but I was not playing to my full potential. 
     Another interesting point is that when there was no ball there, I could take a swing without a block, which is sort of analogous to the fact that I can speak with no blocks when there are no people around. 
     The spring of my senior year in high school, I went out to the driving range and I said to myself, “Wow, this does not matter anymore,” because I knew I was not going to play golf in college.  And those feelings just stopped immediately.  I could now control my mind and choose what I wanted to think about. 
     I have not had that block happen in a full year now.  That was pretty remarkable because for six years with my golf it happened on every single shot.  I really think there is a link with that and my stuttering, and several psychologists have told me I have an obsessive-compulsive personality.

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 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

you asked: “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.

The driving range and calls to supportive friends/practice contacts. 

Let’s start with golf.

Interesting how the psychological stress of a difficult course or challenging opponent manifests itself in ‘hitches’ to swings. Pro players after walking 18 holes in a tournament will go right to the driving range to “re-groove” their swings especially those that fell apart on the course. You see this with professional tennis players even after a 4 hour clay court match who go directly to the practice courts to correct those strokes that lost them points.

“Directly” because bad habits tend to put down roots if you don’t take care of them right away.

Okay, after 18 holes, I’m not in the mood, as a beginning amateur, to go right to the driving range. I’d prefer a gin and tonic and good dinner ;-). But were I a professional, where my livelihood depended on how well I play, you better believe I’d get to the driving range after my round. As a (fairly serious) beginner, I’ll go to the driving range the next day. (There’s a serious analogy to this ‘beginner/pro’ stuff later.)

Starting with my easiest club, usually a pitching wedge, I’ll go back to basics, even breaking my swing down to three phases, until I can hit at least 5 in a row where I want with good, clean contact. Then I’ll go to the next easiest club, gain my confidence, then end up with those clubs that gave me the most trouble the day before on the course.

I will hit many more balls with my ‘challenging’ clubs than with the others. Sometimes I can get my confidence back that same session, but usually I’ll have to go back the next day and possibly the day after to totally regain confidence (at least on the driving range). Going back on a course before confidence is gained on the driving range is usually (but not always) productive.

And now to stuttering / stammering:

Call your supportive friends (for people in the McGuire Programme, use the phonelist and coaches) asap.

First an important point: Mentioned above, professional golfers will get to the driving range/putting green immediately. Amateurs usually don’t go immediately. We who stammer / stutter need to play this sport on the professional level … after-all, our livelihood depends or will depend to a great extent on how well we can verbally communicate. Therefore, we need to get to the equivalent of a driving range (phone calls and contacts) right away. Procrastinating until it is convenient or you’re not so tired is for amateurs.

Starting with those words you still have confidence in that didn’t fall apart in the pressure situation, use them in short sentences while exaggerating the speaking technique you know will lead to improvement. (In the McGuire programme this means pause, take a full costal breath, speak with deep and breathy resonance, and fully release residual air, practicing also hit and holds and block release.) Very effective is to use a lot of voluntary stammering (which we call ‘deliberate dysfluency’) on these less challenging words.

Move from the easiest words to the ones that gave you the most trouble and have becomed feared. 

 Now move up the stairway of feared situations. Starting with your support network, get these to the place where there is such an absence of fear that saying these once panic-striken words is so easy, it’s boring. 

Like with getting your swing back on the driving range, this might take a couple of days/sessions. But do it. As you repeadly experience that you can indeed regain your confidence, both with feared clubs and feared words, it will take less time on the driving range/ making contacts, to get it back.

to be continued …

Dave McGuire

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

RD/CCI: Tommy Pettersen

CO: Ditte Aagaard Norup

On this course held in Aarhus, Tommy Pettersen was the instructor. He did a great job by being much disciplined added with a great sense of humour. That, indeed, rubbed off at the new students and old grads as well. Many of us old grads have looked forward to enjoy Tommy being the instructor again. 

Thursday: 18 new students and about 45 old grads and refreshers were ready and excited in the course room at 9.00. Two of the new students were from Norway; two from Sweden, one from the Faroe Islands and the rest of them were from Denmark. It is funny to observe the new students’ attitude; even though they are looking forward to the course, almost everyone seemed repressed and had sad eyes with lack of self-confidence.

As the day went by, the light was switch on in many of the new students’ eyes. That, they think, was amazing on the first day already. There were some observers (parents, a boyfriend and a speech therapist) too and a TV-team who followed one of the new students.

In order to make some changes and introduce more challenges for the old grads during Thursday, they were separated into two groups and joined a separate split session. When the first group had a split session, the other group of old grads helped the new students. We had two split sessions that day for the old grads. The first one was called “Why are speech blocks so unpredictable” inspired by John Harrison. In the second split session, the old grads were going to sell a product or an idea, to the others by using the blackboard, apply Harrison’s topics and of course concentrate on the technique at the same time. The presentation where done in English and was a huge challenge to almost everyone, especially on the first day. After a while the old grads swapped to work with the new students. All grads did both sessions in due time.

Friday: One decided to leave the course. The rest of them went happily but excited out to take contacts with the old grads Friday afternoon. The new students were surprised by people’s friendly reactions, even though when the old grads were making a disclosure. In the evening, the old grads had a split session called “Speed Dating” where the objective is to get to know people. We had small-talk conversation with each other in one big group. From time to time, different old grads where given tasks and presented to situations by Tommy, they knocked on the glass, got the attention and “became” the role given. The topics varied between birthday-, wedding-, funeral-, Christmas parties, receptions and conference speeches. Indeed, a funny and good session regarding to ones everyday challenges.

Saturday: The new students found it fun to correct the old grads in their technique, when we went through the checklist, and they were quite good at pointing at the voluntarily mistakes made by the old grad. As always, Harrison’s workshop was a success both to the new and old students. This time, we had eight topics.

In the afternoon, the new students found the sport mentality in taking contacts, and everyone had good experiences. The climax of the course was of cause the public speeches. Generally on the course, the new students stood in line to be the first to report including on the box in the middle of Aarhus in a sunny weather with lots of curious people, who likes listen to the new students.

Saturday evening lots of feelings found expression. You could see the light in everyone’s eyes. I caught myself in smiling several times.

On the Saturday evening’s split session, the old grads were given a situation they where “set” to be at a conference dinner. They were going to develop small talk and the art of conversation skills in English, as well as developing listening skills by sitting with two long tables and find out certain bits of info about him and her sitting nearest. Finally, they were going to present one of them they have been talking with to the rest of the table, also in English. We all got to know each other a little bit better than before in a very humoristic way. It was a realistic session regarding to the real world too that helped all of us to make progress in similar situations.

Sunday: Every new student had a feeling of happiness and relief. Their eyes were shining, they were filled with self-confidence and they were ready to go home, telling the world they now were recovering stammers.

The refreshers and all the old grads did a very good job and remained disciplined. Without them coaching the new students so well, the results for the new students wouldn’t have been that good. Thanks to everyone that make the course such a huge success again. I don’t like saying goodbye. I rather prefer saying “I’ll be seeing you”.

Kind regards

Ditte Aagaard Norup

Course Organisator

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Today, I delivered my second speech at Toastmasters. The title of my speech was “The McGuire Programme – The Sport of Speaking”. When I did my first speech (The Icebreaker) a few weeks ago, I told them about myself, how I was before the McGuire Programme and how it changed my life! My speech went really well! I used total technique throughout the speech and I DIDN’T stutter once! My evaluator was VERY impressed, mentioning good voice projection and excellent pausing in my evaluation. What was most surprising to me was their interest in my recovery and of the McGuire Programme itself. The consensus was even fluent speakers can benefit from certain aspects!

Last Thursday, we had our Toastmaster Christmas Dinner. Almost all the members went and it was a fantastic get together. I didn’t speak very much during the dinner (for obvious reasons…choke choke but towards the end, I talked to everyone. Again the subject of the McGuire Programme came up so once again, I was the ‘center of attention’, ‘TEACHING’ them, would you believe, about speaking! I decided to dedicate my next Toastmaster speech to the ‘McGuire Technique’, which is the speech I did today.

When I arrived at the meeting, feeling nervous as you do, I was surprised to see the person who was going to evaluate me, set-up a video camera!!! I asked him was it for me, jokingly and he said ‘YES’. He knew that I was going to talk solely about the McGuire Technique and wanted to ‘keep it on record’, so everyone can learn from it!  I was delighted to know I would get a copy but I knew it would put extra pressure on me to ‘do well’. I just had to focus even more before opening my mouth!

The speeches must be between 5-7 mins so I prepared my speech such that it would cover 3 areas of the technique that ‘everyone’ can use. Breathing, Pausing & Good Eye Contract. I gave reasons for why it is important in my recovery, and why everybody should use it to better their own speeches. Again my speech went really well…with nice comments at the end.

I guess what I’m trying to say is the Technique is something to be proud off! I have to use it to be stutter-free but at the same time people think its great! So to all you new graduates out there…don’t be afraid of using the ‘McGuire Technique’!!

Have a Merry Christmas everyone!!!

Regards,

Zhi-Ren Chow

Nijmegen is situated near the border with Germany and is the oldest town in the Netherlands. Easily reached from inside and outside the country, it’s a fashionable student town with good accommodation and friendly people. You might say it’s ideal for a McGuire course.

People who stutter from 9  countries attended this one: Scotland, Denmark, Ireland, England, South Africa, USA, Belgium, Sweden and, of course, the Netherlands.  We also had a Dutch speech and language therapist in attendance. The  course was run mainly in English with key material translated into  Dutch. Some of the English speakers tried their hand at the Dutch  language and this added an element of fun to the presentations. We all  have the difficulties of stuttering in common, but the differing  cultural backgrounds brought some diverse perspectives and so we  learned a lot from and about each other over the 3 days. One of the new  students summed it up by noting that this course was "multinational,  multicultural and multilingual".

Wednesday evening included a session on the dynamics of stuttering. As well as looking at aspects of physical struggle, we discussed stuttering as an  approach-avoidance conflict, the iceberg of stuttering and the cycle of  anxiety / panic. This background content is necessary to fully  understand the programme objectives - learning a physical technique,  overcoming avoidance, increasing self-acceptance, developing initiative  and confidence to tackle feared speaking situations, and eventually  letting go and having some fun speaking. It was made clear that all of  the course activities were aimed at meeting these objectives.

Throughout Thursday and Friday, the 4 new students engaged with the course material and exercises in a way that was inspirational to the  rest of us. It was a reminder of what can be achieved in a relatively  short period of time. Credit goes to the new students themselves and to  those who worked so supportively with them in the early stages.

Working to overcome stuttering requires a high level of concentration and disciplined effort and the sessions were designed with this is mind.  Particularly in the early stages, it can be very hard work. However,  it’s possible (too easy?) to take a spartan regime too far. There are  clear limits to human endurance and attention spans - push too hard and  for too long and the law of diminishing returns is evident. For this  reason, we aimed to strike a good balance between disciplined effort  and some lighter moments and I believe we succeeded.

Like  the Irish programme, the Dutch courses run to a 3-day schedule. Debate  will continue, I’m sure, on whether this is preferable to the standard  4-day format. A growing number of us on the programme have experience  of both now and this allows us to draw comparisons. (I’ve been around  long enough to remember the original 5-day schedule…) The 3-day format  requires tighter scheduling and a somewhat faster pace to cover the course content, but that can be a positive. Indeed, the 3-day schedule  brings a focus that might sometimes be absent over 4 days.

On Saturday morning, we moved  into the Harrison workshop session. John Harrison’s public speaking exercises, originally intended for the National Stuttering Project, play a central role on  McGuire intensive courses. John argues that “many people who stutter  are terrific speakers. They’re alive; they’re electric; they establish  excellent personal rapport with their audience. They get their audience  to feel good about them, because they feel good about themselves.” He’s  right. My vantage point as facilitator of the Harrison session let  me see the room come alive with energy and self-expression.

Despite the gloomy predictions, the rain held off on Saturday afternoon and,  following a successful street contact session, everyone returned to the  Hotel Mercure for a brief rest. During the feedback session, it was  clear that the students had gained a lot from their self-disclosures  and had experienced very positive feedback from the general public.  (Joseph Sheehan was right – given the right circumstances, it is  possible to have fun working on your stuttering). The final sessions on  Saturday were spent orienting the new students towards the follow-up  support network and the activities that will maximise their chances of  ongoing success. The message, I hope, was clear – what we do beyond the McGuire courses is really what makes the difference in the long term.

Thanks again and dank u wel to the graduates who prepared and ran sessions:  Danny Stienen (Directions, Relapse Mechanisms), Mikael Crona (Laws,  Self-Actualisation, Harrison coaching), Juul Kampstra (Overkilling),  Kenny Scheerlenck (Rules), Michael Schiffelers, Derek Johnson (Harrison  coaching); Sheila Denny (Mantras, graduate session), Alan Rogan  (Hexagon, Harrison coaching), Mads Terndrup (New student/refresher  checklist), Cindy Bolger (graduate session), and Stephen Harte  (graduate session, Checklist).

Finally, Frits Boshuijer (Regional Director) ran his first course in November 2005, so  this course marked the 1st  anniversary of the ‘modern’ Dutch programme. With 22 returning  graduates, it was the largest Dutch course to date. Gefeliciteerd  Frits. As the region continues to grow in future months and years, it will help more and more people who stutter in the Netherlands and surrounding areas. This course in Nijmegen was, I believe, another firm step in that direction.